OSU College Visit

Monday Greg and I drove Leslie to Columbus to visit OSU. We had visited ATI (OSU campus in Wooster for Agriculture) earlier this summer and Leslie really liked the campus. It was out in the middle of no where, but the classes they had to offer was exactly what Leslie was looking for. She would attend ATI for her first 2 years and then transfer to the main campus in Columbus for her last 2 years. Since she would be spending 2 years at the main campus we felt she needed to visit to make sure this truly was the college of her choice.

I have to say the hour and 2o minute drive in comparison to the 3 hour drive to Wooster was a breeze. We arrived at OSU and sat through our informational meeting from 9-10:00am and then took a tour of the campus from 10-11:30am. It is a beautiful campus;the athletic building in itself is enough to blow you away. We didn't take pictures of the exercise facility because people were working out and as Leslie would say " that would be creepy", but we did get a picture of the pool.


This is a picture of the scarlet walkway between 2 buildings. It was pretty cool to walk through.

Few more pictures of the campus.....

The Oval

Brand new library

After the tour we ate lunch on High St. at Chipotle. Greg had the discussion with Leslie over lunch about how if she does attend OSU she is never, ever allowed to be on High St.

Following lunch was our appointment with the Environmental Science department. This was the real reason we were here, what can they offer Les academically in her field of interest. (well, we were there to see the horseshoe too...more of that later) :)

We were very impressed with the ES department. Leslie learned of honor and scholar programs within the department as well as opportunities to study abroad. Her eyes lit up when they talked about research in Iceland and Africa. They have many opportunities for hands on learning and the honors program allows her to do her own research when typically this is not allowed until graduate school. Needless to say she was swept off her feet academically. ATI lost a little luster after visiting the main campus.

After our scheduled appointments, we wanted to stroll around campus on our own leisurely. Our first stop was the horseshoe. We took a few pictures outside the gates....

It took us at least 10 minutes and several threats upon her life to get Leslie into this booth to take this picture.


We walked along and peered through the gates at the field.. we couldn't see much, but it was exciting to see the turf. I placed the camera through the gates, zoomed in and took this picture of the field...

I was pretty excited with my picture because I at least got the "s" in State. :) As we were walking along Greg found a gate which was unlocked, he unwrapped the chains and whispers to Les and I "Hey guys, come on... lets go in and take a peek". Les and I both look at him and said "No way, we are not gonna get in trouble". Greg said "Come on, we could get some sweet pictures". I handed him the camera and said " Go ahead, I don't want to get in trouble". I would rather be beaten than be yelled at, I don't like getting into trouble but I have to say I was extremely jealous of Greg the whole 10 minutes he was inside the stadium. Les and I both said we were jealous of Greg's brazenness.... we were wimps and we were missing out on something really cool because we were rule followers. (Les and I walked away from the stadium because if he DID get caught we didn't want them to know we were with him)

ANYWAY, Greg came back out and showed us all the wonderful pictures he took while inside the stadium. Seeing that he didn't get caught Les and I wished we would have gone in with him. We walked a little further around the stadium and found two gates standing wide open. Greg looked at Les and I and said "Lets go in... they are wide open". Les and I still didn't feel comfortable going in because clearly it was not open to the public. Two gentlemen were walking out of the stadium and they looked important so Greg asked them if we could go in to take some pictures. They were very nice and said "Sure, take as many as you would like, I sure would if I were you". Maybe they were just visiting too and we assumed they could grant permission to enter, either way SOMEONE told me I could go in so I didn't wait around to find out. Into the horseshoe we went.

It was so cool to be inside the stadium all alone. We were the only people in the entire place and we took MANY pictures.

O.H....

Just as we were getting ready to leave Greg said "Rach, go down onto the field and stand in the "O" so I can take your picture". I said "No way, are you crazy? We are pushing it to be inside the stadium, much less that ON the field". He said " Come on.... how about on the 50 yard line then?" I said "Nope". I knew for a fact if I were to walk down onto that field and touch it in anyway shape or form the loudest alarm known to man would go off and all of campus security would show up. That is my luck. Greg on the other hand could not leave without touching the field.....

He said he walked out there and his heel touched the field. Maybe I am rubbing off on him... he didn't walk out to the "O". :) Leslie was shaking in her boots and was already headed out of the stadium in case an alarm did go off. We then exited the stadium in a different place than we had entered and we couldn't find the one gate that was open. Les and I started to get nervous again, we still didn't feel we were completely legit. Greg said "Wouldn't it be sweet if we were locked in the Horseshoe?" Les and I looked at each other and then said to Greg "Ummmm NOOOOOOOO, we are not supposed to really be in here, not cool at all!"

Needless to say we finally found the open gate, no one saw us and no one got into trouble. It was an exciting adventure and it really was neat standing inside the stadium. If Les does decide to go to OSU she will always remember the day she and her parents sneaked into the Horseshoe during her college visit. :) Ahhhhh, the fun memories we leave behind with our children.

It was a great day spent with our daughter... we have another college to visit before the decision is final, but OSU is number one for now. Go Bucks!