ND Admissions interns Catherine O'Leary, Hailey Oppenlander and Tajae Thompson debate North vs. South dining halls and share all of the good eats and treats you can find across campus.
00:00:00:04 - 00:00:01:03
Welcome to College
00:00:01:05 - 00:00:02:21
Bound Intern Edition,
00:00:02:24 - 00:00:04:20
We’re your hosts. I'm Catherine O’Leary.
00:00:05:05 - 00:00:06:13
I'm Tajae Thompson.
00:00:06:26 - 00:00:08:09
And I'm Hailey Oppenlander.
00:00:08:20 - 00:00:11:13
And we are here to give you the student take on Notre Dame.
00:00:13:18 - 00:00:37:22
Hey, guys, welcome back to another episode of College Bound Intern Edition. We’re your hosts, Hailey, Catherine and Tajae, and we're here today to talk about something that all college students love, food. So first, we're going to start with the most classic Notre Dame debate on campus, North Dining Hall versus South Dining Hall. Catherine, do you have any takes on this issue?
00:00:39:14 - 00:01:10:01
I was about to say, put me in coach, so when we were discussing this episode, I said I have to shout at my girl today. I think she made a great point, which I really do agree with. Ultimately, at the end of the day, you can be as opinionated as you want, but for the vast majority of students, you're going to just be going to the dining hall that's closest to you. And there are notable exceptions. So I was a North Dining Hall girl because I lived in Breen-Phillips Hall. Shout out babes. But I do think, again, like, you know, we're Notre Dame students. We are, you know, reasonably educated. And whatever, you have to, you have to acknowledge both sides.
00:01:10:03 - 00:01:40:02
And so, again, like each has their pros and cons. Obviously, South is much older. So it has that kind of Hogwarts ambience. It's just beautiful, you know, and I don't know, like my dad went here. And so I think about my old, old Pop eating his, you know, cereal in the dining hall. And so it's just kind of cool that you kind of share the experience. But the North is a lot newer. A lot of people will raise the fact that the food is better, which I think you could really debate, because if it is a little bit different. So I don't know.
00:01:40:04 - 00:01:46:20
Those are the two main points I think you have to raise. But ultimately, most people will just go towards, like, go for proximity and convenience.
00:01:47:26 - 00:01:51:11
Tajae, do you want to elaborate on your position?
00:01:51:18 - 00:02:22:19
Yeah, no, definitely, because my first year in my sophomore year, I was in West Quad, so I was in Welsh Fam in my first year and then my sophomore year I was in Pangborn, which is on South Quad. So I was pretty close to the South Dining Hall. So I mean, I rode for South Dining Hall, like that was my personality trait. I was like, South is better than North. Mind you, I had only been to North like twice in my entire time, the first two years. But now since I'm in Johnson, North is the closest dining hall. And, you know, now I'm just like, oh, I can't imagine going over to South even though it really is the same food, just at two different points on campus.
00:02:22:21 - 00:02:33:06
So it's really a debate that's just fun to have. And it's a cute thing to, like, talk about in class. But I mean, you know, it's the same food, same people just in a different building.
00:02:36:08 - 00:03:00:00
Before we move on, I do have to jump in, I will shout out again, I'm a North girl, but I will shout out South Dining Hall for lunch. Sometimes they had a pesto risotto, but just like really, really did something to me. So if you ever see that, you got, you got all you got to watch it. I mean, go watch for it. But would recommend other than not just make a sandwich and call it a day like. Yeah.
00:03:02:11 - 00:03:23:23
I have to say, I really like the aesthetic of South better, but I do live right across the way in Badin, and so I'm a little biased. It is convenient, but I just love the feel. It's really homey. And I do think that South has better desserts. I don't know if there's any way to verify that, but they used to have carrot cake on Tuesdays in the Before Days.
00:03:23:25 - 00:03:54:18
Oh, actually another thing some people say like North versus South, just like depending on what you're trying to do, like if you're doing like homework and you kind of want to eat alone, North is kind of better because they have booths where you can kind of sit by yourself. Well, and like once again in the Before Times and South is kind of like that family, kind of, have you're all friends for dinner, like obviously you can do both in either dining hall. But I've heard that some people will prefer to go to North for lunch because they can grab a booth and it's kind of quiet versus South when you want to have lunch with a lot of people or dinner with a lot of people.
00:03:54:28 - 00:03:56:27
But I mean, anything works.
00:04:01:16 - 00:04:23:24
Yeah, I agree, the vibes are different, good at both, but slightly different. So in addition to our two dining halls, we also have different on campus eateries that we can use our flex points. So we get meals, swipes. And we also get I think the standard is 500 flex points a semester. So, Tajae, do you want to talk about some of your favorite places you can use flex points on campus?
00:04:23:27 - 00:05:00:00
So I've recently this semester, this year, I've been getting into Legends, which is right behind Duncan Student Center. It's kind of close to Eddy Street. It's like in the parking lot, and it's really nice. Like they have, the food's warm and it's like, different menu items. They have chicken fingers and I love chicken fingers. That's always really, really nice. And yeah, that's not too expensive because I know we often think like flex points aren't like fake money, but it's real money. So I often have to remind myself of that. So but yeah, legends is really cool. Definitely would recommend checking it out if you like, want to grab dinner with friends, and they don't have the indoor dining option right now.
00:05:00:06 - 00:05:04:06
But still just to pick up your food and head to a dining hall tent with your friends is really great.
00:05:05:29 - 00:05:34:11
And then also kind of hole in the wall kind of establishment on campus is the cafe in the basement of Mendoza, which is really neat, but it's a lot of fun. The food is great and it's relatively inexpensive in comparison to like other on campus options. And they have like your regular drinks and smoothies and things like that, but also just like made-to-order sandwiches. They're always really warm and nice to eat. So a lot of great places to go eat on campus.
00:05:35:03 - 00:05:41:26
And Catherine, I heard you like the places to eat and Duncan Student Center, and you might be trying to trailblaze a new nickname for one of them.
00:05:42:08 - 00:06:14:24
Oh, OK. OK, so. All right. So two honorable mentions. There's three little places to eat in Duncan, but I've actually never been to one of them, so we're just gonna skip over that. Hagerty Family Cafe might be nice. I don't know, the workers wear fedoras sometimes. It's kind of all I know about that place and there's gelato. I don’t know, moving on. So the first place is Modern Market. You know, there's a lot of I love a good nickname. People call it Mod Mark. But if you really want to get me and kind of throw people off, you can call it MoMA and I think that's hilarious.
00:06:14:26 - 00:06:47:08
So anyways, Mod Market, so really it's a good kind of cafe vibe. They got like good sandwiches. They also make really good pizzas which I really enjoy. So yeah. Nice salads to try to be healthy depending on the day, like you know I'll get different things but good food. And then the second place is Star Ginger. So I haven't had most of their food, but I have gotten poke bowls and there's only I was, I was telling Hailey earlier, like there's only I think two places total where you can get a poke bowl in South Bend. And so ultimately, it does the job.
00:06:47:10 - 00:06:55:14
It does the job. That's kind of all you can ask in these, in these trying times. So shout out MoMa, shout out Star Ging.
00:06:56:10 - 00:07:36:19
I think my favorite place on campus is Garbanzo. It's such a good Mediterranean restaurant, kind of fast food place. And you can put toppings in your pita or you can get it in a bowl format, choose your meat or I really like the falafel and it's so good. And you should also try their chocolate chip cookies, which are very random. Not really with the vibe of the rest of the food options, but they are the best cookies that I have had so far on this campus. The chocolate to like dough ratio is just *chef’s kiss* and I also really like ABP in the library.
00:07:36:29 - 00:07:49:10
They have really good wraps. You can get strawberries there, and fruit is always in high demand on campus and they also have smoothies and coffee and good stuff that you need while you're grinding in the library.
00:07:49:25 - 00:07:56:18
Hailey, I hate to, I hate to put you on the spot, but do you want to tell them what ABP stands for and you have to do your best French accent.
00:07:57:05 - 00:08:02:09
Oh, yeah. Sorry for messing up the pronunciation. Probably, but Au Bon Pain, there we go.
00:08:02:18 - 00:08:12:15
Oh, yeah. There you go. I just got to make sure everyone's up to the lingo. I'm the lingo queen, so I have to be aware of that.
00:08:13:15 - 00:08:33:15
Yeah. And another very important thing for college students is coffee. And we have lots of different places. You can get coffee on campus. I think my favorite is probably Einsteins, which is in the bookstore. They have really good bagels too, if you want something to eat with your coffee. Um, Catherine, do you want to chime in on the coffee discussion?
00:08:34:06 - 00:09:07:15
Yeah, I hate that I am the person that's going to talk about this place, but ultimately it's incredibly accurate to my college experience. We do have a Starbucks on campus. I have been there before at various points during my Notre Dame experience, and I have completely abused caffeine, I would really not recommend. But I'm just saying it's there. It's there, if you need it, drink, drink, caffeine in moderation. No more than two a day at a reasonable hour. But yeah, I mean, Starbucks is super convenient, and especially now you can just like mobile order and pick yourself up and they're pretty quick.
00:09:08:02 - 00:09:26:29
But yeah, I mean, I would recommend, I just get the most boring orders, so I'm not going to tell you anything exciting, but I usually go like unsweetened iced green tea or like ice coffee with no sweeteners. I'm just very boring. But those are, you know, staples. It gets the job done. Yeah, I'm a woman of routine, so exactly.
00:09:27:09 - 00:09:30:20
Tajae, do you want to tell us about your favorite coffee place on campus?
00:09:31:06 - 00:10:05:14
Yeah, Starbucks, of course, is a great option, but I'm really into those in the hole in the wall cafes on campus. So O’Shag has this cafe that's kind of near the Snite Art Museum side of campus, and they have really cheap iced coffee. I don't like warm coffee. No matter what the weather. I'm always going to have iced coffee. And I think it's like a dollar and 20 cents and it's pretty big. And they put the ice in the coffee and then you have to add your own milk creamer and stuff. So I guess you have to put in extra work yourself, but it tastes fine, especially for the price point.
00:10:05:20 - 00:10:08:20
So whenever I needed coffee or even hot chocolate, I would go there.
00:10:09:11 - 00:10:40:14
Oh, cool. Have to try it next year. So as we conclude this episode, we collectively came up with a piece of advice for today. Do you not spend all of your flex points in the first couple of weeks of school. It is tempting because our different on campus eateries are so great and delicious. But also for those of you who like to obsessively budget and save like me, don't be afraid to splurge when you need it or when you want a smoothie. Hagerty, go for it.
00:10:41:25 - 00:10:45:28
Yeah, make sure to enjoy all of the options here because we have some pretty good ones.
00:10:47:14 - 00:11:06:00
Thanks for tuning in for this episode. Be sure to follow us on our socials. @NDAdmissions, we’re on Insta, Snap, Twitter and TikTok. And I think we also covered the North and South debate a little bit on TikTok if you want to follow up with this episode and pursue the same line of content. Yeah, thanks for listening. And Go Irish.