Picnic on the Summit of Sweeten – a Tale of Lunchtime Adventure.

Author: Jason S.

I work in Alumni Relations in the Sweeten Alumni House. I recently realized that in my seven years of working here that I had only been on the roof of our building once (to check why our Carillon wasn’t working) and certainly had never taken the occasion to dine on top of where I work. Since today is the first beautiful spring day in Philadelphia, I decided to have a lunch picnic on the roof and take a few pictures while doing so.

I was hungry early, and excited to get started on my adventure, so I headed over to Houston Hall at around 11, right when the food court opens.

Some of you might say 11 AM is too early for raw fish, but I disagree. I selected a California Roll Combo and a Spicy Shrimp roll. The sushi at Houston isn’t bad, and I needed the protein to fuel my climb up and down the Sweeten precipices.

The back door of the third floor of Sweeten is right next to my office. Feel free to visit sometime. Directly outside of that door is a small walkway with a ladder leading upwards. If my office was base camp of Everest, this was the climb I had to make to get to Camp 1. I would soon be mere feet away from the summit of Sweeten. Tossing my plastic boxes filled with sustainable seafood into the various recyclable bins,  I made my way to the first terrace.

I soon ascended to the first level. Not wanting to lose momentum, I quickly snapped a picture of the new Annenberg Public Policy Center and the Class of 1976 patio, and continued onward and upward…

This was it. Beyond this ladder lay a place where few had tread, and even fewer had taken their lunch hour. Gritting my teeth I began to make the ascent. Hand over hand, rung after rung, I pulled myself skyward, eventually flinging my exhausted body up and over the last ledge. I had made it to the Summit of Sweeten. And it was beautiful.

In the distance was College Hall, its green facade jutting up from the ground. Students walked back and forth below me on Locust Walk looking like tiny ants.

Peering through a stand of beautiful pink blossoms,I could see College Green stretching below me. In the distance, dedicated volunteers were setting up for Penn Preview Days, waiting to greet the recently accepted students of the Class of 2015.

I took a moment to (silently) dedicate my journey to these newly minted Quakers, that my arduous climb might forever remain a testament to those who might study late into the night at Van Pelt Library, or raise a glass in friendship at Smokes. Yes, these academics were the true adventurers, not I.

With that, I sat down and ate my lunch. I knew that my journey had come to an end and I would soon have my own set of questions to answer. Would I be able to attend that ARG meeting next month? Did I have a chance to review the materials for the talk on broadcast email best practices I was to give on Friday? And most importantly, why were my pants and hands covered in black crud halfway through the work day?

Some of these questions had easy answers. Others were more difficult. Luckily, this brave soul keeps a spare pair of Dockers in his desk drawer for just such an occasion.