"OMG, it's Tappan Square!"

In the last few months, I've noticed that a common trait us Obies all possess is that art of explanation. I mean, before I was even accepted I found myself giving a condensed history of Oberlin College every time somebody asked me where I was applying. I believe that's when I realized I really loved Oberlin. Honestly, you've got to love a place if you don't mind convincing everyone you know it's a real school.

As much as I love it here, I wonder how the rest of the country perceives Oberlin. Are we really even on the map? I don't know about the rest of the United States, but when I'm home in Miami, Florida, I mention Oberlin and people look at me like I'm talking about Hogwarts School of Witch and Wizardry. For awhile, my friends even joked that Oberlin was my excuse to really take a year off from high school before furthering my education.

This past summer I had an internship in San Francisco, and since a ton of Obies hail from the Bay Area, I figured I would finally be in a place where people would recognize the name and even know a little bit about the school. Truth is, although I didn't get as many blank stares, Oberlin was still "some ambiguous hippie school where nobody wore shoes." So disappointing.

Upon arriving back to campus in mid-August, I guess I had come to terms with Oberlin being this unknown, imaginary place to the rest of real world. I figured as long as I knew it's brilliance, what the general population thought was negligible.

The weekend before classes started, the volleyball team packed up and headed for Wisconsin for a two-day tournament. The morning before our first game, we were sitting and eating breakfast in the lobby, when we heard mention of Oberlin College on the television. Someone turned up the volume, and we all crowded around the set thrilled to see that on CNN there was a story being aired about our school. The story talked about how the college has a program to provide funds for students who live in Oberlin to attend the college. Honestly, it was just so cool.

That moment kind of opened my eyes. Since then, I worry less about how well known the name is, and think more about the great things that this establishment is doing for its students. We're all just so lucky. I'm just saying, if CNN recognizes the name on my diploma, I think I'll get by just fine in the real world.