Today's tour is of Baylor University in Waco, Texas. Before I start, I would just like to say that no one in my family has attended Baylor. We have friends that have, but none of them were in town to show us around campus. Therefore I really don't know that much about Baylor. At A&M I had my brother, and we've visited UT countless times, but Baylor was a new one for me too! So, I will try my best to give you a virtual tour of this beautiful campus, but I'm sure my lack of knowledge will not do it justice.
This picture shows literally my first glimpses of Baylor University. Try to imagine 70 degree weather with a light breeze, trees everywhere, and silence. School was out when I visited, but the silence wasn't a weird silence. It was a peaceful collegiate silence (if that's even such a thing!).
Since we had spent the whole morning driving from College Station, we figured we should start off with lunch. That's always the best way to start a college tour. So we parked near this beautiful building, grabbed our sack lunches, and set off to find a little place to eat our lunches.
We finally found a picnic table under a beautiful and very big Oak Tree. The table was adorable, but I fell in the love with the swing attached to a nearby tree. I just adore any kind of swing, so I ate my sack lunch while swinging away.
After gorging ourselves with sandwiches and chips and salsa, a walk was a necessity. Luckily, we had the whole campus to explore.
Baylor is a university that does not lack trees. There are shady spots everywhere that would be just perfect to study near. All of the buildings there are also beautiful. I don't know much about architecture, but you couldn't tell the old buildings from the new. They were all just so lovely!
What do you think these buildings are? They were extremely nice buildings, so I assumed they were classrooms. I was so wrong. These are the dorms! All of the dorms look so new and well built. They also had little courtyards with picnic tables and grills. Um is that awesome or what?
We decided to walk to where they're building their new football stadium. It was a ways away, but we found ourselves on a marathon trail from the following weekend. There were little quotes on the road of encouragement which made the walk very entertaining!
I don't know if this is a new thing or not, but suddenly hammocks have been popping up all over college campuses in Texas. I am absolutely loving it though. I'm a very outdoorsy person, and studying in a cramped, indoor library is not my cup of tea. Sitting in a hammock while studying could be a life saver for a person like me! Doesn't it just look so relaxing and fun?
We finally came to a bridge that took us by where the football stadium is being built. Since the area was under construction and full of equipment, we turned back to visit the actual Baylor Bears.
Apparently it was too hot for the bears to be out (even though the weather was just beautiful ), so I didn't actually get to see the Baylor Bears. Boo. But I did get to read about the bears. Did you know they sometimes go to the football games? Only if they're in a good mood though. Too funny!
We then walked by a lake that goes near campus (to the area that was under construction.). We tried to see how the construction was coming along, but all we saw was a peaceful lake and many people out canoeing. Hardly a disappointment!
After our peaceful day at Baylor University, we headed to our hotel to get some much needed rest. (How do college students walk everywhere and then stay up half the night? I was dying after just one day!) Our next and final (*Insert crying here*) stop would be the University of Texas at Austin. No interesting barns bade us farewell to Waco, but we still had a fantastic time!
Join me next week as I try to keep Austin Texas weird in my upcoming college tour. It's the third and final part of my mini blog series, so it's going to be a good one. Get ready for pictures of a beautiful campus and delicious food!