Another college blog! This is probably the last one before Karin and I actually in college, which is slightly terrifying, but also really exciting. Because we had a four-day-weekend, the family of four was able to depart on Friday, but not before a stop in Sacramento for a nice lunch with dad’s colleagues. At 1:30, we finally departed on for the 9 hour drive to Hillsboro, Oregon, where our hotel waited. The drive was long, but it went by quickly with audiobooks and long conversations. The second we passed the “Welcome to Oregon” sign, the clouds came and rain started pelting down. It was almost comical how true the stereotype of rain in Oregon really was. Around 7 pm, we made it to Subway for dinner, with still 200 miles to go. Karin and I fell asleep in the back as I tried to get enough sleep to prepare for the test the next day. At 11 pm, we finally made it to our hotel. Stumbling into our rooms, we fell asleep quickly. The next morning, we left our rooms promptly at 7am, once again, on the go. We tried to find breakfast (which turned out to be Starbucks) and found our way to the college campus. The first view of it was beautiful, green, and bricks. Everything I had hoped for. Check-in for the Pacesetters event wasn’t until 8:30, so we had almost 45 minutes to explore campus. We made it to the football field (the edge of campus) in an easy 20 minute stroll. It’s a small campus.
At check-in, we were greeted by a group of Pacific University’s faculty and students who were running the event. After an official welcome from my to-be counselor and other faculty, I was excused to take the scholarship test. The test included questions from professors on campus from every major. I did not know a lot of the answers, but they were sure to inform me that I had still gained $2,000 per year for just being at the event. After I rejoined my family, we sat in the same auditorium to hear from currently university students with a text-in service to get questions from the crowd. The Q&A helped me get a really great view of how the students like the campus and professors and how they’re able to deal with stress from school and living on your own. After that, we had another Q&A with the natural sciences professors. It was really really satisfying to hear how much they cared for the students well being and their dedication to their job. After that, Karin was delighted to hear that it was lunch time. We had an insight on the food offered in the dining commons with a nacho bar, a pasta bar, and a sandwich station. We all enjoyed our food and then moved to the last part of the organized day: the resource fair. This lead us around to 5 different buildings that gave us information to all of the exciting things that the school had to offer. Karin and I separated from our parents for a little. In the library, my favorite part of any campus, I found out about new minors that I could choose from, including gender equity, where I could also apply for a job. It seemed really cool and I would definitely consider applying for an on campus job there. The library was beautiful and it seemed that around every corner there was another hook of the library. It was pretty cool. Next, we went to Strain hall where I learned more about the biology major on campus and I was able to see an entire ecosystem of moss in one glance through a microscope. Cascade hall held student activities and I’m super interested in a Voyage, which is a pre-orientation session where new Pacific students have a chance to meet their peers before they move in on a backpacking hike or a city trip. It’s a really good way to meet other students in a really relaxed way before you have to go to class. Then, we were able to see a dorm room. It was insanely spacious, and much bigger than Anna is living in right now (ha). There is plenty of room for two people and of course, plenty of storage space. Best part is, using the washer and dryer is included in the tuition cost! In our last stop, Karin and I got free water bottles and the parents got a reusable bag, sporting the Pacific University gear. After that, Karin and I lead ourselves through a campus wide scavenger hunt while Mom and Dad treated themselves to Starbucks coffee. It started to rain lightly and so we started to head towards Portland, the big city of Oregon. There were adorable shops everywhere and we went to the biggest new and used book store in the world, Powell’s Books. We spent a long time navigating through their 3 levels of multiple rooms of books. I bought a couple. 🙂
We had dinner at a pizza place called Pizza Scmizza. We ordered a large amount of food, but still ate all of it (as the Adriani’s do). By this point it was raining (of course) and Mom and Dad playfully fought over Dad’s coat, proving that chivalry isn’t completely dead.
We made it back to the hotel room and fell asleep quickly, before 9pm. We left the hotel at 7am again the next morning to make our way back to Rocklin. Another Starbucks breakfast, and we were on the road. It was another 10 hour drive, and this was the highlight.
Overall, I really really loved the school. It is small, but I know that it isn’t too small for me. The building are beautiful and i love the rain and gloom (I thrive, somehow). Everyone I met (future students and current students and staff) were happy and nice and they were certainly people I would love to be around. The professors held values that I knew I could stand behind. My favorite part of the small school is that my professors will know who I am and make sure that I am doing the best I can. I know at a large school that I will probably fall into the crowd and never have a chance to stand out. I’m almost certain that this is the school I will go to, no matter what the results the UC schools give me in March. I hope to make decisions and definitely post more to this blog so people know what’s happening in my life 🙂
and continued on our way, stomachs filled with the traditional American fast food: burgers. When we finally arrived at the hotel it was late and we were all exhausted, we trooped up to our rooms and had some microwave pizza and then we slept soundly till morning.
