<p>re two things i’m very familiar with: one. the veg culture. there are A LOT of vegetarians here when numbers are compared to a random sampling of the country’s population. i’ve met several other vegans as well (there are six vegetarians on my hall, half of which are vegan. it’s awesome). sharples has a vegetarian bar, and all of the food seems to be better than/as good as the regular offerings; additionally they are always open to suggestions. people are pretty aware about vegetarianism in general here, and not only does earthlust exist and is awesome, as dchow mentioned, but the ARC–the Animal Rights Coalition–is small but exists on campus as well. they do lots of advocacy/awareness-raising things. the good food project, which focuses on gardening and bringing fresh, local food to sharples, among similar issues, is also rather vegetarian-oriented. media, just a few minutes away, has a good indian restaurant with lots of veg options, and heng’s thai, across the street, has tons of AWESOME veg options. even the local chinese restaurant, cheng hing, will deliver to your door hot vegetarian pork or chicken with shiitake mushrooms, fresh vegetables, and brown rice, all within fifteen minutes of your call. of course, as has been mentioned, philly is a not-so-bad septa or shuttle ride away (i’ve been to philly three times this year already and have plans to go again in two weeks). horizons, just off of south street, is the most sublimely indulgent places to eat ever and is totally vegan. definitely worth going to if you manage to save a little extra up. but a myriad of other vegetarian restaurants of varying price ranges exist in philly, including a street cart vendor that sells quick vegan food during the spring/summer/fall. or you can venture to whole foods and load up on their gigantic hot bar’s offerings and bring back some goods to put in your fridge when sharples is just not cutting it for your vegetarian appetite. (there’s also a slightly less impressive whole foods not so far from campus, near villanova, and a trader joe’s exists a few minutes away in media).
a vegetarian will likely feel more comfortable and happy at swat than anywhere in the “real world”.</p>
<p>re outdoorsiness: i’m also an outdoors person. i LOVE the crum and go there about every other day. it’s magnificently beautiful and great for running and simple rock climbing/hiking. it’s usually not very crowded. i only see people about once every twenty minutes or so on even the nicest of days. i would highly recommend the crum for outdoors fixes at swat. it works. but when you learn all the trails in the crum a bit too well, there’s the outsiders club! this group goes on hikes/rock climbing events/orchard fruit picking/to other outdoor activities at least once a week weather permitting. there’s no need for concern. despite the proximity to philly, there are ample opportunities to get your nature on while at swarthmore.</p>
<p>this is a great place.</p>