That's a really long name for a university that everyone that's familiar with it calls SFA. When I tell people in Virginia where I'm going my scripted answer has become "Stephen F. Austin in Texas". There are 3 typical responses:
1. Oh, Austin is such a great city!
Problem: SFA is in Nacogdoches, Texas. I don't expect people to know that considering I had to Google the name of it to find out what state it was in...
If you're familiar with Texas/Louisiana- draw a line from Dallas to the Southwest, draw a line from Houston to the North, and from Shreveport to the Southeast. It's about 2 hours from each of those (and the closest major commercial airport).
2. Are they that tiny school that upset VCU in the tournament?
I haven't heard this as much since it is farther past March, but yes. SFA was a 12 seed and VCU was a 5 seed- SFA pulled off the upset to win in overtime. Unfortunately, they lost in the next round to #4 UCLA.
Also, it isn't actually all that tiny. Enrollment at the beginning of Fall of 2013 was 12,772. It's an NCAA Division I school, and their football team plays in the Football Championship Series.
3. My personal favorite.... Huh?
If I had to compare it to a Virginia university- it's like James Madison. It started out as a college that was founded to educate women on how to be teachers. Because of this, it still has a female majority and they are known for their education and nursing programs, but also their business program.
I flew out and spent a long weekend there in April. It is a college town (for the most part- to be explained more later) and the staff was all great and very welcoming. We went on a tour of campus, and I was able to push myself the entire time without assistance. The land is flat! At Virginia Tech, I was always driving to each class because of the terrain being so hilly it was either too steep for me to push myself uphill, or I would be reaching the speed of light if I attempted to go downhill.
I could go on and on about why I have chosen to pick up and move 16 hours away to somewhere that I have no family or currently any friends in the area, but that's really all I have to write about until I move at the end of June, so that's it for today.
Max wearing his new Purple bandana for SFA
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