Mason Pond Experience

It was that Wednesday evening after class around 8:30pm that I decided to sit down and do nothing but listen to the sounds that surrounded me. After having dinner with a couple of my friends, I was walking to my car and I found the perfect spot for my listening experience, Mason Pond. I located myself in one of the benches around the pond and decided to close my eyes and listen.
All I could hear at first were the loud and obvious noises like engines rumbling, ,and the brakes of stopping cars yielding for pedestrians. Another obvious noise was the water from the fountain as it went up in the air and hit back down with a splash. I could also hear the footsteps of people crossing the bridge. It wasn’t until after while that I started hearing more discrete noises. Even though we all know that there are animals in the bushes, one never really sits down to listen to them in their natural habitat. I could hear the squirrels walking and running up and down from the trees, almost sounding like I was at the playground listening to kids play.
Another discrete sound was the chatter of people as they crossed the bridge. I could not clearly hear what they were saying, or quote any particular conversation, because they went by me rather fast. However I could tell whether they were arguing or having a good time, because of their clear laughter or shouting. The hour was almost up and as I was gathering my things to head home, when I heard sirens, which always gives me the chills, because they never bring good news, but to me it was a sign for me to stop. After collecting all the information for my paper, I realized two things, first that I cannot sit for an hour and do nothing but listen, with out a lot of effort. Second that we don’t really pay attention to the sounds around us, which many times tell us more information then our visuals, and we should use that more often.