Senior Hilary Meyer in Prague. (Courtesy of Hilary Meyer)

Each year, scores of Washington University students decide to undertake an intellectually fulfilling journey defined by self-discovery, personal reflection and the ever-present possibility of grave danger. But it isn’t the MCAT they’re taking—it’s a trip to Europe. To assist in the planning of a cheap and entertaining journey across the pond, Student Life tracked down four well-traveled students and got their advice on the cheapest, most entertaining places to stay: hostels.

Jared Stein, Senior
Amsterdam, The Bulldog.
More than just a hostel, The Bulldog combines cheap rooms with a delightful coffee shop on the lower level. The co-ed rooms fit eight to 10 people each—according to Stein, “People get in at all different hours, so you have to deal with the occasional drunk roommate.” The staff is friendly, but as Stein said, “Don’t lose the little piece of paper that says you’re saying there—the woman gets really angry.” The best part? The coffee shop allows travelers to smoke more than just cigarettes.

Paris: The Garden Inn.

The Garden Inn offers private rooms, a rarity for any hostel. “The rooms are very sparsely decorated,” Stein said. “But you get French bread, jam and drinks for breakfast—all for free.” The winding, narrow staircase leading up to the rooms makes handling luggage difficult, but “the woman who works there is very helpful.” And although The Garden Inn doesn’t actually have a garden, it’s right across the street from a beautiful municipal park.

Senior Alex Rosenberg at Angkor Wat, Siem Reap, Cambodia. (Courtesy of Alex Rosenberg)

Alex Hoogland, senior
Madrid: Las Musas Residence.

Located just off one of the Spanish capital’s oldest plazas, Las Musas Residence is within easy walking distance of museums, parks and the historic Palacio Real. The staff are very accommodating if you choose to extend or reduce your stay, and they will gladly direct you to the nearby metro stop. But be careful—things can get a little sketchy. According to Hoogland, “I was offered hashish there on at least three separate occasions.” Overall, though, “It’s a great hostel in a nice area of a fantastic city.”

Erin Meyer, junior
Sevilla: Sevilla Inn Backpackers.

The breathtaking nighttime view of the architecturally stunning Cathedral de Santa María easily makes this hostel worth the rent. And after an evening of barhopping for only 10 euros, one can imagine that the view only gets better. “The whole area has great nightlife,” Meyer said. “And during the day we all chipped in to make meals and then ate together as a group.” Sevilla Inn Backpackers is conveniently located off a major thoroughfare, and after dinner there is even live flamenco dancing—an art even weary feet can enjoy.

Adina Appelbaum, senior
Budapest: The Goat Hostel.

If the name didn’t sell you, the 8-euro price per night certainly should. “It’s in a floor of a renovated old beautiful apartment building that’s decorated really funky,” Appelbaum said, “and the owners were so nice and friendly.” The warm environment is complemented with free breakfast, Internet, coffee and tea. Without a doubt, it’s the best place to stay east of the Danube.

Barcelona: Mapamundo.

A great location and beautiful décor combine to make Mapamundo one of the most popular hostels on the Mediterranean. Featuring friendly owners and reasonable prices, “It’s a great cheap place to stay,” Appelbaum said. In this quaint little building, it’s worth the extra effort to book a room with a balcony—especially if you’re traveling as a couple.

Regardless of your travel plans, it is always best to book rooms in advance and to call ahead in order to ensure that little perks like air conditioning and the Internet actually work. Know whom you’re traveling with, and keep in mind that oftentimes an extra $10 (or euros) a night can make the difference between a story you’ll want to tell your friends and one you won’t.

Although academic mysteries such as these rightfully occupy the forefront of students’ minds, a no less perplexing question lingers on the periphery: What happened to the square green plates that were used at the Danforth University Centery (DUC) last year?

When the DUC opened in the summer of 2008, all food was served on square ceramic plates with a bright green finish. They remained in service through the 2008-09 academic year but disappeared from lunch lines this fall. This year, all eat-in meals at the DUC are served on multi-colored circular plates or bowls. The new tableware is noticeably lighter than the older one.

(Paul Goedeke | Student Life)

“I liked the square plates better than the circular ones,” junior Toby Emanuel said. “The heavier plates felt more professional.”
Freshman Ashley Fox agreed. “I was here over the summer, and I loved the ceramic plates,” she said. “They gave you that college vibe, and the weight reminded you that you needed to give them back.”

The mass disappearance of green plates has slipped under the radar of many University students, even those who eat at the DUC several times a week. Sophomore Élan Stahl, who frequents the DUC between afternoon classes, said she missed the change because she usually takes her food to go.

“The bowls look elegant,” Stahl said, “but what was wrong with the old plates?”

The answer to that question, along with the current location of the old plates, remains a mystery to many Wash. U. students.

Stahl commented that she thinks “they’re probably sitting in a box around campus and should be donated someplace.” Fox, on the other hand, guessed that “the school crushed them up and put them in a wall somewhere,” à la Jimmy Hoffa.

“The way we waste things, we probably just threw them in the garbage,” Emanuel said. “Where could they have gone? That’s a good question.”

To get to the bottom of this mystery, Student Life contacted DUC Executive Chef Justin Keimon and Bon Appétit Resident District Manager Nadeem Siddiqui. According to Keimon, “The biggest complaint [about the old plates] was weight. The new ones are far lighter.” He noted that the change took place during the first week of the school year, and that the smaller size of the new plates better complements standard meal portions.

Siddiqui added that the plates “were breaking and chipping at an alarming rate, and they are quite expensive to replace. We needed to build inventory to open for fall, and we decided to make the switch to more durable and cost-efficient plates.” The new plates cost around $10,000, which is less than the replacement cost of the green plates.

So where are the old plates now? Keimon and Siddiqui indicated that they are being used for catering and are currently in reserve at Ibby’s. But there have also reportedly been sightings of the plates in the vegetarian line.

For the foreseeable future, the green plates will no longer be a part of the DUC dining experience. But rest assured—the plates are out there.

This decision is scrutinized more thoroughly than an NFL draft pick, a sitting president, or a tacky dress at the Oscars. Most people expect a lot out of their college­—they want to find their true friends, they want to find a deeper understanding of the world, they want to find out why their parents laugh so hard when they watch “Animal House.” When considering their academic future, students want all the information they can get.

Perhaps that is why YouTube’s theUrocks videos get hundreds of thousands of views each spring. The videos, about one minute each, provide a condensed snapshot of some of the nation’s finest universities. Our very own Washington University in St. Louis is among the featured institutions, and theUrocks provides an engaging (if debatable) picture of campus and academic life.

Each of the eight videos is highly complementary of the faculty, teaching assistants, students and the institution in general. Classes are described as a grind, and even the B-school earns praise for its rigorous curriculum. The Pre-med and Psychology departments are singled out for their reputation and intensity, but the videos also showcase a wide variety of available majors. Students are portrayed as involved, hard-working and perpetually protesting. The only misstep is when Wash. U. is described as “the Harvard of the Midwest”—an obvious inversion.

Housing and food also earn accolades. While on-campus housing is dubiously described as “spacious,” students gave off-campus abodes a favorable A-. The variety and availability of food is heavily lauded, and the narrators positively rave about the quality. “We’re not talking good by college food standards,” says one, “we mean good.”

The overall size of the campus is portrayed as sizeable but not sprawling, and students describe the feel as walkable and secure. The interiors of buildings—labs, classrooms, and cafeterias—are presented as well-furnished and roomy, and the exteriors are noted for their comfortably classic architecture (although the façade of Eliot Hall is conspicuously absent from any available footage).

When the discussion turns to the social scene, though, the narrators hate harder than Silky Johnson. An institution where one “spends more time studying brain cells than killing them,” Wash. U. is not only “a weak party school” and “a weak greek school,” but it suffers from “a lame hookup scene.”

The plus side, according to one student, is “lower disease transmission.” “It’s not really a party school,” says another, “at least not in the classical sense.” All of this appears to be a symptom of the students themselves. The videos show the results of a poll in which the student body rated the appearance of the opposite sex; guys were given a generous B-, while girls scored a harsh C+.

Overall, the videos present a dearth of statistics and ratings along with a few anecdotes from campus events. However, the videos all appear to be shot on the same day and in the same locations, resulting in a surface-level view of the more intangible aspects of the University. Although theUrocks is far from the end-all-be-all of college information, its videos give the viewer a relatively honest sense of the featured institution that is designed to make the toughest of choices a bit easier. And after watching the videos and attending the University, Wash. U. students may conclude that theUrocks is a hair more honest than we may prefer.