visiting more colleges (lyn)

Alexander and I drive up to Williams College today.  We want to love it.  Amazing academics and a possible connection excite us.  We drive and drive.  The further we go off the main highway the more and more alien things feel.  I am driving my mother’s car, which is great, but it doesn’t have GPS.  Alexander is chief navigator, but is not doing a very good job.  We get lost, but it’s during the day and we have lots of time.  We seem to be in the middle of nowhere but it is beautiful.  Trees that look almost purple create a breathtaking landscape.  

Finally, after four hours of driving, we come to Williams.  It is not up a long winding road atop a hill, as I had expected, but rather it borders both sides of the main road. We park and start walking through the school’s lush campus.  We see a student and stop to ask directions. Then we start talking.  He’s a senior.  “If you had it to do over again, would you come here again?” I ask.  “No,” he quickly replies.  This is not the answer we expected.  For him, the school is too cliquish.  Too small.  And too remote.  He expresses what I feel.  I can’t picture Alexander here, even if he could get in.  Later, as we tour the college, Alexander offers his opinion:  Impressive academics.  Maybe the best we’ve seen.  Small classes.  Tutorials with two students and a teacher.  A beautiful campus.  “But not for me.  It feels too far away.” 

We decide to skip the information session, and drive another two-and-a-half hours to Dartmouth in Hanover, New Hampshire.  We see the quaint small town and it feels familiar.   Everything about it feels right.  Geographically, Dartmouth is 100 miles further from New York City than Williams is, but it feels closer in spirit.

Alexander and I both fall in love, but know our love will likely not be reciprocated.

We have dinner at a nice local restaurant and splurge on a good meal (which is an excusable expense since we are not staying at the charming Hanover Inn, but instead at a Day’s Inn about 10 minutes from town).  I want the hamburger and fries that Alexander orders, but settle on the salmon instead.  It may not taste as good but I know it’s a better choice.