1809

1809

This entry will be spent reflecting on my four years at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio.  Miami was founded in 1809 and has come to be a very well-respected school, ranked among the best for business.  When I was deciding where to continue my education, it came down to Miami and Xavier University.  It was essentially a toss-up but I ultimately chose Miami for it’s reputation in business. 

Freshman year was a total blast.  The independence was liberating.  Classes were tough – I had to balance requirements for two different Honors programs which was not an easy task.  This was good though; it kept me in check when I needed it.  I was truly blessed to make incredible friends that year.  In fact we remained very close all four years and many of them are in our wedding this summer.  Some highlights from that year were learning to play disc golf (aka Frisbee golf, or frolf), watching Ben Roethlisberger destroy the competition, the worker’s union (food, cleaning) going on strike, and going on Spring break to Texas (we visited Dallas, San Antonio, the beaches near Corpus Christi).

We camped right on the beach on the Texas gulf coast.

Sophomore year brought a lot of the same.  Great friends, tons of studying.  I remember starting to really like school at this point because my classes started to become concentrated in business as I had finished a lot of general education requirements Freshman year.  I was also king of napping.  I usually napped from 2-4pm which left me with plenty of time to get some schoolwork done before hanging out with friends.  One highlight of Sophomore year was sledding.  We had a huge hill behind our dorm and with my extensive sled collection we were set!

Junior year was when things totally changed.  Thanks to some of my sister Mo’s friends referring us, we landed a killer off-campus residence that was 100 yards from the bars and less than a 10 minute walk to classes.  Score!  We spent a lot of time visiting our friends at their houses since that was the cool new thing for everyone (not being in dorms).  School remained tough as my focus in Accounting ramped up and classes got very technical.  Throughout college I always worked, so that also took a lot of free time.  Thanks again to Mo for a great reference, I landed a job at the bookstore (free books!).  I also kept working at the Columbus Zoo on school breaks. 

Senior year I stayed in the same residence with the same guys (1 of whom was my randomly assigned roommate Freshman year and now will be my best man).  I was loaded up on hours trying to get 150 credit hours to meet the requirement to sit for the CPA exam, but that didn’t stop me from living it up.  And senior year was the one year I let myself take a “real” Spring Break.  We went to Panama City.  Fortunately there were enough of us that we could afford to rent an entire house for the week and didn’t have to stay in a dingy hotel.  We had direct beach access, our own volleyball court, multiple patios/deck, grills, etc.  It was just a total blast on the cheap without the downsides of cramming 12 people into a single hotel room.  Graduation from Miami was definitely bittersweet.  I’ll never forget, my roommate and I ditched the big University graduation ceremony to get in another round of frolf.  I remember being underwhelmed by the Business School graduation (the one my parents came to).  I guess I just didn’t want to let go.

When I reflect on Miami and think about what makes it so special for me, I think about the hockey games, playing broomball (look it up) with the same guys and gals all 3 seasons of all 4 years, the amazing beauty of the campus, the best friends a guy could ask for, a stellar education that has propelled me into a successful career, and the best dining hall food any college student could ever want.  I’m very thankful for my parents who made a sacrifice to help me pay for school, and I remind myself of these fond memories every time I make a payment on my student loan. 

 

I dragged Anissa to Oxford so we could get some engagement pictures there.  It's a beautiful campus even when it rains!  And it's funny to see how some things change (new buildings) and some don't (the landscape, the feel of the campus).

P.s. One other big memory from my college years was studying in Luxembourg for six weeks in 2006.  This needs to be an entry unto itself so keep your eyes peeled.