day sixteen.

Let’s start off by addressing how FUN it is to get up at five in the morning in the summer. Talk about feeling refreshed. Martha and I finished our packing (we’re really bad procrastinators) and jumped in the Crossover. We drove too many hours. I took the first nap, unaware of my mother’s inner battle to stay awake. I woke up, realized she was half asleep, and took over the wheel. Highways are terrifying, let me tell you. I became quite pass-happy, though. I also learned that truck drivers sometimes have beds in their cab, and actually sleep in their truck.

While learning all these fascinating things about American highways, we finally arrived at our destination, Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia. Our tour consisted of about four hours of seeing the campus and learning about the different opportunities it held. I wasn’t overly impressed, but I didn’t hate it either. The campus as a whole seems very focused on athletics, which isn’t my scene. They have a football stadium that they’re renovating to seat 30,000 people, while their new theater will only hold 600. It’s also a really conservative school, coming with a curfew and a dress code. While these things are obviously minor, and don’t horribly affect the academic side of college, they’re an important part of becoming your own person. College is about becoming independent, and I feel like your RA shouldn’t be punishing you for wearing spaghetti straps. However, the academics seem amazing, and it’s obvious that the professors really care about the students. They take individual time out of their day to address any problems you might be having, and are there to help you learn, not just memorize. There’s also free tutoring offered, along with a slew of other resources.

Keeping all of this in mind, it just feels like Liberty isn’t the best fit for me. It’s not horrible, and I’ll certainly still keep it on my radar, but I intend to keep searching. Day one of the road trip? Successful, and almost complete. We’ve got two hours and twenty-three minutes left in our drive to Nashville, Tennessee, and I could not be more excited.