T-Town Tuesday: Dreamland Bar-B-Que

 Dreamland: The Basics

• What: Bar-B-Que (specializing in ribs)
• Where: Original (Google Map) Downtown Northport (Google Map)
• When: Monday-Thursday 10:00-9:00
  Friday and Saturday 10:00-10:00
  Sunday 11:00-9:00
• Cost: Around $10 per person. ($20 for a slab of ribs)

Continuing with our post from last week, another restaurant that may be described as "legendary" is Dreamland Bar-B-Que. While the two locations are quite different, the fact remains, Dreamland has some of the best Bar-B-Que around.

The Tuscaloosa location, also referred to as the "Original" is little more than a shack with a grill and a screened in porch. Don't let this deter you though. Well off the beaten path, it can be a little tricky to find, but there isn't anything quite like picking up a slab of ribs from the original Dreamland. Parking and seating are scarce, but it is well worth the wait. On the inside, you will find the walls lined with license plates from all over the country; Alaska to Alabama it has them all. The Original is more than a restaurant, it is a cultural experience, but if you can't make it out there, the Northport location is a little closer to campus.

While the Northport Dreamland may not have as much flair as the original, it still provides the same great food, with some added convenience. The inside has plasma TVs, seating for about 60 instead of 30, and an actual menu. Just a short drive over the bridge to Northport, it can easily be reached in about 5 minutes from any of the dorms on campus.

Regardless of which location you choose, you will be chowing down on some good food. All meals are served with white bread and the famous Dreamland Bar-B-Que sauce. They are most famous for their ribs, which is just about the only thing you can order form the original, but also offer some side items, other types of bar-b-que, and of course the banana pudding. Served with some of their sweet tea, it is a southern meal to the core. It may be a little more expensive than other restaurants, but it is well worth it. So make sure you check out Dreamland: "Ain't Nothing Like 'Em Nowhere."

Thoughts on Thursday: Introductions

As a final installment to our alliteratively-titled daily features, we present to you Thoughts on Thursday. This section will feature helpful tips to staying up on classwork, assignments, and life as a college student. In addition, we hope to provide some professional development tips because it is never to early to start thinking about the future.

One of the best ways to start the semester off right is introductions. You may think something as simple as this wouldn't accomplish much, but in reality, it can go a very long way. Some people you may want to introduce yourself to include:

• Fellow Students in your Classes - Chances are, you will see them again.
• Professors - Professors love to meet their students and put a face to the name. Showing initiative can pay off in a big way.
• The Honors College Administration and Faculty - These people will be invaluable to you during your college career and beyond.
• Upperclassmen - Who better to talk about anything related to college than the people who have just been through it.

All of these people can be a resource to you, and if you are not taking advantage of them, you will have a much tougher time in college.

While introducing yourself to a fellow student is fairly simple, it can be scary approaching a professor or other faculty member for the first time. Just remember, they are here to aid you. Have something interesting to say, but do not overstay your welcome. Be privy to the fact that professors are very busy, and there is almost always someone else waiting to talk to them as well. When it comes down to it, an introduction is not for you to tell your life story; it's just a way to say, "Hey, I'm glad to be in your class and looking forward to a good semester."

An the end of the day, an introduction might not get you anywhere, but it could go a long way. In this day and age, networking is one of the most important things you can do to increase your chances of getting a job right out of college. Getting to know professors, upperclassmen, faculty, and other students could pay dividends later on when you are competing with 50 other candidates for a single job.

Be sure to check in each week for more tips to navigating through this crazy part of life known as college.

T-Town Tuesday: City Cafe

Our penchant for alliteratively-titled daily features continues today with the introduction of T-Town Tuesdays. Every Tuesday, we will introduce you to something cool to do in the Tuscaloosa area. We begin today with City Cafe.

City Cafe: The Basics

• What: Meat-and-Three Restaurant
• Where: Downtown Northport (Google maps here)
• When: Monday-Friday 4am-3:30pm
• Cost: Around $7 for meat, three "veggies" (defined loosely), and a drink (sweet tea, of course)

For those of you who are unfamiliar with the Tuscaloosa area (which was the case for me as a freshman), let me begin this post by saying that City Cafe is probably best described as legendary around these parts. Located in historic downtown Northport, this little meat-and-three is a fun, truly Southern place to get a delicious (if heart-clogging) meal.

If you aren't familiar with the concept of a meat-and-three, let me explain it to you. Basically, the menu will have several meat options and several veggie (read: side) options for each day of the week. You can choose almost any combination of meats and veggies, but the most common combo is one meat and three veggies...a true meat-and-three. This combo will run you about $5 without a drink or about $7 with a drink. The meat options range from fried chicken to catfish to pulled pork, and the veggie options range from fried okra to green beans to mac and cheese. It's hard to go wrong with any combination, but my favorite is probably the pulled pork with mac and cheese, mashed potatoes, and banana pudding when it is available (yes, banana pudding counts as a veggie...just ask if they have it).

When you arrive at City Cafe, you will stand in line and wait for a table to open up. No one is going to lead you to a table, so don't be shy about grabbing a table quickly when it is available. One of the most common beginner mistakes at City Cafe is letting the long line intimidate you. You usually don't have to wait more than about 20 minutes for a table, even when the line is wrapped around itself multiple times.

Another important thing to point out is that City Cafe is not open on the weekends, and it's also not open for dinner. In fact, it's only open from 4am to 3:30pm Monday through Friday. This leaves basically two options for most college students: early morning breakfast after an all-nighter and (of course) lunch. You can't go wrong with either one.

City Cafe is an experience that every UA student should have...and you should have it often. In fact, I'm not sure if UA will allow you to graduate if you haven't eaten at City Cafe. So get on over to Northport ASAP for some great Southern dining!

Monday Major Madness: An Introduction

One of our favorite things here on the FYE blog is alliteratively-titled daily features. With that in mind, we would like to announce that every Monday you, our dear reader, will get to experience Monday Major Madness.

(Mostly) unrelated video.

What does this mean? Each Monday, we will highlight a certain major here at UA. For each major, we will cover things like career opportunities, workload, good professors, and challenging classes. This was one of our more popular features last year, and we truly think that it can be useful to you all as freshmen.

Some of you may be interested in a recap of all the majors we covered last year.

I know very few upperclassmen who did not change their major at least once during their freshman year. Freshman year is a time to explore the many academic opportunities available at a major university like UA. Hopefully, this piece will give you a better idea of what's available and where your interests might lie.

Check back next Monday for our first official installment of Monday Major Madness!

Welcome to UA

Welcome to the University of Alabama and the Honors College! We are so pleased you have joined us for what should be an exciting four, or possibly more, years. This blog is run by the Freshmen Year Experience program and is designed to help you, the Honors College freshmen here at the Capstone. We have some great posts planned for you, so make sure and check back each week for information about different majors, events around the town, and general tips to stay on top of the semester, as well as a few humorous posts thrown in to keep it fun. In addition, our website will be updated periodically with information about the Honors College and the many opportunities it has to offer. So once again, welcome to UA and we look forward to seeing you around campus. Roll Tide!

Website: http://honors.cbhp.ua.edu/index.php?page=freshman-year-experience
Email: honorsconnection@gmail.com
Twitter: @bamafreshmen, @HonorsCollegeUA