if there's one thing about brown I've truly come to appreciate post-graduation, it's the grad center bar (or as we call it, the gcb). it opens at 4:30 every afternoon, and plays host to all walks of academia, from deans and professors and the university president down to newly-minted 21 year old undergraduates. the annual membership fee is a pittance ($30) and is waived if you're a grad student (which I am now, woop woop!). the main benefit to a members-only bar is deep drink discounts: top shelf vodka and tonic, which would cost me $7-9 at a "normal" bar, costs me a whopping $3 at the gcb. who can argue with that?
another major benefit is that ed and mark, the bartenders, know who I am, what I'm studying, and what else I'm into. meaning that during my senior spring, when I rolled in solo at 4:30pm, crosseyed and weighed down by my laptop and thesis readings in my backpack, they knew exactly what I wanted (vodka and no talking) and were right there to deliver the goods. similarly, when I was getting to the peak of my marathon training and came to the bar with a tupperware full of food so that I could fuel for a run the next day, no one would hassle me about it. two full years since I've started coming to the gcb, I still enjoy the same rapport and level of mi-casa-es-su-casa comfort as I did back then. I just love love LOVE this bar.
tonight at the gcb: antonio's pizza and my signature bev, ruby red vodka and tonic with a lime (but ed always gives me a cherry instead, no matter what)
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