Today the boys and I left quite early to go and visit U-Mass Amherst, a college about two and a half hours away, so there was no time for a run, but I did take Molly for a longish walk first, in the beauteous early morning light which made long shadows of the trees.
There are so many colleges here and the tradition is that you have to visit them to see what they are like, some families spending a small fortune on plane-fares and traveling to look at several colleges. Just like everything else in America, there is too much choice, I remember us going into the SUPER Stop & Shop supermarket the first day we arrived in this country, and the first aisle we walked into was this monster cereal aisle and what with jet-lag and the shock of everything new, the cold, the ugly dirty snow everywhere, this whole new culture, we almost burst into tears at the sight of so much, so many, on and on as far as the eye could see!
In South Africa there are 4 or 5 universities and you just go to whichever one you choose. But in America, there are thousands of colleges and you are expected to apply to quite a few, all across the country, and then choose the best one which accepts you, it is such a process! And a money-making business too, as you have to pay for each application. It is SO strange to me, this whole modus operandi. And the high school wants their students to go to as many different schools in different states so that they can brag about where their alumni go as well!
It was a great deal of fun though, the long car-drives there and back, talking, listening to the boys' music and to an hour of the BBC (that was the deal), and the campus is like a small town, with skyscraper residences or dorms, and beautiful state-of-the-art facilities in every department. If they go to a state school like U-Mass, we pay in-state fees, which are not as much as a private college or a college in another state.
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