After the holidays have ended and we’re gearing up to hunker down to studying, we get that familiar feeling, similar to what we felt only weeks earlier on Christmas Eve. A feeling that keeps us up all night, anticipating what is to come.

It has been a week since we have been graced with the presence of our beloved college friends, freedom and of course, Paulies! As we unloaded the car packed like Tetris and made sure nothing was forgotten, we come upon a familiar item, containers stuffed to the brim with home cooked food placed there of course by our loving parents.

Debatably the hardest aspect of coming back to school is being faced with cafeteria food. While the food from Chartwells is definitely edible and sometimes even tasty, it is incomparable to the luxury of the home cooked meals that have been at our fingertips for the past four and a half weeks. How do we deal with the return of mediocrity when our pallets have become accustomed to mommy-made comfort food? Do they really expect us to drop three dollars and fifty cents on one yogurt when just yesterday it was free?

What if we were to try something new and make Kessel our kitchen? We are supplied with toasters and microwaves, raw fruits and veggies, all of the fix-ins we need to create our own dish! For example, a personal pizza bagel instead of the mundane cheese pizza slice. First we could toast a prepackaged bagel and then smear on a side or two of sauce from the pasta station, sprinkle on cheese and load up on desired veggies from the salad bar. A quick minute in the microwave and there you have it, your very own pizza bagel!

We don’t have to spend our time at Pace doing laps around the cafeteria like it is a walking track. Come finals week we’ll be regretting frivoling away our flex dollars within the first week of classes. We’ve got to learn to expand our horizons using what’s been given to us by Chartwells.

Even though our mothers and little siblings are not here to whip up wacky mac at our every beck and call, we can still throw together something of our own to make coming back to cafeteria food a little more bearable.