A constant in my life, no matter how many overdue papers I need to turn in or exams I have coming up, is my weekly debrief with my friends at Chick-a-dee’s Family Restaurant.

I discovered Chick-a-dee’s on family weekend last year. The Nucleus had a line out the door, and I’d already made my parents wait hours after their normal breakfast time because I refuse to wake up when the time is still in the single digits.

My dad Googled breakfast places in the area, and Chick-a-dee’s was the first thing to pop up. We headed over and walked into a charming little restaurant.

The first thing I noticed was the sign by the door that said the restaurant only served biscuits and gravy on the weekends, and I immediately knew what I wanted to order.

Since that first time at Chick-a-dee’s, I haven’t deviated from my original order. I always get a hot chocolate and a water, then a full order of biscuits and gravy with two eggs.

Last year, my friends and I had a tradition of meeting up at Hilltop on Saturday mornings to go over the antics of the night before, but driving to campus on a Saturday doesn’t have quite the same appeal as walking there from Towers.

We knew we had to carry on this tradition, but preferably somewhere where the eggs didn’t taste like rubber and the meat wasn’t quite so suspicious.

Introducing my friends to Chick-a-dee’s felt like the perfect solution, and I was absolutely right.

A perk of being one of the only ones in my group with a car — and the one with the best gas mileage — is the privilege of bussing everyone around.

Every Saturday morning, I gather my friends from the various places they ended up at the night before, then drive us all to Chick-a-dees together.

We tell our renditions of our nights until our food comes, then eat in silence for the next 10 or so minutes.

A good breakfast on a college student’s budget can be a bit of a stretch at times. With an income of approximately $0, not including the occasional $5 bill from Grandma, real food isn’t always an option.

The majority of the Chick-a-dee’s menu, though, is under $10. They’re the kind of prices that don’t hurt to look at, even with rent due in three days.

Despite my dedication to my original Chick-a-dee’s order, I’ve tried the majority of the breakfast items. My friends switch up their orders much more often than I do, and are always generous enough to offer me a bite.

I’ve never had something at Chick-a-dee’s I didn’t love. It’s the kind of restaurant that gives you a taste of home, like your mom’s cooking but better.

I came back up to Eau Claire at the end of August, and I loved every second back at school until sometime at the beginning of October when a wave of homesickness hit and wouldn’t go away.

Breakfast with my friends every weekend is just a little thing that keeps me inspired to push through especially hard weeks, and Chick-a-dee’s has become like a home away from home.

Price can be reached at [email protected].