Our first week of the
placement was a bit of a whirlwind to say the least. We flew in the day of a
football game between Stanford and the University of Southern California which
explained why almost every hotel in the university area had been booked a month
in advance (we eventually settled in at the Stanford Guest House which is actually more like the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center Guest House). Unfortunately* the game was just about over by the time we arrived
at the stadium but we did get to watch a water polo game the next day.
*Or not. As someone who had an entire conversation with someone about the "Senators" thinking he meant the upper house of Parliament, I'm not sure I was entirely ready to experience the full force of American college sports fanaticism.
Campus Tour
*Or not. As someone who had an entire conversation with someone about the "Senators" thinking he meant the upper house of Parliament, I'm not sure I was entirely ready to experience the full force of American college sports fanaticism.
Campus Tour
Sunlit and covered in
palm trees, bicycles, and tourists, Stanford looks friendly and inviting. We
took a walking tour of the 8,180 acre-campus and learned a little about the
history of the university. Stanford's official name is Leland Stanford Junior
University, after California senator Leland Stanford's son who passed away as a
teen from typhoid fever. Stanford is also often called "the Farm"
having been a stock farm before the school was built.
Every other building had
an interesting story (I won't recount them all here) that our tour guide
patiently divulged. One of the campus landmarks is Hoover Tower, a library/archival
collection founded by Stanford alumnus and later 31st president of the United
States, Herbert Hoover.
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| Hoover Tower |
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| The view from Hoover Tower's observational platform. The building with the blue triangle is the J. Henry Meyer Memorial Library. |
