After restricting my "possible" universities list to only 5 colleges, me and my family decided to visit those universities. As most of you know choosing the right college is a very important decision; there are many factors involved: tuition, infrastructure, ranking, majors, extracurricular activities... Although most of a college information is displayed online, one needs more than just facts to choose the right college; intuition and feeling are as important, or more important (I would dare to say).
As an international student I was invited to attend the red carpet event. An event exclusive for International students that have an interest in attending IU in the future, during the event the potential future students would learn more about the history and culture of IU, as well as academics and sports. Due to some series of events, my family and I arrived later than we expected in Bloomington, as a consequence I could not attend the event.
However, eager to learn about the University we went to the Office of International Services where we were received with great hospitality. We were invited to a small room where we were asked if wanted anything to drink , than we received a personal overview of the University by one of the staff. They answered all of our questions and even engaged us in a very exciting conversation. Their passion and enthusiasm for the school thrilled us and motivated us in a way that made us put aside all of our plans, and take a tour through the school.
The staff member decided that he would be our personal guide, and so he stopped what he was doing, put aside all of the work piled in his desk and gave us a 1:30 hour tour of the school. He explained about the school's history, traditions, activities, sports, buildings. There was no doubt that this was not part of his job, and that he was only doing this for his passion for this school. Passion, that at the time seemed "strange" or "too much", but that I now understand. As the tour ended and we continued our trip to the other Universities, IU had already won my heart and I knew there was were I belonged.
