Getting Along Swimmingly in Long Beach

Last Friday, the counselors at Collegewise-Irvine fought traffic on the 405 Northbound to travel to the exciting city of Long Beach.  While we here at Collegewise are game to visit a college anytime, anywhere, it wasn’t just the allure of Cal State Long Beach that drew us away from our desks that sunny morning (though obviously we had to stop by campus to snap some pictures while we were there).  But the main focus of our little field trip was to see two former Collegewise students, Hayley Cobb and Megan McPherson, compete at the Pacific Collegiate Swim Conference championships in Long Beach.

Hayley and Megan are both freshmen at Seattle University, located in Seattle, Washington, and are valuable members of the Division II swim team.  While Allison, Kyle, and Margot were temporarily distracted by the dazzling array of colleges represented at the swim meet (Hello, University of Alaska Fairbanks!) the best part of the day was getting to hang out with Hayley and Megan poolside and hear about how much they are enjoying their time at SU.  After hearing all about their experiences, we decided that Hayley and Megan are pretty much ruling the school as freshmen.  They had nothing but great things to say about the team, the campus, their professors, and even the Seattle weather.  Hooray!

 After our morning at the Belmont Plaza Olympic Pool in Long Beach, CA (host to the 1968 and 1976 Olympic swim trials), we travelled to the Cal State Long Beach campus for some fresh, non-chlorinated air.  All three counselors were immediately taken by the campus, which is very big and very beautiful.  The visit dispelled some myths that we all held, including the following:

1. Even though CSU Long Beach is huge with a student body size to go with it, we saw friends run into each other on campus.  Just because there are more than 30,000 undergrads there doesn’t mean you won’t see a familiar face or two on your way to lunch.

2.  The campus is great!  Granted there are some parts of Long Beach that would not be described as gorgeous, but you’d never know that when on campus.  Sprawling green quads, towering trees, and sparkling fountains fill the campus and make the walk to class seem like a walk in a park.

3.  Gyms come in all shapes and sizes.  The Long Beach 49ers draw huge crowds to their basketball games, which are played in an enormous blue pyramid called the Walter Pyramid.  The 49ers take so much pride in their angular arena that stuffed blue pyramids are on sale in the student bookstore.

All in all, it was a great way to spend a Friday morning.  To see more pictures of our visit, check out our Facebook page here.  And good luck to Hayley and Megan, who are off to Texas in a few weeks to compete in Nationals.  Go Redhawks!