In the United States, there are thousands of college campuses to choose from, but Ohio University has a campus like no other. There are many college campuses in rural areas, suburban areas, and inner cities. Even though they may come from similar types of places they are unique, and each has it’s own characteristics and personality to it.
The campus is one of the main things that draw the students in when they visit, and is the first real impression of the school. I mean who looks at a dirty campus with a few boring building and thinks, “Wow this place is great!” No one. When stepping on a campus, you want it to feel like home and place where you will be happy spending your college career. Yes, Ohio State has endless restaurants we all love, and Miami has the same red brick roads as our campus at Ohio University, but we have that and so much more to brag about.
First, the layout of the campus is convenient for everyone. You can walk everywhere on campus and nothing is more than a 15 minute walk. Most of the time my walks to class don’t take more than about eight minutes. The center of campus, Court Street, is where students flock to restaurants, bars, and shops. Everything you need can be found on Court Street. Besides Petland, of course, but that is only a mile away.
Second, the red brick roads are a trademark at Ohio University. These bricks are unlike any other bricks you will see on a college campus, most schools have just plain boring red bricks. Ohio’s are unique in the sense that they are special to us and are truly our own. Each brick says “Athens Block” or “Athens, Ohio” and each step you take is just a reminder of where you are (which is the greatest place on earth). One of the goals many students have is to steal one of these bricks before they graduate, and new bricks are constantly being laid down.
Third, is Court Street, the main road that runs through Ohio University, where you can find just about anything. It has restaurants, shops, bars, and more. Athens contains local restaurants that you can find nowhere else, such as Casa Nueva, Big Mamas Burritos, O’Bettys, Brenen’s, Habibi’s, and Ginger. The only thing missing is a Skyline Chili, which every person from Cincinnati knows and loves.
When students are done eating and ready to start drinking they have plenty of bars to choose from. Some of the bars on campus aren’t on Court Street, but most all of them are. Once you walk past Pita Pit and Fluff Bakery different bars starting with Lucky’s and ending at Broney’s. Each bar draws its own crowds and everyone has their favorites. I personally cannot choose one, but prefer the CI or Crystal, but mostly it depends on where your friends are.
Fourth, Ohio University has a couple other things you won’t find anywhere else, starting with Bong Hill. Bong Hill is a giant hill outside of campus that students can spend their day hiking up for the spectacular view it possesses. When you get to the top of bong hill, there is an amazing view overlooking the Hocking River and OU's campus. Other than Bong Hill, one of the strangest features of Athens is the old insane asylum referred to as The Ridges. The Ridges now contains the Kennedy Art Museum, but before it was renovated it once held close to 2,000 different patients where lobotomies, shock treatments, and more were done. If you look behind The Ridges you can find a cemetery with unmarked graves of some of the patients who lived there. Athens is actually the thirteenth most haunted city in the world. It is hard to find another place that is like Athens, Ohio.
