The Middle West (Notre Dame)

Yup, so this one's about Notre Dame. After the visit to Carleton, I NEEDED something big, something for me. Thus, heading to my dad's alma mater was what happened. Notre Dame has been ingrained in my memory since I was a young kid. My dad probably bleeds blue and gold. Naturally, this wasn't my first trip to the beautiful South Bend, IN, where the university is located. We rolled in off the Indiana Toll Road towards dinner time, driving through the well-kept neighborhoods surrounding the university, we finally arrived at our hotel, which was across the road from Notre Dame's grounds at St. Mary's University. Both St. Mary's and Notre Dame were founded by the Order of the Holy Cross. At one time, Notre Dame was all male, and St. Mary's all female. My dad, of course, began recollecting the 'mixers' between the two schools. Since my dads graduation, Notre Dame has become co-ed, while St. Mary's remains more of an all female junior college.


Anyways, we spent probably an hour sitting in the hotel room at the Inn at St. Mary's, before I went down to weightlift and thing about the college situation. We went to a delicious Italian dinner at a place called Parisi's. We got there a bit before closing, but the waitress still served us. Man, the place was decorated like the holy grail of Notre Dame football. Signed posters, footballs, helmets, you name it, were everywhere. A lifesize picture of coach Brian Kelly hung over the door to the kitchen. Looking out the window, you could see the sun setting, glistening off the top of the infamous Golden Dome. We drove by Notre Dame stadium on the way home, and it was picturesque. Row upon row of empty seats, shining in the moonlight. Everything about it screamed 'COME HERE.' And I hadn't even taken the tour yet. I don't know if any of you readers have watched Field of Dreams,  but it's one of my favorite movies. Driving by the stadium, I imagined ghostly appariations of Notre Dame greats running around on the field. I've always dreamed of going to football games every weekend, dressing up in school colors. The other athletic fields were pretty impressive as well; a 5,000 seat soccer stadium that looked like it could have been the football stadium at another school, 4 or 5 baseball fields, basketball gym, etc.

We woke up the next morning to go on the official tour. I kicked off the day by dropping toothpaste on my otherwise immaculate polo, which may or may not have impressed the admissions reps (most likely the latter). The tour, which was my second, and first officially (in which the admissions office is able to use the fact that you visited as a sign of 'potential interest'), was great. My tour guide was a Psychology major in the Pre-Med track with a Spanish minor. The labs were nearly brand new, and the lecture halls were both comfortable and modern. At some of the other places I went, namely, University of Pittsburgh, which I will discuss at a later date, the lecture halls were like some kind of weird kindergarten classroom, with plastic seats and writing stands. Honestly, as a prospective college student, nothing is more welcoming than a cozy lecture chair. One of the more interesting features of Notre Dame is the 14 story Hesburgh Library, named after one of the most revered university presidents, Father Hesburgh. The library gets progressively quieter, each level you go down. On the side, and visible from the stadium is a mural known as "Touchdown Jesus."

I should mention that, being Catholic, I definitely go to my fair share of Catholic college visits, Notre Dame being perhaps the most prestigious Catholic university in the country. If you're not really into the religious aspect, I guess it's kind of hard to avoid at Notre Dame. Religious presence in the form of Christianity is definitely prevalent on campus (grotto to the Virgin Mary, multiple churches, religious symbolism). A lot of the administration is affiliated with the Church, and a number of brothers live on campus. On the other hand, a lot of Notre Dame isn't pertaining to religion.

One of the things that impressed me the most was the housing arrangement and the overall fitness of the student population. There are 29 single sex housing dorms on campus, which become your teams for intramural sports, and closest friends, hopefully. My dad lived in Lyon Hall when he was there. When you're not in your dorms, you can gorge yourself at the South Dining Hall, perhaps the best campus food eatery I've ever experienced. There was everything from pasta, fruit, and Chinese food to self-serve ice cream and fudge. It's safe to say I stuffed myself with food, especially the absolutely fantastic marinara rotini. Something to definitely take note of in a college or university is the food selection. It'll be the difference between healthy habits after college and gaining weight astronomically.

Literally everyone I saw on the ND campus was in shape. And that's something that's really important to me. Healthy students produce good scores, a good environment for learning, and staying in shape. Notre Dame has multiple gyms for students (make sure when you visit campuses that the students' athletic facilities are separate from the collegiate athletics training facilities), but my favorite gym at Notre Dame is the Rockne, also known as "The Rock." My dad used to work out there when he was a student. Named after perhaps the winningest in ND football history, the Rock is like Kenney with a $5 million reno. Somehow, it manages to capture the old legacy and the new, state of the art equipment perfectly.

Aside from the dorms and food, the other parts of campus were incredibly pretty. Notre Dame's campus is nestled near two lakes, St. Joseph's and St. Mary's. It was probably around 80 degrees when we were visiting, but didn't feel overly hot. One of the things that I'm looking for in a college, no matter how insignificant it may seem, is similar seasons to here in Champaign, which I've become accustomed to. Notre Dame has pretty intense winters, due to the fact that it's situated in the Lake Michigan Snow Belt.

Yeah, perhaps I'm a little bit biased, but Notre Dame was everything I expected and more...next week, I'll talk about my visit to Penn, my first experience with the notorious Ivy League.