Soka University of America

Lilies in commemorative plaza.
Lilies in commemorative plaza.
Can you believe this fountain?  It is right there in the central plaza next to the Founders Hall I posted in my first discovery.  The detail is astounding.


[Note: I've posted a large gallery of shots on my blog, some of which will appear here on Trover. If you're looking for the full set, just follow this link: http://www.shootthesun.com/weblog/?p=2223]
Wood Canyon as seen from the rear gardens of the Aetheneum.

[Note: I've posted a large gallery of shots on my blog, some of which will appear here on Trover. If you're looking for the full set, just follow this link: http://www.shootthesun.com/weblog/?p=2223]
Soka University is probably the best-kept secret in all of Orange County, and probably all of California itself.  You mention it to the locals and they just give you blank stares.

But it is the kind of place that will stick in your memory for the rest of your life.  The grounds of the campus are situated at the ridge between Aliso and Wood Canyons, and command a view of the area that can only be described as staggeringly beautiful.

To say those canyons have competition from the scenery inside the grounds is to make the understatement of this young century.

Established just fifteen short years ago, the university seems to have spared no expense to build a campus worthy of its purpose.  Here, you will find a delicate balance of architectural styles - heavily influenced by the very early European Renaissance, but containing elements of post-modernism, classical Greek, medieval Italian and even a hint of Empiric Spain.

But it isn't just a pretty face.  The school has been consistently voted best in its treatment of its freshman class.  It requires one semester study abroad, and has partnered with universities all over the world to make that a reality.

I'm afraid I didn't do too much looking into the academic side of the house.  I was really too overwhelmed by its beauty.

And its calm.  Come here on a weekend day and you'll spend most of the time in solitude.  This was a welcome change from the parking lot called Highway 1, which took up the bulk of my late afternoon a day earlier.

I could breathe in this place, move from one astounding sight to another and just feel the calm descend over me.

That no-one in Southern California seems to know it exists is almost a comfort, really.  It might mean that my second visit, whenever that may happen, will be as blissfully free of the tourist trappings as the first.

Either way, though, I just can't wait to go back.

I've posted a large gallery of shots on my blog, some of which will appear here on Trover.  If you're looking for the full set, just follow this link: http://www.shootthesun.com/weblog/?p=2223


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