It was Saturday mid-morning, the perfect time for a Lenoir brunch of sweet potatoes and sweet potatoes.
I took a leisurely one-minute stroll from my dorm to the dining hall, where I saw a few people looking confused outside the doors. A small well of doubt started to form in my chest. Was Lenoir…closed?
I walked up to the doors. Locked. Locked!! With mounting dread, I looked at the sign on the door. Closed until Monday. I felt personally rejected.
You see, I’m a bit fond of Lenoir. Maybe a lot fond of it. In fact, I have been known to refer to Lenoir as “the love of my life.”
I really don’t understand people who don’t like the dining hall. There is so much food. So many choices. New things every day. You never have to do your own dishes. It is most likely two minutes from your dorm.
I was happy that the staff would get a break over the weekend, but I felt lost and cold. If Lenoir wasn’t there for me, then who was?
Resigned to my lonely fate, I turned to the more immediate problem at hand — food. It’s okay, I thought to myself. Alpine is here for just such a time as this.
Alpine was not there for just such a time. It was, in fact, closed.
With a rapidly diminishing pool of options, I headed to Wendy’s. Unfortunately, so did everyone else. The place was packed and the line was not moving. Time for Plan C — Rams.
I had hoped it would not come to that. Rams Dining Hall was an old friend from freshman year but more of a memory than anything else. Deep in South Campus, it seemed almost in another world. Nevertheless, when hunger calls, I answer.
Armed with only a Rams to-go box against the rest of the weekend, I wondered what to do. I ended up in Carrboro, which embraced me with open arms. But when the weekend was over, when Monday dawned bright and cold, I remembered my first love. Lenoir. And it welcomed me back with Greek yogurt. And sweet potatoes.
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