Student Life Archives

Peter Davis

Chimichanga Mexican Restaurant
5425 S Grand Blvd
St. Louis, MO 63111
(314) 352-0202

Chimichanga is a fun neighborhood hangout that is worth going to if you want better than average Mexican food at a reasonable price. The staff showed a clear concern for its patrons and their food, which was a nice surprise on a night where the restaurant was very crowded.

In an attempt to branch out from our Italian choices of the past, we had set our sights on a restaurant different enough that visiting it would truly be considered “stepping out.” Unfortunately, Subway closed early, so we had to default to our back-up restaurant. Having made our selection, we rounded up our usual gang of eaters.

The restaurant is closer to SLU than our own campus, so the drive took a long time. The restaurant appeared rather crummy-looking from the outside, and when we entered we found that the dining area was cramped and rather loud. There was also an hour-long wait for an inside table. Luckily we were able to get a seat in the outdoor section, and we decided to give mid-November outdoor dining a try. After all, anything was better than sitting around for an hour-and we were also dying to see what kind of food would inspire people to suffer hours of waiting.

Our gamble paid off. The waiters brought out two large space heaters, which worked remarkably well to keep us warm while we perused the large, diverse menu. What worked even better was the bountiful amount of chips and salsa that were supplied to us soon after sitting down. The chips and their friend, Mr. Salsa, were fresh, salty, spicy and, most importantly, free.

After gorging ourselves on these processed bundles of joy, we decided that we should order an appetizer that better served a healthy diet. After putting our nutrition hats on, we looked through the menu and found nachos supreme. which had lettuce on it. The appetizer arrived about thirty seconds before our entrees, which initially angered us a bit. The lettuce was accompanied by chicken, cheese and sour cream, all on top of more chips. The toppings were put in sections of the chips, not layered and spread out as we would’ve liked. Everything was soggy as well. We wanted to be able to scoop the toppings with the chips, but when we tried, the chips wilted under the pressure of the toppings and our expectations.

Thankfully the rest of our meal was already there. The steak fajitas had the best presentation: a beautiful background created by red tomatoes, green peppers and onions enhanced a centerpiece of meat that looked to be perfectly cooked. The vegetables on this plate were as good as they looked. Though well cooked, they kept their form wonderfully. The texture of the tomatoes, the crunch of the peppers and the faint sweetness of the onions made these items the best part of the meal.

The steak, however, was a different story. Surprisingly tough and flavorless, the steak was like the actor Paul Walker: great until he says his first line. The meal was served with tortillas, rice, beans and guacamole, which were all solid but not spectacular.

The chicken tacos were basic, but very tasty. We feared that the chicken would be stringy, but instead we found it to be tender and juicy. The tacos were served in hard shells with cheese and lettuce on top. They weren’t that filling, but perhaps that was for the best, considering all of the other food we ordered.

The chicken taquitos, containing chicken meat and what tasted like cheese, were good but not great, and they were arranged around the more substantial part of the dish: salad. For men who prefer eating animals, this was disappointing. This dish was also not quite as filling as we would’ve hoped.

The beef burrito, for its part, was a simple success. Filled with meat, cheese, lettuce and refried beans, topped with a cheese sauce, this item provided both a lot to eat and great bang for the buck.

The saying at Chimichanga is that you can’t eat there without ordering their famous chimichangas. Wikipedia defines a chimichanga as a deep-fried burrito, created in Tucson, Arizona. One of our companions decided that he couldn’t pass up the opportunity to be told what to do and gave the specialty a try. Our chimichanga had chicken in it, and we have to hand it to the restaurant; it was truly excellent. The crisp texture of the exterior was fantastic, and the meat inside was moist and flavorful. We enjoyed the regular burrito, but the wonderful crunchy, fried nature of the chimichanga simply was in a league of its own.

Chimichanga was clearly a popular place for people of all ages. The quality and quantity of the food wasn’t excellent, but it was good enough that we were all content upon leaving. If we were ever in the neighborhood we would definitely stop by again.

Ask a group of upperclassmen where they made their first close friends at college and you might get a variety of responses (“My intramural team!” “Student Life!” “The WUPD Interrogation room!”), but most won’t hesitate to respond that their first and often best friends at Wash. U. came from their freshman floors.

It makes sense. When you’re in a new environment with new responsibilities and opportunities, you’ll naturally grow close to people who are feeling the same excitement and nervousness. It also doesn’t hurt that you spend your entire first week on campus with those people and see them approximately seventy two times a day every day after that. Soon enough you’ll bond with some of your floor, and from there the friendships grow.

But what about dating? At first it seems natural that you would find a partner amongst the people you’ve befriended. And why not? Part of a fulfilling relationship is the ability to share the same experiences, to be able to go to the same parties, events or group meetings and to be able to relate to one another. Who better to do that with than the lucky guy who lives three doors down and across the hall?

The only problem is that he lives three doors down and across the hall. There’s a reason why they call it “floorcest,” and that’s because these guys are like your family during your freshman year: they know where you are all the time, they’re there for you when you’re down and odds are they understand you better than most people on campus. That experience is unique at college and should be appreciated, but it does pose some issues regarding your eternal search for true love.

First there’s the proximity. Even though you’ve been told for years to “love your neighbor,” everyone needs some space from their significant other at times, even the most serious of couples. The point is even starker for two eighteen year-olds who are just starting out. It’s hard to stay casual when you see each other on your way to class in the morning, when you come back in the afternoon, during your floor dinner a few hours later and when you’re all chilling in the hallway at night.

Some couples enjoy that frequency and get to know each other better than they would in another setting. On the other hand, it gets to be tough when you want to play a video game with your buddy down the hall and there’s your girlfriend talking to his roommate. Do you go to her, or do you limit yourself to a casual hello and park in front of the Wii?

The privacy problem is even more complicated. It’s a given that once you hook up, or even beforehand, the rumors will start flying from one RA’s room to the other and everywhere in between. Sometimes it may seem like people know more about your relationship than you do and the questions, though they may be restrained, may not stop for a while.

And that can get annoying. Relationships are uber-personal and not something you’d be jumping to divulge to that guy that you haven’t seen since orientation weekend. But then again, some of these people are your closest friends, the ones you’d be telling about the relationship anyway, so it can’t hurt for them to have some background info when you come to them for advice.

Physical privacy is a different ballgame. Odds are that some of those many times you see your partner during the day are going to be spent in a bed, preferably one of yours. This makes sexile a near daily activity, and one that neither your roommate nor your partner’s is going to enjoy. If it’s frequent enough and done without tact, this has friendship-ruining potential. However, it’s going to happen any time you date a freshman, so at least if you’re friends with the sexiled roommate there’s more of a chance he’ll understand than the sexiled roommate of a boyfriend from a different dorm.

Last but not least is the breakup. I could devote a whole series of columns to this alone, but in short it’s obvious that you’re going to have to see this girl almost every day for the rest of the year, no matter how badly it ends. This is essentially a repeat of the “proximity” problem, except for that there’s no longer a silver lining to the constant play-dates. Things could get tense, she could date one of your friends or you may date one of hers. It’s something to consider before you start things up, but these are also problems that will exist in any breakup, unless you stop going to all the places your ex frequents.

There’s no clear yes or no to whether you should date people on your floor. For every floorcest couple I know that is going strong into senior year there’s another I see that isn’t talking anymore. Yet anyone who meets in a group setting faces these issues and should stop a while to consider the positives and the negatives before going in.

Unless they met in the WUPD office. Then I’d wait.

Every year during the Great American Smokeout, the American Cancer Society encourages current smokers to give up smoking entirely, to quit “cold turkey.” Events range from cigarette exchange programs to awareness efforts, all planned to help convince smokers to drop their harmful habit. It occurred to me a few weekends ago, however, that perhaps it isn’t that smokers don’t realize the merit in quitting-perhaps there just isn’t enough being done to let them know how best to quit.

We all know that smoking is addictive, but what I realized this weekend was that so many habits we engage in every day are addictive too. Yes, nicotine has physiological addictive properties, but perhaps it is the psychological effects of smoking that makes it so hard to stop.

I ran my first half marathon a few weekends ago and as I scanned the crowds of runners around me I started to notice that runners and smokers had more in common than I had previously thought: we couldn’t stop. Running is addictive too, and yes, after Sunday, I can officially say I am an addict. I love every bit of it-the way my heart beat quickens, the smell of the outdoors, the pounding sensation as my feet hit the pavement, and on a nice day, the sunshine-all of it makes me feel great. Not to mention, at the end of a run I experience an incredible high due to the endorphins that are pumping through my body. As I paced through the first few miles, I realized that an addiction to running is no different from the rest. Who was I to judge?

Addicts of all kinds-drinkers, gamblers and smokers alike-have difficulty quitting because we are inclined to continue doing something that “feels good.” In fact, our brains have been specifically engineered to respond to pleasurable stimuli in such a way that we repeat behaviors that result in feelings of happiness. Thus, my vice of running that promotes good health and someone else’s habit of smoking, which is often linked to emphysema, lung and mouth cancers and increased risk of heart attack and/or stroke, actually operate under similar psychological principles.

While there are several physiological components to addiction, it seems far more interesting to examine the issue from a psychological perspective: Why would someone stop a behavior that produces feelings of happiness? Not only is that illogical, it also goes against several years of evolution that have designed our neural pathways to respond positively to pleasurable activities. Thus, it would be unfair to judge a smoker without fully considering just how difficult it is to give up something that has such pleasurable side effects.

To address the psychological components of smoking it is best that behavioral therapy be used in conjunction with medications. Often times it is not enough to target the habit itself because there are underlying needs and issues that encourage the smokers to keep engaging in the activity. For one thing it feels good, and if there is anything history has taught us, it’s that humans continually seek things that encourage feelings of well-being. Counseling can be helpful because trained therapists will be able to provide healthy ways to deal with stress or to fill the emotional voids that smoking currently accomplishes for smokers. For students looking to quit, I would recommend contacting Besty Foy MHS, CHES at 935-7386. Foy is a smoking cessation expert and a coordinator of alcohol and drug programs at the Habif Health and Wellness Center.

In addition to counseling sessions, Foy recommends several over-the-counter medications that quell the physiological side effects of nicotine. Nicotine, the active substance in tobacco products, acts on both the peripheral and central nervous systems, increasing heart rate and blood pressure while simultaneously improving mood. The central nervous system contains several neurotransmitters, which are all activated upon the ingestion of nicotine. Nicotine stimulates the release of several “feel good” hormones (not too different from those I experience after running) including norepinephrine, dopamine and serotonin. In fact, many people have likened the effects of nicotine to those of antidepressant medications.

After habitual use, the body becomes dependent on nicotine, craving it uncontrollably. If smoking is stopped altogether, as is encouraged during the Great American Smokeout, a smoker will most definitely experience severe symptoms of withdrawal. These symptoms include, but are not limited to drowsiness, lightheadedness, headache, muscle tremors, nausea, difficulty sleeping, weight gain, mood swings and difficulty concentrating.

To combat these physiological side effects, Foy recommends trying different drugs and finding the best combination for your body. Options include Chantix (which stops cravings in about three months), Zyban and nicotine replacement therapies.

“Different people find different things work better for them in their attempts to quit,” said Foy. “There is no one thing that is best for everyone”

I hope that if you are a smoker interested in quitting this article was helpful and I wish you the best of luck on that path (now if only I could quit running.).

Information for this Article was provided by Thomas F. Oltmanns and Robert E. Emery’s Abnormal Psychology text as well as Betsy Foy, MHS, CHES assistant director at Student Health Services and coordinator of Alcohol and Other Drug Programs for the Habif Health and Wellness Center.

Courtesy of Felix Hu

For most of us, college brings about some big changes. The majority of the campus consists of legal adults, and there are no parents watching over our shoulders.

Whether change involves letting our hair grow a couple of inches longer before trims or staying out later, college opens up lots of new opportunities to make our own decisions.

Some students use their newfound independence to join groups and try out a broad range of activities. Freshman Meghan Lewis did just that when she joined the Outing Club and helped plan a skydiving trip for the spring.

“It never worked out [for me] to do it in high school,” said Lewis. “You couldn’t really just drive off for the weekend and go skydiving. Here I can go with a group of people who have done it before.”

With all the different clubs and activities going on campus, there are bound to be chances to pursue exciting new experiences, and it’s tempting to take advantage of pre-planned excursions that don’t require parental permission.

“I’ll only tell my parents about it after I do it, otherwise they would flip out,” said Lewis. Indeed, for many students, the freedom from parental control allows them to sample pastimes that they would not have dared at home.

This freedom also allows kids to express their individuality without the necessity of obtaining a parent’s signature. Sophomore Felix Hu chose not to tell his parents about the tattoo he got after spring break his freshman year.

“I’m old enough to make my own decisions,” said Hu. “I don’t think they would care. They would probably be more mad that I don’t go to class and [mess] around all day.”

The tattoo, which Hu designed himself, reads “Life” on his left shoulder and “Death” on his right shoulder.

“I was bored at school. and I got creative” said Hu.

He later followed up his first tattoo with some more art on the right side of his chest, this time opting for the phrase “To those I love,” inked in Latin.

Freshman Jenni Klauder had a similar experience in getting her nose pierced. While she wanted to get her nose pierced in high school, her first chance occurred away form her parents’ eyes at college.

“I talked to them about it senior year and they said no,” said Klauder. “But this year I called them and told them I was going to do it.”

While initially upset, her parents realized that they were not completely in charge anymore.

“They told me they guessed I was an adult now,” said Klauder.

For many, freedom from parents is an important step in growing up.

For many people, a big change is the new availability of nightlife and alcohol. Whereas in high school parents could mandate a curfew and try to manage our time, at college we have the freedom to decide when to eat, study, workout and sleep.

However, with this freedom comes some big responsibilities. For many students, learning to navigate new opportunities and risks can end up seeming like an additional class.

Whether for good or bad, these moments where we explore the freedom of life as adults and try out our boundaries are the moments we will remember after college.

It is these exciting adventures that will help shape who we are and who we become later in life.