One of the biggest questions I remember asking myself after I got into Princeton was: what is my room going to look like? I think it's a valid question especially since you may spend a lot of time in your room, and potentially with roommates. While first years are placed into their rooms by their Residential College’s Dean of Student Life (DSL), the rest of Princetonians have the option to select their roommates and room in a process called Room Draw. A small caveat worth mentioning is that rising sophomores must draw into their residential college again, and rising juniors and seniors have some more options. For some context, I am a member of Butler College and have been in a single, quad, and next year a quingle. 

Singles: As the name suggests, a single is a room where only one person occupies it. Each building’s singles differ in the size and layout but generally are similar. Some buildings have two singles that share a bathroom (called Jack & Jill), which is pretty cool. Singles are highly coveted by all class years. I was placed in a single freshman year in Bloomberg, so feel free to reach out and ask more questions! 

Doubles: Doubles are where two roommates share a single room, which is larger than a single. Depending on the building some doubles come with a common room and a bedroom, which a lot of students convert into two singles. 

Triples: Triples are similar to doubles but the room also varies by building. I believe most triples consist of a common room and two bedrooms. Think of a double and a single that have a common room in between them. Like doubles, most students convert the common room into a bedroom so all three roommates effectively get a single. 

Quads: Quads consist of two doubles with a common room in between them. A lot of quads also have a bathroom, which is really nice. I am in a quad this year in Butler’s 1967 Hall and it's a blast. I would recommend trying to get a quad your freshman year so that you can have some built in roommate friends! 

Quingles: Perhaps the most unique rooms at Princeton, a quingle is the child of a quad and a single (get it, quad + single = quingle). Quingles are four singles connected together via a private hallway, which usually also has a bathroom. Some quingles have a common room on top of that. These are the biggest rooms at Princeton and are also highly sought after. Next year my roommates and I will be in a quingle in Bloomberg, which I’m super excited about. 

Independent/ Co-op: Rising Sophomores and Juniors have the options to draw into independent rooms. This just means that they will not be on the dining hall meal plan. One of the most desired independent buildings is called Spelman. Spelman rooms are like a quingle but also have a kitchen so that students can cook their own meals. There are also some students who opt to room in a Co-op where students take turns cooking dinner. I'm not very knowledgeable about these rooms so that's all I can say on them. 

Other: Outside of these rooms, there are some unique rooms that have different layouts/ number of students living in the room. To my knowledge these deviations are primarily in Upperclassmen buildings, so it’s nothing to worry about for first years. 

Overall, Princeton has a lot of housing options and a lot of different buildings. No matter where you end up as a first year, your room will be amazing. Starting from scratch and designing your own room is a lot of fun. If you have any questions please reach out to me and I’ll answer your questions to the best of my ability. You can also look at the housing website linked here.

As the first semester of my final year at Princeton draws to a close, I find myself thinking more about what I would have done differently throughout my four years, and what I would tell myself in freshman year if I had the chance. Most of it is related to academics, such as getting distribution requirements out of the way as soon as possible, or that the best study spot on campus will be the Firestone B floor (though I have heard it is an acquired taste). However, my ‘words of wisdom’ would also expand beyond my academic pursuits, and I wanted to take the time and space to do that here.

1. Don’t pigeonhole yourself into one career path from the get-go. 

I told myself all throughout high school that I wanted to be a journalist or diplomat, determined that a career traveling all over the world reporting on the most pressing issues was the path for me. I didn’t really consider the other options I would have, convinced that the dreams I had when I was eighteen would hold when I was twenty-two. Though I do not want to discount the experiences of those who know exactly what they want to do with their lives, and thus pursue the classes and activities that allow them to do so, I think it's worth taking the time as an underclassman to explore what various career options you have, and who knows, you may find your new passion!

2. Not every extracurricular activity has to be academic.

This may be something that was more specific to me, but I felt guilty finding clubs that were purely ‘fun’ when the people around me were building career skills or attending national competitions that I did not attempt any till my sophomore spring. Admittedly, I ended up in an a cappella group I love and have become some of my closest friends, but one of my biggest regrets is that I didn’t audition earlier because I felt pressured to continue ‘working’ outside of my class hours. Take the leap. Have fun. You deserve it. 

3. Do not stress so much about your interpersonal relationships.  

One of the greatest things about college is the sheer number of people you meet and interact with on a daily basis. In classes with over a hundred students, in the different (or same) dining halls you eat at every day, and the people you live near every year, to name a few. Coming from a close-knit friend group in high school, I set the unrealistic expectation for myself that I would find a similar group of friends within my first few weeks at Princeton. Inevitably, this caused me to stress out and hindered me from interacting with more people. My current group of friends, whom I cherish very much, didn’t really solidify until my junior fall. I wish I could tell my freshman year self that. 

Ultimately, there is so much more advice that I could give (maybe I’ll write another blog post about academic advice for incoming freshmen). However, I remember being incredibly nervous and excited about the non-academic aspects of Princeton, and hope that this blog post helps assuage those concerns.

As a humanities/social sciences student, readings dominate my life at Princeton. It’s why in my first semester, I left large gaps in between my classes. This way, I could spread my assignments throughout the day, and spend time with my friends at night.

I also mostly worked alone in my first semester. I thought doing homework with my friends would be too distracting. I love to join in on conversations, but sometimes we’d get so deep in discussion that my plans to read that next page, write that next paragraph, outline that next paper went out the window. Additionally, I was surrounded by STEM students in my Zee Group. They were not interested in, nor did they ask about, my readings, and likewise, I was not interested in, nor did I ask about, their problem sets. Yet the more I worked alone last September, the more I missed having somebody to parallel play with while still socializing.

Enter the McGraw Center for Teaching and Learning. Beyond the peer tutoring sessions, academic strategies workshops, and learning consultations, there is also the fairly new Study Partners Program. You first fill out an interest form, after which McGraw matches you with your study partner via email. From there, you and your study partner exchange contact information and decide where/when you want to study.

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All of the selections are random, which I appreciated when I was a freshman. While it is important to befriend students in your home residential college, often by way of your zee group, it’s equally important to branch out and meet students in other residential colleges. Who knows? They could have the same academic interests as you! 

I lucked out with my study partner, who I now consider one of my closest friends at Princeton. He lives up north at Rockefeller “Rocky” College, and I down south at Forbes College. But despite being on opposite ends of campus, he, too, loves the humanities and social sciences. During our study sessions at Firestone Library, he would annotate his Politics readings and I would annotate my Philosophy readings. We also took turns discussing what we were learning. It’s not unusual for us, even now, to exchange book recommendations from our classes (with dashes of us sharing our extracurricular activities).

Having a study partner has also not been as distracting as I previously thought. We hold each other accountable by setting personal goals, as well as offering help to each other. For instance, he helped me brainstorm for my papers when I took my writing seminar last spring, and I offered encouraging words while he studied for finals. It’s because of this reciprocity that more often than not, we achieved our goals. 

Don’t get me wrong. Some students work better alone—I do if I’m under a major deadline—but regardless, I highly recommend the McGraw Study Partners Program to all incoming students. Not only will you be building yourself a support system and finding someone to parallel play with, but you might also make a friend in the process.

It’s hard to believe that I will officially be a “sophomore” in a few weeks. It feels like yesterday that I moved into Forbes College, and sat through day long orientation programming. Now that I’m somewhat settled into my new home – that is, the Second Floor of the Forbes Annex – I want to share with you the three most important lessons I learned freshman year. Who knows? Maybe they can help you become your authentic self at Princeton.

1. Don't forget to laugh!

While it’s very easy to make me laugh, I sometimes feel so stressed from school that I forget to. So rather than seek out instances that make me laugh, I let them come to me.

For instance, I went to Princetoween (our post Fall break Halloween celebration) with one of my friends. While at Colonial Eating Club, I ran into a Forbesian dressed like a teenage Michael Jackson. I asked him where his five brothers were. At first, he was confused. But once he understood what I was talking about, he agreed he looked like Michael Jackson with his afro and tall, slender appearance. Back at Forbes, I cried laughing while telling the story to my Zee Group. As the saying goes, “laughter is the best medicine.” Yes, even in an environment where students seem to be working nonstop.

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2. Your special interests are valued.

I have several special interests including Sesame Street (among other children's cartoons), writing, and most recently my new major: Cultural Anthropology. I could go on for days! But from elementary to middle school, it wasn’t unusual for my interests to be dismissed as, well, unusual.

Now, I am incredibly grateful to have friends who share my special interests, if not have their own. Some powerlift. Others love Procreate. Some fight to divest Princeton. Others passionately believe Oppenheimer is better than Barbie. I firmly believe that by sharing my interests with my friends (and vice versa), I have learned so much more about their life experiences. 

3. The people here keep you going.

Coming into Princeton, I envisioned it would be a cutthroat environment where nobody wanted to help each other. This assumption couldn’t have been more wrong. My friends keep me going even on my toughest days. Examples include texting me to ask about my day and offering to read my papers. Mind you, these relationships are not one sided. I do the same for them because I care about them. 

These friendships have also made it easier for us to be vulnerable about our life experiences. Our conversations occasionally include crying and hugging. But no matter what we discuss, we always reaffirm to each other that we belong here. Princeton is a major life change academically, emotionally, and socially. So please make it a point to make friends who always push you to be your authentic self.

When I graduated from high school, I was burnt out and needed a change in my life. The decision to take a gap year was never really a question in my mind––my parents were always strong proponents, and I needed a break from academics.  When I first read about the Novogratz Bridge Year Program, I knew that the opportunity to spend nine months abroad (for free) was too good to pass up.  

However, after I applied and received my acceptance letter to the Indonesia program, I felt less sure about my choice.  My anxiety and self-doubts began to emerge, making me second guess whether the Bridge Year Program would be a mistake or not. I would graduate later than my friends, go many months without my family, and live alone in a totally unfamiliar city.  Would it be a waste of time? Would I learn anything? Would I make friends? These questions and doubts filled my mind as the departure date neared. I still remember how scared and unsure I felt during the nights leading up to the trip, and the queasy feeling in my stomach as we drove to campus for the pre-departure orientation.  

I started Bridge Year with full-on imposter syndrome and anxiety. Like many incoming first-years, I felt inadequate compared to my incredibly accomplished peers and worried about insignificant things that I had no control over. I was insecure, and the other students in my cohort seemed much more mature, intelligent, and well-spoken. In those first few weeks, I kept quiet during group discussions, journaled a lot, and over-thought nearly every word that came out of my mouth.  

The first month of Bridge Year Indonesia was reserved for orientation and short-term travel. We spent this initial month traveling through Sumatra. Everything was still new and exciting, but as this month began to wind down and our move-in day to Jogja grew nearer, I felt incredibly anxious about meeting my long-term homestay family.  I remember confiding in Umi, one of our on-site staff members, the morning before we were introduced to our families. As we sat on the porch of our hotel–sipping tea and listening to the adzan (call to prayer) in the background–I nervously listed off my fears and hesitations about meeting my homestay family.  I was worried about communicating with them with my limited Indonesian, making a good first impression, and whether I could live up to their relationship with the previous student. I was told that my homestay family was especially religious–the father was an Imam–and I worried about what they would think of my Jewish beliefs and identity. Umi reassured me that they were a perfect match for me, and not to worry. This didn’t do much to reassure me at the time, and I spent the rest of the morning pacing and stressing.  

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I won't lie, that first week in the homestay was quite an adjustment. My family did not speak any English, so we struggled to communicate, and I was exhausted from feeling the need to constantly ‘perform’ around them. But after just a month or two, I felt infinitely more relaxed. As I continued to grapple with anxiety and imposter syndrome, my homestay family became a true source of comfort and relaxation. We found ways to communicate with my still-limited Indonesian skills, and I began to prioritize spending more time at home with them. 

Reflecting on it now, four years out of Bridge Year, my homestay family was the best part of my experience. They each taught me so much, and I am so grateful for the generosity and unconditional love that they showed me. There are so many moments that I wouldn’t trade for the world: watching movies on the porch with my homestay brothers, karaoke Bon Jovi with Ibu and Ayah (my homestay parents), visiting my homestay sister in the hospital after she gave birth, Ibu’s disapproving looks when I bleached my hair, and learning Arabic at the Mosque with Ayah. They had an incredibly influential impact on me during this transitional moment in my life when I was just beginning to define my values, relationships, and career trajectory.  

While re-reading my journals and reflecting upon Bridge Year, I realized that the community I found in my homestay enabled the growth I experienced that year. While I was feeling anxious, inadequate, and inexperienced compared to my Princeton peers, my homestay showed me acceptance, self-love, and compassion. I never thought that I would call Indonesia home, or consider non-relatives part of my family, but over the course of nine months, that is exactly what ended up happening.  

Today, more than four years after the program, I am endlessly grateful for Bridge Year. The personal growth that I underwent shaped who I am today in countless ways. Bridge Year taught me many skills and lessons, but above all, it helped me develop more self-confidence. I know it sounds cliche, but I gained so much confidence in myself and my abilities. Continuously getting pushed outside of my comfort zone forced me to grow in ways that I still struggle to verbalize. I am of course still in contact with my family today, and I am returning to Yogyakarta this summer as part of the Streicker International Fellows Program to intern at an architecture firm. Although I am still unsure about what my future post-grad will be, I am hoping to move to Indonesia again and start my career there. If I had the chance to speak to the pre-Bridge Year version of myself, or anyone considering the program, I would say: absolutely take the leap; the lessons you will learn about yourself, the world, and your place within it will be invaluable and unforgettable. 

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As a campus blogger I find myself often highlighting my favorite parts about campus. I have enjoyed my experience as a student and an individual within this community, and am always excited to share more about all of the amazing things that have happened during my time here. Surely there are a million things to love about Princeton, but there are things that are difficult, too.

Admittedly, I chose Princeton because I wanted to be surrounded by courses and classmates that would challenge me every day, but there are days where everything is just outright overwhelming. In the past, I have had to read well over 500 cumulative pages in a week; there have been weeks where I have had two papers due in addition to having to prepare a presentation and study for an exam the following week; and there have been countless lectures where I leave feeling clueless about what was discussed. Also, sometimes life is just life, and things happen in my personal life that I have to balance on top of my constant schoolwork.

It can be a lot.

I know this may sound like a somewhat of a grim portrayal of life on campus, but transparency is an important part of getting to know a school. Princeton is hard, but there is always room for a bad day to turn into a good one (or, at least a slightly less bad one?).

Maybe one of the biggest lessons I’ve learned during my time here has been finding peace in the simplest of moments and gestures. Last week was especially hard for me, but there were many things that occurred alongside the difficult bits that helped make my workload feel more bearable. 

After a long day of classes and extracurriculars, seeing my lit-up dorm window is always a welcoming sign that my roommate is home, as I always look forward to unwinding and catching up with her. The comforting reality is that we are all struggling together, and sometimes getting things off my chest is all it takes to make them feel more manageable.

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I try to be very intentional about taking breaks, sometimes on my own, or sometimes with some of my friends. My favorite place to go when I want a small snack is The Bread Boutique on Witherspoon Street to pick up a delicious pistachio croissant. When I want a drink to power me through the rest of a paper-writing session, I love using my DiningPoints to buy something from Junbi, also on Witherspoon. Of course, calling home when things feel too overwhelming always helps me feel more grounded, too.

On campus, there are also a plethora of supportive resources specifically set in place to help students navigate the difficulty of campus life. There are more academic resources like the Writing Center and the McGraw Center, which can help manage the stress associated with academic tasks and routines. But there are other resources, too. Residential College Advisors (RCAs) and Peer Academic Advisors (PAAs) are some of the first two points of contact that any incoming Princeton student is introduced to. A resource that I, along with some of my friends, have found useful has been Princeton’s Counseling and Psychological Services (CPS). Located in McCosh Health Center, students can consult with campus psychologists. These can be scattered visits, or CPS can connect you with a more long-term alternative off campus. As a student on the school’s health insurance plan, this has been extremely helpful in making mental health care accessible to me.

Finally, there is community everywhere, whether that looks like reaching out to close friends, sitting in a crowded library while everyone struggles to write essays and code together, or looking forward to your favorite extracurricular meeting at the end of the week. No matter how hard things may feel sometimes, I know that I will get through it eventually and that an ice cold matcha will be waiting for me on the other end of it, as well as a wonderful community happy to support each other through it all.

It is easy to say Princeton is beautiful, but real beauty goes beyond appearance and reputation. The heart of a school is the people and the people at Princeton are some of the best you’ll ever meet–they make this school beautiful. Is it easy to make friends? Will I fit in? These are the most common questions first-years ask before entering Princeton’s campus and I think at the root of these questions, it boils down to: will I find a community? Students from around the country and even the world enter Princeton’s orange bubble and hope they’ll find belonging. What does it mean to belong?

In my first year, I didn’t know what to expect. I wish I could say that I worried about the common concerns many other students had coming in. Instead, I was just excited to have a normal college experience, see people face to face, and create connections. My lack of expectations made it easier for me to settle. I didn’t engage in all the opportunities available and never stepped outside my comfort zone. My first year was a learning experience, it was filled with trials and errors and sometimes isolation. While it may not have been the most ideal experience, it highlighted how important it was for me to push myself and seek connections–to find my community. 

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One of the ways I find belonging is in the classroom. My Latino Literature and Film seminar is a class full of Latine students who share similar lived experiences. I resonate so quickly with their feelings and I learn of different cultures and upbringings that influence perception on representation, all within an hour and a half. One of the reasons I love the Latino Studies program is because of Professor Rivera-Lopez. She constantly finds ways to make us question how Latine individuals are represented in film and what authentic stories look like. I previously took a seminar with her in the fall semester called "Introduction to Latino/a/x Studies" and this is where I learned a history that is so often overlooked and forgotten. Many people from the fall seminar decided to continue into the spring semester taking Professor Rivera-Lopez’s classes, these people began forming my community here. 

One of the other ways I find belonging is by demonstrating my support to the organizations that bring joy to my Princeton experience. Más Flow is Princeton’s premier Latine dance company which recently celebrated its 10th anniversary. A couple of friends and I went to their spring production “La Fiesta del Año”. I loved seeing my friends and people I had classes with perform on stage, dancing to music that reminded me a bit of home. I tend to look for community with what feels familiar to me, but I also just love catching up with people I work with or friends via quick trips to late meal and USG movie nights.

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I can’t say I am the same person I was when I walked through FitzRandolph Gates during pre-rade but I like that I am still finding out who I am. Belonging does not have to be definite, our identities are complex and growing. The friendships you make your freshman year won’t always last but that doesn’t mean they weren’t meaningful. I love being able to interact with so many people who have interesting and different perspectives. Princeton's campus is a space where you are both challenged and embraced, that is one of the reasons I love it so much.

To the Class of 2027, I can’t ensure that your journey will be easy or perfect by any means but it will be memorable. Worries and excitement are all normal feelings but I hope you won’t allow your nerves to dictate your time here. Make that first step and try something new because if there’s a time or space to do anything, it’s at Princeton. Embrace the new atmosphere and don’t settle for what is within reach, community is most often found in places you’ll least expect it to be. Congratulations on your acceptance and I hope to see you next fall!

It’s that time of year again. My team and I are making last minute tweaks to the incoming first-year class.

We’ve spent the past several months reading, re-reading and discussing the applications that many of you reading this blog put hours of preparation into. We have appreciated learning about your academic pursuits, the activities that intrigue you outside of the classroom and the factors that led you to apply to Princeton. We have laughed at your funny anecdotes, cried (yes, cried) over some of the situations you have trusted us enough to share and thought about how you might add to this vibrant community. And now it comes down to your receiving a decision.

You might not believe it, but this is not my favorite part of my job. Don’t get me wrong, I think I have one of the best jobs on this campus – being able to serve my alma mater in a way that introduces her to prospective students around the world. But in this moment, providing decisions that will exhilarate some and devastate others is not my idea of fun.

So, each year, I try to remind ALL applicants that receiving a decision from a college (whether it’s Princeton or some other amazing institution of higher learning) should not make or break you. If you receive positive news, that’s excellent! Celebrate, decide if it’s the place you can see yourself learning and growing inside and outside of the classroom and base your decision on whether or not to enroll on whether or not the school is a fit for you academically, socially and financially.

If you receive not-so positive news, know that one school’s decision does not indicate anything about your ability to be successful in college. I can only speak for Princeton, but each year we receive applications from many more highly qualified students than we could possibly admit. And, each year we have to say no to many of those same students. I realize that doesn’t take the sting out of receiving anything other than an admit. Still, I hope that you will not let the received decision keep you down. Rather, take a minute to absorb it, and then regroup and put your efforts into your senior year activities. Importantly, remember to enjoy the remainder of your high school senior year, as making those memories are as important as figuring out the next phase of your life.

Whatever decision you receive from Princeton or any other college or university you have applied to, please know that we have enjoyed getting to know you. Your story is unique to you and important. And whatever campus community is allowed to benefit from your presence will be all the better for it.

Good luck with this next adventure!

It goes without saying that every student currently enrolled at Princeton has a unique journey that led them here, but when I was still a prospective student, this is something that was especially important for me to remember. So allow me to say it again: there is no “normal” path to Princeton, and there is no “normal” Princeton student.

Like many other nervous prospective applicants, I spent countless hours during my senior year of high school searching the Internet for answers–for anything that would tell me whether or not Princeton was even remotely attainable for me. Sure, I’d always gotten good grades, but what if that wasn’t enough? I’d been a public school student all my life, and although I greatly valued that education, I knew there would be other applicants that would have gone to different schools that had likely better prepared and exposed them to the rigor of ideas and extracurriculars that Princeton was looking for. In the weeks leading up to the January 1st deadline, my head swarmed with self-doubt.

I almost didn’t apply, but on December 31st, I submitted my application. To avoid getting my hopes up, I told myself that even if I got in, I probably wouldn’t go because it was more than a thousand miles away, and it’d be too hard, and I didn’t want to live in New Jersey anyway, and… 

I believe my first words were, “Oh my God I got in,” and I believe after that (as well as after refreshing the page dozens of times to make sure it hadn’t been a mistake) they were, “What am I going to do?”

Up until that point, I had been ready to submit my acceptance to one of the state schools near my hometown. Maybe the fact I hadn’t yet was a testament in itself that I was hoping for my admission at Princeton, but that didn’t change the fact that I was scared of leaving Florida: all of my friends would be staying close to home; I had never gone so far on my own; and my family–my sister and my parents–and I were all extremely close since my parents had immigrated from Mexico and raised us far from any true support system. Princeton, with its Gothic architecture and ivy-covered walls, did not feel like the place for me–I did not think it was a space made for people like me, even after being accepted.

I won’t lie to you that Princeton was immediately, or even now, all sunshine and rainbows. As I look forward to declaring Politics as my major, as well as applying to law school in the future, I still struggle with these sorts of thoughts. But this is home now, and I’ve learned to embrace the rigor and explore the endless opportunities at my disposal here. If I had given in to the fear and the uncertainty, there is so much that I would have missed out on:

• Every beautiful seasonal transition on campus, including experiencing my first snowfall;
• Amazing friends, including my roommate of two years that I genuinely could not live without;
• Meeting Nobel Prize winners in the middle of class or watching movies get filmed on campus;
• My upcoming internship with an amazing organization in Trenton through the Princeton Internships in Civic Service (PICS) program;
• Engaging in all of Princeton’s quirky traditions;
• And above all, tremendous self-growth.

Maybe this is a letter to my past self, or maybe it’s a love letter to Princeton. But to you, future applicant, or to you, future student–if there is anything that you get out of this one of thousands of stories, it is this:

You belong here, and sometimes the scariest choice turns out to be the right choice after all.

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Like most other college students, I am always appreciative of (and searching for) opportunities to eat for free.

This is where Princeton DiningPoints come in.

The DiningPoints initiative was launched in September of 2022 as a way to encourage community among Princeton students, as well as between campus and the surrounding community, without having to worry about spending money out of pocket. The initiative grants all students on the unlimited dining plan 150 DiningPoints at the start of each semester (the equivalent of $150), and any points that are not used during the fall semester roll over into the spring semester.

These points can be used at a wide variety of dining locations both on and off campus, and they are the reason that I made it through some of the busiest times of the fall semester. During reading period, the promise of a hot chocolate from Small World Coffee at the end of each day was all the fuel I needed.

As a love letter and thank you note to this initiative, I present to you, dear reader, a week in my life told through DiningPoints.

Friday:

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Since I try to structure my schedule so that I have no classes on Fridays, I normally use this day of the week to get ahead on a lot of my work to have a more relaxed rest of the weekend. After spending a few hours in Firestone Library, I decided to get myself a cup of Small World hot chocolate to warm up and relax for a bit before meeting up with my roommate for dinner.

Sunday:

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On Sunday after eating brunch, my friend and I decided to treat ourselves to drinks from Junbi during our work session. Since Junbi is so close to the Princeton Public Library, we chose to do some work there for a change of scenery. 

Thursday:

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Thursdays are my busiest day of the week, with four back-to-back classes leaving me a very short window available for lunch. I decided to grab a bottle of Tico's juice and a sushi roll to-go from Frist Food Gallery. Although I had to eat somewhat quickly, I took the time to eat outside of my next class and call a friend from back home. 

Although I normally try to space out my use of DiningPoints a bit more, I felt fine using them in this way this week since I had some left over from last semester. There is a lot of freedom in the way you distribute your use of points: some of my friends had used them all up within the first month of the fall semester, while one of my friends still had 120 left by December. No matter how you use them, DiningPoints offer opportunities to connect with friends, take breaks, and treat yourself for all the hard work you accomplish.