Visited both the college and the conservatory today. Great campus, with lots of student energy…read more Love that it sits in the middle of a small town do students feel like they're a part of the larger community. Conservatory was amazing- great facilities and renown faculty. At the top of my son's list for Fall 2024!

We just delivered our son to Oberlin College! He has already taken 3 courses remotely and has had…read morean awesome experience and made some really wonderful connections with students, faculty, and the very helpful admissions and financial aid teams. Oberlin College has a proud history of being the first college in America to enroll Black students. It is socially progressive and rigorously academic! The perfect fit for my kid who is pursuing international politics, sociology, and languages. Due to COVID, all students are upgraded to single rooms made out of doubles, so there is a lot of space to live and study. We feel confident with the COVID precautions that Oberlin College is taking this fall. My kid will have 2 in-person classes and 2 remote classes this semester, and we are just hoping for a safe experience. If he has to come home and participate fully remotely, that's fine too. But he is staring this semester on campus and is loving it already! The town of Oberlin is small, tidy, and friendly. There are some shops and restaurants in Oberlin, and many more within an 8-10 mile drive. There is a hospital very near campus, which is vital for us as my kid has a medical condition that occasionally necessitates an ER visit. Greyhound bus goes through a nearby town, making trips home cheap and convenient. Everyone we met was friendly and helpful. My kid is looking forward to a great year ahead.

It's mildly hilarious that this got dubbed "Alumni Weekend"-- I would say "Commencement" is clearly…read morethe main event. But Oberlin really does it hella-cheap-style by combining the two and turning Oberlin (the town) instantaneously into the craziest, most overstuffed sausage of a quiet Ohio town. That said, I enjoyed Commencement/Alumni Weekend FAR more as a student rather than a graduating student, when you can enjoy Illumination, BBQs, and other beginning-of-summer-but-still-at-school activities without the mental weight of knowing your parents (and step-parents and grandparents ad nauseum) are either in tow or desperately seeking you out. I realized this when I found Illumination to be positively breathtaking when I first saw it (see Kevin S.'s description) and just sort of a blur the next. Side note: Nothing like watching Obies age. The ten-year-reunion dance at the 'Sco, with its herd of 42-year-old aging hippies and nerds (at one point I had written "38-year-old"-- bad math!) dancing spasmodically to the tunes of the early nineties both warmed my heart and put me on notice.

Hundreds of candle-lit Chinese paper lanterns hang in the stately old trees in Tappan Square as the…read moreorchestra plays and all the people you slept with last semester are dragging their parents through the crowd, saying hello as they say goodbye. Illumination night, Alumni Weekend. If you're a senior, it's a sweet sayonara under the canopy of multicolored lights augmented by the first few fireflies of the Ohio summer. If you're an underclassperson staying behind, it's a chance to pre-savor the bittersweet. If you're an alum, it's an awkward dance of avoidance and quest, finding the ones you miss and love, or missed loving, while avoiding the pretentious, the too painful to talk to, or the insufferable. If you're on staff or a townie it's an extra ritual to kick off your summer, a vivid resetting of the clock and a harbinger of quiet warm weeks without all those damn students. Winding the night on the steps of Finney to the tentative funkiness of the steel drum band will always be there in the back of your mind when you hear or say that word, Oberlin.

Driving up from Columbus to Oberlin, Ohio on a little mini adventure, decided to check out a fresh…read morelocation for an established yarn store. First off, Oberlin is a comfortable college town, and the parking is stress-free. I sometimes worry a lot about where I'm going to park when I go somewhere on a busy Saturday in summer. Parking worked. The business was previously in a 300 square foot two story home, and space was tight. Now it's in an expansive 3000+ square foot showcase space with tall ceilings, wrought iron support beams and plenty of room to move around. With some yarn stores you feel like you're bumping into things, but not here. It's well laid out, with a large community space in the middle of the floor, well-built tables and chairs. You feel like you can really take your time to both shop and work on projects here. For more formal classes, there's also a dedicated back area with loads of fun art on the walls. The entire space is well lit and inspirational. Exactly what you want in a local yarn store! Prices are in-line with what you'd expect, so the value is very good, especially given the fact that you can walk out with your selections on the spot. I love supporting local businesses and also appreciate the immediate gratification of getting what I need right then and there. The selection was the best I've seen in a long time! Some of my favorites were Spincycle Yarn, Cocoknits accessories, and we even picked up a hand-forged iron yarn bowl that will be a centerpiece of our home maker space. Atenti bags were also well represented in various shapes, sizes and color schemes. This family owned business made me feel super comfortable shopping around, and had answers to all of my questions. At the time of this writing, the store had only been open at this location for just over two weeks, and you can tell that it's going to do well.

This yarn shop is worth the drive! It's filled with beautiful yarns displayed by weight, dellaQ…read moreproject bags, baskets, notions, and more. The owner Lisa, is friendly, inviting, and very knowledgeable. She suggested a beautiful non-superwash yarn for a vest I'll be knitting. And, John was very helpful and suggested a great place for lunch. I think there is something there for every yarn collector.