A Guide to Higher Quality of Life On-Campus

Stanford University is a great place to hit the books, and everyone here hits the books hard, from the greasiest computer science grad student to the giggliest sorority sister falling off her platforms.
In the mad dash-for-knowledge that is college, it's easy to forget that there are some really beautiful places on campus if you can get away from your desk and out into the daylight. Or moonlight. Or yellowish, fluorescent streetlight.
* Take an afternoon. Have lunch with your friends before they graduate. Sneak off and watch a great (or terrible!) film in the cool basement of Green Library.
*Take an evening. Check out a student-written and -directed play; even if the show is terrible, you might end up sitting in the dark next to someone cute. Go to a "Lively Arts" concert -- when else in your life will you be a 5-minute bike ride from an evening with Yo-Yo Ma?
*Take ten minutes. Go to the Cantor Arts Center and let Rodin teach you something. Remember, there are lots of different kinds of education.

Quick Tips:

Best Way To Get Around:

While the most widely beloved form of transportation on-campus is definitely the bicycle, there is at least one professor who goes whizzing around on a "Ginger," so if you do have the cash you'll find at least one kindred spirit. There are a handful of students who skate to class, but you do run the risk of being "that kid who skates to class." There are those who skateboard, but the cool points they earn are often negated by embarrassing wipeouts. I myself am a non-negotiable pedestrian. Walking is the best option for may reasons:
* you get to look around
* you can smoke (or eat a lollipop)
* you can wearing a skirt without flashing strangers
* you can have a peaceful conversation with your traveling companion(s).
* you can avoid bike accidents. I've known three people who needed stitches, plus one whose arm was in a sling for over a week...
* if you walk, you have no bike for people to steal. Bike theft is almost as common as hating your IHUM! If you do use a bicycle, always lock it!

If you're like me, you enjoy taking your friends out to lunch. Generosity is the key to happiness, after all. However, if you're a lot like me, you're broke. How to reconcile your finite coinage with your urge to treat your comrades to a tasty snack? On one of Stanford's many sunny afternoons, wrench a friend away from his or her desk to have a picnic. Before you skip off to a scenic spot, grab some food from this well-hidden Thai Cafe.

The best culinary deal on campus is secretly nestled in the basement of Jordan Hall, the psychology building. There is a menu posted in a narrow hallway, a former classroom turned kitchen, and an efficient staff who prepare simple, inexpensive, tasty Thai food faster than the speed of light. The line for lunch will be long, but don't be thrown off by the appearance of a wait; even on days when the line stretches out the door and up the courtyard stairs, I've been out the door with food in my hand in under 10 minutes.

The astonishing speed and the low prices make this small café my favorite pick for lunch on-campus. However, the selection is fairly small; on an average day, the fare includes about eight dishes. The fare ranges from spicy curries to sky-high piles of noodle salad and cozy, satisfying soups, but if you eat here regularly, you will grow weary of the repetition. Most dishes include a choice of chicken, beef, or prawns, but as a vegetarian, I've always been pleased with my options here. The food isn't exactly a delicate mingling of astonishing complexity, but it's tasty, cheap, and reliable. The beverages are all pre-packaged, but include an interesting selection of opaque bottles of unusual Asian tea drinks. My pick is the lychee nut tea in a small, thin can -- a great sweet counterpart to a spicy coconut curry. I must admit that the dense, syrupy lychee concoction is not as beloved by some of my comrades, so I would classify it as an experimental beverage.

Once you have your gi-normous portion of food, barely contained by its Styrofoam girdle of a box, head for the great outdoors. Most students sit at the picnic tables just outside the door, but if you're looking for the most pleasant dining experience, head for the main entrance to the quad. Sprawl on the grass between Rodin's famous Burghers of Calais statue and the always impressive view down Palm Drive; sip your obscure, thick-and-sweet Asian tea from a can; and soak up the sun. After all, the only thing better than an afternoon spent lolling around with a good friend is an afternoon spent lolling around with a good friend and a good lunch.

Hours: Open 11:30am to 2pm Monday through Friday when classes are in session.
Note: Cash only!

Love it or hate it, if you go to school at Stanford, you're gonna be looking at Hoover Tower for four years.

It isn't very useful as a navigational tool, since it looks the same from every side, and it isn't very amusing, since the band will never actually raise the money to put a giant condom on it. However, if you get so drunk that you forget where you go to school, looking at the Tower will definitely remind you that it’s Stanford. Which can be good or bad, depending on your mood.

As for going up inside the tower? If you're a student, you should definitely do it once, if only for the experience of being told you're not allowed to get in the elevator unaccompanied. Why? Who knows? It's the Hoover Institution.

The views are great, and the very friendly guides will happily point out what Bay Area landmarks you'd be able to spot if it wasn't foggy. Really, though, it's beautiful, large, famous, and gives you perspective on your life. Just like Anna Nicole Smith!

Open: standard business hours, year-round.
Cost: free with student ID!
If you're a visitor and not a student, there is a fee in the neighborhood of $5... I don't think it is worth paying any kind of money to stand in a tower, although if taking pseudo-aerial photos is your bag, you will love it more than you love Christmas.

The Lively Arts program brings artists from around the world to play gigs at Stanford. On a given weekend, you might see anything from the Merce Cunningham Dance Company to an acapella women's chorus from the Third World. In general, the fare is respectable -- there is nothing here you can't take your quiet children or curious grandparents to.

Ticket prices are fairly reasonable, often starting at around $15 for the back of the balcony. If you are a student, you can get a half-price discount, so go ahead and seize the culture!
The variety of artists is great, but it can also be a bit hit-or-miss, so choose your shows wisely. Check the website, livelyarts.stanford.edu, for current listings, but be forewarned that shows often sell out far in advance, so plan ahead if you can.

Alright, so, as a former drama major, I might not be the most impartial judge, but I would say that seeing a drama department show gives you the best opportunity to see good theater in the Stanford area. The scripts done at Stanford are consistently riskier and more engaging than the pieces at nearby Theatreworks in Menlo Park. Not every drama department show will be great, and not every show will be good, but they will all be cheap, and almost all of them will feature a few excellent performances.

Check out drama.stanford.edu to see what's on during your visit. In general, the undergraduate-directed shows are more entertaining than work done by grad students. After all, the majority of the undergrads are fueled by nubile hopes of future success, whereas many of the PHDs have recently failed at having careers. Also, beware of anything described as "darkly erotic." Chances are, you won't see anything more risque than a girl's bare back, and you won't get to hear any jokes.

On the Stanford campus, there is not a lot to do on a weekend between dinner at 6pm and parties at 10pm, so even if you don't usually go to theatre, it's worth an hour or two of your time to check out whatever is playing.

Any hour of any day of the week, a five-minute walk up gorgeous tree-lined Palm Drive towards Palo Alto will bring you or any other lucky visitor to the Cantor Arts Center. It's friendly and free, so if you have an hour or two you'd like to spend being interested and on your feet, step inside and have a look at whatever is showing. However, the best thing about the Museum is actually not in the Museum at all.

The Rodin Sculpture Garden features roughly a dozen of Rodin's brutual and sensual sculptures. One Rodin is never enough. Two Rodins are never enough. Twelve Rodins? Almost enough to see in one day and find your brain full and your outlook changed.

When schoolwork makes me more stressed out than a whale on a see-saw, I head for the sculpture garden in the evening air and get real close to the metal casts of fallen nymphs and shame-headed men, and I get a little perspective. This is real suffering. Writing a thesis is not suffering--swirling eternally in the gates of hell is suffering.

The Gates of Hell is the focal point of the garden. You can take great pictures of yourself in front of it looking wretched, or even bring a sandwich and sit on the benches blasphemously stuffing your face while the starving statues avert their eyes. The garden is also an amazing place to bring a sketch pad and do some studies.

In short, the Garden is amazing. Not counting myself and my boyfriend, the Garden is the best thing on the Stanford Campus. Come day or night to get a breath of something more important than whatever else you could be doing.