The end of the semester is imminent – so close you can taste it – and that means you’re on the final grind. Professors are assigning papers and projects left and right and you’ve just been cooped up in your room or at the library trying to figure out how to get it all done over a slice of leftover pizza. That sounds stressful. Why don’t you go take a walk to clear your head? And bring the pizza – I’ll show you some of the best places on campus where you can sit back, absorb some well-needed vitamin D, and really savor every bite of that cheesy Italian flatbread.
Busch
Okay, so Busch isn’t really the prettiest campus… or the liveliest, or the most fun… in fact, most people are turned off by its brutalist architecture and its many industrial-looking buildings. However, it’s the best campus to find a quiet and secluded place to sit and eat your lunch.
Photo by Tina Liu
Behind the Richardson Apartment complex, there are many lone picnic tables scattered about the area. A lot of people don’t know about them because they’re located so far from the student center. This is only to your benefit, though, since that means there will be less distractions when you’re trying to finish that expos paper between bites of the chicken wrap you got from Woody’s. Your only company will be the birds and the occasional pasty and sad-looking resident staring at you longingly from their apartment window thinking, “I wish I could know the feeling once more of the sun beating down on my skin while I enjoy a meal.” You were that resident once. Aren’t you glad you went outside?
Livingston
Livingston is by far my favorite campus (it has a Starbucks and I’m basic.) It’s much livelier than Busch and because of all the shops and restaurants, it feels less like a constrained college campus and more like a small, up-and-coming community.
Photo by Tina Liu
Like I mentioned before, I really like Starbucks. With the weather getting milder, the seats outside of the coffee chain and 16 Handles have stopped being empty and frostbitten. Now, they’re consistently filled by happy students sipping iced coffees on lunch dates with their friends. This could be you!
Photo by Tina Liu
Another fantastic place to eat on Livingston is the courtyard right behind the student center. If you feel like people-watching while you munch on your sausage, egg, and cheese croissant from the Rock Café, this would be the place to do it. People are always hanging out on the steps or walking through to class of the dining hall. Also, many events often take place here, so if you hang out enough, you could encounter an event with free food. That’s the dream, isn’t it?
College Avenue
Now we make our way across the Raritan to the heart of Rutgers – College Avenue campus. This campus with it’s historic and traditional brick architecture just exudes ‘collegiate’.
Photo by Tina Liu
Right behind Scott Hall, in front of old buildings like Murray Hall and Voorhees Hall, is a lively quad where students like to sit under large shady trees and hang out with friends or do work. Why not add ‘eat fat sandwiches’ to that list?
Photo by Tina Liu
Cook/Douglass
Cook Douglass is a beautiful campus. That cannot be refuted. The abundance of nature everywhere you turn really does inspire you to stop and smell the daisies. Take some time off from studying and bring a picnic basket to Passion Puddle. Invite some friends. Lay your picnic blanket under the willow tree near the water and kick up your feet. This is as close as you’ll get to the Garden of Eden in any of the Rutgers campuses. Enjoy it while you can!
Photo by Tina Liu