(Colleges represented: UM, Indiana, Tulane, Wisconsin, Maryland, Cornell, Binghamton.)
Attending one of the most fun Big Ten universities (no bias) comes with major responsibility: to host visitors throughout the year and show them just how amazing the Michigan experience is in a time period of typically only 48 hours. But, it must be noted that there is very different preparation required for a parental visit as opposed to a visit from your best friend.
When your parents are in town, your pallet is treated to what it thinks are gourmet dinners and all-you-can-eat brunches at Sava’s, whereas a friend’s visit will include at least one Pizza House adventure, either for in-house chipatis or late-night cheesy bread. Or both. No judgment.
At some point you’re bound to show off the beauty of Michigan via a campus tour, while you demonstrate your vast knowledge of the best places to study and where you had your first ever college class to your parents. The campus tour for your friend is more likely to take place at night, cutting through the diag as your quickest route to your party destination to which you’re obviously not wearing jackets. You guarantee them that your school is as beautiful as they come.
Even the Big House/Crisler/Yost experience will look totally different by showing off the lively maize-covered student section to your friend or kicking it in awesome 50-yard line seats with the folks. You quickly learn it actually makes no difference—great atmosphere, great company.
Either way, you’re all in for a great weekend. Trying to show how much fun your school is in such a limited amount of time would normally be quite the feat. But alas, we’re Michigan students and once again, are able to exceed expectations. The weekend you’ve been planning for weeks, even months, has come and gone and you say your goodbyes until the next holiday break.
And finally, cue the inevitable envy that you get to stay.