February 25, 2008

There are many words that would accurately describe my life, but exotic isn’t one of them. This became blatantly apparent to me last week as I was making a brochure for the OSU Study Abroad Office. The project was an assignment for my Advanced PR Media class.

I had so much fun researching the brochure, because I got to read about students who have been changed by their experiences in other countries. Last week, I had three friends traveling overseas. Two of them are studying abroad and one of them was in Thailand on a mission trip.

Hearing about the wonderful time they were having made me extremely envious of them. Although my family takes a vacation almost every year, I’ve never been to another country.

I am usually very satisfied with my life, but last week was a little depressing. My friends have exciting lives, and I basically do the same thing every day. How do I not die of boredom?

That’s what I was thinking on Tuesday when my boss gave me an assignment. I had to make a delivery. This is nothing out of the ordinary, in fact, I usually run some sort of errand about every other day. However, this time was different because my boss asked me to deliver a package to the Bartlett Center.

As I began the walk across campus, it dawned on me that although I pass by the Bartlett Center almost every day, I’ve never been inside the building. How on earth was that possible? After three and a half years, I thought I’d been in every building on campus.

Because Tuesday was such a wonderful day, I decided to take a tour of all the buildings on campus I hadn’t been to before after getting off work. What I discovered was something interesting in almost every building I walked into.

Engineering South has this cool, unexplained compass on the floor and Thatcher Hall, the ROTC building, has an airplane outside of it that is much bigger than I realized. Although I found something interesting about each building, I have to say that the Bartlett Center was my favorite.

From the art gallery on the first floor, to the spiral fire escapes on both sides of the building, it was extremely interesting to discover all of the little surprises the building had to offer.

The people I met there were wonderful, too. One student was obviously on a mission to deliver something, but he saw me looking around and took the time to ask if I was lost. I explained to him that I was just exploring, and he shared with me some of the interesting things about the building and pointed me toward the gallery.

His willingness to help a stranger took me off guard, but I shouldn’t have been surprised. OSU has more than its fair share of friendly people, and I am so thankful to be a part of such a wonderful university!

After my campus tour, I decided life wasn’t as boring as I had thought. I don’t have to be in another country to experience new things. I can find adventure everywhere, even in a place I thought I knew like the back of my hand.

Someday I hope to travel overseas, but until then, I’m perfectly content discovering the adventures in my own backyard. 

	This is a picture of the Gardiner Art Gallery in the Bartlett Center. Helen O’Leary was the artist whose work is on display.
	This is the airplane outside of Thatcher Hall. I can’t believe how big it is compared to those cars!
	This was the compass I mentioned in Engineering South. It’s totally random, but I like random.
	I have been in Life Sciences West a lot this year, and I can remember being totally shocked the day I realized there were live snakes in the hallway!