mission: midwest- traversing the tundra

The morning after the U of I trip, I got my rental car and headed for Wisconsin. The only part of the trip I regret is that I didn't have time to stop at all the campuses I wanted to.


On may way through the suburbs north of Chicago, I drove around the campus of Lake Forest College, which I had discovered via a Twitter #sachat contact. When I looked up their website after our initial conversation, the pictures were gorgeous, and seeing it in person, the whole area was just as nice.

One of the less old school parts of campus, and therefore, less creepy. There was a castle-looking building like at Boston University. I left promptly after seeing it. 

After crossing the border into Wisconsin, I decided to take another detour and drive through UW-Parkside's campus. I looked into their orientation position through NODA, but as most of you know, ended up ditching the NODA route to put my own creative genius to work (see Traversing the Tundra part 2). It seemed that it had only snowed in Wisconsin and stopped at the Illinois border, because just a bit north of the line, UW-Parkside's campus had plenty of snow piles. Their campus seemed pretty modern (from the parking lot), which earned it a +1 since old buildings creep me out (see aforementioned castle comment). Unfortunately, I had no time to actually meet with anyone there (or Marquette, which I drove past only from the highway and was pretty sad about), and instead continued further into the tundra.

'Sconsin! And snow!

Two campuses, a flat tire scare (Chevy Cobalts have horrible shocks, just fyi), and my entire Kanye playlist later, I made it from Chi-town to my sister's house in Manitowoc (near Green Bay) to have dinner with her family. I had a great time hanging out with my 8 year old  twin niece & nephew. They're both smart beyond their years, but my niece is such a mini version of me it's crazy. Must be the genes.

The next day, my big sis and I made the short trip to Green Bay- Go Pack Go! I met with my academic advising contact at UW-Green Bay who is excellent at what he does, super creative, and willing to take risks to try new things. All things to which I aspire in this field. We both talked about new things we're trying to implement in our offices, though of course, with a full time position, higher title, and more pull, they were on slightly different scales. It was great to meet someone in the field with these qualities and be given a personal tour of such a purposefully and intentionally designed campus. Definitely a great division of student affairs!

One of the main student affairs cluster entrances from the tunnel system connecting (almost) every part of campus so students can get around in the snow. So well-designed!

From my super enlightening visit and glimpse into the future of academic advising at UW-Green Bay, we drove to St. Norbert College a few minutes away in DePere. It's a small private liberal arts college that I likely never would have found had I not heard the Packers hold summer workouts there. (I'm not obsessed, I'm devoted.) Anyway, my contact there was away at hockey championships, so we basically just drove through, but it's right on the bay and really pretty!

Too early for Aaron :( Someday...

...and of course, it's just wrong to make a trip to Green Bay and not go to Lambeau. So we did. We got lunch (beer mac and cheese, of course) and I nearly bought out the pro shop. After careful deliberation, I limited my purchases to what would fit in the extra suitcase I brought for this exact purpose :) 

There's a space where they've held weddings at the top of that staircase... things I've actually considered.

So much more happened in Wisconsin, I feel like it warrants a second post. 

To be continued...