Day 1 – Mike the Tiger

The first day at Louisiana State University (LSU) began at the Lod Cook Hotel, named after a former student, with a typical American hearty breakfast. Punctually at 9 am Harald Leder picked us up from the hotel and took us across the campus to the first item on the program: the visit of the tiger stadium. But before we were allowed to visit the Tiger Stadium with its prestigious halls, we could admire the mascot of the LSU football team “Mike the Tiger” in his enclosure. Arriving at the stadium we got an introduction and an impressive film about American football. In the holy halls of the stadium we were taught about the former LSU players who made the jump into the NFL. A special highlight was sitting in the cabin on the place of the probably most sought-after quarterback now – Joe Burrow, who led the team to win the College Football Championship this year. Before we finally went out into the stadium, everyone beats the “WIN-BAR”, which was supposed to bring the players luck before the games. The stadium itself was very impressive and so it has over 102.000 seats for spectators and is the 3rd largest stadium in the South-Eastern Conference and the 6th largest stadium in the world. After the stadium we went for lunch in one of the two big all-you-can-eat canteens where a very large buffet was waiting for us. It must be mentioned that the people of Louisiana are very proud of their good food, which we can only agree with. With a full stomach we continued with a tour of the LSU campus and an introduction to the cultural history of LSU by Harald Leder with the help of recently restored frescos. Afterwards we got a general introduction to LSU by Harald Leder in a seminar room of Hatcher Hall. As a small refreshment we got a King Cake on the occasion of Mardi Gras from him, which is comparable to our German Carnival. The seminar was concluded with welcome greetings from the Vice Provost in Academic Affairs Matt Lee.