The Stoddard C dormitory.
Nearing the end of our trek, there were just a last few places we needed to see: the Stoddard C dormitory, and the on-campus apartment called E9. My friends and I had lived in each of these places for a year, and no visit to campus would be complete without seeing them.
We lived on the uppermost floor of the Stoddard C dormitory during our first year at WPI. The building seemed to encourage experimentation; it was topped by a huge solar array designed to heat water. During our time, however, the array was not in operation, except as a monument to the hubris of new engineers. Less ambitious experiments were going on all the time: Can the toilets suck down a lightbulb? (Yes, of course.) Where does the water go when the gang-shower drain is plugged with soap? (Nowhere, of course.) How long does it take for a jug of frozen water to fall down the four-story stairwell? (Not as long as it takes the Resident Hall Advisor to race up the stairs, shouting angrily.) Such was our introduction to the technical lifestyle.
The Stoddard C dormitory.
The E9 on-campus apartment was a more tranquil place. Its most notable feature was the wall which divided the kitchen from the living room area: previous residents had punched a hole in this wall, and inserted an empty beer bottle into it before patching it up. We were told you could make the bottle rattle by pounding the wall as you passed between rooms. Pounding the walls was not an uncommon activity in those frustrating days.
The dark grey on-campus apartment called E9, partly obscured by a tree.
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