What's your impression of your school? Is it boring? Are the perplexing essays and loads of other assignments the first thing that pop into your head, as they do in mine? My first thoughts, however, changed after a short night walk with a group of classmates and our professor on the school campus. As we walked past the aqua-blue swimming pool and the alley with emerald lawn, and looked up at bright Venus hanging in the dark sky, I discovered a mysterious and charming side of the school, which had always been hiding somewhere, piece by piece. For more than two years I've been studying at this college, and hundreds of times I've walked by this pool at night. How did I ignore its beauty? Tonight it looked like a shining diamond set in a deep, dark forest? Where has this lake been hiding?.
The walk began in our classroom with a command given by Professor Erickson in a low-pitched voice: "We will walk to the swimming pool." I felt lazy and bored as I clumsily brought up the rear. Leaving the building, a gently, cool wind blew softly over my skin. The fresh air took me out of my lethargic mood. The sun was setting but the sky was still bright. After a few minutes walking the aqua-blue, Olympic-sized, outdoor pool appeared before our eyes. We stood and surveyed it from behind a fence. I discerned the familiar chemical odor that all swimming pools have. A number of students were orderly swimming, freestyle, back and forth, each in their own lane like well-trained dolphins plowing through the sea. It was quiet; the only thing I could hear was the sound of the swimmers arms and legs striking the surface of the water. The water was limpid. The copper-colored skin of the students reflected the silver glow being cast by a floodlight at the side of pool. It brought to my mind a calm sea under a bright moon. I suddenly felt cool. But just then I looked up at the building on the other side of the pool and saw a weak, orange light glistening from its windows.