Columbus, Ohio was a place I sort of knew was there before
I went, but having spent three months living and working there it's now one of my
favourite places in the USA. I stayed on Ohio State University campus and worked in
a brewpub restaurant as a server. My time in Columbus was the best summer I've had,
I met so many new people and everybody was really nice and welcoming. Although we
get lots of American TV in Britain it really doesn't give a good impression of Americans
themselves - I realised I did not know as much about America as I had thought, and I was surprised
that so many people had never met anybody Scottish before, so it was a great opportunity
to learn about each other's culture.
Columbus lies on the Scioto River right in
the middle of Ohio, and it is the state capital. The city is about the same population as
Glasgow, but is much more spread out. Columbus is the home of "Wendy's" fast food chain,
and Les Wexner, owner of "Victoria's Secret" and "Abercrombie & Fitch". It is also
the birthplace of Jack Nicklaus.
The view of downtown Columbus, taken from beside the
Santa Maria moored on the Scioto River. Columbus is named after Christopher Columbus,
and the replica ship on which he sailed to the new land was built for the quincentennial
celebrations in 1992.
The Capitol building at Broad and High, Columbus.
It is based on the US Capitol in Washington, on a smaller scale.
This is the Huntington Centre and Vern Riffe State
Office tower, with a statue in the foreground.
Again this is the Huntington Centre, creating an
interesting shot with the much older block in front. Huntington was my bank during
the time I stayed in Ohio, although I was recommended National City.
The War Memorial in downtown. I got the idea for this
shot when I saw a similar postcard for sale. Come to think of it, I could have just
taken a picture of the postcard - but that wouldn't be right.
The Nationwide Arena, ice rink and concert hall.
The artist formerly known as Prince, intermediately the Symbol and more recently simply
"The Artist"...was playing here the same day I wandered in for a look. It was quite
cool being there with everything set up for a concert, yet with no people at all to be seen.
This is a night shot down the road from where
I worked, a view I was very familiar with as I waited for the bus. In the distance
is part of the Nationwide offices, the same company who own the arena.
Part of
Ohio State University, I don't really know
what this is but it always appears in promotional articles about the University.
This is where it all happens at OSU, the Oval. Ohio
State University is one of the largest in the country, with around 50,000 students.
Like most American colleges it has excellent sports facilities, a large stadium for
the American Football team and even its own hospital.
The Wexner Centre for the arts is on OSU campus,
and has an interesting steel frame surrounding it, which made for a cool picture.
Note the two guys walking underneath the frame in the distance.
A very learned looking scholar studying by Mirror
Lake on OSU Campus. I think this picture would look good in a prospectus.
This is an interesting shot, I don't quite know what
to make of it, it is a little ironic. There were quite a lot of homeless people
on the streets in downtown, as with most places I have visited in the USA.
This is the house I lived in for two months during
the summer, on OSU campus. I was sharing with 8 students all about my age, and it
was a lot of fun. I experienced student life just as an American does, quite different
from in Scotland.
Barley's Brew Pub where I worked for most of the
summer. Located in the Short North district it was just outside downtown, by the
convention centre where most of our business came from.
