University of Notre Dame

I’m not sure how many stars to give the University of Notre Dame following my first visit to the campus for a football game.
First, the bad… Why are there THREE lots marked by the same damn letter? We had never been to the stadium before, nor had our tailgating friends. They tell us «we’re in lot J.» Which lot J? There’s a tiny lot J, a medium lot J, and a large lot J. Which one? So we find the correct lot «J»…then are trying to figure out how the lot is ordered by numbers. Why is 14 next to 18, but 15 is on the other side of the lot? What kind of education are students receiving at this learning institution? Letters and numbers have no value.
Now some good (which will be followed by more bad)…the people were super friendly! Yes, the locals severely overcharge for parking (dude wanted $ 60, we were only able to take him down to $ 40). But the people were nice and let us chill at their tailgate for a few. Once inside the stadium, we experienced ZERO trash talking. I think this is because my friends and I were there supporting Navy, and it would be un-​American to bag on the military. But perhaps they’re always this nice to visiting teams.
So hospitality points for the Irish.
Now more bad… exiting the stadium and trying to find your way back to the Indiana Toll Road. The goal of police seems to be to get you as far away from the stadium as possible… heading in the wrong direction. We had to travel miles to the east, then miles to the north, before we were allowed to make a freakin turn to head back west (nearly crossing the Michigan state line) until we could get to I-​80. All this with no signage, just us guessing which roads will be accessible while listing to Siri yell at us to turn where the police say we can’t.
So, yeah, friendly people but organization is nowhere to be found.

A fine University and the campus is well maintained. Football season is fantastic, and we happened upon the university in the fall, when all the leaves were changing colors, and thankfully there was no snow. The people on campus are so friendly, and you can really feel the oldness of the university. The blending of the new and old buildings seems to work well, and some of the buildings date back into the 1800’s… pretty darn cool… The campus is huge, and the lake is beautiful. This is a must see if you are in the area.

The people in this campus are great and they’re food is delicious. My only negative comments here are the homogenized look of the buildings and the lack of color — although it may be due to the fact that I visited in March. Besides the campus, they’re isn’t much to do in South Bend, so I’m no longer surprised why people just bum it out here. The basillica is awe-​insprining!

Beautiful campus… to bad its in Indiana