Sny-Phi… My home away from home… away from home.

The gorgeous exterior, the magnificent café, Sparty’s, and a beautiful interior…. Sny-phi is easily my favorite hall, especially after living in Akers for this time.

First off… Why am I calling it Sny-Phi? Basically, it is two halls that are connected. The two halls are Snyder and Phillips. They’re virtually the same. Sny-Phi is just a trendy, and shorter, abbreviation than saying “Snyder – Phillips” repeatedly.

Sny-Phi is the home of the residential college for the arts and humanities…. Meaning, many of the people you encounter when at Sny-Phi are art majors. Imply what you will with stereotypes, but most people there are incredibly friendly. To facilitate this part of these residence halls, there are numerous stages and theaters in the basement… and the basement almost always smells like paint for some reason… I swear they paint the basement every day of the week.

The Gallery – The official cafeteria of Sny-Phi has incredible food, every day, and is actually open every day!! Two stations repeat the same thing every day, Ciao and The Brimstone Grille. However, within those, you’ll see variations on the day-to-day norms. Ciao experiments frequently with intriguing, and tastey different ways to make Pizzas, be it the traditional Pepperoni to Chicken Bacon Ranch, and a deli that makes your wrap or sub on the spot. The Grille generally serves Cheeseburgers and Hamburgers, but on some (good) occasions, they’ll add great pulled pork to the mixture. The other two stations change greatly throughout the week, chicken strips to eggplant parmesan to leg of lamb. And, last of all.. the dessert station…. They’ll hand-scoop ice cream on the spot for you… Simply amazing. The cafeteria is worth the five minute ride to get away from Akers, every day. I know when I see Minnnie or Ron’s face checking my card with their smile, I’m in for a good meal.

To help all of the residents get involved, several floors do events and games. Some examples that have been done thus far are: open mic night, where participants may go karaoke and publically embarrass themselves… Which is a lot of fun… But if the wrong person gets control of the microphone, could go horribly, fast… or it remains funny, either or. For the most part, though, everyone had fun, and no glasses were shattered.

Several individual floors host their own events, such as barrel racing down the halls… Requires two people, one to hold the legs of their partner, while the other walks them forward using their hands to simulate the motion of a wheelbarrow. Also in that department are sandbag races down the hall, which involves the lower half of the body being in a sand bag, to make movement resorted to hopping. While neither of these sound particularly fun just talking about them, when done en masse, everyone becomes embarrassed together, and creates a great feeling of unity among everyone participating, or everyone watching.

These events do just that – They allow for everyone in the halls to get to know other people, and expand their social network. Whether you meet your friends for life, people you learn to avoid at your stay at State, or your future significant other, they’re getting you involved, and actually giving you those opportunities to mingle, in a non-awkward, non-classroom setting medium.

The sleek interior inside the hall itself gives the entire hall a smooth, old-fashioned feel. When touring the hall with my sister, she was in awe the entire time, from the staircases to the overhangings, to the “art” on display at random locations within.

Sparty’s – I never found out about this place and what it does until my last visit to the Gallery. Apparently, with the Meal Plans provided at MSU, you can get 1 “Combo Exchange” a day. It seems like a good way to stock up some food for the weekends, at no at the time purchase charge. Tip of the day.. Use at your own discretion.

Next up, we have a review of Holmes hall… Stay tuned!