Where It All Goes Down
Athens/The Thinkery
Well, we don't get a lot of description of Athens, but we definitely get a pretty clear vibe about the Thinkery (where a lot of the action takes place). From the first moment Strepsiades shows up there asking them to teach him, we get the sense that the Thinkery is a weird place that basically traps its students indoors and makes them do all kinds of wackadoo things.
For example, when one of the pupils is showing Strepsiades around, they come across some students just staring at the ground with their bottoms in the air. Strepsiades is puzzled and says to the pupil, "They look like prisoners of war, the ones from Sparta. / But why are they peering at the ground like that?" (186-187). The pupil replies that they are "Investigating subterranean phenomena" (187).
As if this doesn't already sound silly enough, when Strepsiades asks why the students' bottoms need to be pointed toward the sky, the pupil responds, "Their assholes are learning astronomy on their own" (194). Um, okay. Because sure, that can happen. Then, the tour-guide pupil orders the other pupils inside because they aren't supposed to be "in the open air for any great length of time" (199).
The upshot of all this is that the Thinkery comes off as controlling and goofy in its instructional methods, seemingly valuing "intellectual" pursuits over, say, fresh air and exercise.