A quick visit to Miami (the college, not the city in Florida)

Abby has never been on an official campus tour of Miami (of Ohio, in Oxford) where she will be going to college. Covid restrictions prohibited in person visits until very recently. One Saturday in the fall, we drove to Oxford and then walked around the campus on our own. After Abby was accepted to the business school at Miami, she asked if we could go on a tour of the business school. The business school offers in person tours of the business school at various times and on various days.

We aligned our calendars and settled on a day in late April. The forecast did not look good a few days before we were scheduled to go- though the tour was for the business school, we hoped to walk around the campus afterward. I told myself that the forecast usually changes and that is in fact what happened. A few days out, the forecast called for an 80% chance of rain; one day before, it called for a 100% chance of rain ALL DAY 😞.

So, with rain boots and umbrellas in tow, we began the drive (in the rain, because 100% chance of rain) and made our way towards Oxford. Though the Miami campus is closer to our house in miles than Jacob’s college is, the drive to UC takes less time because almost all of it is on an interstate. There are two ways to get to Oxford from our house and both entail country roads that meander oddly and bend sharply, slowdowns through tiny towns and the fear that you’re going to get stuck behind a vehicle driving slowly, knowing that passing the vehicle is going to be virtually impossible. My phone’s GPS recommended a route that was going to take two minutes longer than another route. Not sure why a longer route was recommended but I decided to go with the shorter route. 

Once in Oxford, we found the parking lot where we could park for free and set out to walk to the business school. Hard to believe our luck- BUT, the rain stopped almost as soon as we arrived in Oxford. I didn’t need to look at radar to know that the rain cessation was likely to be brief; the appearance of the sky portended rain in the near future.  For the duration of the ten minute or so walk from the parking lot to the business school, we enjoyed a rain free experience. 

Once inside the business school, we somehow (luck was indeed on our side in the morning...) easily found out where we were supposed to meet for the tour. There was only one other student present for the tour, a senior in high school from Kentucky.  Our tour guide was a junior in the business school. She took us all around the business school, showing us rooms and giving us details on all three levels of the building. It was nice to talk to a student to get her perspective and answers to questions.

After the tour, we decided to walk through campus to get to the main business section of Oxford that has shops, restaurants and a college bookstore. The rain had returned so we didn’t tarry as we made our way through the campus. We bought a couple of items at the bookstore and then met one of Abby’s friends who’s a freshman at Miami at Chipotle for lunch.

That concluded our brief visit to Miami. I am sure we will return a time or two before dropping Abby off for college in August. 

A few pics:

The building here is just a random residence hall- it bears no significance to us. It was on the way to the business school after we had parked the car. I told Abby we should get some pictures outside before it started to rain again. So, here is Abby and a residence hall.

The Farmer School of Business- the building is U shaped and what is seen here is the center

This portion is to the left of the center

And this is the right. It almost looks like it is not attached to the main part of the building but it is.

Just a few pictures of the inside...

Abby and her friend Megan- the Chipotle had an... interesting concept because of Covid. Presumably? All the ordering was done online. You walked into the Chipotle and instead of telling employees what you wanted on your burrito or bowl, you placed your order online and then stood in a line. When you got to the front of the line you told a worker your name and the employee handed you a bag if your order was ready or told you your order was not ready. It was odd to say the least but then so are many of the Covid related regulations, changes to business procedures, laws, etc.