A Weekend at Texas A&M on Tour

My son graduates from high school in May, so we are on the hunt for colleges. This means the “college tour” exercise! Since we live in Texas, we wanted to keep the Texas schools in play as an option for him.

He’s somewhat ambivalent about staying in Texas. He has aspirations of being states away from us…

I did the same thing when I was looking for colleges – I swore I was going far, far away – but I ended up only 90 minutes away from my folks. In the town where they both grew up… I really got away, huh? LOL

So, we scheduled a college tour on Friday and got tickets for the Alabama vs. Texas A&M football game (Roll Tide) on Saturday. And on top of it, I just found out my kids are out of school on both Friday and Monday.

I wanted to create a post about our weekend. Perfect for Blogtober!

Friday Tour in College Station

Trying to get out of town was a challenge. The 17-year-old knew “what he was doing” but ended up washing clothes on Friday morning instead of packing! So, we had to wait for him.

Then, it started raining. And a cold front came through with the temp dropping 20ish degrees. We live in southern Texas – that type of weather catches us by surprise! We had to reconsider our wardrobe choices.

By the time we got in the car, it was after 10 (planned departure time: between 8 and 8:30 am). There was still plenty of time to get College Station since the tour started at 1 pm, but the trip was off to a difficult start.

Arrival on Campus

My son has been on several college tours so far. However, this was the first college tour that we have been on without sunshine. It was cold (in the 40s and rainy!), I had never considered how the weather influences your opinion of a school. It probably will be better tomorrow when the sun is out!

There was a lot of brown – the buildings use the same brown brick. Also, the numerous cadets on campus wear brown as well. It’s a prominent color.

I didn’t take any pics on Friday, but I did on Saturday when the weather was better.

Memorial Student Center

Once we arrived on campus, we made our way to the Memorial Student Center – the hub of campus. The campus was quieter than expected – probably because there was a cold wind blowing everywhere.

The customary greeting on campus is “Howdy!”  Everyone uses it. It’s even on the wall.

There was a 45 minutes overview of the admissions and financial aid process. Never fun. Numbers that make you want to blackout – not as bad as some of the other numbers we heard (since it’s an in-state school) but still.  It was pretty boilerplate for a campus visit.

After the overview, we had one hour to waste until the official tour. We bought some snacks and settled in for the wait.

I noticed that another earlier tour was just gearing up and we asked if he could be bumped up. Hooray – it meant we could get to the hotel quicker!

A Rainy (Amd Repeat) Campus Tour

I couldn’t go on the tour since my daughter was with me. She doesn’t do well with a lot of walking (which will come up again on Saturday). AND it was cold and rainy outside. My son went alone while we waited at the welcome desk.

When he came back, he said he couldn’t pay proper attention because they kept stopping and standing outside in the wind and rain. Wasn’t the surroundings for a tour.

The one place that he mentioned with the Albritton Bell Tower,

Ironically, he remembered the Bell Tower because of the Texas replica of the Liberty Bell that the tour guide had mentioned. However, that bell is not located in the Bell Tower – it’s in the Academic Building! The guide didn’t say it was in the Bell Tower but that’s what my son associated it with. It was cold and rainy – what can I say?

When I asked him a few more questions, he reminded me that he had actually been on this tour before as a 5^th grader and an 8^th grader through his respective schools. He didn’t remind me until we were there. Oh well. There’s a game on Saturday. That’s my real reason for going to College Station – LOL.

Dinner Shenanigans

As always, dinner on the go was dramatic. My husband was heading to College Station as well, so I had to make sure there was something in the hotel room for him to eat.

I grabbed dinner at Schlotzsky’s and Cane’s. I provided choices, right? The 17-year-old wasn’t impressed. I can’t wait until he has to make all of these decisions himself! And pay for them!

Once my husband got there, things livened up. The two father and son pair like to talk – they talk sports, school, history, and then talk trash too. It’s fun to listen to them go.

Saturday: Game Day!

Alabama vs. Texas A&M…

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If you couldn’t tell by now, I received my MBA from the University of Alabama. My husband who has more than one degree to his name (none from Texas A&M) spent a semester at A&M during his first job out of college. He considers A&M one of his schools.

Division in the Household!

I wore Alabama gear (and an AKA jacket) and dressed Kendall in an Alabama shirt. Thomas had on an A&M shirt.

He even posted a snarky comment on Facebook about the Tide not rolling.

There was a fly-over at the beginning of the game. I caught the helicopters on their way out.

There were over 106,000 people at this game. Kyle Field is a HUGE stadium. On top of that, Texas A&M put the Alabama fans high in the sky!

Never fear – Alabama won as expected. The Alabama fans were surrounded by Aggies — there was some trash talking between the two factions, It was good-natured of course!

Once Alabama blocked a punt for a touchdown to take the score to 47-20, the dear husband was ready to leave.  I had warned him…LOL

Unfortunately, everyone decided to leave at the same time. There were no Lyft or Uber drivers available within a reasonable amount of time. We decided to walk back to the hotel 1.6 miles away.

Not a bad walk for 3 of the members of my family. It was for my daughter.

It took a long time…she had to rest frequently.

While we had the hotel room for another night, we all decided to leave. Both my hubby and my son were flying to North Carolina early Sunday morning for his tour at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

I’m tired. I remember when my parents took me on college tours. I totally appreciate that now! LOL

Blogtober Day 14

Loving Life — The Reboot!

Dominique