College Visits, Days 3 and 4

This is looking up at a sculpture in one of the classroom buildings at Iowa state.
There is evidently a law in Iowa that all updated buildings need to
install public art.

On Monday, we got up early; luckily the breakfast at the hotel starts at 6:00, because we needed to be on our way by 6:30.  Our hotel seems to be from the 1950s and has been updated.

This is outside the breakfast room of the hotel.

The hotel lobby

This is the inside of the breakfast room.

As we drove, it began to rain, then eventually, it was a downpour.  Wipers on high, trying to see the white lines so that I could stay in my lane, not able to see anything else.  It was almost bad enough to pull off the road.

Because of that, we arrived in Ames half an hour late.  We followed the directions, then figured out how to get to the parking ramp we needed to park in.  Luckily we had thought to bring umbrellas and were wearing sweatshirts.  Since we were late, we missed the displays of the different programs and the speaker had just begun.  We checked in, then when they told us to sit in the auditorium, I mentioned that I had been told to go to the pre-veterinary table to get our parking pass for the vet school tour that afternoon (it's away from the main campus).  One of the staff helped me find the table and we got there just as the professors had packed up and were leaving.  We got our parking pass and they promised to get us directions when we went to the program presentation.  Then came the sitting and listening to the welcome and student panel.  Then on to our program presentation.  We were led to a building on the other side of campus (in the rain) to hear about the animal sciences program.  Then to lunch, a campus tour, a view of a dorm room, then we went back to our car because Shelby's socks, shoes, and jeans were soaked.  My sweatshirt was soaked.  So she changed in the car and we drove to the veterinary school.  

The campanile.

A classroom building

Mechanical engineering and design program classroom buildings.

The computer sciences and an engineering building that were
designed to look like the Titanic (?).  The skyway between
the buildings is supposedly where the ship cracked.

This quote is found in the original (old) section of the library.

An original men's dorm that is now offices.  (It originally had a
pool in the basement).  

The veterinary school contains classrooms, an animal hospital, and the "trailerhood,"a trailer park where the grad students live to be close to the hospital, since the seniors are often on 24 hour call (it's a 5 minute walk from the hospital).  A professor spoke to us for 40 minutes and made veterinary school sound horrible!  Then we went on a tour and met professors who were so excited about being vets and showing students around and teaching them, that veterinary school started sounding positive again!

After spending the day at Coe in a very nurturing and personalized environment, Iowa State felt very impersonal.  It feels a bit like the U of M.  Coe seems to give you a lot of assistance to get what you need, while Iowa state expects you to take care of it yourself.  Just a difference of feeling.

After that, we met Shelby's friend, Adrian, that attends Iowa State and took him out to dinner.  I told him to choose where we went since he knows the area.  He chose a local pizzeria.  So we ate and talked, then we drove him to his night class, where he had a test.  Then we set out to drive to Minnesota Lake, where my mother-in-law lives, with whom we were spending the night.  The rain had ended during the vet school tour, but it was very windy, so we had to drive more slowly than I normally would.  We called her en route to let her know we'd be late.  Then after a late dessert, we stayed up late talking and went to bed.  

Tuesday morning, we slept in until 9:30, had a small breakfast, played dominoes, ate lunch, and finished our dominoes game before leaving around 3:45.  We arrived home to share our adventures and have dinner.  Glad to be home, less so to go back to school/work tomorrow!

College Visits, Days 1 and 2

Shelby and I traveled from Minneapolis to Iowa yesterday, February 18.  We left around 12:30, after sleeping in.  It was a long drive, but sunny and warm, so the 4 1/2 hours went just fine.  We checked into our hotel last night.  It seems like an updated 1950s hotel.  It is nice, but nothing special.  We walked down the road later to a Perkins for dinner.   After dinner, we talked, then played Crazy 8s for awhile before falling asleep.



This morning we were up and had breakfast before leaving.  They advertised a deluxe, hot breakfast.  When we walked in, I saw a waffle machine and felt let down, but then saw the buffet.  They had scrambled eggs, hash browns, sausage, bacon, biscuits, and gravy as well as the usual waffle maker, cereals, and breads.  They had nice glass glasses for milk and juice and cleared the tables when you were done.  Good breakfast, then out the door just after 8:00.

At Coe, walking from the parking lot.

We drove to Coe (about 10 minutes away) and parked.  Coe is a small college, about 1400 students.  It has it's own grassy campus and updated classic buildings between downtown Cedar Rapids and the freeway.  It has an amazing number of programs and majors for such a small college.  100% of students have an internship or research experience before graduation.  They seem to have a strong medical field--nursing, pre-med and pre-vet.  Every student is assigned to someone to make sure that they adjust well, make friends, and get involved.  All students are expected to live on campus all four years.  They even have upper-classmen apartments on campus and the fraternities/sororities are located in parts of dorms.  We listened to speakers and walked around.  Shelby flat-out refused to get her picture taken with the mascot walking around (the Kohawk). We ate in the dining hall and were constantly approached by people all day to see if we needed anything.   Shelby talked to the pre-vet, theater, and music people.  The theater rep said that they would love to have her do work-study in technical theater (since she has so much high school experience) and wrote down her name so that they could flag her work/study application.   She auditioned with her clarinet for a possible music scholarship.  All of the students that spoke talked about the close relationship students and faculty have.  It seems like a big extended family, very nurturing and close.  We visit Iowa State tomorrow.  We had an unofficial tour of the St. Paul campus of the U of M last spring (the student view) with a more official reception next month.  Shelby has a lot of thinking to do and feels a lot of anxiety about it.

Shelby warming up for her audition.  She is saying,
"you're really going to take this picture?"

After her audition, I wanted to walk around campus a bit, get a better feel and some more photos, but Shelby was tired out and we went back to the hotel to rest.  Today was a beautiful day--70 degrees (F) and sunny!  I wore sandals and a skirt (without leggings) for the first time since last October!

Shelby with the library in the background.

One of the dorms

The music building on the left and a classroom building on the right.

The student apartment buildings.