West Campus – COM Ambassador Blog

Alexa: Looking for a Place to Live?

So you’re going to Boston University? Congratulations! After I submitted my enrollment deposit I know the next thing on my mind was, where am I going to live and whom am I going to live with? Housing selection can be somewhat of a stressful process so it’s helpful to know a little bit about the perks of living in each housing offered.

West:

Cough. West is best. Cough. This year I lived in Rich Hall located in West Campus. Even though I knew COM would be on the other side of campus, I still had West as my first choice. I wanted to be able to go to class and then get away from the chaos, which is exactly what West lets me do. West is great because it’s located right next to Fit-Rec, Agannis Area, Nickerson Field and Case Gym. The dining hall is arguably the best at BU. The only downfall is it’s about a 15 minute walk to most classes, but there’s a free BU shuttle and two T stops at West so when the cold comes you don’t have to walk. Plus, exercise is great anyway!

Warren:

Warren is a great choice if you want to wake up ten minutes before class starts and make it on time. It’s mainly freshmen and each floor has a common room so it’s easy to bond with your floor. The dining hall is located on the fourth floor so there are some days where you will never have to leave the building if you don’t want to!

The Towers, Danielson, 575 Commonwealth Avenue

These are also places where freshmen typically stay and are a lot like West and Warren except for a little bit smaller. 575 Commonwealth Ave tends to have more triples and Danielson has bigger rooms. The great thing if you live here is that there will be a new student center in East Campus with a huge, amazing dining hall. Even though I’ll be living in West again I will definitely be coming to eat there when I can!

You’re probably thinking, ok I chose where to live, how do I choose whom to live with?

BU lets you request a roommate or you can also choose random. Personally, coming from California I didn’t know anyone coming to BU and didn’t want to rely on Facebook or Roomsurf to pair me up with a roommate (Although I know a lot of people who did and it’s great option!) I chose to have a random roommate and don’t regret it at all. I know on one end of the spectrum it could have been the worst or the best, but luckily it has worked out and we are rooming again together next year!

Overall, if housing comes around and you don’t get your first or second choice I promise you it’s not the end of the world (that’s December 21, 2012 ;)). You will make friends and have a great experience as long as you want to. BU is what you make it and housing is just one aspect of the BU experience.

Jason: New Semester

Hey guys,

Well, here’s my first blog entry of the semester. Classes just started so I figured it’d be appropriate to talk about how my first couple went. I’ve only had my liberal arts classes so far, my film classes are tomorrow (although by the time you read this I will have had them) but for now I’ll just talk about my first day back.

First of all, I was skiing in Park City, Utah the week before I got back to Boston and it’s warmer there than it is at school; so that was a bit of a shock. Anyway, if you end up living in West Campus make sure you get to the bus pretty early through out the winter because EVERYONE will be waiting for the bus and they can’t all fit. I ended up taking the T took my first class because the bus was too crowded.

My first class was sociology of law and society. I’m taking this class because A) it’s applicable to the topic areas I want to cover in my documentaries and B) it fills a requirement. The professor is hilarious and we’re going to have the opportunity to sit on a criminal court case. After watching religiously watching every episode of SVU, that’s been a dream of mine for some time now.

The class immediately after is Spanish. Last year I switched from French so I can participate in the Madrid Film Studies and Documentary Video Production Program in the fall. Right I’m now at the 5^th semester level so I’ll be all set to go next year. I can’t really say much because apparently the professor who taught the entire class yesterday was subbing for our real professor. Should be good though.

That’s about it on that front. It’s good to be back and I’m pumped for a great semester.

Jason: Best Late-Night Food (As Promised)

So I’m back with another entry to give you guys my opinion on everything BU. Like I promised, this post will be about Late Night Cafe. For those of you who don’t know, Late Night is an afterhours dining option separate from your regular meal plan; instead, you’ll be paying with dining or convenience points. Most students take advantage of this on nights when an essay or studying for an exam leaves you awake until the wee hours of the morning. For this reason, some late night cafes are open as late as 2am! For the most part, each facility will have a similar menu, although there are some differences between the options. The standard choices include pizza, various kinds of sandwiches and wraps, quesadillas, salads, etc. Any who, here is my break down of the different locations that offers Late Night Café.*

Warren Towers: As my home base last year, Warren Towers was my M.O. for Late Night. Being one of the largest dining halls on campus, it’s only fitting that they have a large array of options on the menu. Their most popular items are the quesadilla and the grilled chicken wrap. There’s a fresh fruit smoothie bar where you can order a custom made drink, a huge selection of Pepperidge Farm cookies, and a cooler filled with every energy or caffeine drink you’ll need to battle those late nights.

West Campus: West has their own version of late night. While they used to offer a similar experience to Warren, this late night option is now brought to you by Extreme Pita. Although this is a real establishment (as in not completely affiliated with BU dining) you can still pay for the food with your dining and convenience points. Personally, I prefer Extreme Pita over the other locations because they offer much healthier options.

Towers: I’ve only been to Towers a few times for Late Night but I would say that they have a pretty similar selection as Warren, the standard late night menu that I mentioned above. In addition, the times that I’ve been, the chefs have prepared other selections such as enchiladas and empanadas. They also have a smoothie bar.

The other dining halls that offer Late Night include Myles Standish Hall and Shelton Hall, both of which have the standard late night menu. HoJo (575 Commonwealth) also has a Late Nigh option called Café 575. I have never been there but according to Tom, “they offer muffins and stuff; maybe coffee too.”

*These are in no particular rank as Late Night Café is similar across most locations

Jason: Best Campus Dining Halls

After experiencing BU for one entire year I figured I’d sit down and write about something practical, something you guys might find useful. So here is my list of the top five residence dining halls at BU.

• West Campus- West gets my vote as the number one because of sheer variety. West campus has the most options by far and although I have never been able to say with certain that it tastes better than the food in warren, having more options allows for a better chance that you’ll find something that’s healthy and tastes good. I’m also pretty sure they always have a make-your-own quesadilla bar, which is awesome. The only downside is that for me the dining hall usually seemed more crowded than others

• Warren Towers- My home base would have gotten the number one vote except for this last month. I think whoever runs the dining in Warren Towers may have checked out a little early because the selection (and quality) of the food over the last month has not been on par with its usual high standard. Regardless, the food here is usually exceptional with plenty of choices. The desserts are so good they’ll probably kill you and the dining hall is much more spacious than West campus.

• Myles Standish Hall- Although the building itself might need some work, the dining hall is in pristine condition. There are two sides to this dining hall (separated by a hallway) One is a more lively, social setting with several flat screen TV’s and the other reserved for more intimate, quiet dining. While smaller than both West and Warren, there are usually enough options and the food is pretty good. There’s nothing really bad about the dining in Myles but I guess there’s nothing that great either. But hey, average isn’t that bad.

• Shelton- It has just about as many options as Myles, the dining hall is pretty nice, and the food was good. I’ve only eaten there once though so I don’t have much to talk about.

• The Towers- Ok, honestly, who decided to build a dining hall in a basement? As much as I love eating next two ceiling high industrial sized fans or radiators, or I don’t even know what they are, some windows would be nice, no? The choices here are fairly limited and I don’t know, I mean its not gonna kill you but there are better options than Towers.

I hope you guys find this useful. I am not endorsed by any of the five residence dining halls so my opinion of each is honest and unbiased. Stay tuned for my next piece on the top five places to eat Late Night.