Downtown adventures

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MID-YEAR STUMBLE

A “winter-wonderland” pat to the snow this morning.

From someone saw it at 2:30 a.m.

ETHAN JARDINES thorough theses

With classes dominating a majority of our time here in Harrisonburg, it almost seems as though we never have a chance to slow down. This dramatically limits the amount of time we can spend in the Harrisonburg community, but it’s important, and certainly beneficial, to get off campus from time to time. Students could be missing out on a myriad of opportunities if you’re not getting out into the city.

Harrisonburg destinations

Restaurants in the city range from Middle Eastern, to Indonesian, to plenty more. While eating on campus is convenient, eating off campus can expand students' worldview. In any case, it wouldn’t hurt to try something new; from personal experience, I can say Bella Luna has some great pizza.

Harrisonburg boasts 11 different parks available for public use, including dog and skate parks. Beyond this, there are plenty of trails for hiking and biking. Getting out and about not only provides a chance to exercise but also to interact with people in the local community. Ironically, taking time away from campus could improve performance in school, too, as exercise has been shown to improve cognitive health, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

There are also plenty of places in Harrisonburg to provide a distraction from busy college life. From museums to axethrowing, the city is chock-full of entertainment. Heading into Harrisonburg to divert attention from schoolwork can be a great stress reliever. With a standard of 15 credit hours per semester and at least two hours per class per week spent on homework, getting away from meticulous academic work is important.

Part of the reason some students don’t get off campus is because they don’t have cars, but downtown is closer than many might think. Walking from Hotel Madison to court square only takes about 12 minutes. Despite this, many don’t take the opportunity to familiarize themselves with the area.

“Maybe once every three weeks” is how often freshman communications major Tanner Davis gets off campus. However, when he does get off campus, Davis said it helps him to “reset.” Like many other freshmen, Tanner is limited by a seeming lack of available transport — but transport is available, and free, for students.

For those who don’t have a car, gettingaround the city shouldn’t be too much of a stretch because they can ride the buses for free.