<p>Hi Everyone
Just wanted to touch base and say THANK YOU to everyone who advised me on where to go and where to eat for our campus visit.</p>
<p>It was a roaring success. Both of my girls loved the campus. Rising Senior is ready to sign up and apply immediately…And my other daughter who is a rising Soph at Iowa State is seriously considering for grad school! lol</p>
<p>We arrived on campus around 10am (flew into Birmingham on Southwest) and drove right to Rama Jama’s. BEST breakfast ever. Great bisquits. Owner even came out to talk to us once he heard we were from chicago. We all had the sweet tea and it was definately the best ever.</p>
<p>We headed over to Bear Bryant Museum and toured that. I made the girls watch the movie, once it was over they were glad I had made them sit. It was a great insight into Alabama’s love of football.</p>
<p>The rest of the day was spent driving around campus, we went to MidTown Mall and had some great cupcakes at GiGi’s. Drove across the street to the other mall and hit Belks. I spent way too much money…and helped the local economy.</p>
<p>We saw the devestation from the tornado and we all had a bit of a cry at the devestation.</p>
<p>That night we went over to the Cypress Inn for an amazing dinner. It was still pretty hot out so we sat in the bar area right next to the big windows. We had fried green tomatoes, which we all loved! Fried pickles and even Hoppin’ John. We sat there for 2 hours and talked about the campus and the people we had met and interacted with.</p>
<p>Everyone was so very nice … We talked to everyone we could in shops, etc asking if they were students and were always treated so well. My girls loved the fact that the boys were so polite.</p>
<p>The next day we met with Jami in the Honors college and our day never stopped from 9am until 4:30ish. We met with Jami, with Allison (Dr. O’Neill had to cancel on us), we met with the head of the AT department and we were able to tour the athletic facilities. We met with an AT student who was also in a sorority and that helped my DD see that she could do both. We even saw the whole football team working out in the indoor facility. We did get to see an honors dorm…Ridgecrest. VERY impressive. </p>
<p>We also took the tour and the tour guide was excellant. It gave us a nice over view of the history of the school…although as a Chicagoan born and bred I do have to admit feeling some ‘Northern Guilt’ every time they brought up that the Union Army burned the campus to the ground and only 4 buildings survived. </p>
<p>After everything was over Jami even drove us over to one of the older dorms so that we could see a ‘regular’ room. I have to say that even a basic room was nice with lots of room for storage.</p>
<p>I was so impressed with how clean the campus is. We were in some older buildings and even those were immaculate and well kept.</p>
<p>There is new building going on everywhere. The other thing that really impressed us is how easy it is to walk from end to end of the campus. LOL we had to do it twice. Once from the Student Union … Was that called Ferguson? All the way to Annex East I think…in back of Rose Hall. We were in a hurry as lunch ran late because the other family was late, but we made it. </p>
<p>That night for dinner we went for ribs at Dreamland, we did not go to the orginal, but the one that was close to downtown. It was ok…I am not a huge fan of vinagar type sauces, but the girls loved theirs. </p>
<p>All in all it was a fantastic campus visit. We will be applying in early July. We still have a couple of other campus visits to get in this summer. ku, k-state, Bowling Green, Kentucky, and Penn State. We have already been to Nebraska and Iowa State and believe me…'Bama is at the top of the list right now. Especially with the merit aid.</p>
<p>Thank you again to all of you who contributed to my thread about where to go, and what to see. It definately made a difference in our visit. My girls got to experience some true Southern Hospitality. 'Roll Tide!</p>
There are a few FB groups that are sprouting up for families in the chicago area that have students who’ve recently chosen to attend UA. I think one is call TIDE PRIDE(?) Sign up, as I’m sure that will be a valuable resource going forward as we coordinate travel, etc. too and from campus. FYI … we drove down for this trip to Bama Bound so that I could experience the drive BEFORE having to drive down in August with a car full of stuff. While the drive can be accomplished in one LONG day, we opted to leave after rush hour last Monday evening and drove for about 5 hours. The following day, we completed the rest of the drive which allowed us to get into town by around 3:00 pm and not totally exhausted. IT worked out very nicely actually. Good luck, and Roll Tide!</p>