May 4, 2007 12:46 PM
Kalamazoo!
"...I've got a gal, in Kalamazoo..."
When I first started looking at Colleges, my mother sang that song to me (off of my brother's Glenn Miller Orchestra CD), and jeered that she'd never send me to a school named "Kalamazoo". A year later, she sent a deposit for the Fall of 2007 to Kalamazoo College, Michigan.
I'd never been to Michigan before Thursday, two weeks ago, but after spending a day with students and faculty, I realized that my college woes were over, and I could safely choose Kzoo. The school is not very well known, apart from those in the Midwest, but the students there are academically focused (the classroom buildings were buzzing with activity), they liked to be outside (they were playing Ultimate Frisbee on the quad), they liked to study abroad (nearly 90% of students studied abroad their junior year-my tour guide just arrived from China), and everyone in the Midwest is just so darn friendly. I felt like I finally found my happy-people; everyone waved and sparked jovial conversations about the weather, our funny rental car, or the best place in town to eat a cheesecake.
Perhaps my college search was not too specific, all I truly needed in the end was a friendly group of people that liked to study, play Ultimate, and go abroad (and know a thing or two about cheesecake).
Posted by at May 4, 2007 12:46 PM