Tour University of Montana’s New Dining Center with Epic Drone Footage

We all have memories of the school cafeteria. The days you would anticipate what kind of mystery meat the lunch lady was serving up that day. Or, if you were lucky, it was pizza day. As the popular Adam Sandler song "Lunch Lady Land" goes, "Yesterday's meatloaf is today's sloppy joes." With cafeteria food, you just have to either accept what is on the day's menu or go without it.

Get our free mobile app

It wasn't until I got to the University of Montana that I realized that the school cafeteria was more than just raw pan pizza or mutated chicken parts. The UM cafeteria had a mind-blowing assortment of different foods. Everything from a BBQ buffet to an omelet station.

Now the University is taking the student dining experience to a whole new level.

PRESENTING: THE LODGE AT THE University of Montana

According to UM's Facebook page

In 1955, UM opened its doors to The Lodge, which operated as UM’s student union building until 1998. The building was renamed the Emma B. Lommasson center in 2001. The Lodge Dining Center has been under construction for three years, reflecting a central infrastructure improvement of $47 million that will serve as the campus’s primary dining center for first-year students, student athletes, UM faculty and staff and community members.

Take a look for yourself. The University of Montana released drone footage showing just how big The Lodge really is.

This new dining center is massive. Capacity for 1,000 people.Two outside dining decks. A floor-to-ceiling indoor/outdoor fireplace.Communal spaces, quiet spaces, and fun spaces.