School Visits

I spent the last two days visiting Berkeley and Stanford. Berkeley was the first stop. I spent the morning walking around campus. It was a beautiful campus with many nifty niches of trees and wildlife. It has the feel of a little city and is surrounded by cute restaurants and shops. I met up with a friend, Bub, from the econ department for the afternoon and he had all good things to say about the program. We met up with two others from the program... Jon was on the triathlon team and Ashley used to bike and now trains for marathons. How perfect! We went on a run together and they showed me a beautiful trail that went up a hill and into the woods. I was able to get some great views of the campus and of San Fran.

I spent yesterday at Stanford. While Berkeley has the feel of a little city, Stanford has the feel of a giant country club. Again, I spent the morning wandering around campus... Stanford is full of beautiful buildings with red roofs and is surrounded by manicured lawns, gardens, and trees. I wandered to a cactus garden and walked along a road lined with palm trees - everything was beautiful. Later that morning I met up with another Dartmouth buddy, Kenny. He showed me around and told me a bit about environmental econ at Stanford. Again, he had all good things to say about the school. I had lunch with Kenny and another Dartmouth alum, Hannah. Afterwards, Hannah and I headed off to the art museum. I then did some more exploring of campus before meeting up with a group of old Dartmouth track buddies who I hadn't seen for ages. We grabbed dinner at a snug table in a diner and then went off to watch the OC together (apparently everyone watches the OC!)

Overall, both schools seemed like great places to be. Of course, it is easy to think that while walking around campus in 60 degree weather and sunshine.

Today... I am off to explore some Redwoods.