<p>There actually are a lot of good restaurants, just not a lot of chain places. Sub Station II has great sandwiches, The Cellar is a great Italian place, theres a very good (and cheap) Mexican place who's name escapes me right now, Slouvakis (I know I spelled that wrong) which is Greek food that everyone says is great but I still haven't gotten the nerve to try, theres even a vegitarian place; they're just all smaller, non-chain places. If you go into Christiansburg (about a 5 minute drive away. There's also a bus but the times that it runs are pretty poor) there are chain places like Texas Steak House and Outback and all of that. Never been to the farmers market but if you buy a lot of produce it's worth a shot.</p>
<p>As far as recreation goes, off campus it can be a little thin. There is a small theatre that usually shows second run and independant movies (although they occasionally get a movie a week after it comes out) right off of campus, and if you're into biking or hiking you're in a lot of luck. The cascades are pretty close. There are several bars around campus if that's your thing, although I prefer the apartment parties. On campus there are tons of intramural sports, pick-up games of basketball, volleyball, football, frisbee, soccer, etc. all over campus, they show movies on campus about once or twice a month, and there are usually some pretty good bands that come through. I saw Reel Big Fish this year and 311 last year. Again, if you go to Christiansburg there is a huge theatre and some other stuff, you just have to have a friend with a car.</p>
<p>Not too much shopping on Blacksburg really. There are two Krogers which are pretty good for groceries and a lot of smaller shops, but the town has really pushed to keep "big box" retailers out (I'll get to that in a minute.) Christiansburg has a ton of stores though. Circuit City, Best Buy, Walmart, etc. It also has a pretty good sized mall (recently upgraded if you haven't been there in a year) with an American Eagle, Dick's, and a bunch of other stores. So for any shopping you have to do other than grocery I'd head over to Christiansburg. Now about the Big Box thing...</p>
<p>Theres a long, drawn out story about "Big Box" retailers moving into Blacksburg that I won't bore you with, but suffice to say the old people in Blacksburg don't want it and the young people are students who don't get to vote, so it doesn't matter what we say. Unfortunately for the old people there was a mix-up in paperwork that basically made huge portions of land a free-for-all for retailers, and the last I heard it's looking more and more like the anti-big-box crowd is fighting a losing battle. Walmart has been trying to get in, along with some mega-center that's supposed to have laser tag, bowling, a bookstore, a giant theatre, and who knows what else. Anyway, they're mired down in lawsuits right now but ground has been broken and I'm pretty sure they're actually in the process of building SOMETHING on the land that's supposed to have the mega-center right now. So the shopping/entertainment situation in Blacksburg may well improve pretty dramatically over the next couple years. The place they're building it is serviced pretty regularly by Blacksburg Transit (Students ride for free) so even though it's not really within what a reasonable person would call walking distance, you won't need to bum a ride.</p>
<p>I hope I answered everything. If not let me know and I'll expand/clarify.</p>