The clouds hung over us and the rain drizzled down most of the day today. None of us noticed. The happiness in our hearts kept us warm. From the moment that we set foot on the campus of the University of South Carolina we felt embraced by our surroundings. The students were friendly, and they appeared serious, yet relaxed at the same time.
I was wildly disorganized for our trip. No idea why I told Brainy Bird that I would take care of the mapping out of our trip, schedule and logistics. We arrived to the University of South Carolina, and I finally read the email about parking. I was supposed to have printed the email to display on our dashboard in the parking garage. Moreover, when I booked the tour, it was before Little Chirp was going to join us, so I had not booked him a spot in the tour. Because of Covid, one can not just show up for the tour, and it could not be more specific about this in the instructions.
If Brainy Bird was annoyed with me, he hid it well. He spared me from, “Mom, I said that I wanted to take care of the logistics, why did you say you would and then not?” Instead, he said, “No worries. Drop me off out front of the visitor center, and I will go in to discuss with them what to do. You guys can go park the car while you are waiting on me.”
I was still trying to figure out where the visitor’s parking garage was, and Little Chirp was in awe of my inability to follow a simple map, when Brainy Bird returned with a printed parking pass to put on on our dashboard. Funny, on foot he was able to find the parking garage, see me drive past the entrance, and then chase me down. His patience stood through it all. My stupidity could not derail his good spirits.
We got the car parked, and then he explained that Little Chirp would wait at the student center for us. Brainy Bird had already gone over to the student center to scope out a safe, comfy place for Little Chirp. I said, “But, Little Chirp will miss the tour!” Brainy Bird asked his brother, “Do you really want to walk around in the cold rain with us?” Little brother’s response, “No, I am just hear for The Melting Pot.“
Brainy Bird had found Little Chirp the perfect spot. There was plenty of seating, so he was not taking up a spot that a student would be wanting, and there were campus employees sitting in a booth nearby. Brainy Bird had resolved the trip’s logistical issues brought on by my over committing. The two of us headed to the visitor center to check in. That’s when I remember there was some kind of virtual check in that we were supposed to do on our phone before we got there. Brainy Bird laughed, “I took care of it Mom.”
The girl at front desk of the visitor center is one of those people that makes you feel like she has been waiting specifically for your arrival. She congratulated Brainy Bird on being an admitted student. She gave him an overview of the plans for our tour, she shared how much she loves going to school at South Carolina, and she gave him a spirit towel, and explained their tradition of collecting spirit towels. She then handed him over to the other two girls sitting at the desk to talk about the honors college. The honors college is an enormous factor in Brainy Bird’s interest in South Carolina.
Both of the girls had lived in the honors dorm their freshman year, and they clearly loved their experience. I think that they would have sat down and talked to Brainy Bird for hours about it all if we had the time. There have been some stand out moments in the college application process. Receiving the acceptance into the South Carolina’s honors program is definitely one of them. Being chosen for their Top Scholars program is definitely one of them. Two stand out moments, one university.
We then went on our tour. This tour was far from our first college tour. It was however, our first tour since the fall of Brainy Bird’s junior year. I observed a different Brainy Bird. On the past tours, Brainy Bird hung in the back. It was as if he was unsure he belonged. He had lots of questions, but did not ask any of them. On this tour, Brainy Bird stood off to the side in the front. When you are 6’3″, you can’t stand in the direct front because the rest of the humans can’t see. On the walk from each stop on the tour to the next, Brainy Bird waited for the others to ask their questions, and then he asked his. He was engaging to the point that other parents on the tour began engaging with him and asking him questions.
Our tour guide did an excellent job. She was well informed, and she did an exceptional job of putting her own commentary and experiences into the tour. Ultimately, we are all there to get a better idea of what it is like to be a student at the University of South Carolina, and she did a great job of helping us understand this.
Our tour finished, and we headed back to get Little Chirp and to look at the building where most of the computer science and engineering classes are. This walk took us by the Honors residence. It was almost as if they were planted, two students walked out of the residence together, engaged in a positive conversation about one of their classes. One child wore a Gamecocks shirt, and the other wore a shirt with hands in prayer. They smiled at us as we crossed paths, as if to say, “I have so been on the college tour with Mom.”
We got to the engineering buildings and we liked what we saw. The only thing missing from our trip is I would have liked to have met some of the computer science professors and heard from them about the Computer Science program. As we walked back to our car, Brainy Bird said, “I like it here.”