Rather than spending my fall break at home with my friends and family, I went to Charlottesville, VA to visit my boyfriend at the University of Virginia. I did not imagine the trip to be filled with food and sleep, but that is exactly what happened. 

I woke up the first morning starving. Not just an "I'm hungry" feeling, but the feeling of your stomach crying as it looks for any morsel of food remains. Of course the only source of food around was the dining hall. Even though I tend to be a fairly health conscious person, I decided to go crazy and make a waffle.

What I was expecting was the average waffle I have in my college dining hall, but UVA waffles have an imprint of their logo, The Rotunda in it. (Where's my stag waffle?)

chocolate, banana, syrup, sauce, peanut butter
Dominique Gambino

After such a satisfying breakfast, we decided to go to the Corner. The Corner is basically UVA's downtown with restaurants, shops, and tons of bars. Since it was pouring rain, we quickly ran into a little pizzeria called the Mellow Mushroom.

The fact we chose to go to a pizzeria was surprising considering I am lactose intolerant and usually don't risk an upset stomachache to eat pizza. As per usual, we looked on Yelp's pictures to see which item on the menu looked the best and decided to order the Mega-Veggie pizza. In my opinion, since the pizza was topped with eleven different vegetables, it was pretty much a salad.

We also split an Avocado hoagie that was filled with, of course, avocado, onions, Provolone, mayo, lettuce, and Roma tomatoes and topped with sprouts. If you love avocado, you'd marry this sandwich.

The following day for lunch, we went to the seafood version of Chop't. The place was called Poké Sushi Bowl and lets just say, I've been craving it ever since I left. Poké Sushi Bowl offers a wide variety of different toppings and add-ins to satisfy anyone's sushi needs.

Since it was my first time being at a do-it-yourself sushi place, I tried to play it safe and asked for brown rice, salmon, sweet onions, seaweed, edamame, cucumbers, and sesame seeds with a coating of a citrus soy sauce dressing. Even though my choices were bomb, you seriously can't go wrong with any toppings you chose. By the end of the day we were so stuffed that we decided to go to the Historic Downtown Mall in hopes of walking off some calories. Predictably, we ended up finding enough space in our stomachs to go to The Whiskey Jar.

Trying to be healthy, I ordered the pumpkin soup which was topped with Brussels sprouts and tiny bits of ham, as well as a kale salad.

As a northeastern girl, I never knew southern food could be so tasty, I've already started a list of restaurants to go to when I go back! Not only was the day perfect because of the heavenly and filling food I ate, but also because I got to share the memories with someone I love.