Sibs weekend is always a blast. It’s great for your family to get to check in on you in the dead of Spring Semester, before the weather gets warmer and Fest Season starts. And what’s a better college visit for your younger relatives than a tour of campus and uptown from you firsthand? A weekend is a short time to show the fam everything there is to see and do here, but there are a few places you should definitely visit to give your siblings the real feel of life at OU:
Visit your favorite coffee shop. Whether it’s Donkey, Court Street or the Front Room, your sibs should probably know which café is getting you through your 8am classes and Finals Week.
Walk through your class schedule and favorite campus study spots. Your younger counterpart will be able to see the campus and get an idea of what it’s like to get from building to building every day.
Visit Big Mama’s and Bagel Street Deli. What’s a visit to Athens without some truly uptown-Athens eats? Bagel Street Deli is often a novel (and delicious) experience for visitors to OU, and now they’ve even expanded their restaurant! You can still draw on the brick walls, though. Definitely a must-see spot. And if you want to give your sibling a taste of what 2am is like uptown when the bars close, there’s not a lot more Athens-y than some late-night burritos from Big Mama’s. Also, shout-out to after-hours spicy fries and gyros at Souvlaki’s!
Check out the historic Athena Cinema uptown. Open for over 100 years, they’ve always got unique films showing, and they usually add a couple fun classics to their queue for family weekends. Might be a fun option post-Bagel Street if it’s freezing outside.
Take a hike! Cold or not, The Ridges is beautiful all times of year, and it’s tinged with a quiet eeriness in Winter. Walk the trails around the old Kirkbride campus and soak in the history of Athens and OU. You could hike at Sell’s Park or Stroud’s Run State Park, or take a drive up to Hocking Hills and visit staples like Ash Cave and Cantwell Cliffs.
- Have a beach day. We know – a beach in Southeast Ohio? Well… kind of. It’s Appalachia; we make the most of what we have here. Head out to Stroud’s Run and rent a boat; there’s nothing quite like kayaking on the lake. Or stay on land and laze around at the beach, or join a sand volleyball game!
There’s a reason so many OU students eventually return, whether it’s yearly for Alumni Homecoming, to work at the university they attended, or just because they never found a place that fit them better than this one did. Show your sibling(s) around campus, uptown, and your student rental, and they’ll be sure to fall in love with this place.
Wait… but then you’ll have sibling rivalry to deal with when they attend here, too. And someone constantly raiding your kitchen. Hmmm…