Getting Around: Busses and Bikes

Welcome back to Hoostories, everybody! This topic is really important when coming

in to college: how do I get everywhere? Today, we want to cover all the ways that UVa

students get from place to place, so that you can be a Master-Navigator of Grounds

when you come to UVa, this fall or anytime. 

Driving

As far as cars go, you can’t have one as a first-year. This might feel like a bummer, but

because UVa is so easy to get around using public transportation, walking, and biking,

having a car is not the priority of most students here. Parking can also get expensive in

college towns, so you don’t have to worry about getting a parking permit, or paying

for parking in your first year on Grounds. You can bring one your second, third, and

fourth year, so if you love your car, fear not! 

Busses

Via parking.virginia.edu

YES. UVa students have great access to busses during their time here. There are two free

bus lines for all students to use, the first is the University Transit System, which we call

the UTS or UVa busses. Those busses run to absolutely everywhere you need to go. If

it’s cold out and you don’t want to walk to class, the busses have you. If you just finished

at the gym and you feel like your legs might give out, bus it back to your dorm. If you’re

volunteering at the hospital, you can take a bus right to your shift. Even if you need to get

groceries, go to Chipotle, or run to a friend’s apartment Off-Grounds, the busses have

stops at ALL those places. There will always be busses that can take you where you need

to go. You can find a full list of schedules and stops using the link below, and you can

check when the busses arrive and leave stops using the Rider app. 

https://parking.virginia.edu/university-transit-service

In addition to our UVa busses, we have Charlottesville Area Transit System (CAT) busses

as well! The CAT busses are also all free for UVa students, and these busses an take you

just about anywhere in Charlottesville. My favorite is the Trolley, a bus which takes

people from first-year dorms, through Central Grounds, right to Charlottesville’s Downtown

Mall, and then back. The CAT busses are great resources for getting around, and having

these two bus lines make getting around Grounds and getting around the city a breeze. Plus,

the CAT busses have an app too, so you’ll always know when they’re coming and going.

Full list of stops and schedules below!
https://www.charlottesville.org/departments-and-services/city-services/charlottesville-area

-transit-cat/schedules-maps

Bikes

UBikes from UVa’s Bikeshare Program - via UBike Facebook Group.

I have always loved biking, and brought my bike to college. UVa is a great place to bike,

with bike paths on almost all roads, well-paved streets, and really accessible bike trails all

around grounds. If you don’t have a bike, you can utilize UVa’s Ubikes, which are fleets

of the blue bikes you see above. You can pay to unlock them, ride them anywhere, and lock

the bike when you’re done. Bikes are a great way to keep active and have fun, and get all

around UVa and Charlottesville.

Walking

Walking in front of Old Cabell Hall - via UVa Today. 

A CLASSIC mode of transportation. We may have lots of busses and bikes here, but UVa

is a very walkable campus. In my first year, I lived in the furthest away dorm building

AND the furthest away room, but my walk to class was still less than 15 minutes every day.

You have access to really great transportation here at UVa, but you can always walk

anywhere, even off-Grounds. We have sidewalks on all the streets in and around UVa, great

lighting, and signs absolutely everywhere so that you won’t get lost walking in your first

few days on-Grounds. 

Limes
You've probably seen them taking over the nation: electric scooters. As frequently as I
compare them to geese for a typical limer's aggression, ubiquity, and threat of dive-bombing,
they are actually pretty convenient (oops). They are $1 t start up and 15 cents for each minute.
You can drop them wherever you are done with your ride which means there are always limes
in heavily trafficked areas like apartment complexes, dining halls, and academic buildings.
However, if you leave one then turn back around, it will most likely be gone already. Liming is
a cheap and addicting alternative to the bus system but if you do partake, please respect
pedestrians.

Lime Scooters - via Newsweek.

No matter how you choose to get around, UVa has really great transportation systems in

place for all our students. We even have those Lime scooters everywhere, and those have

been really popular among students in the last few months. If you have any questions about

transportation here, please feel free to reach out and ask! Check back tomorrow for more

info about coming to school at UVa. 

Signing off,

Abby S. and Will S. 

Fall Activities Fair

Hello Hoos! For the second installment of Back to School week, we want to tell you

about one of the best ways to get involved on Grounds, and how to find your group

of people!

Activities Fair - via news.virginia.edu.

With 16,000 undergrads, UVa is a big school, with a lot of people. Especially when

you come in to college from high school, it can feel a little overwhelming to be

surrounded by so many people. That’s where UVa’s Fall Activities Fair comes in! UVa

has over 900 student organizations, and all of them come down to the Amphitheater 

and South Lawn on one specific day at the beginning of the year. They come bearing

gifts of free pamphlets, pens, cups, shirts, and popsicles for all attendees. You can wander

through the rows of clubs without a goal and explore everything, or you can take a look

at the map and find what you’re interested in. There are so many choices, I just like to

walk around and sign up for EVERYTHING, that way you have more time to think

about what to commit to! You can sign up for clubs without having to officially join,

and it can be a great way to really explore everything that UVa has to offer. 

UVa’s Amphitheater - via UVa Event Planning Services. 

Some of our favorite club fair memories:

“I keep being approached by women’s club basketball and rowing, they once jumped
over a little fence to ask if I’d join.”

-Maddie (6’1”)

“I was hanging out at the club fair passing out flyers, when we got to see the solar
eclipse! It was really cool to see it, and everyone passed around glasses to view it.”

-Lily (picture courtesy of Maddie)

“The club fair is always somehow on the hottest day of the year, and getting a popsicle
from club swim saved the day! I joined the team after that.”

-Will

Just for fun - via Clipart. 

The Activities Fair can be a great time to find your people at UVa, to start something
new, and to explore all that we have to offer here. Be sure to check it out when you get
back to school, whether you’re a new first year, a transfer, or a current student looking to
see more! And check the link below for lists and descriptions of UVa’s clubs. 

Signing off,

Abby S.

UVa Student Life Web Resource:

https://www.virginia.edu/life/activities

Course Registration

This week, we wanted to help you get ready for UVa! Whether you’re a new first-

year or a transfer, returning for the new year, or an applicant looking to learn more

about student life at UVa, these blogs are for every Wahoo. 

Welcome to UVa, everybody!! - via news.virginia.edu.

At UVa, SIS is your friend. SIS is the student portal where you’ll check your

application status as a prospective student, where you’ll check your financial aid

application and status, and where you’ll handle most of your student responsibilities.

One day during the semester, you’ll log in and see that you have an “Enrollment Time”

scheduled on SIS, a time when you can pick your classes. What does this mean?!?!?

How do I enroll?!? FEAR NOT! Your summer guides are here to show you how to

enroll in courses here at UVa. 

Step 1: Courses Released

Every semester, there is a certain day where you can begin “shopping” for courses. This

means you can see what courses are being taught in the upcoming semester, and which

professors are teaching them. This “shopping period” is when you can begin to search for

which classes you want to take, and when you can add courses to your “Shopping Cart”

on SIS. You can begin to add courses on to the cart before your enrollment date and time.

This way, you’ll have an idea of what you want your schedule to look like. For help

finding courses you’d like, move on to Step 2!

Step 2: Lou’s List

Lou’s List is the best way to find what courses you want, and what courses you need.

The site lists all the courses we offer in a given semester, and who teaches them. Best of

all, you can organize the courses by department, or by what requirement they fill towards

your general ed. requirements! This way, you can find courses in departments you are

interested in, and make sure you’re taking what you need to graduate, too. 

Link for Lou’s List: https://rabi.phys.virginia.edu/mySIS/CS2/

Step 3: Advisor Hold

Before you enroll in classes, you must meet with your advisor to go over what you plan

to take, and make sure you’re on the right track. You can go to your advisor with a full

schedule of what you hope to take, or you can go asking for help with the whole process.

Your advisor is there to help you and make sure you are getting a schedule that you’re

happy with, so use this time to your advantage! Your advisor can be an invaluable
resource in helping you find interesting courses, and in making sure you will be ready
to graduate in four years. 

Rendering of the future Advising Center in Clemons Library - via news.virginia.edu.

Step 4: Ready to enroll!

That’s it! Once you’ve met with your advisor, you just have to wait until your

enrollment time. Once you get to that time, you simply check off your favorite courses

in your Shopping Cart, and click enroll. You can enroll in 15 credits, so you can select

about five courses. After all the UVa students have enrolled, you can add more credits

to your schedule. If you need help with choosing courses or with the enrollment process

at all, you can reach out to advisors, professors, TAs, or your friends! Older students at

UVa will be more than happy to help you, we’ve all been there before and we want

everyone to have a schedule they can be excited about. 

Look, CavMan is excited about course enrollment too! - via news.virginia.edu.

I hope this guide was helpful for choosing courses up into the upcoming school year.

Course selection won’t begin until mid-fall, but it’s never too early to get ready! Feel

free to reach out to us with any questions, and keep reading this week for more about

UVa student experiences!

Signing off,

Abby S.

The Out-of-State Experience

Don’t know what NOVA is? (Don’t care?)

About a third of UVa’s students come from outside of the state of Virginia. This includes
students from all across the United States and the world. Being out-of-state (OOS) at a
school where the majority of students are from Virginia has its difficulties, but ultimately,
every student has a great experience at UVa, and everyone experiences UVa differently.
Today, the OOS interns want to talk about some of the best parts of coming to UVa from
another place. 

Charlottesville from above - via Wikipedia. 

Outside Your Comfort Zone - Alex

Charlotte, NC

When I first got to UVA, I thought when people said “NOVA” that they were talking
about Villanova. I thought it was weird that people were talking so much about a school
in Pennsylvania when we were sitting at our own school in Virginia. I eventually learned
that “NOVA” is short for Northern Virginia, a swath of suburban streets outside of DC.
As someone not from Virginia and not from suburbs of any kind, this was all new to me.
But that’s the thing, everything in college is new, and that’s part of the fun of it. Whether
you go to school in your hometown or thousands of miles from where you grew up, college
is about experiencing new things for the first time: maybe your first time living independent
of your parents, your first time not knowing everyone around you, or your first time sprinting
naked down the Lawn towards the Homer statue at 2am on a Friday night. No one has any
idea what they’re doing in the beginning of college, regardless of whether they come from
Virginia or not. And even if they’re from Virginia, they may be the only person from their
town and are walking in just as blind as the kid from Argentina. Embrace it! Get outside of
your comfort zone, eat new food, and surround yourself with people who look like you and
those who are drastically different. 

Hot Commodities - Will

Winston-Salem, NC

I remember coming into UVA as an out of state student, my biggest misconception was that
EVERY person from Virginia knew EVERY other person from Virginia. There is partial truth
to this in the fact that your Virginian friends will almost undoubtedly know other people from
their high school, people they competed against in sports, from their hometowns, etc.
However, I falsely equivocated knowing people to having set friend circles. I eventually
learned that this was far from the truth. The fact is that the vast majority of these students are
coming from their toxic and suffocating high school friend groups and are really looking to
branch out and meet new people. That makes out of state students somewhat of a hot
commodity, and once I realized that, I never had a problem making new friends.

New experiences! - Sabrina

Cape Coral, FL

One of the coolest things about being an OOS student is having a fresh start in a new town
you most likely wouldn’t go to otherwise. Before college, I had no idea what Charlottesville
was, or really Virginia for that matter. Coming from somewhere with a completely different
climate and topography (Florida), it’s been a whole new experience I probably wouldn’t have
gotten had I stayed in-state. With that being said, exploring a new city is so much fun, as well.
At this point in my college career, I can proudly call C'ville my second home, and I really
couldn’t imagine myself anywhere else. I’ve had so many new experiences both inside
C'ville and the greater VA area (NOVA anyone? ;) ) and have had to make different adjustments
that have been essential to my character development! 

Charlottesville’s Downtown Mall - via Pinterest.com.

That OOS Bond - Abby

Leonardtown, MD

For me, one of the hardest things about coming from OOS is not knowing a lot of people at
UVa. I didn’t know any people coming in to UVa at all, and I was nervous about making friends
and getting to know people here. My first-year roommate and suitemates were from Virginia,
and they knew people at UVa before classes began, where I didn’t. My in-state friends were
amazing, and introduced me to all of the people they knew, and it was really cool to get to know
a lot of people quickly. What I also discovered about being OOS here is that students from
outside Virginia, regardless of their home state, quickly bond over being from another place.
It is a really cool way to meet people who come from different backgrounds and make great
friends. Basically, when you come from outside of Virginia, you come in with people all across
the world and you all have that in common. 

We love all of our in-state and out-of-state friends, and we hope this blog gave you some
insight as to what it’s like to be an out-of-state student here at UVa. If you have any questions,
please feel free to reach out to any of us!

Signing off,

Abby, Alex, Sabrina, and Will

Being In-State

Hello again all! Today, we're going to tell you about experiences in-state students have while attending UVa. Being an in-state student comes with it's advantages, notably cheaper tuition. But there is a lot more to being an in-state student at UVa, read more below!

Isn't she a beaut?

Being close to home

The year is 2019. March.

My lymph nodes: swollen. My headache: roaring. My desire to be swaddled like a tiny little baby: raging. The cause, according to the lovely folks at Elson Student Health: mono. Home is such a sweet, sweet sound right about now.

But wonderfully, the Northeast Regional Amtrak is only $32 and a Facebook group entitled “Hoos Riding Hoos Driving” is brimming with postings offering a ride. Home is, in fact, so very close.

The beauty of being an instate student at UVA is the ability to quickly traverse between independence and familiarity. You can be the self-sufficient goddess of academia in seminar Friday afternoon and a sickly infant surrounded by family at home Friday evening. You can go from peak-career 1999 Britney Spears to 1993 Mickey Mouse Club Britney Spears in just a couple hours.

While the college experience affords you the luxury of personal independence and the space to explore your identity at the cusp of adulthood, being an instate student at UVA also makes it easy to return to the comforts and compassion of home when you’re sick or simply having a bad week.

State Pride

There is something really cool about being able to represent the state and the place where you grew up. When you're at a football game or a basketball game and the crowd is chanting for Virginia, it's not only your college home and the place where you found your friends, it's the place where you grew up with your family.

Being from Virginia and being a UVa student, you can take pride in not just the state that you've made your home, but the place where you've called home for a long time. 

The Rotunda - via news.virginia.edu.

A Familiar Place, a New Life

Coming to college is a start to a new part of your life, and as an in-state student, you get to experience that new part in a place that you know and love. UVa is the #1 Most Beautiful School in the nation, and you can feel comfortable here in this place you've always known, and explore it as a new college student. Maybe you've come to C'ville on a field trip to Monticello, or attended a summer camp or Model UN at UVa, but now you can come in, make friends, and make this amazing place you're home. 

No matter where you're from, there's really nowhere like UVa. Check back tomorrow to hear from out-of-state interns about their experiences, and as always, WAHOOWA!

Signing off,

The In-State Interns