SM: How do people dress at Reed?
Emily: Indy hipster kids. I didn’t know what a hipster was before I came here, but I do now. It’s the typical Portland look: Thrift store clothes, a lot of people wear vintage. It’s a really cool sense of style at Reed. A lot have the dirty hair, second hand clothes, hippie image. The ‘I just spent all night at the library and didn’t shower’ look.

SM: How is the food on campus?
Emily: Pretty good, our cafeteria service uses a lot of organic produce, most locally grown, lots of vegan and vegetarian food, it’s definitely cafeteria food but on the high end.

SM: What do people do for spring break?
Emily: A lot try and get off campus, visit friends, family. You don’t hear too many students go off to Cancun or Florida. If we go away we usually just want to relax. Sometimes we go up to Washington or to California to go camping or the beach.

SM: Teachers at Reed have a budget to spend on students. How have you seen this spent?
Emily: I think they have about $100 per semester. I have seen it take the form of a spread of snacks on the last day of class. A couple of professors have invited us over for dinner. One invited us out to house for Moroccan feast.

SM: How do teachers interact with the students?
Emily: They treat us like grad students. Some professors allow their intro biology students to gather data for their research projects. You are connected to the professors and connected to their work.

SM: What is the atmosphere on campus like?
Emily: There’s a saying… You know you’ve found an extrovert at Reed when they stare at your feet instead of their own. In general, the student body is made of very brilliant passionate people that you sometimes have to talk to a bit to get them to open up. There are a lot of quieter people, fun geeks. Socially acceptable geeks. Everyone is just so intelligent, so passionate, and they have high expectations for the people around them. Once you do make friends they are friends for life.