one hundred

In all the hubbub of the TRECC, last week’s conference, my exploration of the NC Triangle, and the close of the semester, one Road Trip milestone was brushed past rather unnoticed.

I recently explored College campus #100! The gloriously-titled Slippery Rock University, no less! And in just under 8 months of Exploring College Ministry.

[I later realized I had left a campus out – The University of Louisiana at Monroe! Bummer! AND THEN after the trip was all finished, I realized I’d also forgotten to add New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary – which came even earlier than ULM. So that kinda throws everything off count-wise… I’ve added those in below, without changing the numbers here. I’ll change the numbers on the official Itinerary, though.]

In case you’re curious, here is the list to 100, complete with my top-of-mind recollections. No pictures, no web sites – just what I remember right off the bat. It’s mostly pretty random stuff. Many of these quick-thoughts will make sense to everybody, but others may only mean somethin’ to those familiar with the campus. But I figure that’s okay – more fun for those in the know.

The first 48 recollections below were copied (with a few edits) from a post last semester, and it’s encouraging that I’ve already surpassed that campus total this semester…

The trip to Chicago

• Evangel College. (Campus number one. Took a nap.)

New Student Orientations & further Chicagoland exploration

• Trinity International University / Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (Gotta love a school named TEDS.)
• Wheaton College (Hangin’ in the Stupe. Lots.)
• Moody Bible Institute (That big plaza is pretty cool in the middle of busy Chicago.)
• North Park University (It’s quite Swedish, you know.)
• Judson College University (Campus flood, plus a name-change. With fireworks.)
• University of Illinois at Chicago (Hangin’ out in the Inner Circle…)
• Loyola University (That Ignatius of Loyola, he liked to learn stuff.)
• DePaul University (I eavesdropped on one group’s Bible study ’cause I was late.)
• Robert Morris College (Cool giant mural.)
• University of Chicago (Some parts are kinda old and creaky, but in a cool way.)
• Northwestern University (They tape their fliers to the ground! And they sell crepes at the food court!)
• College of DuPage (Lived right across from it for six weeks. Even walked a dog over there.)

The trip to Atlanta & back up to Boston

• Purdue University (Stalked a Christian magician.)
• Western Kentucky (I understand why they’re the Hilltoppers now.)
• Furman University (Home of the bald Paladin.)
• Bob Jones University (Watched Literary Societies play soccer, with their own cheerleaders.)
• Appalachian State (Two huge hills. And lots of milkshake choices at Cook Out.)
• Virginia Tech (Ravi Zacharias.)
• University of Scranton (Slept in a Vistor’s spot.)
• Lackawanna College (They didn’t lack the wanna to be nice in the bookstore.)

Boston & more New England

• Boston University (Home of the Terriers and the Passion Regional.)
• Harvard University (How many schools have archeology digs on campus?)
• MIT (Home of the crazy geometric buildings. It is, after all, MIT.)
• Cambridge College (I attended Sunday school in a classroom!)
• Boston College (Man, it’s a ways out there on the Green Line.)
• Northeastern University (Homecoming King & Queen Karaoke. That’s all I need to say.)
• University of Massachusetts (There’s some disturbing places on this campus!)
• Gordon College (Timothy George in Chapel.)
• Central Connecticut State University (Most disturbing mascot. Ever.)
• Tufts University (That’s right, they’re the Jumbos! Actually named after the Barnum & Bailey elephant!)
• Brown University (Sex. Power. God.)
• Connecticut College (Really nice security guard, for one thing.)

Headed down to Florida

• NYU (Is that your school or a skyscraper? Yes.)
• Princeton University (Just visiting my cousin getting his Plasma Physics PhD., that’s all.)
• University of Maryland (Probably the coolest center-of-campus I’ve seen.)
• University of Richmond (They’re the Spiders, and this campus is in the stinkin’ woods.)

Southern Blitz

• University of Florida (Toured the campus on the back of a Vespa driven by a scholarship athlete. Huh.)
• Samford University / Beeson Divinity School (One of the prettiest campuses ever. Good cafeteria, too.)
• University of Alabama at Birmingham (They’re the Blazers, and a Blazer is a dragon.)
• University of Alabama (Fight at the food court! -don’t worry, it was employees, not students.)
• LSU (The under-construction BCM will be great! And… there’s a real tiger on campus.)
• [New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary (An amazing lunch with a college ministry prof and his students – how could I forget?)]
• Tulane University (Waterfalls from the ceiling of the student center? Wowzers.)
• Southern Miss (Jumbo-tron in the Student Center, eh?)
• William Carey University (All the street names have to do with Carey’s life. When I die, what would I want on my street names?)
• Mississippi College (They have some moolah, say their sweet buildings.)
• Belhaven College (They, too, are the Blazers. Only this time a Blazer is a blazing guy. Or a sword. Or an orb. The bookstore gal and I couldn’t sort it out.)
• Millsaps College (The SMU of Mississippi, but WITH a climbable tower.)
• Louisiana Tech (At midnight, the golden bulldog comes alive. Not really. But oh how I wish it was true.)
• [The University of Louisiana Monroe, Monroe, LA (The campus was deserted, except for a huge Christmas tree. Good enough.)]
  

Conference in NM

• University of New Mexico (In Albu-qwirky, and it certainly is.)

Winter Break in Dallas

• SMU (A great library for a few sources for the ol’ thesis.)
  
• Dallas Theological Seminary (I left my Red X by the Jesus statue. But it was rescued!)
  
• Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary (My soon-to-be alma mater…)

California – from bottom to top

• #54: University of California San Diego (La Jolla) (Lotsa construction, but it was good to be in San Diego for Semester Two!)
  
• #55: San Diego Christian College (El Cajon) (Dorms… right at a church. Huh.)
  
• #56: Point Loma Nazarene University (San Diego) (Mascot? Sea Lions. Picture of mascot? Regular lion. Confusing!)
  
• #57: San Diego State University (San Diego) (Long, pretty “campus walk” down the middle.)
  
• #58: California State University San Marcos (Constructed all up-n-down a hill.)
  
• #59: California State University Long Beach (The Beach! Or the Dirtbags! And the official mascot, too! Lotsa nicknames!)
  
• #60: The Master’s Seminary (Sun Valley) (At Grace Community Church, so I got two explorations in one. Sweet.)
  
• #61: The Master’s College (Santa Clarita) (John MacArthur in chapel, so I got the full view.)
  
• #62: UCLA – University of California Los Angeles (I had to sprint across the campus, and it’s a big campus… Winded!)
  
• #63: Azusa Pacific University (Azusa) (Hundreds and hundreds in night-chapel, plus ashed on my forehead.)
  
• #64: Loyola Marymount University (Los Angeles) (Overlooking the smoggy, pretty city.)
  
• #65: University of Southern California (Los Angeles) (Get lost, pull out the laptop, keep searching, pull out the laptop…)
  
• #66: Pepperdine University (Malibu) (Man, that’s quite the hill. A big, steep, awesome-view hill.)
  
• #67: University of California Irvine (Go Anteaters! Zot!)
  
• #68: University of La Verne (La Verne) (Home of Ben Hines Field!)
• #69: California Baptist University (Riverside) (Golf cart tour! And Woman Chapel!)
  
• #70: Westmont College (Montecito) (All kinds of big plants. A plant wonderland.)
  
• #71: University of California Santa Barbara (Watch out for bikes! Bikes have the right!)
  
• #72: Cal Poly – California Polytechnic State University (San Luis Obispo) (Campus Crusade with the Ag College – go Aggies!)
  
• #73: University of California Santa Cruz (oh, I’m just hangin’ with a banana slug)
  
• #74: San Jose State University (An emerging-ish church service, right there on campus. We are Spartans.)
  
• #75: Stanford University (Stanford) (I got sushi boxes, got REAL lost one late night, and ate in the Faculty Club twice. All in a week’s work.)
  
• #76: Graduate Theological Union (Berkeley) (What a library! That’s what happens when schools combine!)
  
• #77: University of California (Berkeley) (Tree-sitter? Check!)
  
• #78: Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary (Mill Valley) (There’s not really a gate on campus. But I did eat a pumpkin-lamb enchilada with a prof!)
  
• #79: Santa Clara University (Santa Clara) (Look at that big burrito! Eat it up!)
  
• #80: Simpson University (Redding) (What’s that big rock on campus?)
  

The Northwest

• #81: University of Oregon (Eugene, OR) (I am a Duck.)
  
• #82: Northwest Christian College (Eugene, OR) (A little-bitty corner cut outta U of O. Cute!)
  
• #83: Reed College (Portland, OR) (Ah, that zany Reed College.)
  
• #84: Portland State University (Portland, OR) (What are Park Blocks? Oh, blocks of park-ness, right down the middle o’ campus. Gotcha.)
  
• #85: George Fox University (Newberg, OR) (Tents all over.)
  
• #86: University of Washington (Seattle, WA) (Not only a great campus, but a great district called the U. What a place. Just don’t try to park.)
  
• #87: University of Idaho (Moscow, ID) (Maybe the biggest student center yet. And the Vandals refers to the people-group. Really.)
  
• #88: Washington State University (Pullman, WA) (Ah, the Sweet 16. Go Cougs.)
  
• #89: Gonzaga University (Spokane, WA) (Biggest snowflakes ever.)
  
• #90: Seattle Pacific University (Seattle, WA) (What a spread – killer cafeteria, SPU.)
  
• #91: Multnomah Bible College (Portland, OR) (Log cabin or student center? Yep.)
  

The TRECC from Portland to North Carolina

• #92: University of Montana, Missoula, MT (Give me a student center, spacious and wooden and plant-filled, with a glass elevator running up the middle and metal statues hiding in the forest… was this a dream?)
• #93: Montana Tech, Butte, MT (Orediggers!)
• #94: Montana State University, Bozeman, MT (And suddenly, Montana gets flat, along with its campuses.)
• #95: North Dakota State University, Fargo, ND (Quite the snowman for April!)
• #96: Minnesota State University Moorhead, Moorhead, MN (O metal dragon around the lightpost, how can I find the bookstore before freezing?)
• #97: Bethel University, Minneapolis, MN (I feel like I walked across this campus inside in a long glass hallway? Is that right?)
• #98: Notre Dame University, South Bend, IN (They know they’re a tourist attraction, and they should be.)
• #99: Grove City College, Grove City, PA (Nostalgia, since last applying and visiting in ’98…)
• #100: Slippery Rock University, Slippery Rock, PA (You are 100. Gotta love the Rock.)

Written from Dan’s house, Durham, NC