Saturday, October 29, 2005

Tour of USC

Today was a great, fun day! It started a bit rushed, but it is ending like a great day. I took the kids bowling this morning and, because of Halloween, it ended being a nice "party" with cosmic bowling (with the dark lights on) and the adults bowling free. I got some house shoes and a house ball and joined in — it was a lot of fun! I was fortunate that I helped the grandfather of one of the other kids get some confidence in his game (he had not bowled in over 20 years).

After lunch, Kayla and I headed to the University of South Carolina (USC) for an open house. Although we arrived there a little late, we actually received a lot of useful information. USC did a great job of putting this open house together! I was thoroughly impressed by the whole organization of the event, the way everyone treated you, and the absolutely wonderful performance by all students involved in running the event. Great job everyone!

We started by getting an orientation package and signing up for a campus tour. We then headed to get information on Kayla's target school. The staff member was extremely accurate and honest, almost sounding as if she was discouraging Kayla from attending USC, but actually being thorough and up front concerning Kayla's choices. I liked that type of attitude.

From there we attended an orientation session on admission requirements, followed by the tour of campus. Our guides were very knowledgable and helpful and did a fantastic job. The campus is beautiful, it has great technological advantages, and it is very safe. The various programs offered will blow your mind. I was particularly impressed by the main library (one of many) — it is huge! It has two floors above ground and five below ground! Compared to the library at my Alma Matter (the Rochester Institute of Technology) when I was there (back in 1982), the USC facility is fantastic! Mind you, I have not visited RIT since 1985, so I am sure things have changed a lot there. Nevertheless, being in the USC library made me want to go back to college! Maybe after the kids go through college and I retire I will go back and get a new degree — just for the heck of it!

After the tour we briefly visited the bookstore (the majority of which was consumed by souvenirs and not books) and headed back home.

I am thoroughly excited by the possibility of Kayla attending USC — I think I now know how my Dad felt as he and I walked through RIT in 1979. It is also very scary to think that somehow we will need to pay for this college experience. It has arrived so very quickly and yet it has been years in the making. I am sure we will find a solution to this situation as we do for anything else we face.

While we are trying to figure Kayla's college education, I guess we better begin saving for Noah's and MacKenzie's! :-)

2 comments:

Attentat Common said...

Your absolutely right about the Thomas Cooper Library, it's a beauty.

J said...

Thomas Cooper Library is great, and I find I spend more and more of my time there as I become immersed in my studies. I'm loving USC, and, assuming Kayla attends, I hope she enjoys it, too! Granted, my experience is as a grad student, but the students I advise seem to really enjoy the undergrad experience, too.

Another totally random thought: I recently heard from my mother that coffee drinkers who replace their coffee consumption with green tea consumption will commonly lose about ten pounds in a few weeks from the replacement. Just a thought . . .

Nice blog!
~JM