Student Life

Issue date: 3/26/08 Section: Forum

Media Credit: Rachel Harris

Happy spring! Even though it's still been chilly out, I've been wearing my flip-flops for the last few days. As the weather gets warmer, I know everyone will start playing outside, studying in the sun and getting ready for the magnificent humidity of 90-degree days in St. Louis.

While there's plenty to do on campus in the upcoming weeks-celebrate Holi, participate in the Residential College Olympics, go to the Thurtene carnival and see the musical Urinetown-there's also a plethora of activities right in our metropolitan backyard.

Downtown St. Louis offers lots of springtime entertainment. If you haven't yet been to the City Museum or the Arch, go experience these city mainstays before the year is over.

Also, check out Union Station. Trains no longer run to this station, but it is full of shops and restaurants, including the Hard Rock Café, and you can ride paddle boats and feed fish in the pond. MetroLink has a stop right in front of the complex.

Also downtown is the new baseball stadium. The baseball season is just getting started, and some of the tickets are fairly inexpensive. Night games are especially pleasant; you can go and see the 2006 World Series champions, get a hot dog and make your own stuffed Fredbird mascot at the Build-a-Bear workshop there.

Another great place to go during springtime is the Missouri Botanical Garden. The orchid show is just wrapping up, and there are all sorts of gorgeous flowers and plants throughout every part of the garden, including a Chinese garden, a huge Japanese garden, a rose garden, fragrant sweet olive trees and a Climatron full of tropical plants and butterflies.

If you're near the garden, try going to dinner on The Hill, St. Louis's Italian neighborhood. At a place like Cunetto's, you can get a fantastic bowl of almost any kind of pasta for about $10 and have enough left over for the next two days' lunches.

For dessert, try the Crown Candy Kitchen; it's an old soda fountain-style restaurant with the best grilled cheese, milkshakes and malts. And if you're a sucker for flavored soda, they'll let you put anything you want in your Coke.

Closer to Wash. U., in Forest Park, you should check out the new exhibits at the Missouri History Museum and the Saint Louis Art Museum. The Science Center also always has traveling exhibits as well as all of our favorites-the animatronic dinosaurs, crutches, arch blocks and scales to play with, optical illusions and facts on global climate change and recycling. Outside, by the planetarium, there are echo dishes, more dinosaurs and a multicolored glass maze.

The newest section of the St. Louis Zoo, the Fragile Forest, is home to lots of amazing apes, including orangutans, gorillas and chimpanzees. You can see their monkey and prosimian cousins too, along with all sorts of reptiles, mammals and birds.

If it's getting hot out, stop by the penguin and puffin house to cool off. And don't forget the Dippin' Dots ice cream.

Some other fun landmarks include the World's Fair Pavilion, the Muny Opera (open during the summer months) and the Boathouse. If you're feeling really adventurous, try something farther away from campus, like the country line-dancing club Wild Country in Collinsville, Ill. or a weekend road trip to Branson, Mo. to party with a great mix of roller coasters and old folks playing bingo.

I wish everyone luck with the rest of the semester and plans for the future, and whatever you're busy with this spring, take some time to revel in the warmth and experience our community.



Katie is a Junior in Arts & Sciences. She can be reached via e-mail at kaammann@atsci.wustl.edu.

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