A Tour of Cal Poly Land

1/10/06

So the first day of class was on a Wednesday, due to the Monday travel holiday prior to the beginning of winter quarter. My first impression of the class was very positive. I've always enjoyed my honors classes, but rarely take advantage of the opportunities held within the department. During my freshman year, I had, in my humble opinion, the very best mathematics professor at Cal Poly, whose instruction was kindly offered by the Cal Poly Honors Department. Thank you! This class seemed to be no exception in my mind. The people are genuine and very knowledgeable, and discussion seems fruitful and productive. It's exciting to see where this class may go. I so enjoyed my AP English classes in high school, and have since been deprived of much knowledge in that field. So it's with great anticipation that I welcome the class as a part of my very busy schedule this quarter.

As I was saying, the second day of class was spent hiking, which was just a wonderful experience. You know when you're walking to or from class and you see a group of people walking around the campus? You wonder, "What class is that!? I want to go for hikes in a class!" So I felt a tad bit pompous walking around with notebook in hand and observing the lay of the land.

After departing the library (where our class meets), we began walking past the construction occurring next to the library as Dr. Marx commented on the trees that were still surrounded by concrete and gravel, as if ghosts of what once was a very old parking lot. Continuing past campus market, we came to the creek that runs through the north end of Cal Poly's campus. It's the same creek that runs down the side of Poly Canyon. Dr. Marx explained how so much of the natural habitat that the creek created for plant and animal life had been destroyed in prior years due to the dumping of hazardous waste products into the creek! I knew that the ag department just didn't sit well with me! Just kidding, of course... However I can see how without a knowledge of the delicacy of the ecosystems in the area, how blindly people can react to the need to just dump off some waste! Apparently, with the arrival of the new housing situations for students that will be constructed starting next year, allowed for the condition of a creek retrofit, which I was very glad to hear about.

We continued our hike up the hill, past the baseball fields, until we came to the horse (or equine) unit. The horses there were just beautiful and were the perfect foreground for the surrounding landscape. The horses were organized very effectively - we spent most of our time there standing next to the field where several pregnant mother horses were eating oats and grass. Their bellies were obviously full of something. As I was standing there taking a few snapshots, I was thinking, "I don't think I've ever seen a pregnant horse before!" It was a real treat. A nice Cal Poly student came walking down the hill carrying a bucket of oats. Dr. Marx was quick to stop her and take advantage of her presence by inquiring about the horses and their location. Whether we liked it or not, we learned a lot about the artificial insemination process that the students were learning how to perform using a mare and some unmentionable tools... it's actually quite interesting! While standing there, we read several passages from Vergil's "Georgics," which was very appropriate for our surroundings. Vergil even described the passion of horses in procreating and the like. After spending some more time talking and discussing, we moved on from the horses, not before thanking the student (I forgot her name) for her willingness to share some knowledge with us. Onward to the horticulture unit!

The botanical gardens that we traversed at the horticulture unit were just incredible. The diversity of plant life made me feel like I was traveling in some kind of teleportation module, delivering smells and sights from a variety of locations from across the world. The transition between places was also an amazing trip - so quick!

We spent time just sitting and peacefully observing and penning into our journals the quest of our senses.