Excited/Campus Tour

Joel is in the midst of his orientation this week. Yesterday, he met the members of his team for the summer. Today they're doing some sort of service project, I believe. Tomorrow night is bowling night for the MBA students and their families, complete with free beer (yee haw!). And Friday. . .well, Friday is going to be awesome.

We get to go to inside the stadium and listen to Digger Phelps talk to us. I don't know what he's going to talk about, but I'm sure it will be entertaining. Also, it will be mighty fun to actually be able to run around on the football field. If I forget my camera that day, I just know I'll forever be in the depths of despair (name that movie).

I suppose now is as good a time as any to show some of what campus looks like. If only I was more than an amateur photographer! My pictures don't really do it justice.

First, the walk to campus:

I was sad to leave Reston and all the trees, but then I got a good look at this:

After you come through here, you walk into a huge field of beautiful, green, fluffy-topped, waving grass. When I see it, I think of two things: 1) a frolicking Bambi, and 2) snakes. The second is the reason I will never set a toenail in that field, no matter how beautiful it is. If my kids run in there, I'm going home. They're on their own.

Let's see. Then you get to walk past this cute, well-kept little cemetery. I haven't gone to see who's in here or how old the graves are yet, but it is on my to-do list.

THEN, you veer left to go through yet another wooded path.

This ends up going between two beautiful tree-lined lakes. I was too caught up in the gloriousness of it all to take a picture (or, you know, I just forgot.)

Then you pass the grotto with all the lit candles, and you come up on the golden dome and the Basilica of the Sacred Heart. Just remember the amateur photography disclaimer, and realize that they are more impressive than they look here.

(What it looks like from elsewhere on campus. That other tower is the steeple to the Basilica)


Back of the Basilica. This is when I fell in love with the architecture of the buildings here. Looking at this made me feel I was somewhere far, far away from northern Indiana.

Side entrance, minus the top.

Then, to get to Joel's building, you have to walk across campus toward th e stadium. On the way, you see a whole bunch of beautiful buildings.

I think the one on the right is actually a dormitory. Many of the dormitories have banners that say something like "Dillon Hall: The strongest, the smartest, and the humblest since 1931." No joke.


Doesn't this remind you of a castle?




Most of the buildings have stone figures toward the top, which I believe are various Saints (correct me if I'm wrong).


(hall of engineering, it says)

And the stonework on these buildings is amazing, down to the smallest detail.






When you get to the stadium, you know you're almost to Joel's building, which is right across from it. No, I didn't get a picture, though it does have some fun features.



I did think this is cool, though. It is a very old trading post from the New York Stock Exchange. Aren't those fold-down seats fun? This was sitting in the atrium of Joel's building.

Aaaand. . .that's about it. There are some really interesting buildings I didn't take pictures of, but I figure that no one really cares that much. This is a beautiful campus, and it is fun to be able to explore it a little.