Sizeable Stanford

Stanford campus is enormous.  The buildings and campus stretch far and wide across town, with pristine buildings and attractive landscaping.  The University's sports facilities are also world-class, including a massive football stadium where the University's football team play very competitively and often lead in their league (do these scholars really need to be leading athletes too??).

So spread out, most people choose to get around by bike.  Cycling is not Beth's best skill but, equipped with a bike helmet and her health insurance card, we headed over to campus to check it all out.

The campus is certainly different than Oxford campus, which we visited earlier in the summer, feeling much newer, with flatter and wider architecture and a backdrop that feels almost tropical.  Much like Oxford, however, the students all live on campus during their tenures which seems a great way to make the most of one's college experience..

In the heart of the campus stands the impressive Hoover Tower, built in 1941 to commemorate the University's 50th anniversary.  The Tower is named after Herbert Hoover, the first US President to have attended Stanford University.  The Tower hosts the Hoover Institution and Library and a viewing platform that offers the most magnificent panoramas of the university and surrounding area. On a clear day, you can see the enormous Google complex and most of Silicon Valley too.

Despite the incredible size of the campus, we unexpectedly ran into Geoff's boss at the T-Mobile store as he helped his daughter get her technologies set up for school that year.  Luckily, Beth was not trying to navigate her bicycle at the time as it was the only thing on campus that was not at all impressive!