My name is Jo Gallagher, and I am an addict.
Yes, it’s true. I’ll admit it. I am incapable of going a (week)day without a Waddick’s breakfast sandwich.
Believe it or not, I spent my entire freshman year at Notre Dame without once stepping foot inside of this holiest of cafés. Back then I was a conscientious and responsible student. Always eating breakfast at the dining hall. Never running late to class because of the atrociously long line. I was blissful. I was oblivious. Why, oh, why was the Waddick’s line always so long? I didn’t stop to find out.
Little did I know that I was missing out on an unparalleled breakfast experience.I remember my first true Waddick’s experience like it was yesterday. It was midway through the fall semester of my sophomore year. I was roaming around O’Shaughnessy after one of my classes was dismissed early and suddenly thought, Ah! Now is the perfect time to see what all the fuss is about!
I strolled in and uttered the words that would soon change my life, “I’ll have a breakfast croissant with ham, please.”That was it. I was a goner.
The next day I never made it to the dining hall. I was up and dressed and halfway across South Quad before I was even fully awake. I wanted to beat the line. And beat the line I did. I was so early that I had time to have TWO breakfast sandwiches before my first class. AND a coffee! The new breakfast of champions. (Who even eats Wheaties anymore?)
A Waddick’s breakfast became so ingrained in my routine that I was incapable of starting my day without it. Some of you might be Starbucks addicts. So much so that the barista knows you by name and starts getting your usual order ready even before you’ve reached the register. That’s me. Except not Starbucks. Waddick’s. Beautiful, beloved, scrumptious Waddick’s. A delicious haven for beleaguered Arts and Letters students and the site of my transcendent breakfast experience.
A Waddick’s breakfast became my one true pleasure in life. It was a time of peace and tranquility before the daily grind of classes started. But alas! After too short a time, my flex points dried up. The prolonged effect of continuously buying a breakfast sandwich instead of having a (now despised) dining hall meal had started to take its toll on my finances. I started buying with my own meager funds. They dried up even faster than my flex points had! I started working extra shifts at work to feed my addiction. I solicited more money from my long-suffering mother (who eventually cut me off). All to no avail! Whatever money I had, my incessant need for more breakfast sandwiches ate it up. (Pun intended.)I somehow managed to finish the year despite not being able to afford a breakfast sandwich before any of my finals. (I truly don’t know how I found the strength to do this.) I blame this unfortunate situation for my less than stellar final grades.
It was a long summer spent away from my much-loved Waddick’s, but I have returned triumphant! Ready to consume as many breakfast sandwiches as my wallet will allow!
This article is a call to action. We breakfast sandwich lovers must unite and petition Waddick’s to open every day of the week! And for those of you poor, lost souls who have never experienced Waddick’s or their superb breakfast sandwiches, this is a simple plea to go and to taste breakfast heaven.
Thank me later.
Follow HCND on Twitter, like us on Facebook, Pin with us and show our Instagram some love!