Greetings from Pittsburgh

We spent much of Thursday at the University of Michigan, which Paul and I have visited before but never properly toured. The campus isn't as pretty as Cornell's with its waterfall or Indiana's with its wonderful rule that for every tree that is removed two more must be planted, but I must admit that Michigan is much more my type of school -- it has more of an urban vibe though it has gardens and trees, there's lots of shopping and restaurants mixed in among the academic buildings, there's a wide range of residences, and even in the middle of summer there are people reading in the grass and working in the libraries. Adam and I were both impressed, him especially with the business school's private gym.


Cook Law Quadrangle at the University of Michigan, based on buildings at Oxford...


...and the inside of the law library, which resembles Hogwarts' Great Hall.


The Diag at the center of campus (apparently there are superstitions about failing tests if students walk across the M).


The Endover cube by Bernard Rosenthal, which has a twin in New York that doesn't rotate.


Michigan's Ross School of Business is in a new LEED-certified building.


This fraternity put a beach volleyball net out in front for the summer.


The Michigan squirrels are a darker red than those in Maryland. Sadly, there were no wolverines (not even on the merchandise, since Michigan prefers its big block M to an actual mascot).


But of course we had to see the Big House anyway (Paul and I saw a game there more than 20 years ago, but the stadium has been extensively renovated since then).

Both the admissions officer who did the Powerpoint presentation about the school's statistics and our tour guide were dynamic and fun -- other schools could take lessons -- though I am amused that they both bragged about how the school's logo and football team are recognized internationally even more than the highly ranked academic departments! In the afternoon we drove through Michigan and Ohio into Pennsylvania, where we are staying on the outskirts of Pittsburgh so we can go to the zoo on Friday with before heading home. X-Men: The Last Stand was on TV when we got here with Wolverine previews interspersed, so we watched that while trying to catch up on mail and stuff!