Happy spring! Or, at least, happy supposed spring — as I’m writing this, it’s the last day of break and I’m back home in Minneapolis where it is currently 29 degrees and snowing (yes, really…). Yet despite the wintery slush, this kind of weather makes me nostalgic for Minnesota — even if I’m already there — and the requisite long wait for actual spring. It’s a good thing too, because this was what Oberlin was like the first time I visited in March 2022.
My mom and I flew in to Cleveland and picked up a rental car, then drove down to a neighboring town and dropped off our stuff at the hotel we were staying at. I don’t remember where (if?) we ended up getting dinner or even what time we got in, but I do remember walking around campus at around sundown. It was snowing (quelle surprise…), and yet despite — or perhaps because of — the weather I felt an incredible sense of well being as we made our way from Mudd and Wilder Bowl down into town. My mom stopped in at Ben Franklin’s five and dime and I ended up calling a friend from home in the middle of Tappan Square, relaying how odd it was that we hadn’t done anything beyond walk in subpar weather at a strange time of day and yet I felt so comfortable. We took a tour the next morning and saw a sign taped to the front door of Harkness, proclaiming ‘IT IS SPRING’ over the snow covered iris fronds poking their way through the dirt. I don’t entirely remember the order of what came next, but I do recall going to a cello recital based around both an Indian raga and Haydn, stopping in at Slow Train for a bagel sandwich, taking a brief nap in the car, and happening to wander through a side door into Fairchild Chapel. We got Lorenzo’s pizza for dinner and then went back to our hotel, getting only slightly turned around in the process. The next morning was a drive through the snow to visit the Allen Memorial Art Museum — cannot recommend highly enough — and a return to Slow Train, where I, notably not a caffeine drinker, made the mistake of getting a large chai and had a bit of a jittery time on our way out of town.
I bring this up and emphasize the weather to point out a few things — firstly, that campus won’t always look like the brochures (shocking, I know) as winter lasts a good long while here in the upper(ish) Midwest, yet the community and general sense of energy on campus goes a long way to dispel the potential dread this may inspire (looking at you, Californians). I didn’t find that sense of ease at any of the other colleges we looked at on our way back to Minneapolis. There’s so much in college decisions about statistics and programs and prizes and x and y and z quantifiable, measurable things, but there’s also a great deal about where and what you are comfortable doing. Don’t discount your gut feelings, ever. Secondly, I didn’t go to an All Roads event. They’re wonderful and a great way of seeing what Oberlin can potentially be, but they’re also not the be all and end all of admissions things (as you can no doubt tell by the fact that you’re reading a blog). If you have the ability or inclination to go to an All Roads event, I would encourage it, but also bear in mind that there’s more to campus beyond those big admissions days.
Do bring a coat whenever you come to visit, though — in northeast Ohio, you never really know what the day might bring.
