I have a 50-minute break on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at the perfect time for lunch.

I decide to go to the Orleans Room and utilize the meal plan that I have. I go in, get some food and begin the search for a table.

It’s more like a hunt. Empty chairs are my prey. I spot a table for three open, and I almost drop my food from sheer excitement. I won’t have to walk around wasting half of my lunch looking like an idiot trying to find a place to sit.

I lunge for the table, and my heart drops. Underneath the table there is a backpack. I look around. Is anyone watching me? Can I just move this bag and pretend I never saw it?

Nope, here comes the rightful owner of the table. With 20 minutes left of my lunch, I continue my search.

That was my lunch story last semester. Then, one day some friends asked me to accompany them to Tulane. We went, and my 50 minutes for lunch seemed like a lifetime.

I prefer the home cooked-style food of the Orleans Room to the fast food in the Tulane Lavin-Bernick Center, but I also enjoy being able to find a place to sit immediately instead of walking around in circles for half of my lunch.

Everyday I walk to Tulane with two of my friends and waste my precious Wolfbucks. I could use my meal plan at the Orleans Room and save the Wolfbucks, but the sacrifice is worth it.

When we get to Tulane we don’t have to search for a place to sit.

We have our own area. It’s all the way in the back left corner. We have affectionately dubbed it “the reject corner.” We head straight to our spot, and we can enjoy quality time to chat.

Recently, we have gotten a bit braver. We have begun sitting at tables close to actual Tulane students.

Our favorite people to sit near are a table of around seven older men. One day they had a lengthy discussion about how attractive Dolly Parton is for her age.

They are quite entertaining, but I also love listening to the students. I love their great stories about their late nights at The Boot and The Palms.

My favorite days are Fridays when everyone is starting their weekend.

The girls walk around with swimsuits under their sundresses in preparation for the Fly, and the guys are ready to head to Boot Happy Hour.

Our new favorite pastime at Tulane has been counting all the Loyola students we spot. Lunch is usually filled with, “Oh, there’s Leigh,” and, “Look, there’s Urban!”

Every day there are more Loyola students at Tulane enjoying their lunch. It seems that others have also gotten tired of the hunt for a lunchtime table.

I would love to be able to go back to the Orleans Room for lunch. I would love to be able to see Loyola students ready for the weekend and hear their crazy stories from the night before, but I can’t because there is no place for me to sit.

I would love to stay on campus to eat, but it seems that there is no room for me.
To “the reject corner” I go.
 
Jodi Forte is a mass communication sophmore from Chalmette, La. She can be reached at [email protected].