Dearest BU Dining Services,
I’m sorry I ever complained about your sometimes-questionable meat. I’m sorry I ended each of my first four semesters with at least 60 meals left, unused. I’m sorry I got annoyed when dining hall lines were “too long” and I’m so, so sorry that I spent my first two years at BU anxiously awaiting the year I would finally be allowed to ditch my dining plan for good.
That year was this year. We’re two months in now, caught in the heat of midterm projects and insane schedules and baggy-eyed, sweatshirt-and-legging-type stress. Honestly, I would take a C on one of those midterms if it meant I could roll through West Campus D-Hall every morning again. If it meant I could slab some sunflower butter on a whole wheat bagel, slice a banana and drown my stressed-out sorrows in the world’s most superior flavor combo.
I’d happily trade these half-hearted “meals” that I barely have time to make in my kitchen for spending an extra 30 minutes to top a fruit bowl with ready-to-go cottage cheese and to fill a dining hall cup with water and lemon juice. My eating habits may sound weird, but BU dining halls were always there for me, and never judged.
What I wouldn’t give to study in Warren again, while enjoying plate after plate of their amazing calzones. I would without a doubt wait in a “too long” line to have one of those again. And those 60 meals I had left over every semester? I’d use every last one on the new Wok section -WHICH I HAVEN’T EVEN SEEN YET. For all us non-dining-plan kids know, the Wok section is a myth.
And finally, the most crucial, devastating meal I miss: Let’s have a moment of silence for the fact that my last BU omelet was 5 months ago.
If you’re reading this and you still have a dining plan, then it’s not too late.
(The author of this piece is now accepting any and all guest-swipe offers.)
