Choosing a university in the USA

[glatt]

I think a big part of it is probably the ritual. Cracking one open is the signal that it's time to relax. I go days or even a week or so without drinking, and don't even think about it. It's not an issue. But then there are times that I'm looking forward to that glass of wine. Or someone mentions having a glass of wine and I hadn't been thinking about it but it sounds real good once they say it.

Anyway, back to colleges.

We stopped by Cornell when we were in Ithaca. Walked around a bit and tried to point things out to the kids to get them thinking about what it will be like to be in college. Cornell is all stone and slate roofs, so I referred to it a couple times as Hogwarts, and the kids perked up a bit at that. We went in the bookstore and in the art museum and snack bar. My dad was a post-doc there for a year or so, and my father-in-law is an alum, so we planted the seed that it was a place our family had a connection to, not just a random school. Hopefully it got them thinking. I also told them the price, and my boy didn't care, but my girl was amazed college was that expensive.