Today someone mentioned visiting the Polytechnic in Montreal, and I had a flashback to a terrifying experience of getting lost in an empty and labyrinthine basement level there. By the time I found the exit, after about an hour of going in circles, I was as near panic mode as I've ever been.
I was there to attend an evening seminar given by Joshua Bengio or one of his students (can't remember, it was the winter of 1995), but left halfway through, not feeling well. Might have had a fever, which could partly explain my subsequent confusion. Anyway, got into an elevator by myseld and
Pushed the wrong button down without noticing. I was reading the paper that was being presented at the seminar, and was thus distracted when the doors opened and I walked out. Kept walking away from the elevators, then turned when I didn't see the exit, and it took me two or three more turns to
Realize something was wrong and this wasn't the ground floor I had entered earlier. So I start walking back to the elevators, take 2 or three more turns, no elevators. Just another hallway like the previous ones, similarly lit, like doors (all closed), like wall paint. Deserted. Then I noticed the
Strangest thing: the doors were unmarked, no signs nor numbers. I looked around for an exit sign, a floorplan sign, but there were none, zero. OK, this is weird, I thought, maybe they are renovating this floor (they were, it was later explained to me, and the elevator was not supposed to stop at
that floor). I started looking for the elevators or stairs more systematically. This floor was _large_. If you are familiar with Montreal you know how big the building of the Polytechnic is. After a while I felt I was going in circles. Dropped some pencils had in my pack to check, and after more
walking I found them again. So yeah, I was looping around without realizing it. All the the time I was calling "Hello oooooh? Anyone here?" to no avail. And then I started going irrational, my pace more frantic turning around hallways that looked all the same. Tried opening doors, but all were
locked. As i said, near panic, nearly sat down screaming, then I turned the umpteenth corner that looked like all the other corners and saw the blessed elevators at the end of this hallway. I ran out. Spent three more years living and studying in Montreal, never set foot in the Poly again.