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College Memories

I think I'll start a new thing where I'll tell little stories and recollections about my days in college from 1999 to 2003. This will give me something to blog about as well as provide a break from my nonstop music talk. I might talk about some of my actual academic experiences but, for the most part, these posts will be about the things that happened outside the classroom. Let's face it, that's the kind of stuff that's usually more exciting to talk about.

My first little story is about that favorite college activity: eating. My first three years at the University, the student union (which is a HUGE building) had one restaurant in the food court called Jamba Juice. The place sold lots of delicious fruit smoothies, as well as pizza and a few other things. I'd often eat there for lunch and get two of their BIG slices of pepperoni pizza. Many napkins required!! Sometimes I'd only get one slice. Other times I'd get two cheese slices to go, which only cost me about $4, and take them to my room to eat.

Another favorite was their "Strawberries Wild" smoothie. The ingredients according to jambajuice.com are apple-strawberry juice blend, nonfat frozen yogurt, frozen strawberries, frozen bananas, and ice. Strawberries Wild was SO DAMN DELICIOUS!! It was sweet and full of strawberry goodness, and it made my tastebuds very happy. I rarely drank any other flavor of their smoothies; Strawberries Wild was the one for me.

I was at Jamba Juice so often that one guy who regularly worked there knew me by name! And knew what I'd likely want to order. That came in handy my sophomore year when I took two classes that were only a half hour apart during the lunch hour, Norwegian and Scandinavian Mythology and Folklore. That meant I had to get lunch and haul myself off to class as quick as I could. The second class, Scandinavian Folklore, was a class that I really wanted to take, and it was on Tuesdays and Thursdays. So, every Tuesday and Thursday I would hurry over to the student union, get a Strawberries Wild smoothie, and take it with me to class so I wouldn't be hungry all afternoon. The classroom(s) we were in technically didn't allow food or drink, but I didn't care! I didn't have any time to eat lunch. It was worth the trouble, though, because it was a class I wanted very much to take. I was willing to make sacrifices for a satisfying educational experience.

The dining room that Jamba Juice was located in was VERY nice: Lots of light, coming from these circular light fixtures on the ceiling. Tables all around, and a few booths. It was very open and bright. I don't know why, but I've always enjoyed that dining room.

Last memory about Jamba Juice: One night in my junior year, around 7 or 8, I was sitting in my room studying when I get a call on the phone. It was a Jamba Juice employee, informing me that I had won a pizza!! They called a random number on campus every night and gave that person a free pizza. So I went over and claimed my prize. They were gonna give me a free soda too, but my hands were full from carrying the pizza! So I had to decline. That was a nice evening for sure.

*8/30/04* I forgot to mention that Jamba Juice left the student union before my senior year, so that was the end of the Jamba Juice experience for me!! The restaurant they put in JJ's place also served smoothies, but I never bothered to try any of them because I knew they wouldn't compare to my memories of JJ smoothies. AND the new place did not serve pizza! Oh well, at least I had three good years of smoothies and huge slices of pizza.