On Sunday the 1st of March, we visited the oldest son of my host family who is at Saint Mary's University in Winona, Minnesota. We made a tour of the University. It has a lot of different buildings, for classes, for sports, for accomodation, etc. The Library was huge and there were a lot of sofas everywhere (not only in the Library but also in all the University). I was amazed to see all the cosy place there were to do homework. Moreover, it was opened on Sundays, what could never happen in France.
The gymnasium and sport hall were huge. Once again I could realize the importance of sport in American daily life. There were a swimming pool, a large gymnasium, an ice rink for hockey game (The Cardinals team), etc. Each campus, as each secondary school and College, have their own team of sports (baseball and basketball essentially). There is a strong membership of the school, the community, the state, the Nation through sport.
The University is principally funded by federal and state awards of financial aid, and privately endowed scholarships. There is also the Federal Pell Grant Program which provides need-based grants to low-income undergraduate and certain postbaccalaureate students to promote access to postsecondary education.
I have never been in a big University and campus, so I enjoyed to see how the University works to make available to students all the means they need to success.
