Seattle Pacific University (Seattle, WA)

So this last college blog I will keep short, and due to lack of information it may be a little unorganized. But this blog is mainly just for me to reflect and be able to look back, so it matters not. Anyways, I have been to SPU a number of times for tours and exploration, but this would be my first overnighter at the school. As organized as it seemed, the visit was not too informative about the school factually, but it was more experience driven. I had a lot of fun although I learned it is not the school for me. Allow me to explain...

1. Welcome session and dinner with hosts 

>> I was surprised to see so many people doing this event (about 30) and every preview student I met was so nice. 

>> the host I got was Courtney who was from Oahu (went to iolani). She was a freshman and her roommate was also hosting a student

>> she was so nice, and hung out with us the whole time but the people she hung out with I could sense a worldliness and drama-driven nature. 

2. We just hung out in the dorms for a bit

>> the dorms are by far the nicest and biggest I've seen 

>> my host and friends also informed me that there is too many girls (about 67%) and most of them are "thirsty"

>> also, most of the dorm time was spent discussing why so and so wants to just go home because of guy drama

3. Walked to Molly Moon's ice cream and to see the city lights from a park (then ubered back)

>> nice thing about SPU is the closeness to everything you could imagine doing in a city. Also, this ice cream place had vegan ice cream so that was a plus. 

>> I noticed that some of the sophomores we walked with were a little intimidating and not friendly at all. 

4. Went to the iPod dance party

>> that was probably the funniest and weirdest thing I did all trip. Just to explain, this party was in the center of campus and everyone downloaded a soundtrack from soundcloud. We all went there with headsets in and they did a countdown and we all pressed play at the same time. And danced. And ran up hills and all over campus. And went into dorms. (I even saw Jared Dang studying and looking at us funny). It was super fun! 

5. Went to sleep (5 people in one dorm)

6. Breakfast in the cafeteria

>> breakfast was great. They had vegetarian and vegan labels on everything and a lot of options. Same with lunch!

7. Went to a John Perkins workshop

>> oh the people speaking were so nice, but I couldn't connect the interactive things we did to what the lesson was supposed to be. 

8. My dad and I ditched and went to trader joes 

>> there weren't too many interesting classes I wanted to go to and the scheduling made it difficult to make it to a class without walking in late. 

9. Admissions info session

>> not to be a downer but the admissions counselor talked about the general admissions process and it seemed as though she were meaning to be talking to a room of sophomores, yet the whole room was mainly seniors. It wasn't too helpful, but she seemed very very nice. 

10. Lunch in the cafeteria

>> honestly, the preview students made this event amazing. I loved hanging out with some of the girls and found out they're looking at some of the same schools that I am. 

11. Left and went to Ikea 

I don't have the facts about the school, but the main thing I got out of this visit is that wherever I go there will be mean people who are worldly but there will also be those who want to be where God wants them to be. I haven't seen the reflection of the Christian faith represented very well on campus in past visits or this one; in fact, when I asked about chapels, the response was, "oh yeah, the good thing about the chapels is that you don't have to go to them." So that made me a little sad because people work hard to make chapel happen for these students. Overall, I had a super fun experience at SPU, and everyone I met was so nice, but it is not the school for me. Even though there are nice, Christian people there, I want to immerse myself in a school and education that speaks truth and faith into everything, whether it be a science class or a ministry class. It may have just been the people I stayed with, but SPU to me seemed more of a secular school than a religious university. I am not discouraging or dismissing this school from my list, but what it comes down to is that I'd take spirituality over fun in terms of my college experience. SPU is a great school, and it would be a real challenge for me, but I feel like I want to grow more and have wide Christian ministry options available before I apply all of them to the world. (Not sure if that makes sense). I just want more options and people in that area because I am so excited to learn about God.