Beyond the tour, what should we be sure to see? S is finishing Jr. year, and this is his first visit to Mich.
It depends on which tour you signed up, you may only see part of the campus. You may want to do a self tour in addition to the guided one. You may also ride on the Blue Bus to get some idea about the boundary of the Campus. Try Commuter and Northwood routes. Other than the campus, you may want to walk around the downtown area which is only a couple blocks off the west side of main campus. Probably focus on the area within Main/Fifth/Miller/William if you don’t have time or don’t want to walk too long. That would be within a good walking distance from campus. If you have a car, you may go farther away. Alternatively, you may take the city bus (AATA) to explore the town a bit more. For UMich students, the student ID (aka MCard) would give them free rides on AATA. From the downtown transit center, you can catch any bus route in town. If you do have extra time, visit one of the Meijer stores (similar to Super Walmart). There are also many city parks around.
The athletic campus is nice. Perhaps a trip to Schembechler Hall for some pointers on Wolverine Football lore and such…
Walk around Main Street, South University Street, Liberty Street etc…Check out Kerrytown as well.
There are something on the order of 550 major buildings on campus. Some of them have won architectural awards (BSRB and the Frankel wing of the art museum) and some are beautifully finished (Clements library). So do a walking tour and check out some of the museums, some of the libraries, and some of the dorms.
Thanks all! Any iconic diners, restaurants, hangouts? Whenever someone visits Syracuse I always tell them to go to the Varsity. I can still hear the guy calling out: “So and so, your wings are redayyyyyyyy”!
Zingerman’s!
Not sure when you are visiting Ann Arbor but the Ann Arbor Summer Festival and the Art Fair run during the summer months. Also visit the Arboretum.
@blue85 Is Clements actually open in any capacity? The restoration looked like it was still in full swing when I walked by today and I thought it was supposed to take another year at least.
Dominicks or Good Time Charlies patio…Crazy Jims Blimpie Burger…Angelos for great breakfast…
Fair point about Clements…had forgotten…yeah, it is probably off-line…
Lots of Museums scattered around campus. Favorites are the Natural History Museum, Kelsey Archaeology Museum, and the Art Museum. Try to catch a concert at Hill Auditorium or the power center and a movie at the Michigan Theatre. Best cheap eats are a Jerusalem Garden, NeoPapalis, Blimpy burger,the Fleetwood diner and mark’s carts. Upscale try Mani’s or Pacific Rim. Stay at the michigan league, campus inn or bell tower hotel so you can walk everywhere . Try some of the local brewpubs like Grizzly Peak, or happy hour fish tacos at the Black Pearl.
You can kayak or canoe down the Huron at Argo Canoe livery.
On your way out, don’t forget to stop at Zingerman’s bakehouse or deli for Fresh Bread. (Paesano!)
Sober people go to Fleetwood??
Make sure you see the law school quad and the library. I think they are the most beautiful part of the campus.
As a student, the stuff above is all great, but potentially not things that will help you get a true understanding of the school and atmosphere. I would spend as much time as you can just walking in general, even in the hot weather. The tour will take you through the diag, but I would go back to it once you are done so you can take your time to really look around. Additionally, I would make SURE to walk down South University Ave, which intersects with State St. by the Union. South U is home to many restaurants, bars, and shops that are visited frequently UM students. From here, if you have the time, I would take a walk on Hill St, which is just a block farther from South U. Hill St. will give you some perspective on two things: the residential life after dorms, and greek like. Unlike universities that have a greek row, Michigan’s fraternities and sororities are fairly spread out between State St, Hill St, Washtenau Ave, and Oxford. Thus, hill st not only has several greek organizations, but also connects the other main streets that house greek students. Walking on hill will likely give you a better idea of students outside of class, depending on the day of the week. Make sure to walk up to see the rock (where hill meets Washtenau). Finally, GO TO THE HILL. Unless things have changed, your campus tour will not involve walking up to the hill, which is on the north side of central campus. The hill houses many freshman students in four separate dorms, and is also home to the CCRB (central campus recreation center). It’s a beautiful five minute walk from campus and will reveal a large part of the campus that will be utilized during freshman year and beyond. The best way to get there is to go to the CC transit center outside of the chem building, cross the street and walk up over the bridge to the Mosher Jordan dorms.
I know everything above seems like a lot, but trust me when I say it’s not. Michigan, while a large school, has a fairly dense central campus. The locations above could all be visited in less than 30 minutes, but I recommend taking your time and looking around as you see fit. Ultimately, walking around and interacting with students will be much more helpful to your son than visiting museums.
Best of luck!
^^^Excellent advice^^^
Thanks all! We are headed there this weekend!
Share your observations with us afterwards. Have fun!
It will be at 70s but may rain. Be prepare for it.
Thanks for the heads up!