I know that some of you actually do work and live in on university campuses so this post will probably be yak inducing, but please, humor me for a few minutes anyway.
S, while not having a live in position, does work for a university. She, like all of the faculty and staff there get paid once a month. This is not usually a problem for us because I get paid weekly, so there aren’t huge gaps of time where we’re without cash flow. The same can not be said about other friends who don’t have alternate partner income to rely on, and so the last week of the month can be somewhat tight financially.
The university that S works at has two campuses. One is downtown, and I think, mostly commuter students go there, but there is also shuttle service to the other campus, which is mostly live-in, and about 30 minutes away from the city. It is where all the athletic buildings are, and residence halls, and typically looks like a college campus. S spends one day a week on this other campus, and often goes out there for events in the evenings. One night last week one of her students, a performance major, had his junior piano recital, and we went to show some support. We had decided to have dinner with our friend A, who works/lives on campus, but being that it was the end of the month, knew we were going to get some cheap eats.
Imagine our surprise when we got there and A said “Lets get some dinner -on me!” A took us to eat dinner at the dining hall. I hadn’t eaten dining hall food in over….12 or so years. I remember that my last encounter with dining hall food made me take up vegetarianism for about 3 years – I was game, but not really expecting anything wonderful, and I knew that worst case scenario I could always get a pb&j sandwich.
I was totally impressed with the offerings available. It seemed like it was “Thanksgiving” that evening, with roast turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, and sauteed green beans. All in small sized pans. No steam baths. Home made style. It was really really good. I believe it is part of the “Real Food on Campus” campaign, and it was great. In addition to the holiday like deliciousness, there was a dessert bar, and a pasta bar and a HUGE salad bar. Of course I had some jello for dessert, just for old times sake. But seriously. It was a relatively healthy (more beans, less stuffing) dinner, it was “free” (and even if we had to pay for it, it costs $8 for the whole meal) and the best part – I didn’t have to do any dishes.
My request to S? Next job? Live in…please!!!!!