Photo: Billy Hustace / robertharding (Getty Images)
Whether you’re single or dating, Stanford is overflowing with romantic places to wander. Make new memories or simply soak up the Californian atmosphere at one of these not-so-secret campus locations and return to class reinvigorated and inspired.
Lagunita
Lagunita is Stanford’s once full, and occasionally half-full, lake. The almost mile-long loop around “Lake Lag” takes you past fraternity houses, cooperative houses, the highway, and greenery. It even has a wooden plank turned bridge. Out here, the sky is wide overhead and the clouds are never the same. This little oasis is an easy, accessible, and wonderful place to clear your head before the start of the day or escape your dorm room at the end of a long study session.
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Axe and Palm
Every college has a greasy, open-late food venue. At Stanford it’s called the Axe and Palm. Offering everything from mac and cheese to boba, this spot is most frequented for its waffle fries. The music is another draw: they play pop hits you’ve forgotten about, tunes you listened to in the car as a teen, or the jams you used to jump and down to in a circle with your high school friends. The pool table is always occupied and the countdown to Stanford’s “big game” against rival Berkeley is ticking all the while. Time passes in TAP, but it doesn’t feel like it. The lights are always a little too bright, jarring you out of whatever hour you thought it was based on the day outside, and people are always filling and refilling the booths. While the setting isn’t romantic, per se, it does offer a collegiate and nostalgic opportunity to nosh on fries and catch up on the wiles and woes of the everyday.
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McMurty
Stanford recently shelled out for McMurtry, a sorely-needed art building. But the best part of this profoundly modern and tactile building just might be its unparalleled rooftop view. It’s the perfect place to watch to a sunset. Because it’s out of the way of the main quad, students don’t often come to the building unless they’re headed to art class, but if you’re willing to make the trek, the rewards are well worth it.
The Art and Architecture Library on the second floor is also a space of solitude and serenity. Treat yourself to some quiet time on a campus otherwise swarming with students on bikes, tourists with cameras, and high school tour groups.
