We took off last Friday and returned Monday night. Our primary plan was to visit Allison's Salisbury University for a college tour. Allison actually had an official tour last summer went she went to government camp. But we had a lot of questions and wanted to spend more time checking out the campus since she plans on going there. We had a tour scheduled in the afternoon, so I had time to drop Cookie off at the kennel before heading out for the 2.5hr drive. We stopped outside the campus and had a terrific seafood lunch at a local restaurant and major hangout, Brew River(Good Friday). Afterwards we headed over to the 30 min presentation and then toured the campus for an hour and a half. Allison was surprised to see so many of her high school classmates at the orientation. I even ran into one of my fellow girl scout leaders and her daughter on the tour. All the parents and high school students were taking advantage of Spring Break to visit college campuses.
We were primarily interested in the Perdue business school(Perdue Chicken). The several million dollar building was opened in the fall of 2011 and it is chock full of high tech stuff to keep track of the national and international business world. Salisbury is known for its business school, as well as Teaching/Education program(they also have a brand new building) and nursing/physical therapy. Students may request placement in one dorm all together. So all the business students can live together on one floor in the dorm. They even offer some of their classes right in the dorms. I think I was even more impressed with the dining services-the main dining hall looks like a food court in the mall! And outside guests are allowed to eat in the dining hall for a small fee. We tried to talk Allison into trying out Make Your Own Pizza night, but we found ourselves in a movie during dinner time. Even the laundry service in the dorms was impressive. First of all it is free. The washing machines all have prefilled detergent, and you can set the machine to text you when your laundry is done! I don't know-it takes all the thinking out of the process. Guess the students are supposed to spend more time studying. The campus is not huge but not tiny either. We thought the town of Salisbury was mostly farmland, but it is more city than we thought. We managed to find the large mall and movie theater. And the campus is only 30 minutes from Ocean City. They even run a shuttle bus down to the beach. Class sizes average 17-25 students. Allison will have to return in June to sign up for classes and will be assigned to a dorm in July. The dorm rooms hold two students per room with an adjoining bathroom/showers. You can rent a fridge and microwave so you don't have to haul one back and forth to school. Some of the students had flat screen tvs in their rooms and computers of course. They also offer summer camps and international learning on Winter break or over the summer. Tom wants to study business in Argentina with Allison. So we all enjoyed the campus and the school and we think Allison will be spoiled and will love it. And Tom wants Allison to become an RA in the future.One step at a time.
After our tour of the school, we spent the night in a very nice Hampton Inn and decided to spend the next day getting to know more of Salisbury. We decided to tour the campus on our own. We found out that the University does not give out sports scholarships, so it is probably not to Allison's advantage to try out for the Field Hockey team. But if she wants to keep playing, they have travel teams and IM teams on campus(so play for fun instead of the school). And Allison already has a school scholarship for her academics. But we checked out the sports fields anyhow. And we decided to walk around the free zoo in Salisbury. Small but a few very interesting animals. And a whole lot of geese sitting on nests and being very grumpy! We considered a drive up to Delaware for the tax free outlet stores, but it would have taken us out of our way by several hours.
Instead we headed to Williamsburg VA via the eastern shore. There is a whole lot of nothing there, and when you get to the end you take an incredibly long bridge/tunnel to cross the opening of the Chesapeake Bay which takes you into Norfolk and Newport News VA(navy town). The bridge/tunnel is one of the great wonders of modern engineering. It's designed so the huge navy ships so could travel up the bay without stopping traffic with a drawbridge system. We arrived at Busch Gardens early in the afternoon. It was busy and cool outside, but not overly crowded. Tom and Scott just wanted to ride the new rollercoaster that was broke down last Easter when we visited. So they enjoyed their ride and most of the others.
Easter Sunday we headed to mass at the local catholic church. We really enjoyed the priest and the whole ceremony, but came out to pouring rain. We had to change clothes after mass at the hotel, and thought the day was a bust. The outlet store was not open so early, so we had lunch at Buffalo Wild Wings and considered a movie. We had seen Oz on Friday night and the family was disappointed in the primary special effects of the movie. Tom was hoping for more of a real story and less special effects. I assured him Disney just wanted to make something cheap and quick which they did. Instead of a movie, we ended up checking out a few stores that had opened at the outlet mall. We were primarily interested in finding Allison her two dresses-a white dress for graduation and a prom dress. We managed to find a white dress at the White and Black Shop(naturally). And for a great price. And since the rain had stopped, we decided to try our chances back at Busch GArdens. It turned out well since there were not many people at the park and Scott and Tom were able to get on all their favorite rides. Of course Allison and I hit all the shows and then we met up with our neighbor and his kids as they were also visiting the park. Our neighbors wife was still working out in Oklahoma though. We finally decided to stop into Golden Corral for a huge Easter buffet. Steak, shrimp but most importantly, a chocolate fountain!
Overall a great weekend and a lazy drive home(or so we thought). The traffic was terrible. We thought we could pop into Busch gardens for one more run around the park but it was overly crowded. Guess the rain had kept so many people away that they all came Monday instead. Traffic was so bad on the freeway and there was a bad accident, so Tom tried the surface road(just as horrible). But we decided to stop off at the mall along the way to stretch our legs. Turned out well since we found a great, reasonable formal dress shop and bought Allison's prom dress! So a very successful weekend!
A Big Happy Birthday to Dad Seitz! Sorry it landed on Good Friday. I had been trying to get to confession at church since they added sessions on WEds night for the lenten season. Finally Allison and I were free to attend while Tom and SCott were at a BS meeting. When we arrived at the small chapel, they only had two priests and the line was out the door. The gentleman behind me figured we would be in line for about 1.5 hrs if everyone standing in front of us spent 5 minutes with the priest. We finally all squashed into the foyer of the building just to keep warm. We had just had a big snow storm the Monday before and the kids were out of school that day so it was still chilly. Turns out someone in line knew another priest and gave him a call from a local university. He showed up, set up and I just happened to be standing right in front of the door to the room he set up in. I was the first one in his chair, and Allison right after me! God works in mysterious ways! EVeryone in line was shocked! I told them "All good things come to those who wait and patience is a virtue" All those cliches came in handy and we were out the door before Tom and Scott got home! Next year I am not waiting until the last session before EAster!
I think I needed it since work continues to drive me crazy with the new management. Fortunately they fired one of the new assistant managers after less than 5 months. Thank goodness(God works in mysterious ways). Now we have to continue to work with the management we have in place(God help us all!). Sadly our new manager is a good administrator, but not a good clinical manager. She is completely unfamiliar with our computer programs and staffing/scheduling/billing. Not good for business.
Here are some shots from Busch Gardens and the new rollercoaster. The grumpy geese at the Salisbury zoo on their nests and shots from Salisbury University(yes they are the fighting Seagulls!). Have you been to the beach? Seagulls can be nasty! And Allison at the Perdue Business School. (Notice we are surrounded by birds?). Even Allison's GS project has to do with birds. Interesting.
A special Happy Easter to my parents who spent their holiday snowed in Up North in Charlevoix. Stay warm!
Kathleen
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