As Seen At Michigan State University

Hello! Made a quick visit to Michigan State University in East Lansing, Michigan yesterday. Didn't have much time to look around, but did take a few photos. 

My lunch spot:

The MSU food truck; how cool is that? By going HERE, I was able to scout out the food truck's daily location in advance and view the menu and daily specials. 

I had the grilled chicken sandwich with cilantro/lime aioli. Although I felt the sandwich was a little skimpy for the price, I could fault nothing else about it. It truly was one of the tastiest chicken sandwiches I've had in a long time. 

The website had informed me that yesterday's food truck location was "at The Rock near the MSU Auditorium". Having gone to MSU, of course I knew what "The Rock" was, but in case you don't know, here's what it looked like yesterday:

This is rather a subdued look; besides the "GO SPARTANS", the other statement of interest to me was the "J'aime Paris et State", which I assume referred to someone's love of their study abroad session in Paris. Well, why not - I would have liked to study abroad when I was in college too but couldn't afford it. Oh well. 

The Rock is constantly painted over, with all sorts of slogans, event notifications, declarations of love and affection to others, Greek letters and so on. It very well may look completely different today!  

The Rock has been on campus since 1873, and as a student I remember its original location near Beaumont Tower. It was moved to its current spot in 1986. The reason for moving a large boulder such as this? The health of nearby trees at the Beaumont Tower location had been threatened by them being spray-painted along with the Rock. 

Spotted some more signs of personal expression on campus, this time in chalk.

The top photo reads "Dream a little dream everyday" while the bottom one encourages passerby to "love yourself". In the background of the bottom photo is a peace sign drawn over a manhole cover. These chalk writings made me smile. Both had been written on the path near the Bikes Service Center.

A stenciled message on a sidewalk near the Union Building was less positive though:

Perhaps a graduating senior had left this message, thinking not only of all the good times of the past four years but of the student loans that would have to be paid off in the future. Not a pretty thought. 

There was one last picture I took, and that was in the Union Building itself. There is an electronic sign in the lobby that features the names of all the students who had made the Dean's List (3.5 or better GPA, I believe) during the most recent semester. Not only that, but one can press a name on the list, thereby blowing up that student's name all by itself on a new screen.

It's a fun thing to do if you're a proud parent, as I was yesterday. But to spare our daughter's embarrassment, I'm not showing the photo I took of her name here.

I hope to return to the MSU area in the near future; summer is a pleasant time of year there. Perhaps I'll head over some Thursday, when the Rock is host to the Student Organic Farm Stand. That sounds even cooler than the food truck!