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This podcast episode is about exploring American falafel with the host's friends, Nate and John. They try a falafel wrap and rate it. They also talk about their high school experiences and share funny stories. They then try a kebab bowl and falafel bites, and continue discussing their personalities in high school. Welcome to Food for Thought, the podcast that will take you on a journey through guest's lives through the world of flavors and food. I'm your host, Oscar Lonergan, and I will guide you on a complex culinary and cultural adventure through the world of food. Each episode, we will try three or more foods from one of your guests' favorite restaurants, all while reviewing and reading the food and exploring their stories. On today's episode, we will be with two of my best friends, Nate Spock and John Collett. And we will be exploring American falafel on the loop. All right, my friend Nate, he's opening the food right now. If you can hear it in the back, I'm really sorry. He's opening it right next to the microphone. I told him not to do that. All right, what's first? That's a long one. Is that an easy one? Yeah. This is a falafel wrap. We're all going to try everything, I think. Everybody should try everything. I wish there was a screen on that door. We're not supposed to eat in here. What happened? Oh, no. Oh. All right, pass something back to you. All right, all right. Eat the falafel wrap first. Okay. We have two falafel wraps. Appearance is amazing. I mean, it looks great. It does look great. It does look great. I think if we're going to ... the ingredients ... hummus, falafel ... Tomato. Tomato, pickle. Looks like it. Looks pretty good. Let's try it. Wow. That's good. It's a little dry, but ... Definitely dry, and I didn't bring water, so that could be a big problem. You can tell, though, they know what they're doing with the spices on this. Agreed. Yeah, yeah, for sure. It's just moist. It's good. John, what's your favorite part of this? I'm going to have to go with the naan. Just ... I mean, it's amazing. The pita? Yeah, I don't think that's naan, but ... Oh, fuck. It's very good, though. John is one of our less experienced people. Yeah. My first time on the show. His favorite restaurant is Cookout. He loves the chicken quesadilla and the $2 burger. Yeah, that's his favorite. So, we have a couple of questions. I'm going to have to go with the naan. I'm going to have to go with the naan. I'm going to have to go with the naan. I'm going to have to go with the naan. I'm going to have to go with the naan. We have a couple of questions. Some fairly basic ones. But, just if both of you guys want to do like a ... how many siblings you have, where you're from. Because, I mean, you're not celebrities, and nobody's looking you up on the Washington men's soccer page. Got it. My name's John Collett. I'm from Morganton, North Carolina. I have two siblings, a younger sister and an older brother. My name's Nate Spock. I'm a sophomore. I'm studying finance and accounting. And I'm from Newton, Massachusetts, and I have one older brother who graduated from Ohio State last year. What's a fun fact about you, Nate? A fun fact is my first name's American, my middle name is Indian, and my last name's Polish. What about you, Joe? I really enjoy fly fishing. One of my hobbies, one of my many hobbies. I don't think I've ever heard you talk about fly fishing. I fly fish all the time. I actually have, though. Okay, I'll vouch for him, yeah. Do you remember the trivia question? No. He did, he clutched up. Nymphs, dreamers, whatever. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Occasionally we go to a bar next to the local supermarket here that has trivia on Wednesdays, and some people are better than others. John's pretty good, though. Nate, we call him Spock, but Spock not so much. He's trouble. He's trouble. That's a bit unfair. Yeah. What would you guys, like, you guys both, I mean, I don't know as much about your high school life, Nate, but both of you guys. More? You want some? Sure. We have some good stories together, but, like, what do you guys think the craziest, craziest thing that happened in high school to you was before you watched? That's relatively age appropriate, but it can be wild. Just keep it. Interesting. That's a good question. I mean, or just a crazy story, any sort of crazy story. I think one that comes to mind, like senior spring, we all did a lot of stupid stuff, and we got so bored, like we didn't have school work or anything during the day, that we started pranking our teachers. And so we would have this one guy, Clark, he was in this class. Ranking them in terms of what? Pranking them. Oh, pranking them. Pranking them, sorry. We had this one guy that, for lack of a better word, was a bit interesting and didn't have great social skills and, like, awareness of what was going on, and, like, there's eight of my best friends in that class. And so we spent a day filing in one by one, 50-minute block, and we interrupted the class six times with six different kids. One kid went in, like, forgot his pencil. The next, like, forgot his eraser. Then I went in, I grabbed the tripod from the corner that I needed for my calc class, and it took them five kids to finally, like, clock in to, like, what was going on. And, yeah, he gave all six of us detention. He was your teacher? No, no, he wasn't my teacher. But, like, we all had to free that period and would interrupt his class every five or so minutes. So disrespectful. That's awful. You're a horrible person. You're a horrible person. I don't know what to say. If I knew that, I probably wouldn't have been friends with you. Yeah. But... Wait, wait, wait, come on. We got to... It's a sequential process to trying the food. I thought this was just... I know you're hungry. I mean, yeah, actually... Can we review it? Let's just make it a conversation. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So out of ten, the falafel wrap from the American falafel. Seven. Seven. I'm going to give it an 8.2. 8.2, okay. Yeah. If it's a rookie mistake, you need a round number. I know. You're from Boston. You should know this. One bite. One bite. Everyone knows the rules. It's in my stomach. That's a reference to Dave Portnoy, who does pizza reviews. Part of the inspiration for this podcast. I just want to look at John's sensual chewing right now. I have to say, his pizza review app is very good, very helpful. John, I know you had some crazy stories, some friends who got kicked out of your boarding school. I did have a pizza review app. Which is, now I should preface, for anybody who doesn't know much about boarding school, getting kicked out is not that crazy of a thing in boarding school. Not at all. I definitely had a lot of friends who got kicked out. It's pretty easy. In fact, John once told me that they had a tradition for when his friends would get kicked out and they'd all go to the parking lot and wave them goodbye when their parents came to pick them up. That is the tradition. We would always take pictures outside of our dorms. We have like three pictures of three different kids. One of them got kicked out my senior year. It happens, though. I mean, just like drinking. You know, you get caught leaving your dorm. You want to go to Domino's at 3 a.m. Yeah, they have curfew at boarding school. It's like, what? What was it, like 11? 11 on weekends, 9.30 on weekdays. I mean, that's brutal. Yeah, absolutely brutal. 9.30. 9.30 is crazy. Although I think a lot of it is centered around dorm life, it's a lot more centered around like living with your friends and spending time with them in your room than college is, and maybe that's because it's a smaller school, but... Yeah. For people who know it, John went to a notable institution called Andover. Did you know my friend is in Massachusetts? Andover, Massachusetts. Is that right now, John? Really? Mm-hmm. I think she's in seventh grade, but... Yeah. Did you write the application paper by yourself? Yeah, mine was horrible. I don't really know. Now looking back on it, it was probably horrible, but, I mean, I was in, like, eighth grade. Like, I had no clue what was going on. But, Ozzy, it's a 7-page paper and a 14-page paper application. Wait, no, it's not. That's what hers is. Mine was, like, three 250-word essays and then one, like, 700-word essay. Wow, that's still pretty bad. I could barely do that. I applied to one college, and I really, really struggled to get the words on the page. You applied to one college? ED. ED. Oh, that's right. I got lucky. Yeah. That's sick. I hated applying to college. I would give the horrible crap a, um, I'd probably say, like, 6 out of 10. 7 out of 10. It was pretty dry. Round number? Yeah. Oh, flip. Flamin' meat. 6.2. 6.2 is very low. I mean, like, at a certain point, like, 3 and below is inedible. It's because they didn't have meat. Get this meat in you. Boom. Oh, yeah. There we go. These guys really have good meat there. The chicken especially. We've now moved on to the chicken and beef kebab bowl and also some falafel bites, which are pretty good. I'm not going to lie. In high school, like, if you were to describe yourself, were you introvert, extrovert, or if you were to describe yourself even now? I would definitely say I'm an extrovert, but I wouldn't say I'm, like, to the max. Like, there are definitely people way more extroverted to me, but I'd say I sway towards that side. I was definitely an introvert in high school. You think so? Yeah, definitely. Like, true introverted? That's why I played this board in college. No, but, like, you had friends, and, like, you would go, like, I feel like I have a hard time seeing you as an introvert. Introvert doesn't mean you don't have friends. No, but I mean, like, right now I'd say you're extroverted. I think, like, earlier in high school, yeah, I was really introverted, and then I kind of found the people. Because I, like, my school started in seventh grade, and, like, I came in ninth grade, so, like, a lot of kids already had friends and everything. And so, like, the first two years kind of were, like, navigating that. And then I feel like junior year I really found my friends, and, like, then I would say I was extroverted. But at the start, like, I had my friends from middle school, and, like, I was just fine with that. So do you think it was just, like, you found friends, or do you think it was you kind of, like, became more comfortable in yourself? Well, I think more comfortable in myself. I had a pretty... I had a buzz cut. That was part of it. Oof. Never good. I wouldn't say I had, like, not necessarily the same experience, but similar experience in terms of I wouldn't say I went out that much or did that much socially in, like, ninth and tenth grade. I kind of was chilling a little bit. A little more tenth grade, I would say, but then we all were sophomores in high school when COVID hit. And so that didn't go so well. I mean, you kind of, like, ruined the end of our sophomore year. It definitely sets you back socially. Yeah. Like, I didn't see kids like my friends for a very long time. You don't even see kids your own age, like, really, unless you have siblings. Yeah. During COVID? Yeah. Really? What were you doing in COVID? No, I just, like, the eight or so kids that I lived near, I would just see every day. Even in, like, March and April you'd do that? Don't worry. You're not going to get canceled. Nobody cares anymore. March maybe not, but April, yeah. Yeah, I was locked down, like, March, April, May. Well, I mean, summer was like you could – I was, like, seeing people. Yeah, I would say by the summer most people were hanging out with other people, but I think it's pretty common that March, April, May was a – not too many people were seeing each other. It also – I mean, being a boarding school for the first two years, I came back and I hadn't seen my friends from home in two years, so I was away from my actual current friends for, like, a year. Yeah, boarding school during COVID was definitely a uniquely tough and hard experience. Yeah. I'm just looking when exactly, like – But, I mean, if you were so introverted and you were hanging out with your friends, it's pretty crazy. Big time introvert. Okay, no, introvert. One time you don't have to hang out with your friends. Introvert. Freshman, sophomore year. Extraverted after. COVID was a sophomore year I'd like to include. You think you changed during COVID? Yeah. Interesting. Interesting. I think COVID probably – it changed a lot of people. For me, I know, like, my friend group before COVID and after COVID was completely different. I think a lot of people have similar experiences, no matter what your age is. Agreed. Like, being away from the people you knew for so long, it was kind of the first viable people that you saw, you became friends with again. And for me, like, I played soccer in high school, and so kind of that was the first thing of normal life with friends to come back. So I had two kids in my grade that were also on my club soccer team outside of school, and we, like, those were the kids I became friends with first when I came back from COVID and kind of formed my friend group with them and, like, their buddies, which was pretty good. I had a great time. I loved high school. Some people hate it. Some people love it. It's very polarizing. I had a good time. Why do you think it is polarizing? I just think people have, like, very different experiences. There's a huge variety of, like, how much kids enjoy it. And I think that's because it's, like, pretty cutthroat in high school. Like, kids are, like, if they don't like you, they don't like you. And, like, people exclude each other because they're not mature. And so, like, I know in my grade was, like, 130, and, like, my friend group was probably, like, 20 kids. And we would do a lot of stuff together. But if you were, like, beyond that, you didn't really get invited to stuff, which, like, kind of sucks, and so you enjoy it less. And you have a huge, like, it was like a cutoff. And, like, it's a huge difference in how much people enjoy it. I would agree with that. Do you think that's genuinely the cutoff? Or do you think, like, I always wondered this because kind of, like, I feel like a lot of people just eventually, like, towards the end, regardless of if you're in, like, that so-called group of 30 or not in that group of 30 that you were talking about. Like, everybody eventually kind of finds who their people are, at least at my high school. It kind of ended, it was a happy ending for, I would say, like, almost 99% of the people in terms of they found their friends. And everybody kind of, I think it's a, maybe it's a unique experience to my high school, but I think at least for us, we kind of came together as a bigger group as a grade towards the end. And, like, it became less exclusive and more kind of inclusionary. And, like, I wanted to have fun with everybody as opposed to, like, just going out with my couple friends. I agree. Because there was a kid who, like, wasn't grown up. I agree with that. But don't you think some kids were still, like, outside looking in? Yeah, a little bit. There were definitely some kids that were outside looking in that wanted to, like, come in, but not nearly as many as there were before. I agree. Like, you extend that group senior year. But I still think, like, Katzi is an example in my high school for a kid that goes to WashU. Like, he, like, has expressed to me, like, he didn't feel like, like he found his group of five really good friends, but he still felt out of place around, like, my friend group and just felt like he was outside looking in a lot of the time. But that's not to say, like, he didn't enjoy himself. Like, he enjoyed the friends he was really close with. But it's still just kind of, like, a difficult environment to navigate. I agree. I have some interesting thoughts on this. I think that it's, like, the one time in your life where you're, like, really developed. Like, it's your turning point when you're really, like, like, you're changed. Like, you're growing up into an adult. It really is that transition period. And it's the one time in most people's lives where you're transitioning from a school you've gone to since you were three to a completely new environment. There aren't a lot of, like, middle to high schools. And then also, like, I think you're more kind of emotionally, like, vulnerable, I guess, or, like, you're more aware of it. I feel like in middle school kids that, like, when there's a situation like that where kids were excluded, it wouldn't hurt their feelings as much, like, internally, I guess. They'd just, like, cry or something. I feel like adding the, like, going out and drinking aspect defines a lot of that, too. Like, kids that necessarily aren't that interesting, but when you're going out with them it's a lot of fun. Like, they kind of find their place and, like, everyone wants to be around them. Yeah, I think, I mean, I don't know how it was for you guys, but drinking was definitely prevalent in my high school, like, all four years, I would say. But it became sort of a thing, like, every weekend became like, oh, like, we're going out Friday, Saturday night. As opposed to, like, freshman year was more like a, oh, the school, like, homecoming is tonight, we're going to drink. Yeah. It's also more of, like, at least for me it was, like, the beginning was, like, just drinking, like, with your friends. Like, having a couple, like, beers or something. You had beer in high school? You're allowed to do that? No. I'm kidding, I'm kidding. Cancel him. I think it's more chill. Yeah, I mean, I think drinking in high school is part of, like, the American high school experience. I think most people... It's part of everyone's high school experience, like, in the garage, too. Yeah, I guess it's true. Yeah, but I think the whole idea of, like, you find, like, an older buddy that has a fake ID when you're a freshman and you get them drinks, or you find, like, somebody's parent is willing to buy everybody food, buy everybody drinks, not food. But I think that that, like, idea is somewhat what, like, creates the American high school experience, especially the one that is prevalent in kind of, like, if you watch TV shows on the American high school or, like, high school musical or whatever, like, that dance cool guy culture, I think, is somewhat interestingly... Not dance. Dance is not the right word. Dance is the wrong thing. That was the wrong thing. But I think sort of that macho man, cool guy culture is built through who's willing to do what earliest and who's going to do whatever. Like, I have a friend who, I mean, I think he would say he probably regrets it at this point, and they actually met him at Vanderbilt. We visited for our fraternity formal last year. But he, like, started doing stuff in freshman and sophomore year, and I think that that, like, really, like, took... I think not only did it take a toll on him, I think looking back he kind of just, like, I guess he was more of, like, experienced his childhood a little more without trying to grow up so fast, because I think he now has kind of done it for so long that he's like, oh, what's happening, whatever. He's over it? Yeah, I think he's over it. That would be my guess. Interesting. So if we're going to rate the chicken and beef kabob, what would you say? Bowl. The chicken and beef kabob bowl, as well as the falafel bites. We'll go chicken and beef kabob rating, and then we'll ask one more question about it. So I'm going to break it down. Rice, 10.0. Chicken, 9.5. Beef, 6.5. Did I finish my bite? Yeah, we're waiting for John to finish his bite to get his rating. I would say my rating, in the meantime while John's chewing, is I would give the – I'll do a similar breakdown. I think the rice is pretty good. It's always pretty good. It's kind of easy for them. I would say probably, like, a 9.2. The beef, I would give, like, a 6.3. And the chicken kabob, I would say – chicken kabob is pretty good. For those who are wondering, or not anybody's wondering, we're all in the same frat, and John and Nate are rush chairs, and I'm the president of the frat. He's the president. So they're in charge of recruitment and trying to get new members. And so a lot of their life goes to, like, seeing what freshmen they're going to want to rush eventually because you're not allowed to rush people until Urban Rush. John, have you felt you've become more extroverted this semester since that's your job? Yeah, our job. I would definitely say I've become a little more extroverted, although I think a lot of it is kind of a – I wouldn't say, like, business-oriented, but maybe professional-oriented conversation where I'm able to just start a conversation with someone and engage really easily and just kind of make, like, a quick friend with someone and just get engaged on who they are, which I think can be helpful just in all aspects of life. And I think I've developed that a lot through this. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, going in that direction. Wait, can I rate? Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. You've got to rate it, rate it, rate it. All right. Rice, 9.7. Chicken, 9.0. Flat. Beef, 7.2. Dry. Yeah. Beef was the worst. Yeah, the beef was definitely the worst. Do you eat this kind of food when you were a kid, like when you were little? Or, like, what kind of – when do you think you grew to like this type of food? Because for me, I can pretty confidently say that if you asked me if I wanted Mediterranean food when I was 11 years old, I would have said no. I want pasta and butter, pasta and meatballs or something, pizza. Definitely. Yeah, I think – I don't know if you guys – I don't know where they're from, but the frozen falafels, have you ever had those? Probably. Honestly, these days. They're in a huge bag. I assume everything is from Trader Joe's. Yeah, they definitely could be Trader Joe's. But that's, like, when I started eating falafels, just stick them in the toaster. Yeah. John? I'd say I probably started in early high school. I think that I definitely didn't appreciate it when, like, you go to a restaurant and see kind of nothing that you wanted on the menu. Like, you went to, like, a Mediterranean restaurant when you were a kid and you didn't see, like, whatever pasta with – Or just, like, stuff you didn't know. Yeah, stuff you didn't know. I think I just wasn't also a very adventurous eater. Like, I would eat whatever. I wouldn't say I was picky. But if I go to a restaurant, like, I'm always sticking with something I know. Would you – I mean, for me, I think, like, this is – I would say Mediterranean food is one of those, like, later-in-life foods that you kind of figure out. Like, nobody's going to give you Mediterranean – even though it's so basic and kind of just, like, you've been eating it your whole life, I guess, because it's, like, grilled chicken and rice. I just think that in general, like, categorizing Mediterranean food and having hummus or, like, a kebab or a gyro or something like that is, like, a thing that kind of you realize later. But did you guys – when you were kids, like, did your parents cook a lot? I know Nate's mom is – I don't think she's – she went to Michigan and she's American, but I think she is Indian descent, right? Yeah, she's Indian, but she hates cooking. So the only time she would ever cook – my brother's gluten-free, so she would cook a lot of gluten-free meals for him. So I always grew up eating gluten-free. But that's the only reason she cooked is so, like, he could eat food he wanted that was gluten-free. And so, like, once he went to college, then no cooking anymore. So I know you said, like – I mean, you've told me in the past, like, you ate Indian food when you were home and stuff. But where – like, you would order it or somebody else would make it? Where would you get it? The – we had a couple spots, the Indian food brunches. I don't know if you guys have ever been to those, the lunch buffets. Yeah, it's so good. Just all you can eat Indian food. You're making your own plate. It's, like, 20 bucks. But a lot of that, and then my mom would make it every once in a while. But my grandma's really the one that cooks the good Indian food. Does your grandma live in Boston? No, she's in Atlanta. So that's where my mom grew up, and she's stayed there ever since. From India to Atlanta has been there the past 45 years. Your mom was born in India? Oh, no, I got the math wrong. It was definitely, like, 60. Okay, okay. Yeah. We – John, like, your parents cooked a lot growing up? They did, yeah. Both my parents cook, so my dad also loves to cook. Oh. Very good, very good. So, yeah, call it. I'd say a lot of, like, home-cooked food growing up. And it was good food, too. But my mom got into a plant-based way where she didn't like cooking meat, and I was very anti that. Yeah, my mom went vegetarian for a little bit, and, I mean, that time for me was brutal. That's the only way I could describe how bad it was. I'm not a huge vegetarian guy. Yeah, my girlfriend's vegetarian, and I make fun of her pretty much every day. Not make fun of her. That's the wrong thing to say. I ask her if she wants a piece of chicken every day, and she politely declines. But for me, it was like my mom cooked a lot for us, but my uncle – I live in a house with my parents and my two brothers, and then I also live in a house with my uncle, my aunt, and my two cousins. And my uncle is a phenomenal cook. He can really, really cook. He inspired me to learn how to make a couple things. I made – last week, I think I made shredded chicken tacos for these two and a couple other of our friends. For 15 people. For 15 people. It was impressive. And on an electric stove in a dorm room, which is pretty impressive. I'll give myself that. On a time crunch. Yes, also on a time crunch. But nonetheless, I think that food is one of those things, and it's kind of the point of this podcast where it's like you can learn so much about somebody through their preferences of food and what they ate when they were younger. I think food is really all-encompassing in terms of, like, if you're a huge foodie and you love to go out to restaurants and do all that type of stuff, you probably – I mean, I would say, like, you probably want to be, like, really social and do stuff with people. And I think that, like, maybe I'm just generalizing too much, and these aren't really indicators of what it is. But I do think that, like, for, say, like, your favorite food or, like, the food that you ate when you grew up is kind of indicative if you're willing to try new things or, like, going to be super adventurous or whatever. Because I think that, like, trying something new is a risk. I mean, trying new food is a risk. You might hate it. You might love it. It might make you feel horrible. It might not. But I think that, like, that idea of food – and I don't know. Do you guys agree, like, the idea of food is really indicative of that? I do. I think also not only is it indicative of kind of your lifestyle, but starting with food is kind of a good way to change habits, I think. Like, people who are very stuck in their ways need the same food. Just encouraging them to try new things and branch out, like, at restaurants. Like I was saying earlier, like, trying something you don't know definitely kind of helps break the barrier of taking risks in a more simpler way. Yeah, I mean, was there ever a point, like, were you a particularly picky eater when you were growing up or anything? I wouldn't say I was picky, but I definitely wasn't as adventurous in, like, when I had the choice to be, I wasn't as adventurous. But then I think I got to a point where I wanted to just try new things and I was curious. And I think that's opened up curiosity in other aspects of my life as well. Yeah, I agree with that. I was really picky in middle school to the point where, like, my school lunch would just be, like, a cookie every day. And so, like, it took some time to, like, accept that food's not always going to be restaurant quality. And then once I came to terms with that, I started eating a lot more. Yeah, I mean, I grew up in, like, a unique situation with that type of food. Both my brothers, more so my older brother, was extremely picky. And it was, like, dinner had to be simple. It had to be kind of ingredients as opposed to, like, a finished product. Like, it was rice, peas, and chicken or pasta and sauce or something along those lines. But I think that, like, I always loved food and I always wanted to go out with my parents and, like, do whatever. And I think also that showed in, like, I don't know, I don't really remember this, but my parents always tell me that I was the one that, like, wanted to talk to the adults when I was five and do whatever. And I think, like, that it really is indicative of your kind of attitude towards what you want to do and, like, how you're going to experience things in your childhood. It's kind of changing gears. We had a sauce here, hummus. What would we say? Everybody, we can take one more scoop with the tortilla chip if you'd like to get a real rating on it. To be honest, this is not my favorite hummus. I'm a big hummus guy, and I don't really think the hummus from here is that good. It's kind of bland. Do you not think hummus is supposed to be bland, though? No, no, no. I think, like, hummus in general is pretty bland, but I think this is, like, a weird kind of dead flavor. How would that compare to, like, a Sabra? Definitely better than the Sabra. I don't know. I like Sabra. My thing is the horrible taste. You know what I really like is the flavored Sabra. The red pepper? Lemon dill Sabra, oh, so good. But, like, at a basic Sabra, I'd say this is better than. And, like, for a homemade hummus, that's pretty good. Do you think this is homemade? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Sabra is, like, manufactured. I wonder that. I wonder, like, for a place like this, and for those who don't know, American Falafel is kind of, I should have introduced this earlier, but it's just down kind of the street. It's on this thing called The Loop in St. Louis, and it's a strip with, like, a ton of stores and restaurants and things of that nature, and it's kind of like a Chipotle-style serve your, like, go-down-the-line-and-serve-it-to-you type. Fast casual. Fast casual is probably the term I was looking for. But for what it is, I would say it's very good. Now is it on the level of Acava, which is kind of the new up-and-coming, I would say that's a national brand in America. I probably wouldn't put it quite that high, but it's more of a homey experience, if you could say. There's some, like, what is it, TLC that goes into the food. Tough love and care. Is that what it is? Tender love and care? Tender love and care. That's what it is. Yeah, tough love and care. That makes no sense. But I think if we're going to – this is a good time to transition into – so Nate is on the soccer team, and Nate and I actually unknowingly until we got here used to play against each other in high school for our club teams, his in Boston and mine in New York City. So what do you think, like, did you always know you wanted to play sports? I wouldn't say I always wanted to. Like, after my senior season, I couldn't really imagine not playing. But, like, I had kind of come to terms that I wasn't going to play at a point because by December, which is, like, the end of the school year, I was going to play at a point, that I wasn't going to play at a point because by December, which is, like, everyone commits August. So I was, like, three months past that. So I had kind of come to terms. I had already applied to, like, eight schools and had kind of come to the realization that I probably wasn't going to play soccer. And so I got really lucky. The WashU coach reached out really late, and it happened really quickly within a week, offered me a spot. So I did, but then there was a good, like, month or two when I kind of realized it wasn't going to happen. And then, quick turn, and I did. I would say that there are times that I think I would and times that I don't. I think overall it would be a cool experience, but I don't think it's detracting that much from my life here. There are definitely other ways to get involved and spend your time and still have fun. Yeah, I would say I envy the idea of being on a sports team, and I envy playing the sport because I do miss playing soccer a lot. And even though I can, I guess I, like, I'm on the club team here, I can play for fun and do that when I want to. I definitely don't envy the time commitment it takes to be on a sports team. It's a lot. And even people tell you, oh, it's Division III soccer, it's whatever. I mean, Nate can speak more to this, but it still, from the outside, seems like a big commitment, regardless of if it's Division III or Division I. Division I is obviously more, but Division III still seems like a lot. I don't know how you feel about that. Yeah, I definitely agree. The part I enjoy about it, it's a time commitment, but, like, it doesn't take away from my social life. Like, I'm still friends with these guys and get to spend a lot of time with them. And, yes, it's a time commitment, but I wouldn't give it away because I don't feel like I'm sacrificing other things. Yeah. Do you guys think that, like, I mean, WashU sports, we have very, very little school spirit and school pride. I go to, like, I'll go to the soccer games to support him, and we have a couple other friends on the team, so I'll go to those. But I think, in general, I can probably count on my ten fingers how many sporting events I've been to here in my one and a half years, which I guess isn't that long, but it's not a great number. Do you think that, like, do you wish you went to a school with more school spirit, or are you kind of okay with this idea of, like, not really having any sort of affiliation with the sports at your school or the identity of the school? I'm happy with where it is because I think if you do have that school spirit and sports are a huge part of how social life is here, then you, like, a lot comes with that. And I didn't necessarily want all my time to be devoted to soccer. Like, I still enjoy hanging out with people on the academic side. So, like, I feel like if there was school spirit, then I would have to give up a lot more of my time just because the sport would be more intense. Yeah, definitely, that's an interesting perspective because I didn't think about it through, like, the athlete lens. But I think as a fan, like, I would definitely care a lot about that. I think growing up I watched a lot of college sports. Being from North Carolina, I was a big UNC fan. And I think that it's a lifelong thing to have when you go to a school that has good sports teams. Not only can you root in the moment and it becomes part of your social life, good activity, but also it keeps you connected to your school. And I think that a lot of people probably donate more and interact more with schools they still have that support for. Like, WashU, I doubt a lot of alumni are following, unless they played on that team, are following specific WashU sports. But, for example, like, my dad went to UNC and loves WashU. So was that a part of your, like, college process? Were you looking for a school or were you willing to give that up? Obviously you were, but... Yeah, I think I was willing to give it up, but I definitely wish I had thought about it a little more. I think my school, like, puts a lot of pressure on prioritizing academics. And so I, like, kind of looked for where I would think have good resources in academics while also having some social life. But I do wish I had taken that into account a little more when applying to colleges. And when you, like, applied, were you, like, and you decided to come here, were you, like, thinking, oh, I'll give up a little bit of the social life for that as well, for the academics? A little bit. I mean, I was thinking about going to UNC, which I think is a totally different social scene than here. So I understand a little bit of what I was giving up, but I also don't think I had a big grasp on what the WashU social scene was like. I'd say I'm a little disappointed, but not super disappointed. No, I mean, the WashU social scene is definitely disappointing. Yeah. It's definitely disappointing. There are good people here, but not a lot of stuff's going on. There's not a lot of, I would say there's not a lot of driving energy to try to make stuff happen here. A lot of people are extremely, like, regardless of what it is, even if you're going to, like, if you want to go, like, play, I would actually say the only thing there's driving energy for here is, like, pick up basketball. True. I mean, in terms of our lens, I never thought I'd step on a basketball court ever, and after coming here, like, I probably play three or four times a week with, we have a friend who's really, really good, and he kind of carries us on the court, and so we go with him and just let him run around. But I think, like, that general energy is kind of lacking here, which kind of is a little disappointing, but also, like, it's what kind of I think in some way you have to expect when you come to school like this because most people here are focused on the academic side of things and their kind of life after college. And so, I mean, what do you guys think of, like, the academic life at WashU? Do you think it's super hard, normal? Depends on your major, for sure. But I think most people in general are very, very focused on it, and I'd say I'd probably prefer to go to a school with a little less focus. I think it's better when you're more focused than the people around you so that there's always something going on when you don't want to be working. But when the people, almost everyone around you has equal or more drives and is, like, working all the time, then it's hard. I don't know if that would be good for us, though, like us three specifically, a place where there are people with less stuff to do. I feel like we would get distracted. I mean, coming from my – I feel like my high school was – my high school was pretty crazy in terms of that stuff, and, like, there's definitely less of focus on academics here than at my high school, which is kind of insane to say, but I think high school was, I mean, particularly focused. But, like, looking after and, like, do you guys – what kind of jobs are you guys looking at for after school? Because I know that's a big talk around Wash U right now in our grade is, what are you doing, like, what do you want to do? Are you super concerned? If you are even concerned about it, you might not even be concerned about it. I am not 100 percent sure. I'm not 100 percent sure on what I want to do yet, but I have to say I'm not super concerned, I don't think. I think that I'll be successful and happy in a lot of different places, and I feel like I don't really know what I want to do until I get into the workforce. This is, like, for college is what we were just saying. I thought I had an understanding of what I want, but I think that experience is the only way to say this is what I want, this is what I don't want. Yeah, I have no idea what I want to do, and I think this Christmas break will help a lot just knowing exactly what things are, calling people that are in certain fields and understanding what their life is like five, ten years out of college. That will help paint a clear picture of what I want. What about you, Ozzy? Yeah, I mean, I'm debating right now. I have started a little bit, not a lot, doing recruiting for investment banking, which kind of sucks, I'm not going to lie. It's a lot of work and a lot of phone calls with a lot of people, and I think that it kind of feels like the whole process to getting a job feels like you're faking yourself and they're faking you on who they are, which kind of sucks. But I guess that's a lot of life is presenting yourself to the best way that you think you can, and I think that this break will also probably, I'll probably sit down with my parents and other people for advice and really try to figure out what I want to do. But for now, I would say I'm a little up in the air, but leaning towards doing investment banking just because I've already started a little bit, but not a ton. But I think that we don't have that much time left, so I think a good note to end on would be, first of all, overall rating for our American falafel order, and what do you say the most creative thing that we got was in terms of their cooking and flavor and the touch that they put on it? And we'll start with that. Rating overall and most creative thing. Rating overall, I'm pretty satisfied, so I would give it like an E6, and I think the most creative thing was the pita chips. Yeah, the pita chips are – I actually don't know what pita chips typically are. I think they're just baked pita chips. I've only had the – what are the – Stacy's? Stacy's, yeah. Stacy's, yeah. Stacy's big brand of pita chips, but I think that these were – I'm pretty sure these were fried pita, which is good. Fried pita, I mean, I would give it a pretty high rating on terms of that. My rating would be an 8.9. I was also very satisfied. Great food. I haven't had this place in a while, so good experience overall. And then I'd say the most creative slash my favorite would be the falafel wrap. I think it was very well put together, simple but still very good. Yeah, I think overall I order from this place a lot, and I've kind of had a lot of the things we have just because it's a staple here in terms of if you're going to order food or eat off campus. But I think that the most creative thing I would definitely say are the fried pita chips. Hopefully not everybody fries their pita chips and we don't look stupid for saying that. I mean, it's very possible. But I would give this order – I'd give it a 9.2 out of 10 for what I usually expect from this place. Thank you guys for coming on and sharing your thoughts. I really appreciated the stories about your childhood and would love to have you guys back on later. This is kind of a weird goodbye because we'll probably see each other later and do work or hang out later. But for now, for the listeners, the listeners can say goodbye if you guys want to say goodbye. Thank you, guys. Thank you for listening. Thank you for listening to Food for Thought. Thank you for listening to the Food for Thought. Tough name, tough name. Thank you for listening to the Food for Thought podcast. We'll be back next week on the same day at the same time with an extra special guest. For now, I will see you later and make sure to try American Falafel.
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