College Tour: University of Michigan at Ann Arbor

 Never mind that Will isn't actually interested in applying to the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor: we were in Michigan, near Ann Arbor, and I wanted to start our season of college tours!

Fun fact: I didn't visit a single college back when I was in high school applying to them. I had absolutely no idea what I was doing, applied to colleges pretty much at random armed only with my own very miniscule amount of common sense, and wandered off to the college, sight unseen, that was both out of state and offered me the most scholarship money.

I really fell upwards in that scenario!

I might, then, be living a tiny bit vicariously through Will's college search process. Will has no interest in attending a big public university, but *I* was interested in seeing one, we were practically next door to it a few weekends ago, and a dry run at college tours, and a look at a college, even if it's one that your kid doesn't think she wants to attend, never hurts.

It looks like University of Michigan is offering in-person guided tours now, but it wasn't when we went, so Will and I pulled some interesting sites off of their self-guided tour resources to walk around and see. We'd both have LOVED to go inside every museum and library, as well, but alas that they were all closed, so I guess we had more of a sightseeing expedition than a college tour.

Wouldn't you know it, the coolest thing we saw wasn't even on the U of M campus, but on our way to it:

Remember when Will researched delivery robots as part of our Girl Scout Robotics badge lessons? And now we've seen one in the wild! I could not have been more excited if I had come across a literal celebrity out and about on the streets of Ann Arbor. 

Here's the Law Quad:

Here's... a thing:

Here's some Virginia creeper, a vine that Matt is SO allergic to. It's probably good HE didn't go to school here!

Here's the brand-new University of Michigan Museum of Natural History, which Will and I would have given our right arms to have gone inside of:

Here's the Peony Garden, which was hopping!

Here's a willow:

Here's the Wave Field:

And here are some swings!

Will and I have been speaking a lot about her... close-mindedness, let's say, when it comes to college options. Her snap judgments. Her tendency, for instance, to dismiss a place like Yale outright simply because Yale had the audacity to send her a brochure through the mail. Honest to god, I have NO IDEA how she's going to choose a college, or, to be frank, how I'm going to let her go away from me to whatever college she does choose. But now, at least, we've got one unofficial, practice college tour under our belts!