Willow has 6 colleges that she'd like to tour. In my mind we could drive to all of them during Spring Break, but once I started looking at the driving time between them, I quickly realized that we'd barely be in town for a 2-hr tour before hopping in the car to get to the next place, without truly experiencing any of the towns. We decided to fly to Florida to see the 3 there so Chris decided just Willow and I would go, then he'd see the campus if there was one there that she decided on. We found a cute AirBnb and cheap flights through Allegiant Airlines. Willow set up the college tours and I set up a few meals with MY college friends who were still in Florida. 
Somehow Willow thought FSC was within 15 minutes of the beach. It's more like...2 hours. The airport was 45 minutes from the beach, so we got off the plane and headed to the beach so she could check that off her list. By the time we got dinner and to the beach, it was sunset. It got dark quickly but she spent a few minutes with her toes in the water.
Somehow Willow thought FSC was within 15 minutes of the beach. It's more like...2 hours. The airport was 45 minutes from the beach, so we got off the plane and headed to the beach so she could check that off her list. By the time we got dinner and to the beach, it was sunset. It got dark quickly but she spent a few minutes with her toes in the water. 
I got a bit scared because it was so dark and she was wearing black clothes!On Tuesday, our first tour was at Florida Southern College, where I attended. I hadn't pushed it on her at all but was excited that she wanted to check it out! It felt weird for her to tour there since it feels like I was just there! We ate at the dining hall for lunch then had a tour at 1:00. The campus has expanded a lot since I was there. It was fun to relive my time on campus as we walked around. As seniors, we got to write our names in the wet concrete of a section of sidewalk. It's sad to realize that I'm "so old" that they've had to replace that section by now, so it wasn't there to show her.
We definitely didn't have a "campus cat" when I was there, but I love the idea!
We met up with my friend Somer after she got out of school. She was gracious in spending a lot of time with us! We got strawberry treats at Parkesdale Farms, then walked around a great new park. Then we enjoyed pizza for dinner together. 
The next morning Willow and I walked around Lake Hollingsworth. It brought back memories of rollerblading around it in college. The walkway was busy for a mid-week morning! Most of the houses were new/updated as well.
Next we had lunch in the dining hall at Southeastern University before our 1:00 tour. Willow loved it! It's very Christian-centered, with professors even praying before classes start! There's a great band, that even produces songs. There are lots of mission trip options as well. 
After the tour, we shared a banana split to "process our emotions" and discuss the pros and cons of the two tours. 
We met my college friend, Kelley, and her husband Brian for dinner. It was so great to catch up with her!
Thursday we ate lunch with a girl from our church who attends Southeastern. It was great to hear her experience since they get the most positive, extroverted students to do the tours ;) Then we drove up to Gainesville to see University of Florida. She wasn't able to get a guided tour, so we used their app for a self-guided tour. She quickly realized that a campus of 60,000 was a bit bigger than she was interested in!
My college friend, Jamie, drove over from Jacksonville to have dinner with us. We hadn't kept in touch outside of Facebook but realized that we've been walking the same path in parenting for the last few years. It was great to catch up with her!
Kelley and I met up on Friday to walk. Willow wanted to sleep in and I wanted to see a gator. Kelley knew of the right place! We saw looooots of gators and other wildlife too! It was sweet of her to take the day off to be with us! We picked up Willow then headed to Kelley's place to enjoy the pool together before heading to Orlando for our flight home. 
We had a great week! Each friend said that they'd be happy to help in any way if Willow ends up in Florida. I loved that she was able to meet them. She said she felt like she learned more about what I was like in college by meeting my friends. Hopefully that's an encouraging thing! My biggest prayer for her in college is for her to make life-long friends like I did! We have 3 more schools she'd like to look at, so we should be able to do those trips this fall! 