Well, it was more like three-and-a-half hours, but that was enough for me. I still shudder thinking about the miserable grey cobblestone, the boring brown everywhere and worst of all, the stairs. If you thought our staircase was bad, you’ve never been to Lehigh University.

I had never visited the main campus of our rival school before The Lafayette coordinated a little swap between us and Lehigh’s student newspaper, The Brown and White. Managing editor senior Mariel Kavanagh and I swapped gossip in between catching our breath during my tour, and I was able to return the favor when she visited me on Thursday.

Shoutout my girl Mariel! (Photo by Selma O’Malley)

Mariel first took me to Saxbys, a coffee shop next to campus that best reflected our popular Mojo 516 Cafe. The café was larger in space and in menu, but lost points with me for being a chain and its subpar matcha latte.

My tour guide said that her college experience was made by her fellow students, and that she especially likes the size of the population — Lehigh has about 6,000 students, twice the size of Lafayette.

“I can walk to a class and I’m like, I don’t know any of these people,” she said. “I just like how big it is.”

“But there are other times where I’ll be on campus and I see every single person I don’t want to see,” she added, something any Lafayette student can heavily empathize with.

I asked Mariel about campus celebrities. She explained to me Napoleon Boy, Patriot of Linderman Library and Pink Girl — use your imagination. Disappointingly, I did not encounter any of them.

Mariel’s least favorite part of the campus, however, is the very, very steep slope it sits on.

“It can be rough, especially in the winter,” Mariel said. “When you have a backpack and it’s either 95 degrees or it’s 10 degrees, you’re in for the worst trek of your life.”

I’d consider myself decently athletic, but my God, there were so many stairs. This isn’t even the half of it. (Photo by Selma O’Malley)

Even worse, Lehigh has just 10-minute intervals between classes instead of Lafayette’s 15.

Mariel and other students lean heavily on the bus system that goes up and down campus, but we walked our way slowly up to the top. I was genuinely surprised every time there was another flight to conquer and felt like a little kid complaining on a road trip — “Are we there yet?”

The view, however, is pretty unmatched.

I love the view of Easton on the hill, but this is pretty epic. (Photo by Selma O’Malley)

Mariel and I discovered that we had more in common than we thought. Just as Milo’s Place inflated one-dollar beers to $1.50, Tally Ho Tavern in Bethlehem increased dollar drinks on Wednesday to $2.

However, the nearest Wawa is a five-minute drive away, so the late-night snack spot is El Jefe’s Taqueria, which closes at 3 a.m. week-round.

Additionally, we both have a “mediocre Starbucks” option in our libraries and dining halls that sell nothing but stomach issues.

“You do not want to eat a Rathbone,” Mariel emphasized, a dining hall that students refer to as “Bone.” I explained to her what “Bone” means in a Lafayette context.

I am admittedly jealous of Lehigh’s on-site poké and ice cream spots, among a slew of other on-campus dining options, including a new Lehigh University Pub.

They also have permanent food trucks next to the Front Lawn, their version of the Quad, which is appropriately dappled with brown and white Adirondack chairs.

At least our lawn is flat. (Photo by Selma O’Malley)

I grabbed a Brown and White sandwich — roast beef, provolone, caramelized onions, garlic aioli —  from Füd Truk. It wasn’t bad, though it was $10 and I didn’t have any “Clutch Cash,” the equivalent of Pard Dollars, to spare.

Both schools had rivalry banners accusing the other of being in the Epstein files. Lehigh makes theirs with spray paint, which I can imagine is more efficient, but makes for a less bold look than black acrylic paint, in my opinion.

I discovered that everyone can agree that brown and white are not optimal school colors, nor is a mountain hawk an ideal mascot.

“We bring the hype,” said sophomore Amelia Coulton. “Considering our colors are brown and we have a bird as our mascot, I think we’re doing pretty well.”

I asked Coulton why she thinks Lehigh is better than Lafayette.

The beloved Jefe’s was apparently on fire recently; this banner hung outside of Mariel’s sorority house. (Photo by Selma O’Malley)

“I think we’re more historic,” Coulton said, referencing rivalry traditions such as bed racing and a band interrupting classes.

She mentioned that The Brown and White is a “really, really old newspaper.” I pointed out that The Lafayette is the oldest college newspaper in Pennsylvania. Coulton backtracked to acknowledge that “we’re both really historic schools” (Lafayette was founded 40 years earlier).

“Are you guys like, a tiger?” she asked me.

Mariel is not attending the Rivalry, but she will be present for “mocos” — morning cocktails — a football season tradition of day-drinking and silly costumes, for some reason. She also cited the transportation cost as a big deterrent for Lehigh students.

“I don’t know anything about sports, but up until this year, no one really went,” Mariel said. She added that a lot of people are particularly excited about this game, given Lehigh’s undefeated record so far this season.

“Why do I think Lehigh is better than Lafayette?” sophomore Adam Klinge repeated back to me. “Well, one, because we are.”

He said that he hears a lot of historic inventions and experiments were created at Lehigh — “Lafayette is not the reason we have an escalator, I know that much.”

I mentioned that a Lafayette student invented the football helmet.

“Why’d y’all invent that?” he said. “There’s nothing to protect up there.”

“I guess to beat you guys,” I said.

Lehigh sophomore Adam Klinge said that he’s visited Lafayette before and prefers Lehigh’s cobblestone to Lafayette’s brick. (Photo by Selma O’Malley)