Sites to see

I know it has been a while since i posted a blog, but, that is the way things go. With papers, projects, tests, and finals due just around the corner, I seemed to run out of time to go take pictures.

However!
good news!
I managed to to take a few of campus and of Knoxville!
I had some requests for some of the "unsung spots" on campus, and honestly, I can tell you already, after two days of scoping out this will not be my only blog on the topic. There's enough places to climb off of the beaten track to last you your whole time here.

This spot is just a short walk from Presidential courtyard

In Between the University center and "The hill"

I have to admit, one warmer afternoon i thought this would 

be a good place to work on a paper, but it turns out its

a really good place to take a nap...

Around the backside of Ayres Hall, there is an open courtyard with some great places to sit. 

Despite the large number of people that have classes in Ayres, this area still stays

fairly quiet, and deserted! This spot is completely underrated.

The World's Fair Park!

Okay, okay, its not an "unsung" spot, Anyone who's ever been to 

Knoxville knows about it, and you'll find people at the park all of the time,

 but that doesn't detract from how great the place is.

They hold events at it all of the time. 

(and obviously the world fair is held here)

The pavilion on the left is an open stage, that anyone, at any time can jump on.

Andy Holt walkway
If you don't like the amphitheater here you'll like the McClung plaza just off of it, and if
 you don't like either of those, the walkway itself has open sections every 150 feet. And
if your soul is so deprived of any joy to the point you can't enjoy any of this, then...
well, i mean, theres hotlines for that sort of stuff, come on, I'm no psychiatrist.
BUT! anyways! back to this;
The walkway won the "keep Knoxville beautiful" award.
I know right? it almost makes you want to shout,
"Cool story bro! wanna tell it again??"



Well, This spot has no name...
But that doesn't change it!
I just want to point out that EVERY other bench on campus faces
 towards the walkway that it is on, however, someone came
along and flipped this one around, facing downtown.
for a good reason I'd say.

Before it Gets too cold

Well, This last week got pretty hectic and i didn't have a lot of time to get a new post up, however, i did still have time to go out and take some pictures!

Well, for the outdoor enthusiast, Knoxville is the place to be, Pidgeon forge and Gatlinburg are just around the corner, but even in downtown Knoxville there is plenty to do!

This is Ijam's Nature center!

(prounced like the Iam's dog food brand for some reason...)

Ijam's nature center is a bit of a suprise in the middle of Knoxville.
Its actually only 4.5 miles from the dorms on campus, but it has a couple miles worth of hiking trails.

John and I after an epic frisbee rescue.

So, lesson learned; when playing frisbee, don't try to throw a curve shot near the lake. It won't end well.

I only wish i could have gotten pictures of me desperately attempting to dive into the lake, before John and Montana talked me out of it. 

A stick worked just as well as diving in would have apparently.
For the record John, Diving in would have been more fun!
But, i digress...

Montana Showing off her beastly balance!

Living on campus is great, but it can get so noisy with your Roommate blasting music, drunk people arguing outside of the dorm at two in the morning, and heaven knows what else is going on in student's life at any given time of day. I Personally think that getting some time away from the noise (and the people) is Awesome!

John Meditating over an Asian stereotype joke i made.
After an hour of meditation, he concluded that it wasn't true and offensive.

( i kid, i'm not racist, you trolls)

This is the first of many outdoor blogs I'm planning on doing and in the future I'm going to focus on some of the sights to see and the highlights and things like that.

Seizing the opportunity

Just a little off of the central dormitory meeting spot on UTK (called presidential courtyard) John and I met up to go rock climbing at the climbing gym called the "VOL-WALL."
So, I decided i would talk about that for a bit, since it is easily one of my favorite things to do on campus!

Whew! there's me on the incline wall. always a good challenge there!

The gym opens up at 3 in the afternoon and is free to all students, which is awesome! They also have a lot of different brands of climbing shoes in every size, which is also free to check out! its an excellent way to spend the afternoon. They have tons of walls, and even more routes to climb. There's both bouldering and belaying. I mostly enjoy bouldering, simply because i have a crowded schedule and don't always have time to get the harness and belay set up, However, i will belay from time to time. I feel like longer walls test you more, climbing higher without stopping, or jumping back down definetly pushes your skill as a climber.

The walls have a lot of variety, and i love the different shapes and directions they give them. 

You do have to stop at the Red tape if you're bouldering, any higher and they require a harness.

They have walls that go on the ceiling as well. One of my favorite aspects is that they always change and add new courses. At the beginning of every semester, they entirely rework the walls. Both make for an experience that never gets old for me. The people there are always friendly, and everyone winds up discussing different strategies on tackling different walls.

The Cracks are so fun! they are involved in a few routes, but climbing them by themselves

is even more of a challenge!

I do have to admit, that crack did almost take my ankle one time, and slipping and falling out of that thing was much less than enjoyable. BUT! still fun. A lot of my fellow engineering students love to meet up go as a group, but we don't always have schedules that are conducive to such outings.

This one particular wall is pretty creative, There's no hand holds for the first 

10 vertical feet you climb, and that little yellow and black box on the right hand side of the 

picture is where you put your hands to start.

I love rock climbing,  and you can find me down there quite often. My opinion, if you're on campus, this is a must see!

Slightly Different Than Expected

So, this weekend, my buddy from high school came up to visit on his way up to a wedding, so I got a couple of us high school buddies got together and we decided to take a trip into downtown Knoxville to have a night out!

The goofy one on the left is me, the one in the middle is Jake Holladay, who is attending the University of Tennessee Chattanooga. The one on the right is John Sikes and the lovely girl behind the camera is Elodie Kruk. (don't worry you'll meet her soon enough!)

Well, enough said we were on our way downtown past Ayres hall (my favorite building on campus!) when we stop for some pictures, which naturally turned into antics. We start fooling around when Jake jumps over a bike rack. 

Now, i didn't see what happened exactly, I was turned around, but the idea, is that jake more or less broke his finger, or at least that is what I assumed, because his finger was kind of sideways.

So, as you can imagine, after a quick moment of panicking, slowly followed by a small amount of rational thinking, we take him to the UT medical center.

There's the nurse popping his finger back into place

Well, after a few x-rays the doctor asked us what had happened.

Now, as you can imagine breaking your finger while jumping over a bike rack is a less than glorious injury story. So, the story jumped back and forth a little bit. In Radiology the story was that Jake had wrestled a tiger and punched it in the face. To the registration nurse, the story was that he had hurt it wrestling in the trunk of a car with a hooker. (that was my personal favorite story) And, when the UTPD was filing its injury report it was the truth... unfortunately.

Awhhh, Jake looks drained! and That is the lovely Elodie in the middle there, by the way.

Luckily Jake had only dislocated his finger! (with a slight fracture on the end of the dislocated bone.) Honestly, I dont know how it wasnt broken, but for Jake's sake, I'm glad he was spared a lot of pain by that fact! 

That Nurse was so funny!

After a little wait, and a second run through radiology, the discharged jake, which was good, because the night was young! we were still going to hit the town!

Sorry for the blurry photography Please note John being a total idiot. He gave the parking guy the parking fee looking like that.

Moral of the story here;

1) Bike racks do not enjoy games of leap frog

2) If you injure yourself doing something stupid, come up with an epic story, BEFORE the officer asks you what happened.

Getting Things Started Right

Hey there! I'm Adam, and I'm a student at the University of Tennessee.

Yeah, that crazy kid is me.

 I'm hoping to use this blog to try and describe some of the crazy life that goes on at college. I love every moment of it and wouldn't trade it for the world! I was sorta motivated by my sister to start this blog, because i always love seeing her blog, though i think hers might be slightly more interesting.
But, I digress,
 long nights of studying, days running to class, waking up late, unpredictable weather, and realizing that one thing you need for that presentation? yeah, that really important thing? You probably forgot it.
Thats college life!
Keep in mind, i will ultimately fail to describe how crazy it is in reality.
Theres simply too much going on at college to really try and sum it up!
That and i still have to attend class and whatnot, I can't spend all my time taking pictures.