Sometimes you can get what you want

This is Brink Hall, here on the U of I campus. It houses the English and Math departments and is named for former Moscow resident and author Carol Ryrie Brink. She wrote the childrens' book Caddie Woodlawn, which I love. I also love this building.

Ignore the weird stripy distortions, if you see any in this picture.

It's ancient, U-shaped, ridiculously tall and utterly labyrinthine. Miles of identical corridors about sixteen inches wide run down each level, heated by ferocious radiators. Levels and sub-levels and half-levels with unending staircases all through, also identical.

Today was Vandal Friday. It's a preview day for new and potential students. One year ago, as one of those visitors, I eschewed the official tours and conferences with advisers to make my own way around campus and later, build my own schedule online--not without some keyboard-pounding. But that rainy day I prowled the depths of my new home-to-be, this brick behemoth I loved at first sight. I left my coat in one of the many identical bathrooms on a sub-half-level and almost had to give it up for lost. Escher designed Brink Hall.

When I'd visited every level of every wing, and a few I'm not sure actually exist, I found an exit and stumbled out into the light, wondering how much time had passed and if this was my original dimension. The rain had stopped. Across the lawn was a big square newish building with lots of glass. I walked up the hill and in, to find a cafe, where I bought a bottle of strawberry milk and a bagel. I sat in a sunny window and waited for Seri and Ben to finish their meetings with advisers (they're not averse to doing things the proper way) and while I waited, I listened to the bagel-cafe employees chat about Harry Potter books, and thought to myself, I'd like to work here.