<p>I can at least answer three, which is to say we ahve a separate Literary Arts department that focuses on creative writing, poetry, screenplays, etc.</p>
<p>hii
how is the fitness center at brown?
Are there any good local gyms where I can take kickboxing/other aerobic classes? </p>
<p>Thanks!!</p>
<p>brown has aerobics classes at the OMAC. If you're a serious lifter like my friend (i.e. powerlifter who goes every other day, researches lifting programs on-line, takes multiple supplements etc.), you may be a bit disappointed in the equipment, otherwise I think it's pretty good.</p>
<p>How is the food at Brown? I didn't get a chance to see inside the cafeterias when I visited, but I hear that food in most universities tend to be stuff like pasta, pizza, bread, and a lot of refined and unhealthy stuff. Do they have good salad bars, fruits, fish, or vegetarian options, or stuff like that? Thanks.</p>
<p>You can look at menus on the internet --</p>
<p>My daughter eats an almost vegan diet (occasional cheese) and has had no problems finding options.</p>
<p>There's a late-night vegetarian place under theRatty(The Ivy Room). The Ratty has a vegetarian line (Roots and Shoots) and the V-Dub has options too. Also, if you let Dining Services know of a severe food allergy (milk products, gluten,etc) they go through a lot of trouble to make sure everything is shipshape for you.</p>
<p>Can someone explain the "declining balance" thing? Is it just like a debit bank account? Do you use your ID card around campus to purchase things and it gets deducted? It sounds confusing and there is a whole lecture on it during orientation. If someone could explain it a little, it would be helpful. Thanks</p>
<p>i think its just like a debit card....they charge you for a particular item according to its price....unlike at some other schools where they would count a bottle of water and yogurt as a full meal....i think thats it...not sure tho =P</p>
<p>Hey guys, lovely morning... Quick, fairly esoteric question: I visited Brown back in March (absolutely fell in love with it, my tour guide and the admissions officer sold it to me as the quintessence of a liberal arts education and in all my research / touring of other places since I haven't been able to pry that special charm from it) and it was a good time, i'm a big fan of richardsonian romanesque, bla bla bla. </p>
<p>Question is: I saw a LOT of people smoking--cigarettes. I heard a friend of mine who I think did a summer program at RISD complain about the reek of marijuana, but that's not my question. Just: what's up with the smoking? I asked my college counselor at school and she acknowledged that peculiar quirk too, but didn't really have an explanation. Are there really that many nicotine-addicted college students at Brown, or was it just that they were the only ones outside in the dreary-ish march weather?</p>
<p>Thanks for helping to satisfy my curiosity, and thanks for making yourselves accessible.</p>
<p>MY guess is they were the ones outside. While I would say a large percent of students have smoked marijuana and a decent amount still do, I only personally knew maybe 3 smokers and didn't see them around THAT often. I think that tends to be associated more with RISD.</p>
<p>I mean, copious / notworthy soft drug use isn't a huge concern for me because, well... that's what I'd expect of a college. But bad oral hygiene, bad breath, bad teeth, smelly hair and clothes? Those I just couldn't tolerate.</p>
<p>I visited most places during the summer (hey, schedules make it difficult...) and I was afraid I'd give these summer-visits extra credit for being so beautiful, but to make up for this beauty nature provided with 105 degree heat indices (two weeks ago). So that prejudice turned out to not be such a problem. Worst part is, of course, that I miss the students--so I don't get a balanced picture of the population of outdoor smokers or whatever. :P</p>
<p>ever so puzzling! thanks for your quick reply.</p>
<p>About the cigarette smoking -- yeah, it's more than I would like, but not any more than any other school. It sucks, but there's not a whole lot you can do about it besides tell your friends not to smoke. In terms of pot, yes, a lot of people smoke pot here, too, but it tends to be pretty chill -- sure, there are some people who smoke every weekend, but the majority of pot use is probably people who just do it occasionally and are pretty chill about it.</p>
<p>About declining balance -- don't do it! It's more confusing than it's worth. If you already have a credit/debit card, then there's no reason to do declining balance, because it's just the same as a debit card except that you can only use it at Brown eating places, bookstore, etc. Plus you'll already have flex dollars on your card as well as whatever you have on the vending stripe for laundry, so it's really just an extra confusion that's not worth it. I never used the declining balance account.</p>
<p>Ilovebrown -- So if I have a regular debit card (from sovereign bank) plus my school ID card... I can use the ID card for flex and the sovereign bank card for declining balance anywhere on brown campus?</p>
<p>Declining balance is useless. That's all you need to know. It's basically a place to store money for your vending stripe (if you dont want to keep putting cash in to keep money on it). THe only place it's really used is in the bookstore, outside of that, declining balance can be used to BUY additional flexpoints (1.15 flex points per dollar) but you wouldnt use that until you're out of Flexpoints anyway. Basically, put 100 bucks on the declining balance so you have laundry money for the year and buy your books online or at the store with a credit card that gives you hotel or airline points.</p>
<p>yes, anywhere on campus will accept real money</p>
<p>as an 09er, is there really that much cigarette use? I really didn't notice much at all. I think on a ****ty day like you said your visit was, smokers would be most probable to be standing outside since smoking is prohibited indoors everywhere on campus. Or maybe it's just because at my high school LOTS of people smoked, so the Brown population looks small in comparison.</p>
<p>I agree Iwanna, as an 09er, I didnt see very much cigarette smoking at all.</p>
<p>My two cents:</p>
<p>I have been very few places where I've seen as LITTLE smoking as I generally see at Brown. It actually surprises me if I notice more than one or two people smoking on a walk around campus (except for on Thayer, but thats largely outside people).</p>
<p>If you run out of flex points during the year, can you add some by sending a check to the bursar and asking them to apply it to the flex points?</p>
<p>i'm not exactly sure how you do it, but you can add flex points at $1=1.15 flex</p>
<p>Yup, you can buy flex points at any time during the year. I think you do it at the BDS office in the Ratty.</p>
<p>And the amount of smoking seemed like a lot to me, because not many kids in my high school smoked, and I find any amount of cigarette smoking pretty gross since it makes me sick. But really the proportion of students who smoke cigarettes is not terribly high... you just see them on a nice day if you're walking around outside buildings.</p>