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Museum of Play and Garbage Plates: What Could Be Better?

Last year, as soon as I was accepted, I became THAT GUY in the Facebook group. I answered everyone’s questions because I was: 1. Excited, 2. Bored, 3. Knowledgeable about the school and surrounding area. Note: THAT GUY might not be weird, please wait until you meet him to pass judgment; I’m actually pretty cool! Anyway, one of the FAQs on the group was “What is a garbage plate!?!?” The popularity of this question was prompted by Admissions' “Remember oUR Name” video starring The Midnight Ramblers (one of our many fantastic a cappella groups on campus) in which there is an allusion to garbage plates.

A standard garbage plate is 2 burger patties, macaroni salad, home fries/French fries, covered in meat sauce. This is a Rochester classic that usually costs ~$8 and has anywhere between 2200-3000 calories. Contrary to popular belief, garbage plates are not a lifestyle—or at least not a healthy one.

I started this post off by introducing garbage plates because they were a major aspect of my Class Council's first independent event. Our first event was co-sponsoring the Haunted Hayride with the 2014 Class Council. (See my post on that here.) For our event, we ran buses from campus to Rochester's National Museum of Play to Nick Tahou’s (home of the garbage plate) from 4pm – 9pm. The idea of the event was to cross off two things from the “List of 101 things to do before you graduate” which you’ll receive a copy of during Orientation. 

My Class Council did not do as much advertising as we should have, and I was incredibly worried that no one would come to our event. There’s so much activity at UR that it’s hard to plan events, because there is a lot of competition, so advertising is pretty clutch. I arrived at the bus ten minutes early, and I was afraid I might end up riding the bus alone. However, right at 4:00, an entire busload of people showed up! I was so ecstatic that people had shown up to our event, but I was even happier because ALL BUT EIGHT of a bus of approximately 44 people went to the Museum of Play. Myself and seven others did not get off at the Museum of Play but continued on to Nick Tahou’s. I would’ve attended the Museum of Play but I had gone recently and was SUPER HUNGRY because I hadn’t eaten much that day, in preparation for eating an entire garbage plate. I highly recommend checking out the Museum of Play’s website and go if you’re given the opportunity. It’s fun for all ages (unless you have no soul).

My adventures at Nick Tahou’s have been documented in these photos. It was a great time, and everyone was full afterward. Here's everyone waiting in line:

Waiting in line at Nick Tahou's

Robbie and his first garbage plate!

Garbage plate at Nick Tahou's

Close up of my garbage plate—don't forget to mix it all up!:

Garbage plate at Nick Tahou's

Tyler ordered tea at Nick Tahou's so I had to document it . . .

Tea at Nick Tahou's

Sam went real deep on that first bite, it definitely made for an interesting photo ahaha:

Garbage plate at Nick Tahou's

GROUP PHOTO TIME!

Friends at Nick Tahou's

I definitely encourage you to visit Nick Tahou's and The Museum of Play when you get the chance! I had a lot of fun and it made it even better to see everyone upload photos on Facebook from their adventures at the Museum of Play. I regret not going this time but I was SO hungry. Feel free to leave comments, email me at gdever@u.rochester.edu or tweet at me @URGrant2016. I really want to connect with more prospective students :).