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| Alyza |
| In the summer of 1998 my daughter was preparing to choose a graduate school to continue her study of Chemistry. In high school we hadn't been able to visit any colleges. This time she thought if we rented a car and stayed in campgrounds it would be financially doable. I mapped out a route and found the campgrounds and she corresponded with the colleges and set up appointments. We stayed at state campgrounds mostly. We left on a Sunday to camp over at our first stop in southern Pennsylvania, not to far from the University of Delaware. This was in the Pennsylvania Dutch area. We were amused to see a mushroom museum in the "Mushroom capitol of the World". The place was O.K. but one nighters were put on this rocky hill-not too comfortable. In the morning we took down the tent, ate breakfast, and showered. Then we were on our way to U Del. |
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| Most of the professors were nice but the one she really had been interested in working with started by telling her how the last girl he took didn't work out and that he was considering retiring. The campus and town there are similar to Princeton University near where we live. We left there and headed for the University of Maryland. By the time we found the building we needed and a place to park we were an hour late. The poor woman who had arranged several meetings was in a tither but Alyza still got to meet with several professors. They had a nice program there but more of their focus seemed to be on Biology. From here we went to Greenbelt National Park. Right when we started to set up the tent there was a sudden down pour. Everything got soaked so we threw the tent and all in plastic garbage bags and decided to go eat. We found a lot of TGIF's and Pizza Hut's on our little trip. We got directions to an all night laundry and dried everything. By the time we got back to camp it was late so we just decided to sleep in the car. The next morning after a bite and a shower we headed to George Washington University in Washington, DC |
| It was an absolute nightmare trying to find the "FREE" parking lot we were supposed to use. We kept going in large circles looking. At one point I thought we should just drive into one of the pay garages and be done with it. The parking garages there are like something you have never seen before. They are REAL tight spirals and once you go in you can't get out! The garage attendants were really ticked but finally they held up the incoming cars and drove the car out. Shortly after that we found the parking garage where we were supposed to park. Then the strangest thing! Once you GET OUT of the car in Washington, DC it is a real nice place. I was real impressed with the college and their program. All in all they were a nice group of professors and students. The experience was quite relaxing after we got out of the traffic. Now we are on our way to the Bear Creek State Park in Cumberland, Virginia- that is right after we almost "bought the farm" on the way out of Washington! There was hardly any traffic but a cab driver just didn't seem to notice we were there on his left when he came into our lane across several other lanes. Thankfully Alyza was driving because I don't think my reaction time would have been as sharp. The face of the cab driver was priceless as we screeched to a stop and were just inches away face to face. We all came out of it unscathed! |
| Bear Creek was quite a drive but easy to find. It had a beautiful lake. The next morning we packed up and visited the University of Virginia. It was easy to find the science buildings and just as easy to park. She had a very nice visit there and they made her feel welcome. By chance a guy who had worked with her at Cyanamid was a student there. They were surprised to see each other! The other students seemed surprised that "he" had a friend who is a girl. The guys seemed to be in somewhat of a teasing mood |
| Our next stop was Nutbush, North Carolina. When we got there we hadn't noticed that just a few hundred feet further there was a second entrance. We went down a road on our right with a more "primitive" camp area but we thought oh well and set up our tent before it got dark. Some guy had come around in a truck, which made me uncomfortable because we were the only ones there. We went for ice and groceries and to call and check in with my husband. When we came back it was dark and then noticed the other road and went down it to check it out. There were many trailercampers there so we decided to go get the tent and bring it over to this area. We pulled up and opened the car doors. Suddenly as we started to move the tent we were being swarmed by the biggest winged things I had ever seen. A few were buzzing around the light inside the car. We finally managed to get the tent in the car, the bugs out of the car, and us in the car without getting bit! I have no idea what they were-some kind of huge hornets or something. After all the commotion we got the tent set back up and a comfortable nights sleep. |
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| The next day she visited Duke and the University of North Carolina-both impressive in all aspects, especially Duke! The buildings there were incredible! I thought sure she would go to Duke if they accepted her. The research team that she was interested in was new and unestablished though. We stayed over in Nutbush an extra night before heading up the Interstate toward home but not before seeing an ostrich trotting down the road along side us! We thought it was pretty strange because the area was heavily developed with apartment complexes and stores. |
| About half way we stayed over at Pocahontas State Park in Virginia. This one was fairly modern and had a built in pool, which Alyza made full use of. The next day it was on up the Interstate and home again home again jiggity jig |
| All of these Universities were real impressive and she would have been lucky to go to any of them. I thought she was leaning toward Duke. As a high school senior money was a consideration where she would be able to go to college and although all but one accepted her the balance to pay was out of reach. Her only choice was to go to Trenton State College. (That worked out well anyway). In the case of science grad schools they pay the tuition and pay you a wage. This situation was just the opposite of college. Now she got accepted to ALL of them and it was very difficult to decide which one to go to! Well, she entered the graduate-PhD Chemistry program at the University of Delaware and had a real affordable, nice, and safe single apartment a short walk from her study/work building. A fter a year Alyza knew she didn't want to be pushing paper so she finished her course work but dropped out of this program. She now is a Chemist for Schering-Plough in New Jersey and doing well. As soon as she settled in she applied to the Masters program at Seton Hall. The credits from UDel were transferred so 6 more courses for the Masters in Chemistry. |
| KOA Unionville,PA |
| Mem Hall, University of Delaware |
| leaving Washington-site of our scare |
| our little tent |
| Bear Creek, Virginia |
| University of Virginia |
| Nutbush,North Carolina |
| part of Duke University |
| cathedral at Duke University |
| Pocahontas State Park, Virginia |
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