It’s that time of year again: college application season. As a current college student, the stress and anxiety that you felt this time last year (or a few years back) might seem like a distant memory, but we all remember the best part—visiting schools. While Tulane’s official tours do a great job of showing anxious high schoolers staples like the LBC and Reily, the real tour is done behind the scenes. Whether your visitor is a younger best friend or your camp friend’s home friend’s cousin, there’s no better way to show a prospective Tulanian the real deal than to adopt them as a pseudo-student for the weekend.
On campus, there are tons of routine places to hit when you show your visitor around. Probably the biggest attraction is the bookstore; while they might have ended up there after the tour, there’s a good chance they will want to make a second round. Definitely take them to get the perfect Snapchat story of the Mardi Gras tree, and make sure they take a picture next to the “Tulane University” sign at the very front of campus. If there’s a tailgate that weekend, show them the quad—even if it’s Friday, it’s exciting to see the heart of the tailgate being set up.
Food wise, there’s no doubt that your visitor will be eager to try any and all of New Orleans’ famous restaurants, so a trip to the French Quarter for a beignet at Café du Monde is definitely a good place to start. Closer to campus, Magazine Street offers endless restaurants. You can go to Dat Dog for a more casual yet renowned meal or stop by Shaya if you’re looking for something upscale, but the best part about Magazine is that there's a different restaurant on every corner. If all else fails, everyone knows the most authentic Tulane food to offer them: Boot pizza.
At night, your visitor is, of course, going to want to hang out with you and your friends; show them a good time, in whatever way that might be for you! They're probably going to want to brag about being at Tulane with a Snapchat story with the "Boot o'clock" geotag, but as the night goes on you should show them around a frat party or, if you're feeling adventurous, the French Quarter. At Tulane, anything goes—as you know, there’s never a bad or wrong way to take on the weekend here.
All in all, a weekend at Tulane is a weekend well spent, no matter what. And, don’t worry, even if the school itself doesn’t end up being your visitor’s perfect match in the long run, the chances of them having anything less than an amazing time while here are slim to none. But, odds are your visitor goes home and wishes they never had to leave.
