Conversation 22

Listen to a conversation between an upperclassman and a freshman coed.

Upperclassman: You look lost.

Freshman coed: That’s because I am.

U: What’re you looking for?

F: I’m trying to find Q22. Building Q22.

U: Q…?

F: It’s supposed to be behind the Flagler Arts Hall here, but there’s nothing there but trees that I can see.

U: Can’t see the forest for the trees, huh? Where’d you get that map?

F: Oh, it’s from our orientation guide. I didn’t want to carry the whole thing around with me, so I just tore out the map. (chuckles)

U: Huh. Good idea. Can I see?

F: Sure. Here. See- we’re here, Circle Road, right? And here’s the Arts Hall, right here, number eighteen….

U: Yeah…mmm….

F: And then Q22 is right- here. Behind it.

U: Yes, but…which way are we facing? Look- Circle Road curves around the Arts Hall, and we’re…uh…we’re here, on the left side of the building, see?

F: Huh? Oh…then…Q22 must be…around to the…right of the Hall from here.

U: C’mon, let’s check. I’ll go with you.

F: Thanks, but you don’t have to….

U: Naw, that’s OK. I’m curious.

F: Thanks, then.

U: (supposing) You’re a freshman, aren’t you?

F: How’d you guess? (laughs)

U: (laughs) ‘Cause I was one myself a couple of years ago. I couldn’t find my physics laboratory till the second week.

F: Really? (laughs)

U: Yeah, and it was in a Quonset, too.

F: A what?

U: A Quonset- a Quonset hut- that’s what the ‘Q’ stands for. It’s an old US Army hut.

F: An Army hut? Was this a military base before?

U: No. (laughs) After the Second World War, all the GIs came home, and a lot of them went back to college on the GI Bill.

F: What’s that?

U: The GI Bill? Oh, the government offered returning soldiers almost a…an almost free education. And the state universities were flooded with students. They were…they suddenly needed a lot of extra classrooms and dormitory space. And the federal government responded by giving them a lot of, well, temporary structures that were no longer needed by the military. Perfect recycling, eh? And there’s one now! Q22!

F: Wow! That’s a funny-looking thing. It looks like the top half of a big sewer pipe or something.

U: Yep, not very elegant, I’m afraid- but very practical. And cold in the winter; the thing’s poorly insulated. But they were a good quick fix to the problem of growing enrollment.

F: Jeez- they set these up in the fifties, and we’re still using them in 2009? These things are more than fifty years old. And they’re temporary?

U: Yeah. (laughs) But as long as they keep saving money for the university…. Oh, there’s not near as many Quonsets as there used to be. SFU expanded a lot in the 1970s with the baby boomers, so they built a lot of new buildings then and got rid of a lot of the Quonsets. But there’s still a few around, stuck in the bushes.

F: Like my music class here. Look at this thing: it’s made of corrugated iron! The acoustics actually might be pretty good, though, with this arched roof.

U: What kind of music class?

F: Oh, it’s part of my practicum. They put us right into the SFU student orchestra, and that practices here once a week.

U: A good thing they stuck you out in the woods here, then. You won’t be bothering anyone with the noise.

F: Noise? We make byoo-ti-ful music!

U: What do you play?

F: French horn.

U: One of those, uh, curled things?

F: Yeah.

U: Well…. Anyplace else you’ve gotta find?

F: Nope. I’m ready for my first class now, I think. Sure is a big campus, though.

U: Yeah. We’re a land grant college. The federal government gave it all this land in the beginning. And there’s still a lot left that they haven’t developed yet. The agriculture school uses it for pasture.

F: Pasture?

U: Sure- they’ve got livestock- cattle, horses, you know. SFU operates a farm right on campus. That’s where the student cafeteria gets its fresh eggs every day. And some of its hamburger.

F: You’re kidding.

U: Not at all. You’ll see. Take a walk out to the south end of campus some Sunday. It’s like a stroll in the country. It’s great!- very relaxing after a tough exam.

F: Huh. OK, I will. Thanks. And thanks for your help finding the, the…what?

U: Quonset hut.

F: Oh yeah, ‘quonset hut’.

U: No problem. See you around.

F: Deal.