In doing my research of where to dine in Blacksburg, I was surprised to hear that a campus dining hall was one of student’s favorite places. I was in town for the 3rd stop on my tailgating tour and only had time to eat at one place. I never thought that a campus dining hall would be that place.

 The dining halls at my alma mater (Wisconsin) were okay, but I would not say that they would be one of my first choices of where to eat or be a place I would want to take my parents to. Virginia Tech is a different story. Their West End Market was hands down the most impressive college dining hall I have ever seen.

You are looking at what I ate for lunch. A slice of filet with this peppery horseradish sauce, mashed potatoes with gravy, and green beans. Inside West End Market there are 7 different stations that you can order food from. It is pretty much the equivalent to 7 restaurants in one. You can get pizza, burgers, salads, steak, seafood, really anything you could imagine is there. They even have live lobsters that you can select and they will cook! (the lobsters were absent when I was there, otherwise that would have been my lunch)

I was impressed, If it wasn’t for the site of undergrads everywhere, I would have never guessed I was in a college dining hall. I was not allowed to take pictures while inside, so you will have to dine there for yourself to see what it looked like. Just a warning, you can’t use cash or credit. If you are a visitor, you have to load money onto a card like you see pictured at top. Figuring out how to get the money on the card was a little confusing, but the ladies at the cashier’s office were incredibly helpful.

You might notice that I was eating my meal outside. That is partly because it was incredibly crowded inside, part because there was much better light outside, and it was a beautiful fall day in Virginia. There is a large grass lawn next to the market that is perfect for an outdoor picnic. This was my first trip to Virginia Tech, and was impressed with how beautiful their campus was. All the buildings are constructed in a beautiful stone gothic style.

The most distinguishing feature on campus was the drill field.

The drill field is a large open oval field in the middle of campus. I was told that in the past it has been used by Virginia Tech Corps of Cadets for exercises they do. After hanging out for the afternoon in Blacksburg, I was ready to see this place on game day. Be sure to stop by later this week to see what Game Day at Virginia Tech was like.