After finishing my registration, my grandfather has to depart.
-Will you be alright?- I nod happily -Well, I guess I can't go any further than here so I'll have do bid you farewell untill your return home-
I don't really know how to salute him so I go for what most would suit the occasion and give him a short hug, he remains quite dumbfounded before squeezing my shoulder a bit -Then I'll be going- and with a smile he departs.
I turn to face the man in charge of the reception -Uhm... So now what?- he nods and gets up, ringing a bell on the wall behind him -We will deliver your luggage to your room, meanwhile someone will be guiding you around and showing you all the different facilities of the Academy-
-Thank you-
-No need- he replies kind of cold -Here's your guide- a man around fifty enters the room and stops in front of me -A new entry, really? And this late at that- with a risen eyebrow he asks to the receptionist -It happens sometimes- he shrugs his shoulders.
-Follow me then- the guide says and shows me the way.
...
-Here's the first hall- he simply says as we enter a very big hall at the end of the entrace's corridor. It's a giant round room, many meters talk and with a big circular glass on the ceiling... Many other doors and hallways start from this one room, at the center there's a fountain and a lot of benches and trees are places all around making it look like one very old fashioned and secret garden.
Two rows of balconies are present around the whole circumference, to indicate that two floors are present, from each there are around 4 hallwais going deeper into the academy and a couple of stairs are following the walls, allowing the students to move from ine floor to the other more easily.
At the balcony in the middle floor, two bridges from each sides traverse the diameter of the circular room and leads to a small platform at the center of the hall, half suspended and half hold up by roman columns... I can see some telescopes on it, pointing to the big glass roof from which the sun bathes the whole hall.
I take a step back to take in the beauty of this incredible place but hear my guide twitch in annoyance beside me -Stop staring as if you were seeing something holy-
I turn to face him with a confused expression -What do you mean?- he rolls his eyes -Rats really do get excited when seeing some crumbles of an expensive cheese, yet they don't know how to savor it-
-Am I the rat?- I don't quite catch the meaning of his words, not because I can't understand but maybe because I don't get why would he try to denigrate me, yet I don't get a single reply.
...
Next is the library, enormous and out of a fairy tale! I bet that not even the Library of Alexandria was this gorgeous... If I could read a book a day, my single life span wouldn't be enough to read all the ones present in this room.
Floors and floors of bookshelves with stairs and balconies all over, on the lowest floor there are some long tables and chairs for the students to study after class meanwhile on the upper floors there are some couches here and there for those who wants to simply enjoy a good book.
The library is divided by majors, and each one has different shelves for each topic... In each section there's one glass cabinet with a few reliques related to it. For example, in the anatomy section there are some drawings from doctors dated many centuries old or even weird needles from China.
...
We pass through the classes and I catch a glimpse of a few students there who look at me and either laugh or wave their hand to greet me. The classrooms are very vast, as almost everything in this academy, and holds more than a hundred students each... My guide doesn't allow me to enter any yet so I can just peek from a few doors left open.
We also pass over the laboratories, they are much smaller than the classrooms but still big enough to host a lot of students in it -Here are most of the majors' practice room. Some majors have separate buildings for them to work, either because they require outdoor activities or because their craft could hand others-
I tilt my head at this e words -Such as?- he looks quite pissed by my question -Chemistry maybe?- he says as if that was the most obvious thing in the world.
Next is the cafeteria, nothing too extraordinary about it -They will give you a schedule once you enter your dorm room, don't miss on the meals time or you will starve to death- I squirm a but hearing that, I thought to have seen some shops and restaurants along the Road up the hill tho? Maybe I saw wrong.
...
We leave the Academy's main building and walk across a beautiful park to reach the Dormitories right behind those elegant small trees and fountains, the buildings have around 4 floors each and looks identical from the outside
-This one is the male dormitory, that is the female's one- says the man -The first three floors are for all the normal students, the last one is for the most outstanding ones. In that floor there's the Holy's room... Not that you'll ever set foot in it- he adds with a whisper
-What's a Holy's room?- yet he doesn't reply my question-Of you don't even know that, why have you even enrolled here?- I decide once again to let go and change topic -A anyway, my room...?-
He laughs a bit at my question -This is for regual students, your's is there- he rises an arm and points further away, into the wood -Uh?!- I look at the dense trees and seems to catch a glimpse of a building even if just barely -But that's so far away from the Academy...!- his stare turns colder -Take it or leave it-
I sigh and start walking -Nevermind, as long as I'm fast enough in the morning I can make it...- I murmur to myself and begin following him.