Last Thursday, the unofficial “Oprah Day,” was the second time in my Stanford career that I actually made a concerted effort to get out on campus and explore. Upon hearing that Oprah was on campus, I dropped everything and ran out to my bike.

 

As I headed out on campus, trying to think like Oprah and figure out where I could spot this exquisite creature, I ventured all around, hitting the big spots where I assumed she would go: MemChu, White Plaza, the Claw, the Main Quad, Hoover Tower, one of the many Arrillaga centers… but to no avail. Fortunately, I met up with a group of rag-tag adventurers like myself, and we set off on our quest. I know we looked ridiculous. I felt ridiculous as I sped around campus, in the rain, in search of one of the world’s most famous and powerful women.

 

But in the process, I came across a few Stanford gems.

 

The Hugh Hildreth Skilling Building

A quick stop by the Geology Corner gave me a moment to look around and figure out where Oprah might have gone. It was here that I caught sight of the “Killing Building.” I had to do a double take before I realized that the “S” from Skilling is suspiciously absent from the side of the building.

 

Cemex Auditorium, Knight Management Center

Due to being graced with a last name that always puts me at the end of alphabetical lists, I ended up taking my Chem 31A exams in this auditorium. As you can imagine, whenever I arrived at Cemex to take my midterm, I would be a ball of nerves. However, as I waited in line to sign in and get my exam, the wall of flipping color cards would momentarily entrance me.

 

When we stopped by the business school in hopes of seeing Oprah after spotting a few security guards, we spent a moment or two staring at the wall. While we may have lost some time trying to find Oprah, I don’t mind. The wall was still pretty awesome.

 

And of course:

 

The Fleet of Golf Carts

Since we were looking for a very specific golf cart (we were told that it was a covered, green golf cart with two stars on the side), we kept our eyes peeled for golf carts that might fit the description. Of all the golf carts we spotted on our jaunt, only one was green, and it wasn’t for Oprah. That itself isn’t really the issue; it’s the fact that there really are an inordinate amount of golf carts on campus. I know there are jokes about there being so many, but I didn’t really realize how many there are.

 

I don’t know whether it is because I am a freshman and the novelty of celebrities being on campus still hasn’t worn off or if it is something more than that, but I hope that I never stop getting excited about finding bizarre details about Stanford or knowing that influential people are on campus – though I’ll probably refrain from going out and actively looking for them. Even though I didn’t know most of the people I went around campus with, the fact that we managed to create our own excited little brigade just reaffirms my affection toward this school and the people here.

 

So, even though I never did find Oprah, I did find another set of reasons why I absolutely adore this place.