Freshman Fifteen, Pound 12

Here's an article I wrote back when I was a freshman for The Western Carolinian. Every issue, I wrote a column on what it was like to be a freshman at Western Carolina. I talked about the rain, getting bronchitis, and traveling home. This one, or "pound," touches on the ever controversial subject of the campus dining hall!

Cullowhee Creek

"It was only a matter of time before the Freshman Fifteen touched upon the infamous courtyard dining hall. College food has been a topic of mass discussions from its conception. Is it good? Is it bad? Is it tipped with laxatives? Where does it all come from? Well, this is not an expose on Western’s breakfast, lunch, and dinner; it is an opinion on and of all sorts.

First there is breakfast. Breakfast is one of two meals that students are allowed to eat by themselves and not get the “why are you all alone” stares. On weekdays, breakfast is a quiet experience with your typical breakfast foods of eggs, bagels, donuts, bacon, etc. On the weekends, however, breakfast time is a party and begins when the dining hall opens two hours later than usual and ends at 1 p.m. that afternoon. Personally, I am not a partier or a late nighter. So, walking into breakfast twice on both Saturday and Sunday once at 9 a.m. and again at 12 p.m. does not make my weekend very enjoyable. I am a picky eater, but I like variety to my meals. Apparently, that makes me a bad college student and I must accept the fate of eating my breakfast in the afternoon hours after sleeping away half the day.

"The Freshman 15" logo in the paper... it never got a 15

Lunch is a free-for-all of French fries, any kind of sandwich you could possibly desire, pizza, or one of the many cultural dishes one can try at the Home Zone. If none of these appeals to you, there is the 24/7 cereal canisters and salad bar. On hot days, lunch is the perfect way to hit the rare sunshine with a cake cone topped with soft serve ice cream and sprinkles without using half of your DB points at Freshens downstairs. Lunch, like breakfast, is also a possible eat alone meal because all of your friends could be in the middle of class or you yourself are making a pit stop to refuel before shipping back off to Psychology 150 or Global Issues.

Let me take a moment to praise the kitchen staff for their amazing hamburgers, which are usually served at lunch! Let me say to the cooks at the Grill, your burgers are awesome! I do not know how you cook them or what is in them (probably better not to tell me the latter or else I might enjoy them less), but never have I ever stumbled upon a restaurant, fast food joint, or neighbor’s grill that matched the awesomeness of my mother’s burgers until I came to Western, so you rock!

Really, really NASTY mashed potatoes

Dinner is family time. The group of friends you have found to be in your extended family scream at each other over everyone else’s screams to decide which table to head for then break off into pairs to the particular station with the best food. One can always tell who has the best food because that is the longest line. It makes me wonder whether the cooks have popularity contests on who can get the longest lines based on what they are cooking. If you have a big group, you are lucky to find a table for all as the Hall packs up fast, especially on special dinner nights. Then like you would with your family back at home, eating begins at the selected table with chatter about the day, getting to know one another better, and drink mixing. Yes, drink mixing! Suddenly, the Dr. Pepper you were drinking becomes Dr. Pepper/2% milk/Mountain Dew/orange juice with a touch of salt and pepper. Well, back to the drink dispenser.

On special nights with themed dinners like Seafood Night, the dining hall staircase is overflowing with students. With Steak and Shrimp Night comes a real treat: real knives! What could be seen as a possible weapon and is usually locked up in a hidden drawer in the kitchen is now readily available for the usually overcooked and over seasoned steak with a side of shrimp. A man in a monkey suit, a suit I might add that has nothing to do with steak, shrimp, or the school’s mascot, walks around and… well, yeah, he walks around. Oh look dinner and a show! 

Steak & Shrimp Night

Mardi Gras was interesting and fun with coin-shaped bubble gum, Mardi Gras beads, and colorful decorations. Dinner’s main course was cooked crawdads, which my friends enjoyed hiding in my food so I nearly fell backwards out of my chair as the lifeless eyes stared me down. A fun dining experience though not my favorite meal!

The dining hall is like a second dorm. You live there, why? Because there is mountains of food, and there are two things every college student lives on: sleep and food. Maybe the dining hall’s menu is not everything we students wish it was. You can never replicate Ma’s home cooking, but at the end of the day, the dining hall is a good place to get a hot meal and congregate with friends after too many hours of school work. Whether or not there are laxatives in the food, well, that is for the Rumor column!