Dorm Life: Food accommodations disappointing

The fall semester seems to be beginning smoothly here in the residence hall. People are starting to get to know each other. The rec room has been full every night and people have been putting the theater room to good use. I think it will be a while before we’ve all settled in, but until then, let’s be understanding, a lot of us are new here and are just as stressed out as everyone else.

I’ve been hearing a lot of talk around the hall about the smoking ban. The ones that don’t like it complain about it to whoever will listen, and the ones who do don’t say anything. I’m a smoker myself but I don’t think the ban is that bad. All you have to do is walk 100 yards over to the dike road. It’s a small price to pay to be allowed to kill yourself one death stick at a time. However, there has been discussion of attempting to get designated smoking areas approved, before we’re all up to our junk in snow. If such areas were approved, I would bet some of the ban critics would quiet down.

You want know what else I’ve been hearing a lot about? The fact that you can’t cook any where in the residence hall! I’m going to go have a smoke and let that sink in a little…okay, where was I? Oh yes, cooking. You can’t use anything that will potentially set off the smoke alarms: hot plates, toasters, stovetops or waffle makers. I did  not purchase the full meal plan at the SUB; that being said, I will go on to say that cooking for one’s self with nothing to work with besides the microwave in the laundry room is a challenging feat. Canned chili and raviolis get old fast. Does anyone have any next level microwave cooking ideas? Please let me know!  Next on the “to get” list: coffee maker, yes.

I’ve got a drawer full of microwaveable food in my dorm. It’s kind of depressing actually, coming from a household with a mother that is obsessed with healthy food, I’m not used to junk food all the time. And given my semi-lazy nature…ok fine, quite lazy nature … I rarely make an attempt to find healthy food. This is probably a character flaw, I know. But like many of us, I’m sure, my bank account is uncomfortably low, and I have a hard time convincing myself that buying good food is a wise way to spend my precious little. On top of that, I was mildly disturbed when I found that you can’t order a decent salad from the market in the SUB; the only option is to try to make your own out of the vegetables that are there to go with the other meals. They do set lettuce out. However, it leaves much to be desired.

I just moved here from the Moscow area, and, with many of my old friends going to University of Idaho, I became quite familiar with the UI residence halls. Their new halls (close to the same age as the NIC residence halls) have fully-equipped kitchens and dining areas for all your personal cooking pleasure. Now I am aware that UI is a four-year university and has a bit more money than little NIC. However, schools do receive grants for remodeling and repairing old buildings. It might be a bit too much to even speculate, but putting kitchens in the NIC residence hall would make it far easier to adapt to the college life. Don’t shoot the dreamer; it was just an idea.

All is good though. I’ve been thinking about buying some eggs and potatoes, cheese and maybe some sausage, and just going to the beach and cooking over a fire. I’m not entirely sure if that’s legal, but you never know unless you try it, right?