Summer Sign-Off

Welcome to the last blog from this year’s summer guides! I hope you all

have enjoyed hearing what we have to say, and we’ve really appreciated

you reading. For this last blog, each of us will write about what we’re looking

forward to this upcoming year at UVa. Please feel free to reach out to any of

us with questions about school, Charlottesville, or anything UVa! 

Abby

I’ll be working with Athletics Marketing for the Football, Field Hockey,

and Men’s and Women’s Lacrosse teams this year. UVa offers lots of

internships for students, and great opportunities for learning about careers. 

Alex 

This year, Alex is living in a house with all friends from her first year at

UVa. After your first year, you are free to live off-Grounds, so they’ve

chosen a great house close to UVa. 

Isaiah 

At the end of your second year at UVa, it’s time to declare your major. Isaiah

is entering his second year, and will be declaring majors in Sociology and

African & African American Studies soon. 

Lily

Lily is in our interdisciplinary American Studies major, and she is looking

at graduate programs in American Studies and History. Many students from

UVa choose to apply to grad school, and Lily is one of them!

Maddie 

Maddie will be studying abroad at Regent’s University in London as an

Upperclassmen mentor with UVa’s London First program. The program

allows first year students to study abroad before they get to UVa, and

Maddie will be there helping them all learn about college life!

Sabrina

Sabrina is starting a new job at Urban Outfitters in the Downtown Mall.

The Mall is a great place to work since there’s always so much going on and

it’s really close to UVa. Plus, employee discount!

Sam

Sam is majoring in Political Philosophy, Policy, and Law in the Batten School

of Leadership and Public Policy. This major requires an application at the end

of your second year, so Sam will be starting coursework this fall after having

been accepted in the spring. 

Stefan 

Stefan will be an RA this year! RA’s help first-year students adjust to life at UVa,

create community within dorms, and just make all of the students feel more at home. 

Will 

Will is studying abroad in Valencia, Spain for an entire year! He will be working

on classes for his Spanish and Media Studies majors, and traveling around Europe.

Will is one of only a few students who will study abroad for two semesters, and it

is a great opportunity to travel and learn more about

You-Jin 

You-Jin works at our Career Center at UVa, and she is excited to keep working there

up and into this year. 

Thanks again for keeping up with all of us this summer! I’ve loved writing the blogs

every week, and feel free to email me at ars4qj@virginia.edu with any UVa questions.

Have a great year and Wahoowa!
Signing off, 

Abby S. 

The Ultimate UVa Packing List

Hi all! Since summer is coming to an end soon, we wanted to help you all get

ready for school starting in just a week!! When you come to college you’ll

probably remember all the standard stuff: sheets, clothes, school supplies, and all

that. Today, we’ve gathered a list of what we loved having in our first year at UVa,

or things we wish we’d had! 

Alex - String Lights

You’ve all seen it - the dorm on Pinterest with the pretty twinkly lights surrounding

the room. They’re cute decorations, but they’re functional too! Dorm rooms have

bright fluorescent lights, and those aren’t always great if you’re just trying to relax.

The string lights are really pretty decorations, but they can also make your dorm

feel a lot more like home. 

Mint plant - via Goodhousekeeping.com.

Lily - Mint or Basil Plant

Plants can brighten up the space, and they’re a lot of fun to take care of. When

you have an herb plant, you can eat the leaves! Grab some lemonade from the

dining hall and drop in a few mint leaves for a delicious and fun dorm room

snack. 

Will - Husband pillow

These comfy pillows - via Target.com.

AMAZING for lounging about. Your dorm is probably smaller than your room

at home, so you can really only use your bed or desk to sit. This pillow can

make that a lot more comfortable. Whether you put it behind your bed or in your

desk chair, this pillow is your friend. 

Associate Dean Jeanine Lalonde - Shower Shoes and Caddy 

Sharing a shower with strangers is a fun new adventure you get to experience in

college, so make sure you bring these items! They can make sharing a shower

easier, and cleaner. 

Maddie - Good pillow and mattress cover

On top of extra pillows, you need a solid pillow to sleep on. It’ll help you sleep

better, and feel better. A mattress topper of cover can be great as well, those are

like giant pillows that cover your entire mattress. You can find foam covers, down

covers, and even memory foam toppers, all of which make your mattress feel a

lot more comfy every night. 

I would DIVE into that bed - via Dormco.com.

Abby - Laundry Supplies

Doing your own laundry requires bringing in your own detergent, but laundry

is so much more than that. A lot of times, your clothes can get wrinkled and messy

on the trip to college, and stuffed away in drawers all the time. To help, bring some

Downy Wrinkle Releaser and a stain remover stick! It can be great to help if you

need to get a shirt unwrinkled fast, or you spill dining hall ice cream on your pants.

Make sure you’re always prepared, and you’ll feel great with clean clothes. 

Admissions Counselor Tim Kimble - Bed risers 

Having a lofted bed can give you a huge amount of space. Most of the beds at UVa

will be built so that you can loft them however you want, but having bed risers can

be really helpful if you don’t have one of those beds, or just because they’re easier

to use. 

The UVa Bookstore (above) is the place to find your UVa gear -

via arts.virginia.edu. 

The Whole Gang - All your UVa Gear

You’re finally here! Now is the time to wear all your shirts, put up your posters, don

your foam fingers and celebrate being a Hoo!

Thanks for reading, everyone! Hopefully this was a helpful list in what you’ll need

coming to school. Feel free to email us or shoot a message to @uva_summer on

Instagram with any questions. Check back next week for the (gasp) FINAL blog

from your summer guides!

Signing off,

Abby S.

Cheering on the Hoos: Virginia Sports

Happy Monday, Hoos! Today, we’re covering one of my favorite topics,

sports. UVa is an NCAA Division 1 Varsity School, and we have 27 Varsity

programs, including two who are national champions. Since most of us are

not varsity athletes, this blog will tell you everything you need to know to be

a Virginia fan.

The Virginia Cavaliers

Our school colors here are blue and orange, and on game day, you’ll see them

everywhere. People will wear shirts, pants, dresses, shoes, hats, bags, jackets,

and EVERYTHING navy and orange to our games. Our mascot is a Cavalier,

a soldier (complete with a sword and a tri-tipped hat) riding into battle on a horse.

We call our mascot “CavMan,” and he is played by students across the University,

and attends most of our sports games. At our football games, we even have a real-

life Cavalier come out of the athlete entrance and ride around the stadium. 

Cavaliers are our mascot, but we also call ourselves the “Hoos,” or the “Wahoos.”

Though we don’t quite know the origin of the name, we think it comes from when

Virginia rivals called our fans “just a bunch of Wahoos,” and we took that name

and ran with it. When you come to one of our games, you’ll hear people cheering

out for both the Cavaliers and the Hoos, but they’re all cheering for Virginia!

CavMan in action - via news.virginia.edu. 

The real CavMan - via Twitter (#cavman).

Student Tickets

At UVa, every single varsity home game has free admission for students. YES.

This means all games, all sports, are all free. You get to sit in what we call the

student section, which are groups of seats especially for students of the University.

This means you’ll get to be surrounded by other UVa fans, and by your friends!

At most games, all you have to do is show up with your student ID, swipe it, and

you’re in. The only exception to this rule is our Men’s Basketball team, and those

tickets are still free, but due to limited seating at John Paul Jones Arena, there’s a

lottery system for tickets.

Student Section - via virginiasports.com.

To get to Men’s Basketball games, you enter online that you would like a ticket,

and then wait and see what happens. BUT, there is an easy way to increase your

odds of getting a ticket: earning what we call Sabre Points. When you go to any

sports game outside of Men’s Bball, you accumulate these Sabre Points on your

Virginia Sports online account. Every football game earns you five points, while

other sports can earn you even more. The more points you have, the more likely

you are to get a ticket. On top of that, if you have more points, you get to enter

JPJ earlier. Basically the more games you go to, the more likely you are to get a

really got seat to see our basketball team.

Not at School?

There are plenty of ways to keep up with the Hoos if you’re not at school, or if

you’re a prospective student and not at UVa yet. Our student news outlet WUVA

will have footage and recaps online, including footage of all games and of the

student sections. The Cavalier Daily, our daily student newspaper, will also report

scores and recaps the next day. Outside of UVa’s student publications, there are

plenty of national news sources to watch on! UVa’s Athletic Conference, the ACC

(Atlantic Coastal Conference), is about to get its own network in September 2019.

The ACC Network (ACCN) is an ESPN affiliate and will cover all sports games

across the conference. This includes Virginia’s games! Be sure to check out if your

cable provider is offering the ACCN when it launches later this year. 

ACCN affiliates - via Clemsonsports.com. 

Why sports?

I said earlier that this was one of my favorite things about being a student at UVa.

Sports have always been important to me, whether I was playing sports as a kid or

watching football with my family (go Ravens CAW). Coming to UVa, sports can be

a great way to bond with your friends and to meet new people who are interested in

the same things as you. You can cheer with the whole school at our bigger games like

Men’s Basketball and Football, or you can explore allthe cool sports we have here and

view a swim meet, a lacrosse game (with our ACC and NCAA National Championship

winning Men’s Team), or explore from one of our many 27 NCAA programs. Sports

can be a great way to come together, rock your orange and navy, and cheer on your team

and your friends.

Student Section for UVa Football. 

UVa the night of the Men’s Basketball NCAA Championship win, 2019. 

Sports are a fantastic part of UVa, and they really bring us all together. When you

come to UVa, make sure to catch some of our sports games, and have fun cheering

on the Hoos!
Signing of, 

Abby S.

UVa Traditions and Lingo

Happy last day of Back to School Week, readers! In this blog, we’re covering

one of the most important things you’ll encounter coming to UVa: why is

everyone saying these weird words? At UVa, we have almost our own language

of words and terms that we say to each other. We want to share that lingo with you

so that you’re prepared to walk and talk like a Wahoo from day one!

The Big Ones

Wahoo: A Wahoo or Hoo is sort of our unofficial mascot, originating from when

opponents of UVa called Virginia fans “a bunch of Wahoos.” We took ownership

of the term, and still use it all over “Hooville” (UVa) today!

Grounds: Grounds is our fancy word for campus! 

Academical Village: The original design of UVa! Made up of the Rotunda, ten

Pavilions, and 54 Lawn Rooms, the Academical Village is the part of UVa that

was designed by Thomas Jefferson.

 

Academical Village and Lawn at UVa - via C-ville.com. 

The Lawn: The Lawn is the central part of UVa, which is made up of the original

design of the University. This is the green space between the buildings of the

Academical Village, and is essentially UVa’s “quad.”

Lawnie: Refers to the fourth-year students who live in the original Lawn Rooms

on Grounds. 

First, Second. Third, and Fourth-Year: We say this instead of freshman,

sophomore, junior, and senior. This is to refer to the idea that learning never ends

even after you leave the University, and that you are merely in your fourth-year. 

The College: UVa’s College of Arts and Sciences, containing most of our majors,

and students!

Map of Central Grounds at UVa - via virginia.edu.

Comm School: The McIntire School of Commerce, which is UVa’s undergraduate

business program. It is referred to as the Comm School instead of business because

the Darden Graduate School of Business was here first, and claimed the title of

business school at UVa.

A-School: UVa’s School of Art and Architecture.

E-School: UVa’s School of Applied Sciences and Engineering.

Curry: The Curry School of Education at UVa. 

Places Around Grounds

The Corner: The strip of restaurants and shops on University Ave., right behind

the Rotunda. This is where students spend a lot of their time outside of class to hang

out with friends, get food, or watch our sports teams during away games.

The Corner at night - via Charlottesville Guide. 

AFC: The Aquatics and Fitness Center, one of the main gyms at UVa, with a full

50 meter pool and the largest hot tub East of the Mississippi.

Mem Gym: Memorial Gymnasium, the oldest gym on Grounds!

JPJ: John Paul Jones Arena, where UVa’s basketball teams, including our NCAA

and ACC National Championship winning Men’s Basketball Team, play.

Our Championship winning team - via Roanoke.com. 

Old Dorms: The first-year dorms on McCormick Road.

New Dorms: The first-year dorms on Alderman Road. Read more about our dorms

in the last two blog entries: On-Grounds Housing - First Year and Beyond parts one

and two!

Other Fun Ones

The Good Old Song: Our school song! After we score at football games, after big

wins, or whenever Wahoos come together, we all link arms and sing out the Good

Old Song together. The words are easy to remember, and it won’t be long before you

know them all!

Fans cheering and singing at a football game - via virginiasports.com.

SIS: The Student Information System, the website where UVa students can enroll

for courses, check their financial aid, and handle other student tasks.
Collab: Another website for UVa students, but this one with course resources Here

you can upload papers, find your class syllabi, and look at anything else you may

need for class, including your grade!

CIOs: Our term for clubs. It stands for Contracted Independent Organizations, which

is to signify that all of our clubs here are started by students, run by students, and

funded by student council. 

Beta Bridge’s many layers of paint - via UVa Today.

Beta Bridge: A bridge on Rugby Road where students are allowed to paint

messages! You’ll see messages informing people of upcoming events on Grounds,

elections, or of big milestones for UVa and our CIOs. 

We hope this guide will help you feel a little more at home here at UVa! As always,

let us know if you have any questions at all. We’ll see you back at Hoostories next

week, but until then!

Signing off, 

Abby S.