Go For a Walk Activity

Building with the yellow and green
colored balcony.

When preparing to do this exercise I knew that it was going to be a little bit complicated because I’m usually very distracted and I don’t notice tiny details. I'm always in a hurry because I'm trying to get to my other classes. Additionally, if I'm not in a hurry I will probably be on my phone or listening to music. For this activity I tried to disconnect myself from the usual distractions that are in my life and try to focus on details that usually I wouldn't notice.

For my “Go for a Walk” experience I decided to observe my walk from the General Studies Building DMN to the Sociales buildings. One thing that I really loved looking at was at all the trees that surround DMN. One tree has a rainbow colored trunk that is close to where the ramp is. There is also a Ceiba tree close to El Centro that is really pretty. When walking towards Sociales I noticed that the floor had these square blocks that are bright colored that contrast with the other brown blocks. As I kept on walking I saw that one of the buildings had a green and yellow colored balcony that I honestly had never notice before. I pass by that building two times a week every single week and I never noticed the colors. I usually get to my building 10 minutes before class starts and the buildings that make up Administracion de Empresa are always full, there are always people walking around and hanging out in the lobby, same thing with the Sociales buildings.

There are days that I’m a more late than usual, but I usually have my headphones on and walking very fast. Today I was passing by those buildings, but I only had 2 minutes before class started and it was so desolated. There was no one in the lobby and I could hear the birds because of how silent it was. I know that this is because everyone was most likely already in their classrooms, but it still had an impact because I had never seen it so lonely. It seems that when I had the headphones on I just blocked out my surroundings and never payed attention to the calmness of the university without students. The thing that most caught my attention was the huge Ramon Emeterio Betances’ statue that I had never seen. I think since when I’m walking through there I’m mostly on my phone I never noticed it, but it is big.

Betances statue that I never noticed before.

By doing this experience I was able to realize that just like Alexandra Horowitz in her essay “Amateur Eyes”, I had been missing things that were in plain sight. When I left the Sociales building and went back to DMN, I observed the students and saw how there were some that were laughing, others talking to their friends and others in their computers. It made me happy cause I realized that by being in the university I get to be surrounded by people that are all going through different situations in their life yet we all get to experience the university life together. I noticed how there are so many different people with their own unique styles, some going to their classes in a hurry and others just going at their own pace.  I love walking through the university because it is always windy and by being alone you really get to take everything in and feel calm when walking. I loved this experience because it made pay more attention to the little details and remind myself that I shouldn’t always be distracted or on my phone because I might be missing important things around me.

Here is my collage about my experience. It contains a couple of quotes about observing and paying attention. It also had the rainbow trunk tree that I talked about, the block that had a different color from the other ones, the building with the green and yellow balcony, and the Betances statue I mentioned. I also added a couple of pictures from the internet like the DMN ramp and the Sociales lobby.