The Dining Center, the sole dining hall on Swarthmore’s campus, is a natural-light filled, modern, open dining facility. With its wide array of dietary and cuisine options, it affords people watchers an amazingly entertaining and enjoyable experience. It is always a joy to take up the best table there and watch on, with my Varsity Women’s Soccer teammates, as people delve into deep conversations, cram for their upcoming test in a secluded corner, or sit solitarily in thought. Our Dining Center attracts all types of people, students, and eaters to listen to music and read, chat with friends, eat alone, or even procrastinate impending assignments.
The back right corner, if you are facing out towards the first floor, is my personal favorite table. This table has the largest view of the whole dining hall, both floors, and is also situated near the doors, which during the warmer days afford a nice breeze when the door is opened. This table is also large enough in size for almost all of my 28-player soccer team to eat together in a circle fashion, where we are to look at each other. I additionally love this table because when I first visited Swarthmore, as a wide-eyed freshman looking to transfer, I sat at that very table and knew that Swarthmore was an amazingly unique place. Though I cannot just attribute that feeling to that very table or to the Dining Center, I can attribute a lot of that feeling to what the right back table at Swarthmore represents to me. This table represents openness to diversity and a cultivation of inclusivity. To me, this table showed me the power of a meal shared in a tolerant space, where anyone is welcome to eat in whatever fashion is most comfortable to them.
Additionally, my first visit to the very best table in Swarthmore’s Dining Center was followed by one of the best bowls of chocolate oatmeal. I was pleasantly shocked to see an oatmeal bar on the Saturday when I visited. During this time of the week, the Dining Center makes brunch, and the oatmeal did not disappoint. The oatmeal bar was adorned with, of course, the thick oatmeal, as well as raisins, granola, cranberries, brown sugar, honey, and my personal favorite—dark chocolate chips. I was taken aback by the sheer number of toppings for one singular little bowl of oatmeal. You could choose to have a sweet, fruity, or even crunchy oatmeal breakfast.
My bowl of oatmeal in my favorite spot in the Dining Center has now become a weekly occurrence; my teammates and I rush to this table whenever we can, coining it “the women’s soccer table.” This is because of the logistical and visual attractiveness of the table, but also the beauty of watching the diversity of people and all their beautiful quirks.
