2016-04-06 40 -73

Location

On a lawn in the heart of St. John's University, Queens

Participants

OtherJack

Plans

Elipongo alerted me on the facebook group and I went in the evening after work.

Expedition

I had a lot to do this week and I kinda waffled about whether I'd attempt this. But in the end curiosity won out and I headed for the subway after dinner, about 7:45. First train took forever to come but the connection to the F at Rockefeller Center was very quick and the underground journey through Queens (on a line I'd never taken before) was largely free of delays.

So, sooner than expected, I emerged into what turned out to be a very South Asian commercial area, with lots of ethnic businesses and a mosque. To reach the university I had to walk north through a residential area for maybe 20 minutes. This turned out to be much hillier and more suburban than I'd guessed, lots of trees and middle-class single family homes and small lawns. I was expecting St. John's University to be very low-key and quiet as well, since I'd never heard of it.

At first contact the campus was surrounded by iron fencing, and I was afraid I wouldn't be allowed in due to the late hour. But the main gate turned out to be wide open and unsupervised, and I was surprised to find that the university was quite large, well-lit, full of big and fairly tall buildings and with lots of students walking around at this hour. The center of campus was on a big hill surrounded by parking lots and trees. The hilltop hashpoint was readily found, on a smallish lawn between buildings. There were some sculptures, and even a waffle-truck parked on the road.

The subway ride home was also straightforward and I made it by 10:30pm, much earlier than expected.