The Thing about Busch Campus

What is it about holding a cup of coffee and whizzing through BCC that screams I am a researcher. That I have got a code running in my office that needs attending to, that I just purified a batch of protein and I have several to go and that I just found an exciting new article that clears up a lot of doubts on heavy metal munching macrophytes. Or is it just me? I am no researcher just a lowly grader but when I hold a cup of coffee and walk past mid term minded undergrads and "I am taking a break" grads, I feel powerful and so superior. I guess , I am pretentious thataway but this is my first sem on Busch. I had almost all my classes here but my work or research never made me stay all day long in Busch. The first year it was the Livingston Warehouses, the next year it was Newark but this year I have a legitimate reason to spend my daylight hours on Busch. I know there was a time when I found Busch depressing, because it personified all the doubts and burdens I had. I detested the whole B bus L bus routine and was willing to give up my hourly research job for the good life at the Livingston bookstore. Busch Campus had none of the carefree charm of Cook & Douglass or the calmness/nearing barren emptiness of Livingston. Busch for me was work but not anymore. Well it is actually work, but for some reason I enjoy being here. I love having my lunch at the Faculty Dining hall with fellow "researchers", the coffee breaks, stepping out of my department to witness the serene image that is the sun setting beyond Sonny Werblin and CORE and finishing off my day with a very victorious round of squash. There is definitely a charm to Busch. Maybe it is because as I near the end of my academic life, I am witnessing separation anxiety. So much that I am considering staying on and studying more. Or maybe its a phase. I know people who loathe Busch campus. I also know of people who have so settled down in a schezwan express-JCX routine that they abhor change. Come graduation day, I will find out.


Trivia: Busch campus was formed after the "eccentric millionaire" Charles L Busch donated 10 million green ones to Rutgers at the time of his death.