It's day two of the Greening of the Campus Conference here at Ball State University I have already heard from many excellent speakers and participated in many good workshops. The AASHE staff has been blogging live and we hope that our somewhat stream of consciousness style blog postings and note taking is helpful for those working on sustainability on campus who could not attend or those that are attending and want to follow up on a presentation or presenter. As is always important when working or attending a conference I felt the need for some 'personal' sustainability time. As John wrote in a previous post, we have to take the time to enjoy it, (getting out there in the world, breathing in the air and feeling the earth beneath our feet). With that in mind, I took a break between sessions to walk around BSU's campus (my first visit here) to try and digest all the information and ideas that have poured into my head. At first, I was wandering around letting myself get lost, checking out the buildings and green space on campus. After a bit I couldn't resist taking out my camera and snapping a few pictures of campus. The campus seems fairly well designed for bicycle and pedestrian use. I noticed many full bike racks and people out riding. I walked past Elliot Hall a co-ed residence hall (pictured below) and was impressed by the Tudor-Gothic style architecture and its 'presence'.  What struck me most was that *every*single window was wide open letting in the breeze and great outside temperatures. Many of the historic buildings I came across on BSU's campus have really beautiful slate roofs also which are great because they last 60-125 years and require very little maintenance. Walking further on my stroll I also came upon the coal burning power plant.  At this point I felt like I was pretty far away from where the 'action' was (no students were around) so I kept going until I got to a main street intersection. The campus was bustling in this section (near some classroom buildings) and I got asked to signup for mud volleyball (which sounded awesome, unfortunately I had to get back to the conference) and even received a free hug, definitely the highlight of the tour. As I'm writing this back at the student center, a typical summer shower is briefing touching down helping cool it down a little (but adding humidity!).  Student biking around campus...                  Bike rack at Ball Gymnasium                Slate Roofs....                           

                              Elliot Hall                             Windows wide open!                                     BSU Coal Plant                                        
Awesome free hug!