I went undercover on a campus tour of UMD
Apparently Eppley has a steam room and sauna
If there’s anything I remember about the college application process, it’s how much I dreaded going on tours. Yes, you get to see all the beautiful campuses, but walking for hours on end, completely disoriented with aching feet – not my cup of tea.
So naturally, I decided to go on a campus tour of Maryland to see what it’s like from a future student’s perspective. If nothing else, I figured it’d at least get me some extra steps on my fitbit.
Luckily for me, one of my best friends here is an Images Tour Guide so I was easily able to hop onto one of her tours. I tried to act as inconspicuous as possible, but I’m pretty sure everyone else was wondering what a random kid was doing there with a backpack and no parents.
First things first, they’ve completely changed the campus tour route this past year. Instead of walking around south campus past all the academic buildings, we wandered around all the freshman quads on north campus and even hit the gym before seeing the Mall and McKeldin.
They also took us to the Diner, which they had briefly stopped doing this semester after an incident in which a UMD student threw a bar of soap at a visitors head (yup, this really happened).
As for dorms, they showed us La Plata Hall, which is easily the nicest freshman residence hall on campus (hence why the Honors students get to live there). I couldn’t help but pity the poor kids on this tour who had no idea they’d probably be crammed into a forced triple in a dorm that may not even have air-conditioning, let alone foosball tables and couches in the lobby.
As the tour went on I couldn’t help but wonder how the parents felt about the fact that we couldn’t walk two feet without seeing a sign for Lil’Dicky.
All in all, I actually did learn a couple new things. One: tours go by so much faster when you actually know where you are on campus. That, or I’ve just gotten used to trekking miles to class everyday. Two: and this is so cheesy, but it was actually fun hearing about how great our school is. I found myself biting my tongue every time the tour guides finished talking, because I felt like there was so much more to say about what UMD has to offer. And most importantly, three: apparently Eppley has a steam room and sauna??? I don’t know how I went two semesters without knowing that but now I’ve gotta check it out.