Freshman year can be tough. We are all coming to this new community without knowing anyone. For most of us, this is our first time on our own. There are many responsibilities that we now have the reins on. No one is going to tell us when to get up, to go to the gym, who to hang out with, when and where to eat. I know that personally, I didn’t remember to go and eat for the first two days here, and I’m sure many other students were dealing with similar issues.
And this can be scary.
One thing that shouldn’t be scary, though, is eating. It’s something we all know how to do, something were all comfortable with, and something that we can all share. One of the best ways to bond with someone is to share a meal with them.
But where? I know that I have heard many horror stories from older friends that attend other schools about their dining halls and the inedible food they have encountered. Because of this, you may think that the best option would be to go to one of the abundant restaurants that seem to be everywhere on campus. However, the downtown restaurants can cost a lot of money that will keep on adding up, and since we are all poor college students, you will eventually be forced to go to a dining common.
But this is not the end of the world!
There is plenty of food that is great to eat in the dining commons! You just need to know where to go.
To help make this easier for other incoming students, I decided to go to each dining commons to figure out which ones we were the best. Since this needs to be a fair assessment, as many people have many different tastes and opinions, I rallied a group of friends to go on this journey with me. We will go to each commons for different meals, multiple times, to make sure that we get the full expirence. I came up with a list of things we would consider while at each dining commons that would help you determine which dining commons is the right one for you.
- Variety: What kinds of foods are available in this dining commons? Does the type of food change everyday? Or do they just serve the same basic foods?
- Health: How healthy are the selections?
- Taste: How good does this food taste? When you go to this dining commons, do you typically enjoy your meal?
- Accommodation: Does this dining commons provide certain accommodations for students with dietary needs?
- Seating: While sometimes you just want to go to the dining commons by yourself to either do work or just get away, eating is typically a social event. What kind of seating arrangements does this dining commons have? Does is accommodate for larger groups of friends?
- Specialty: Is there something that makes this dining commons stand out from all the rest?
- Other: Is there anything else we felt was worth mentioning?
With these questions as guidelines, I hope to give you an accurate reading of the various dining commons that will assist you with all with your choices, as well as provide an adventurous way to bond with new friends.
Love this passion. You really have thought out everything and have a great base line for what you will be assessing. I was thinking, you could also include “cleanliness” to your list. I’ve been to different commons for dinner and sometimes they are really messy and they don’t seem to keep up with the mess that college students seem to make. But great thoughts, I hope to follow along to get some new ideas on where to go 🙂