MSU - East Lansing, MI

As part of our nostalgia tour we visited our Alma mater, Michigan State University. Otherwise known as MSU. It was amazing to see all the growth that has taken place in the last 16 years. The old buildings seemed to all stand in the same place as back when we were students there, but there were a lot of extensions and some amazing new buildings. Even if you are not alumni it's a campus well worth visiting on a trip to Michigan. https://msu.edu/visit/

Future Spartan??

Our initial plan was to walk around the whole campus and show our kids everything, and to take loads of pictures. I forgot one important thing when I made this plan and that was how huge the campus was!! We hardly had time to graze the surface and had to go back for a second visit!
If you go at the right time of year there are all kinds of things going on. Sporting events, livestock shows, theater, shows at the planetarium .... However, we had bad timing and there was nothing going on. We booked a tour of the National Superconducting Cyclotron, where my husband was a graduate student. The tours are free of charge and can be set up through the NSCL website. A PhD student showed us all the cool stuff and our kids got to see where amazing science takes place. Unfortunately it's a high security area and no photographs could be taken. The facility itself is growing at an alarming rate and with a new accelerator being installed the cyclotron itself will be deactivated very soon. I'm sure the tours will then become bigger and more exciting. Visit their website for more information about the 90 minute tour.

Another faculty that has grown is the math department, with a humongous new glass building on top of what used to be just a long corridor and a couple of lecture halls. I was hoping that the math library had been moved here, but was sad to find out that they had removed the math library completely and the new rooms were just seminar rooms.

So if you plan a visit to this amazingly beautiful campus there are somethings that you should definitely see. We started our tour at the MSU livestock pavilion. If there are shows going on you could spend all day here. It was not very busy when we went with just a few cows hanging around. The tarmac outside has not been resurfaced since I was in college. This is where me and my husband came, when things were quiet, to learn how to roller blade. I would be worried even riding a bike on the surface now!!

Up the road from the livestock pavilion is the Hancock Turf Grass Research Center. We actually never bothered going here as students, but MSU is pretty famous for their turf grass so we took the girls to see the grass. Fields and fields of Turf Grass awaited us. We were invited by the grounds person to go out and see the research taking place and were amazed at the grass that was surreal.

Back in the car and up the road visit the MSU dairy store. Fantastic ice cream, huge portions, decent prices (as long as you get many scoops). You can view their production plant floor from 9 am - 6 pm on weekdays. (We really would have liked to do this but we had to run to meet some old friends.) Take your mega scoops outside and walk over to the MSU horticulture gardens. Absolutely amazing place for a stroll 20 years ago. I'm sure nothing has changed for the worse! We didn't get here because we went for our tour at the NSCL (see above).

Jump into your car again and drive to the North side of the campus. Visit the most amazing Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum. I just saw the outside and was amazed. If it had been open when we got there I'm sure we would have had a fun few hours looking at the art. 

Check out the website of the Art Lab, which is across the road from the museum, to see if there are any classes happening.

Another stroll around the old campus, which is north of the red cedar River, will take you through lush gardens and lawns to the iconic Beaumont tower and the MSU museum. 

If you still have any gas left take a stroll along the Red Cedar River to the botanical gardens (which are very small but well kept).

Don't forget to finish off your tour by visiting "Sparty", even if it is just a drive by photo shoot like we had to do.

If you feel hungry during your visit just drop into one of the dorm "food courts". Apparently the one in Brody Hall is the second largest in the USA (although I can't seem to confirm this)!!!

Enjoy your visit!!