Rankings...or not...

Okay, so Austin is DONE with his ranking system. He said he can't rank anymore, but the schools he likes (in no particular order except for alphabetical) are as follows: Bucknell, Dickinson, Emory, Franklin & Marshall, Gettysburg and USC. He also likes Allegheny but they're not in that first group. He still has Wake Forest and Boston College, but readers, we don't know if we'll get there by the end of summer. Oh, and I think he may look at Colgate University in upstate New York.

Our guest blogger has taken a hiatus, so no such luck....for NOW anyway! He may be available later, so STAY TUNED.....

LUSH Emory

Not only is Austin glad to be done with the last leg of the trip, so am I! Readers, my advice to you is that 10 days is too long of a college search trip. You want to maximize the most of your time while back here, but it becomes pretty grueling, both physically and mentally. I know, I know…enough of the advice and seriousness -- you don't care about us, you want to hear about Emory!

Emory is kind of the best of both worlds for Austin. It's a small enough campus, undergraduate-wise, where you don't feel like a number, but it's a big enough campus where not everybody knows your business. The Greek system here is strong, the fraternity houses are really nice (they have that same weird brothel law here in Georgia as well when it comes to the sororities) and the fraternities have MAID SERVICE! Can you imagine a maid going into the Sigma Chi house at USC? Despite the economy, she'd probably quit her job right there on the spot! The school is building all of these really nice, brand new freshman dorms for 2010, and quite frankly, all of the dorms are pretty lush for dorms. Apparently, during the Atlanta Summer Olympics, Emory housed a lot of the athletes so their rooms had to be up-to-snuff. All rooms are air-conditioned and even the older rooms are pretty sweet.

Want to work out? The student gym is state-of-the-art…but you know what readers? Nowadays, all schools have state-of-the-art gyms. I don't think the student gym is a selling point anymore (I remember when I first saw the gym at SMU I was floored, but now I know that the reality is they all have these to-die-for gyms.) If the school you're looking at DOESN'T have a state-of-the-art-gym, there's an issue. Even UCLA has a splendid gym (heh-heh…sorry, just had to put that in there…)

They have an unofficial mascot names Dooley, who is a skeleton (okay, LOVE that!) Dooley has bodyguards and stop class during "Dooley's Week," merely by walking into a classroom and squirting a professor with a squirt gun.

Oh, academics? Oh, yes, right…Emory is pretty well respected and up there. Not an Ivy, of course, but there are kids looking at Ivies who are also looking at Emory. Funny story -- we were put in the same tour group as Nancy Greene's sister's sister-in-law and her daughter from Harvard-Westlake. We started playing the who-do-you-know game and it turns out they know and are sort of related to my (most awesome) next-door-neighbors! And she was on her way to Duke, but had looked at Dartmouth, Amherst, etc. (btw she hated Amherst). So, I only bring that up because you can see there are many types of kids looking at Emory. Will Austin apply here? Absolutely. Is it his first choice? Can't say anymore. At this point, he doesn't have a first choice, which worries him, as he doesn't have an early decision choice because he likes SO many of them! And this, "I don't know what kind of students go there" syndrome seems to be a big issue with him. So what does that mean? More road trips in the fall! Scott, get your suitcase ready because you're going on a road-trip baby!

Feelin' hot, hot HOT part 2

Sorry readers...this got posted before it was complete...that happens when the internet goes down!

Whew doggies...dang, it is HOT here in the Big Easy. Even though it's a balmy 94 degrees, the newscasters here say it feels like, "110." I feel like the Wicked Witch of the West because I am definitely melting. Tell, me why did I bother to blow dry my hair this morning--what was the point of that when it just got wet while outside? You know it's gonna be bad when the windows are sweating and your sunglasses fog up everytime you breathe out. Because, you know, I'm a VAL, I can take the heat, but Austin....whoo, talk about cranky! And our tour guide Benjamin, bless his little effeminate soul, kept stopping in the sunny, non-shady areas to talk. Who knows, maybe he was trying to get a tan while he worked (because Lord knows he could've used one!) Okay, sorry, the heat apparently has made mean-spirited as well -- sorry Benjamin!

Back to the task at hand -- Tulane. Austin felt that the school was still recovering from Katrina and still really didn't have their ducks in a row. Even though there were some very pretty buildings, they seemed somehow disconnected. There was not a "passion" feeling at the school -- maybe it was because there were no students there, or maybe it was the heat, or maybe it was the wave of crime they've been experiencing there, who knows? All I know is I liked it because I didn't feel fat there! Oh, wait, that has nothing to do with Tulane... Anyway, Austin said he didn't want to apply there. "But Austin," I remarked, "this is a safety school for you!" Come to think of it, it's really not a safety if you have no intention of ever going there, right?

Well, readers, we have a treat! My friend has taken his son a a trip through the Ivies this last week and he is going to be a guest blogger! I don't want to mention his name because I don't want to out him (no, not THAT way!) In case he doesn't get a chance to blog, I don't want to put any pressure on him (TR -- no pressure, got that?!) But that will just give us another Californian perspective on Eastern schools.

Tomorrow, Emory.....

Yay for us -- It's Biker Week in Gettysburg

Okay, before I start on Gettysburg College, let me just say that we are in possibly the noisiest city in all of America! It's Biker Week here -- Harleys abound! I called the front desk and asked them approximately how many motorcyles are in town. I was guessing 1,000 maybe even as high as 2,000 -- NOOOOO -- 15,000! Unfortunately for us, our hotel window faces the main street they drive down ~ 15,000 motorcyles driving by my window at night. Oh well, sleep is overrated anyway. We're leaving tomorrow and are bummed because we're going to miss the Tattoo Contest on Friday, not to mention the band Molly Hatchett, the Burn Out Pit contest, "Midget" wrestling (not my verbage) and the Parade of Chrome. **sigh** Timing is everything.

Gettysburg College...I am going to sound like a broken record, but it's beautiful, has fantastic first year seminars, amazing fraternity houses (better than ol' Jed Clampett's digs!), etc. Austin loves all of these schools. I think one of the determining factors for him will be the actual student body. He needs to go to schools where he's applied and has been accepted to, then visit them one last time while they're in session. He did say he loved the openness of Gettysburg. There is a lot of green grass between buildings and a lot of open space. What do you expect when you have battlefields all around you? He actually likes the history of the buildings -- he told me he is usually "campus neutral" but he was actually liking the buildings.

The town of Gettysburg is a lot bigger than you would think. There are a TON of tourists here--who knew it was such a vacation destination? (Probably everyone but me!) It looks like there are a lot of cute little shops along all of the streets...if you like pottery from around the world or civil war relics. Nonetheless, there is a nice feel to the place. And you can't beat the history, that's for sure.

Tomorrow we drive to Baltimore and catch a plane to New Orleans, where it is currently 97 degrees and probably 100% humidity. This should be interesting -- I can tolerate the heat (come on, I'm a Val! Valley Girl for those of you not familiar with the LA lingo) but I'm not so sure my little friend here can. We shall see.

No math at Dickinson

Austin liked this place. He liked the curriculum (or lack thereof -- no math classes--score!) He liked the fact they take ownership of everything -- from their study abroad programs to their sustainability, the folks at Dickinson like to take control of all they're involved in. They seem to be very "green" (SUCH a California buzz-word!) and are proud to show it (as they should be!)

Did I mention that so many of these colleges are not requiring the SAT or ACT for admission? Dang. Could've saved a lot of money and gone to Europe instead. Oh well.

The town of Carlisle, PA is not much to write home about. Restaurants? A few. Shopping? Ouch -- I think NOT. Tory Burch fans stay away (how shallow can I get? Pretty shallow, apparently!) Okay, as I'm writing this, the people around me are talking about Holocaust Museums and Course Curriculum -- and I'm talking about Tory Burch. Do they offer Shallow 101 at any of these schools?

Oh, we did have one disturbing incident here. I thought we were in the liberal North but apparently some Confederates snuck in! Austin and I were taking photos in front of some buildings at Dickinson, and an SUV with 2 boys drove by and yelled, "Better put that in the photo album with his baby pictures." What nice boys! Austin yells back, "Yeah!" and then they reply back, "Queer!" What?!?!? QUEER? Are you SERIOUS?!??! Who says that? Could you even IMAGINE that happening in where we live? (Well, maybe in the 909!) If that's the local flavor here, I don't want any part of it. But I guess turquoise Volcom shorts and v-neck t-shirt style hasn't reached this part of the keystone state. Too bad for them.

F & M

Guess what that stands for? Hint: it's not a bank and it's not a department store. Stands for fun and magnificent! No really, it stands for Franklin and Marshall (College). It's a quaint and beautiful liberal arts college in the heart of Lancaster, PA (pronounced LAINKester -- don't say Lancaster which we did all day!) There was not one thing about this school that Austin did not like -- from the AMAZING Olympic-sized brand new swimming pool (and you all know how much we like swimming pools!) to the nice-sized all-air-conditioned dorm rooms, to the interesting course work and finally to the warm, festive and funny students and employees. The buildings are so old and historic, but when you walk inside, you're transferred to the new and modern insides! One very cool fun fact about F & M is that they have a whole fleet of bikes that you can check out for free, and ride anywhere you want. The bikes are blue and white and say, "Franklin and Marshall" on them -- so fun! The whole entire campus is wi-fi with outlets underneath the trees!

And contrary to popular belief, Lancaster is not in the heart of Amish Country -- Amish Country is still a good 20 minutes away (and I know most of you don't have ANY belief about Lancaster because you have no idea WHERE Lancaster even is -- except for Haley's mom, Kim [see Bucknell photo below]). Anyway, much to Austin's and my surprise, Lancaster is a surprisingly hip, artsy mini-city, with lots of fun boutiques, art galleries and even some head shops (oh….are they still called that? In Amsterdam they're called Smart Shops….makes you wonder…..) The mini-city is quite diverse, and I only wish we had had more time to explore it.

Well, if Austin gets accepted to Franklin and Marshall, we will be back for a longer period of time to explore. Did I mention he's definitely going to apply there? And a couple of you have asked that Austin continue his ratings, however we are going to have to wait for the end of the trip before we complete our ratings. In fact, he's going to be adjusting ALL of his ratings, starting at Allegheny below (for those of you who are new to the blog, make sure you scroll down to the bottom of the page and start at the beginning!)

Amish sightings! Everywhere! Babs at Franklin and Marshall directed us to the heart of Amish country, and let me tell you, it did not disappoint! On more than one occasion, we got stuck on the road behind a horse and buggy with a cute Amish family inside. We stopped roadside at an Amish house for homemade root beer and homemade potato chips (I know, good-bye diet, hello poundage!) Babs also talked us into trying these things called Whoopie Pies -- like an ice cream sandwich, but the middle isn't ice cream and it isn't cold (not like an ice-cream sandwich at all, I guess!) Anyway, it comes in all sorts of flavors and the Amish women make them -- they're very yummy and rich, and I got to get acquainted with my old friend poundage again!

Okay, tomorrow we are off to Dickinson College. We don't know what to expect anymore -- we read the Fiske and Princeton Review books on colleges, and sometimes they seem to be correct, and other times they seem to be completely out-of-sync. My advice (yeah, in my INFINITE wisdom) is to take them with a grain-of-salt. Nothing beats the on-campus experience.

Lafayette -- Not feelin' the love

McFly...Helllooo, McFly! Is that where we first got that "Helllllooooo..." saying? Before we get to the actual college, let me just say that the town of Easton, PA looks just like where Marty grew up in Back to the Future...with the clock tower and all! Town square, ice cream parlor, hot dog stand...I only wish I had spent 4th of July here!

That aside, Lafayette College is "pretty" and "compact" with a lot of engineering students (why in the heck do we always get the college tour with the engineering students?) It's in the Patriot League with Bucknell, Colgate, Lehigh (their arch-rival enemy and Austin's least favorite school he has seen), Holy Cross to name a few (who can remember all of these small liberal-arts colleges? It's not like it's the PAC-10! )

Remember during sorority rush, a girl would come through who was nice, but....? We called those girls NGBs -- nice girl but... Lafayette is, so far, the NGB of our college search. Yeah, it's pretty (what isn't around here?), but so was the NGB. Yeah, it's friendly, but the NGB was friendly, too. Something is just missing -- personality maybe?

Oh, one memorable moment...we drive into Easton last night, get out of the car, and Austin yells, "Mom, there's all of these bugs and they're FLASHING!" Poor lad, he had never seen a fire fly before. Well, truth be told, neither had I and we thought they were quite enchanting...like sparkling Christmas lights but in gut-wrenching heat....

Let me tell you, Pennsylvania looks A LOT different in the summer than in the early spring! Heat and humidity are a given, but that doesn't take away from the beauty of this keystone state. I've always wondered why it's called the keystone state. In the vote for independence, nine delegates to the Continental Congress were from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. It's said that the Pennsylvania delegation was split; four for independence and four against. The deciding vote fell to John Morton.... who voted for independence. Pennsylvania's vote for independence was noted as the keystone vote; the supporting vote for a new government. And that's the only history lesson you're going to get on this blog!

Okay, let's get down to the nitty-gritty: Amish sightings. We saw two Amish women yesterday and can't wait to go to Amish country tomorrow to take secret photos of the Amish people (they don't like you to take photos of them, so Austin and I have set up a secret way to do so.)

Wait, isn't this a college-tour blog, not a travel blog? Sorry, the two go hand-in-hand, and when there's not a lot to talk about concerning the college, I tend to go off on tangents....Tomorrow we go to Franklin and Marshall College...talk then....