Deciding she needed a change in scenery, Samantha Goff, Dundee senior, jumped into her silver Pontiac Sunfire and drove down I-99 to Hillsdale College, in search of some other small liberal arts college entertainment. Albion’s monotonous environment was not cutting it, and it was time for Goff to explore social life at neighboring colleges.

"Meeting new people at a different school’s campus was just the refresher that I needed," Goff said.

Goff’s need for fresh air and new people is common at this time of the year, as many Albion College students are tired of seeing the same faces around campus.

The Pleiad asked a group of Albion students what they thought about the social scene at nearby colleges and some found that neighboring liberal arts schools such as Hillsdale, Kalamazoo College and Alma College are receptive and welcoming to students from other colleges.

"Hillsdale was not only a great change of scenery, but made my Wednesday night better," Goff said. "My roommate and I had a lot of fun at their jersey party. Now we know where to go when we want to escape Albion for a while."

While Goff found her Hollywood in Hillsdale, Jeff Jbara, Kalamazoo junior, did not have to drive far to become a James Dean—he found his spotlight at Kalamazoo.

"Although I’m from the (Kalamazoo) area, I never got to know the K-College students until I made an effort to go to their campus and meet them," said Jbara, who attended a "Too Cool for School" party at Kalamazoo College. "Their theme parties are the best because almost everyone gets into them and wears crazy costumes.

"The students there went out of their way to make sure I had a good time when I was in their house."

Mollie McCurdy, Kalamazoo College junior, was excited to see Albion faces at her "Too Cool for School" house party.

"It’s always fun to meet new people," McCurdy said. "Because Western is really close to our campus, we’re used to seeing new people at Kalamazoo parties, so it isn’t weird for (Kalamazoo College) students to see someone at a party that we haven’t seen before."

Alma students also welcome outside students who stop off US-127 to visit.

Denise Switzer, Indian River junior, visited Alma College for a dose of Scottish cheer on her way home from Albion.

"I was in Alma to visit a friend, but after my visit I had a lot more than just one friend at Alma," Switzer said. "(My friend) plays football at Alma, so I basically met the entire team. We went to a club to dance then had late-night pizza at a local restaurant.

"I caught myself saying to my Albion friend that if we were at Albion, we’d be checking our watches to see if the Eat Shop was still open or planning to raid a fraternity’s kitchen."

Amy Lindman, Canton junior, recently visited Alma and enjoyed the Scots she met there.

"All of the Alma College students that I met seemed genuinely nice and excited to meet me," Lindman said. "But not only did I make some new friends, I am now Facebook friends with some of the people that I met there.

"My Facebook popularity is increasing—now there’s an accomplishment."

Joe Wysmierski, Alma College senior, was more than welcoming of Albion students.

"We’re such a small school that we get bored seeing the same people over and over," Wysmierski said. "I loved having new people come to hang out at my house and go clubbing with me.

"I also like having students from other schools visit because then I get the chance to meet people that I might go visit myself."

Wysmierski visited Albion’s campus because he became tired of the same clubs and repetitive fraternity parties at Alma. He said the connections he made with Albion students may broaden his future business goals within the state of Michigan.

"Not only do I have relationships with people at my school, I now have created relationships that could help me in business after college life," Wysmierski said. "I’m glad that I got to meet (the Albion College) students when they visited Alma.

"They gave me a connection and a reason to visit Albion and it was interesting to compare the similarities and differences of our colleges—two small liberal arts schools."

Like Wysmierski, Alex Wojcik, Hillsdale College sophomore, also enjoys coming to Albion—but Wojcik enjoys the Brits because they offer a change of scenery and rules.

"Hillsdale is a very conservative school with a lot of visitation rules," Wojcik said. "Men can only have women in their dorm rooms at certain hours on Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. And women can only have men visit them on Tuesdays."

Wojcik also became bored of going to the same Hillsdale parties weekend after weekend.

"I get tired of going to the same four frat houses," Wojcik said. "Even though the amount of fraternities at Hillsdale isn’t that much greater in comparison to Albion, it is still different for me. I really liked all of the people that I met through my girlfriend and a friend I have in ATO (at Albion)."

Like Wojcik who knew two Albion College students prior to arriving in Albion, many students who visit other campuses usually know a student attending the school.

"I think it’d be weird to show up to a school if you didn’t know a student that attends the college," Switzer said. "When I went to Alma, I visited one friend, but I made about 10 others. If I visited a school where I didn’t already have an established friend, I think it’d be a lot harder to make a lot of friends as easy as I did."

While students may find fresh air and new faces at other schools, it’s always refreshing to come home.