0 0 10 The Michigan Daily Wednesday, November 18, 2009 Midnight in the Arb n the year or so that I've been at the University, people have often told me to check out Nichols Arboretum. I never found a chance to go and I didn't give it much thought. In fact, I used to think the Forest Hills Cemetery was part of the Arb, though techni- cally it isn't. While leaving the School of Public Health one day, on a whim, I decided to head over to the Arb. It was pretty late - about 10 p.m. - so I searched for a flashlight in my trunk before setting out. After failing to find it, I decided to go anyway. I parked (illegally) in the Oxford lot and crossed the street. As I approached the entrance to the Arb, I was confronted with a choice between two paths. I decided to go right and take a short counterclock- wise loop - with luck, I thought, I should be back at my starting point in slightly over amile. A few dazed- lookingstudents passed me on their way out and Ibegan to wonder what I was getting myself into. It was dark when I started my adventure but there was enough ambient light for me to follow the main trail. I perceived vague sounds of laughter coming from all several directions, and I imagined hordes of drunk people walking around aimlessly. I later concluded SCALPING From page 7B were generally around $150 the day before Illinois, with many above $200 and nearly all over $100. After the Purdue loss, most tickets were on sale for around $120, while bar- gain hunters could find tickets for under $100. On StubHub, the best deals for different sections followed the same pattern. With Michigan struggling to clinch a sixth win to secure a bowl game, many sellers were pessimis- tic before last week's game against No. 21 Wisconsin, fearingthat a loss would sap the Ohio State game of its importance and its resale value. "I'd been trying to get a higher price, but nobody was going for it," said an Engineering sophomore who asked to be anonymous. "Prices are. decreasing mostly because people don't want to spend that much since that the voices were coming from outside the Arb, and drunk or not, they posed little threat. Nevertheless, the oppressive darkness and solitude began to weigh on me. The Arb isn't meant to be an imposing place, but in the dead of a moonless night, it can be pretty scary. Soon the trail emerged from the woods to curve around an expansive yet desolate valley. Starting into that undefined nothingness, my eyes began to play tricks on me. I felt vulnerable and alone, and amorphous forms began to take shape all around me. Then I saw a large mass just 15 feet away that I knew couldn't have my imag- ination. It paused and looked me in the eye before flitting away. Yes, I had nearly walked into a deer. After my encounter with the deer, I quickly began to grow paranoid. I started thinking about what little I knew about deer and if they could attack a person. What would I do if the deer followed me? I checked my cell phone and saw my signal was only one barastrong. I imagined how my panicked call to DPS might go. "Hello Officer, I'm being followed by a deer in the Arb and I thi'nk it means to do me harm." I was ready to hit "send" when I decided totake a more mature approach. I made ita point to cough every few feet from we're doingso badly." She originally tried to sell her ticket for $200 during the opening weeks of the season, and had offers for $150 that she declined. Eventu- ally, she sold her ticket for $90 hours after the Wolverines'lopsided 45-24 loss to Wisconsin on Nov.14. Online asking prices for Ohio State took another tumble after last Saturday's loss. Newer posts on Craigslist and Facebook Market- place tended to ask for $100 or less, with some settling for as little as $45 or $50. Surely, those who planned to sell after the Notre Dame win but held out for a better price must be kicking themselves now. Another potential avenue for sellers is to look to Ohio State fans, whose morale is much higher after- beinggiven an automatic Rose Bowl bid and generally have more on the line to win the game. They are also more likely to have fewer connec- tions to Ann Arbor, which means then on to alert the local animals of being in such an isolated place, my presence. yet being surrounded by civiliza- Soon after, I began to notice an 'tion at the same time. At night, the unmistakable roar that gradually Arb was like a post-nuclear apoca- grew deafening. This is was to be lypse landscape from a science fic- the climax of my trip - reach- tion novel - that's how empty and ing the mighty Huron River. I had vacant it seemed at parts. Yet the walked along the Huron at night, lights of the campus were always mostly where it comes near Plym- in view. I had intended to loop around at the riverfront but I lost track of my location after walking about The surreal half a mile along the river. I ended 0 up, rather anticlimactically, in the eeriness of a Hospital parking lot. I noticed a helicopter about to take off at the solitary walk landing pad and I rushed up the stairs for a closer look. Watching through the Arb a helicopter take off from close distance is actually pretty excit- at night ing. The sound is loud and power- ful, almost like a plane. And then it just sits there with the horizontal and tail rotors whirring at extreme outh Road. But this was a different speeds. The actual moment when experience entirely. In the absence it lifted up in the air was almost of humanity, I was taken aback by unreal; it seemed impossible that the loudness and animation of the it could just hover there without rushing water. The beauty of the falling. It's quite a sight to watch it scene quickly transformed my ear- happen a few feet before your eyes. lier fear into awe. Dismayed atcthe unexciting pros- Campus and the city surround pect of walking down Observatory the Arb on the north and west, and to my car on Geddes, I decide to re- I used the brightly lit dormitories enter the Arb andtake another path. and hospital buildings as land- At this entrance, there were three marks. It's a surreal experience paths to choose from. I tried them less of an idea where to find the best wouldn't normally receive. . In bargain. Multiple Ohio State fans I 2006, the University brought in contacted for this story told me they $173,000 in validations. The 2007 would be willing to buy any ticket total was approximately $150,000, for $150 or under. But some Michi- and Bodnar estimates revenue will gan students are against selling to top $200,000 this year due to the anyone from Ohio State, essentially additional home game in the sched- viewing it as treason. ule. In previous years, validations "If I can't go to a game, I just were $25, but different price tiers want to give another Michigan stu- enforced this year vary depending dent the opportunity to experience on the importance of the game. For a Michigan football game in the the early non-conference games, Big House," Baydoun said. "It's not the price was $25; for Penn State about profit. You have to keep the and Purdue, $34; and for Notre Michigan section as the Michigan Dame and Ohio State, $40. section." The Ohio State game is a buyer's The Athletic Department market this year. And as the game also brings in revenues from the gets even closer, ticket prices are resale of tickets from students to liable to sink even lower. With non-students. The student ticket Michigan's prospects for a win this policy requires that a validation Saturday dim, it will be interesting sticker must be attached to any to see how many University stu- tickets being used by fans with- dents will forgo the potential profit out valid M-Cards, so each time to instead seize their chance to wit- a student sells to a non-student, ness The Game while they're still the University earns profits it students. out, turning back indecisively sev- eral times before deciding to return to the map at the entrance. Appar- ently, they all end up at the same point, with the leftmost being the main path and the rightmost being the most "rustic" one (according to the map's terminology). Deciding on the road less traveled, I come across a new set of fellow travelers after walking for a few minutes. We somberly nodded to each other in acknowledgement of that mystical brotherhood of midnight Arb trek- kers that is sure to exist. I took a right at the flashing blue emergency light near the river and followed the path slightly uphill toward the same valley I had passed earlier (which I now call- the Valley of the Deer). This time, thoggh, the mysterious dark- ness was a new friend and not an unknown foe. With each footstep, I perceived new forms of wildlife scurrying away - and I knew I was never alone. After leaving the val- ley, I soon found myself at the Ged- des entrance where my quest had started. Greeted by the sounds of rowdy partygoers at Oxford Hous- ing, I walk to my car and back into the real world. -Hamdan Azhar is a graduate student in the School of Public Health. BREWERS From page 5B His current project is alager, a noto- riously difficult style to make. "When it was fermenting, it had a very odd, strong smell," he said. "So there's a little worry about that, but I still have to wait another month until I know." The waiting game inherent to home brewing is likely the most rewarding and agonizing part of it all. A brewer often has to wait two monthsto sample the fruit - or fault ofhis orher laborand it's difficult to tell ahead of time how it'll turn out. But that doesn't seem to stop the University's many student brew- ers -nearly every contestantin The Michigan Daily's competition has another batch already on the way. -Daily Staff Writer Lila Kalick contributed to this report.