College: the beginning of the rest of your life, as they say. No more lunches form home and being on a first name basis with waiters at all the restaurants near my house. Moving from a small town to a big city changed the way I now eat and here's how.

1. Breakfast

egg, toast, bacon, bread, egg yolk, croque madame
Suzie Waltzer

What formerly used to be either scrambled eggs or toast with almond butter, has now turned into a granola bar on the go, or nothing at all. Because I want to get as much sleep as possible before my 10 am class, I have started to cut breakfast out of my daily schedule. (Which is probably going to have to change.)

2. My Coffee Fix

beer, coffee, tea
Hannah Mayblum

Having to choose between Starbucks and Dunkin Donuts used to be my daily, morning struggle on my way to school as I drove past them both. But now, I live for Tuesdays (and if I get lucky, Wednesdays) for a large cup of Blue Donkey coffee at Emory's Farmers Market. Also, Kaldi's has become my go-to cup of coffee to get me through long study nights.

3. No More Homemade Salads

salad, meat, lettuce, vegetable, fillet, steak, spinach, chicken
Suzie Waltzer

My friends used to envy the salads my mom would make for me, happily munching on my leftovers. Now, I have to inevitably settle for the salad bar at the DUC which could never compare. But, you gotta do what you gotta do in order to eat healthily.

4. New Restaurants Every Weekend

chicken, pork
Suzie Waltzer
Prior to coming to Emory, my friend had sent me an entire list of restaurants in Atlanta, categorized by type of food. Atlanta, being a major city, has countless options for going out, and each week it's a major decision to have to choose to go to a new restaurant or one that I fell in love with the last week.

From learning how to budget my money, to finding the latest hacks in the dining hall, my eating habits have changed drastically from moving from a small town to a big city. Now the only thing left is to get a true taste of the south by trying cheese grits.