There’s no question about it: we’ve all fallen for Lehigh – and fallen hard.  It has captured our hearts and refuses to let go.  But what is it about Lehigh that is so captivating?

It must be the picturesque campus, right?  The Hogwarts-esque buildings connected by winding roads and hills of stairs are straight out of a movie.  The brilliant reds and yellows of fall leaves that frame the buildings this time of year make the campus all the more astonishing.  With such a gorgeous scene, it’s easy to see how Lehigh was listed in the top 20 most beautiful universities in America.  That’s basically the college equivalent of being voted one of People Magazine’s Sexiest Men Alive.  (Moral of the story: Lehigh is the Adam Levine of colleges).

Maybe it’s the funky, unique traditions.  Start singing “Get…out…that…” and Lehigh alum will jump right in with the rest of The Goblet Song.  (I bet you couldn’t help singing it in your head.)  But that wouldn’t be complete without the Marching 97, the “Finest Band East of All Points West” as they were dubbed by a Harvard newspaper, playing The Goblet Song and other spirit songs as loud as they can in the bleachers of every football game or in the dining halls during Le-Laf week.  To any other school it would be disruptive to have the band barge in blaring their horns and shouting “MORE BEER!” in the middle of a lecture.  But at Lehigh, it’s a disappointment if the Eco Flame doesn’t come to your classroom to spread the spirit.

Marching 97 on the field

Perhaps it is the food.  After all, the way to a person’s heart is through her stomach.  If that is the case, Lehigh had me at Chicken Finger Friday.  For any other day of the week, there are always the campus staples of Johnny’s and The Cup.  The trump card in Lehigh cuisine, though, is The Goose.  No visit back to Lehigh is complete without a trip to Tony and Debbie to satisfy your craving for an Anakin Skywalker hoagie.  Case in point: I was meeting up with a friend at Lehigh recently.  I arrived back on campus around noon and let him know my plans.

ME: Just got to campus.  I’m going to try to grab The Goose. Do you want anything?
HIM: I’m at The Goose!

It certainly isn’t this that made us fall in love:

Or is it?  When you’re in the thick of exams, it’s difficult to appreciate them.  At that point, FML doesn’t only stand for Fairchild-Martindale Library.  Once you are a year or two removed from having the pressure of being tested on every piece of information you might have learned since the last 4 o’clock, though, you begin to miss the opportunity to go to class and learn something new every day.  Whether Lehigh means to or not, it ingrains in us a need to know more and constantly be searching for opportunities to fill this need.

The fact is, it’s not any one of these.  We’ve fallen for Lehigh because all of these put together are Lehigh.  It’s the picture-perfect campus.  It’s the numerous traditions.  It’s the unforgettable food you can’t find anywhere else.  It’s the need to always be learning.  This is what has captivated us.  This is Lehigh.