It's always the small things in life...

Hey guys! Thanks for checking out the Hoo Stories blog! You won’t regret it—okay, I might be biased—but, seriously, I think you’ll find helpful information here as you read through some posts.

Here’s my quick blurb to introduce myself: I’m Christina Reynolds, a second year in the College of Arts and Sciences (CLAS). I’m hoping to major in Commerce and toying with the idea of majoring in Financial Math, too. I come from the sunny beaches of Fort Lauderdale, Florida (if any of you OOS are curious about the transition, feel free to email me!) Although I do sometimes miss the sand between my toes, I absolutely LOVE living in Charlottesville and going to UVA—the seasons, the college town, the school spirit, and I could go on for hours, but I’ll save that for another post! I enjoy spending my free time working with Second Year Council and greening our community as a member of StudCo, as well as with my sorority and writing for you! (Here's a pic of me enjoying my first snowy winter with some sorority sisters—I'm the one on the right :)

It was difficult to choose one topic for my first post, but it became obvious as I went to the AFC (our newest gym, right between old and new dorms) yesterday—one subtle thing reminded me of why I absolutely love UVA and am so happy to be a Wahoo!

I’ve always walked to the AFC, as the commute totaled a whopping three minutes last year. Now that I’m living on the Corner, I decided to drive for time’s sake (gotta make it to class!) Anyway, I knew there was some sort of parking fee to park in front of the AFC, so I went inside to see what it was all about. As expected, it was a typical parking meter that I’d see at any garage or airport. I paid (thankfully, a reasonable $.50/hr), printed my ticket, and—as I do whenever I pay for parking anywhere—went back to my car to put it on the dashboard.

I was curious, though, because it didn’t say anywhere on the ticket “Please put this on top of your dashboard, so that it is clearly visible” or anything of the sort. I’ve parked in many garages in my day, and the parking receipt has always required that in order to prove your purchase. Weird. I shrugged it off, but as I swiped into the gym, I decided to ask the attendant about the parking ticket out of curiosity. “No, you don’t need to put that back in your car,” she told me, casually.

I was confused: I knew that I needed to pay for parking. Why would I not have to leave proof of my parking purchase at the AFC, when I must do so every other place that I’ve parked in my life?

And then it hit me. I am a UVA student. And as one, I am inherently part of the community of trust we have here at UVA, an idea unique to our university and a direct benefit of our Honor Code. There’s no need to go back to my car and prove I paid for it because all students are assumed to be honorable, such that we will not lie, cheat, or steal. The UVA community trusts that if I park my car there, I will pay for parking. In this case, it saved me five minutes after the clock started ticking. But what stands out to me more is all that this experience represents, especially knowing the kinds of standards that all UVA students are expected to uphold for themselves and their fellow students from the day they step onto Grounds. And in most cases, they do. These are my peers. It's awesome to be in a place where I am surrounded by so much integrity.

Without a doubt, our community of trust is one of the many reasons I love being at UVA. As a first year, I lost my wallet TWICE—yes, I may be a bit distracted sometimes—full of cash, all my credit and debit cards, and both my student and state ID. The first was in Alderman library, and a student immediately emailed me saying he had it. The second time I must have dropped it on the sidewalk while walking, and the grad student who found my wallet dropped it off in the psych department office and notified me that it was waiting for me. On the other hand, I lost my wallet with all its contents while I was home—not only was it not returned, but whoever found (or stole it) used my credit cards multiple times! Of course, I can't promise you that if you lose your wallet here, it will be returned to you, but I do believe that your chances are better when you are surrounded by the community of trust found here.

I'm looking forward to blogging for you! Feel free to shoot me an email about anything (cr5rb@virginia.edu). Until next time....

The Good Old Dorm Life

One of my biggest concerns about going into college was definitely the living situation. It is a total new set up. I would be living among strangers and for once share a room with someone. There were also so many possibilities of ending up in different dorms. So many rumored horrors of college revolve the living situations, i.e. living in a hall dorm, where it is always too loud, getting a monstrous room mate, or living with no air conditioning, and etc. Truth is that certainly everything has it's pros and cons, which vary very differently from dorm to dorm.

Room mates. When deciding who I was going to live with, I had a lot of worries. Most people live with someone that they don't know. Well, nowadays people fill out little surveys on the UVA Facebook pages and then people chose each other, but still, they are strangers. There is only so much you can learn of someone through their Facebook profiles. Anyway, what was hard was worrying about what if the person is a complete psycho, an incredibly messy person, an annoying person, a snorer, someone that parties too hard, and the list goes on. I actually chose a good friend from high school to live with. Surely, I am missing a part of the "real ideal college experience" of living with someone I don't know, but there are just some major worries relieved. Everyone in high school was like you guys are going to get so sick of each other, you guys are going to hate each other, that is such a bad idea, but I'd argue that it is very nice to know someone that you can already trust. We have similar styles, tastes, and enjoy the same type of fun. I didn't go into college worrying about some weirdo watching me sleep and stealing my stuff. If we don't end up being friends forever, it won't be because we lived together, but rather because growing apart with people is a natural process that happens. There are so many great people at the university that it is not something to fret about.

Dorm rooms. I am now living in Echols, one of the McCormick Rd. residences, a first-year dorm. It has no air conditioning and yucky plastic tile floors, but I love it to death. My room mate and I get along very well and we love our room. Throw in a nice rug and get a comfy floor, a floor lamp for some nice ambient lighting, and various other things to make it more homey. Wall decorations are definitely a must. If you're worried about the heat, it'll only be a problem for the first month. We haven't turned on our fans in very long, but we just leave the window open. It really isn't all too bad at all. The location of Old Dorms is also really the most ideal place to live at, because it is right among everything. The other first-year dorms are really nice too, although a little bit further from Central Grounds. Some of them are the Alderman Residences, Gooch/Dillard, and Hereford. These have air conditioning (minus some of the Alderman Residences that are going to be renovated) and if I remember correctly they have carpet as well. These suite-style residences are nice, because it's almost as if you had little apartments with a couple of people. There are rooms and then a common area that connects all of them. Suite-mates can become really close friends, but so can hall-mates. Everything is really about how you make out your experience living in any place with any people, as opposed to having to deal with the living arrangements you are assigned with.

I hope that this can relieve at least some worries about living in dorms at the university, because quite frankly, as a first-year you have no choice but to live in them. It's really not a big deal at all, because everywhere you go, you will find great fellow Wahoos. When you come visit, make sure you get a look at some dorms, but remember that you can keep it how you want it (as long as it coincides with the fire code). With it being the Halloween season, I leave you lovely readers with this:

Be safe! =)

Why Did I Choose UVA?

Hey everyone! Just a little bit to introduce myself - I'm Mike Howe, from Earlysville, VA (a small town outside of Charlottesville). I'm a second year in the College of Arts and Sciences, double majoring in Computer Science and Economics. Outside of classes, I enjoy being involved in the Greek scene at UVA through my fraternity, Pi Kappa Phi, and I also participate in Admissions Chats for prospective students. In my spare time I enjoy doing anything outdoors, especially swimming and hiking.

Anyways, onto the topic of my post:  why I chose UVA.

The Academics:  I knew that I wanted an academically challenging school, where I could expect to work hard.  UVA is just that - students push themselves, and take their work seriously.  It's competitive, but not overwhelming.

The Value:  Being in-state, UVA offered a great value over the out-of-state schools I was looking at. Even for those who are out-of-state, UVA is often less expensive to attend in comparison to other similar schools.

The Activities:  UVA students are incredibly involved outside the classroom - we have literally hundreds of student-run clubs and groups.  There's a club for almost anything, from a capella groups to brewing societies.

The Size:  I knew I wanted somewhere that was big, and where I could constantly meet new people.  At the same time, I didn't want a school that was so large that I felt like I knew no one.  UVA has the perfect balance - it's large enough that you're always seeing new people, but you still see familiar faces everywhere you go.

The Setting:  UVA has a beautiful campus - the pictures in this post don't do the setting justice.  The weather in Charlottesville is fairly moderate, not too hot and not too cold.  Being right by the Blue Ridge Mountains offers many opportunities for hiking and other outdoor activities.

A view of the rooms on the Lawn, right by the Rotunda

Serpentine walls by the gardens









I'm extremely happy here, and I'm positive that I made the right choice.  If you're considering UVA you should definitely come to visit!

You'll just LOVE UVA!

Hello readers! Thank you for stopping by this site! I hope that your college search is going well. I can hardly believe it's been two years since I was in your shoes. The saying "time flies when you're having fun" has certainly been true for my college experience.

Anyways, I had a hard time making a decision about the topic of this first post for the year (tossed around the ideas of the AFC-gym, the beautiful fall weather, and my favorite little town nearby, Crozet & the pizza place there), so I've decided just to give a little intro about myself this go around. I'm a second year (how did that happen?) student in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. In the spring, I will apply to the Commerce school, but I am still interested in possibly doing an Economics and Religious Studies double major. By the end of this year, I will have declared a major. Whoa!

At UVa, I'm involved in Reformed University Fellowship (a Presbyterian fellowship), my sorority, and Abundant Life (a community outreach program to a local neighborhood). With school and friends on top of those activities, there's rarely a dull moment!

This weekend, we have fall break here at UVA. There won't be any classes on Monday or Tuesday. In a few hours, I will be leaving for DC to stay with a friend there. Many of the in-state go home for fall break and take their out-of-state friends (like me, I'm from Texas) home with them. After we get back from break, Pancakes for Parkinsons week will be in full swing. Pancakes is a rather unique event to UVA, enjoyed by all. I will probably write my next post about it.

That all being said, best of luck with the college search!I am looking forward to blogging for you guys this year. Please email me if you have any questions! Enjoy the pics of me with some RUF friends.

Write Club

The Student Activities Fair gathers about four hundred clubs into one spot on the Lawn for one purpose: to impress students and encourage interest in the club. Some of the biggest recruiting happens here, and it's not just for first years. I go every year, and it was there that I ran into an old friend and roommate of mine Jessica Hatch. Along with Anna Kovatcheva (another friend and suite mate who is not pictured), these two formed Write Club.

My favorite product of Write Club is that it fills a much needed niche. Fiction Writing classes at UVa are small and amazingly popular. Snagging a seat in one of those few classes can be tricky, but for this CIO, there isn't a minimum. Anyone with a desire to write is welcome, regardless of talent or experience in writing poetry, novels, or short stories. It's a setting that is informal enough to attract the shier writers but undoubtedly structured enough to be a positive experience for any level of writer.

In their own words:

What We Do: In the fall term, Write Club supports National Novel Writing Month participants through October Boot Camp - meaning that we spend the month of October working up to writing 2,000 words a day - and through a writing buddy system. Like having a gym buddy makes you exercise more often, having a writing buddy helps you get through NaNoWriMo more easily. In the spring term, we host a series of fiction writing workshops to provide an outlet for feedback on short stories, novel excerpts, and the occasional poem. We have also, at various times during the year, organized scavenger hunts, open mic nights, and charitable bake sales.

For those of you a few years off from applying to college, no worries, because an Exec Board has been established. It really is a great group of people running the show, and they do so many activities outside of just writing that Write Club ceases to be simply a writers club and instead turns so much more dynamic.

If any of you have any questions about Write Club, feel free to post them or email me, and I can forward you on to them.


Some other pictures from the Fair:

Hi, my name is Jasmine, I'm a UVAholic.

Hey HooStories readers! Thanks for stopping by and I hope that my posts will further your interests in coming to the best, UVA!

My name is Jasmine Le and I’m a first-year in the College of Arts & Sciences originally from Germany, but now from Herndon, VA. I have been here for a little over a month and I don’t regret coming here whatsoever. Truth be told, UVA wasn’t even my first choice anymore once the application process during senior year rolled around, but I am glad that I chose to come here and would have majorly regretted it otherwise! The great thing about this place is that there are endless things to explore.

I’m a German-Vietnamese-American space and time traveler, professional eyeliner-mustache drawer, hard rocker, fashion enthusiast, and SUPERHERO! Just kidding… kinda. I just like to think of myself as very adventurous and I am always seeking new things to try—next thing I know, I’m with Virginia Skydivers. I like going to concerts and getting bruised up in the pit, and spending time in between classes online shopping instead of doing homework. I want to learn plenty more languages on top of the three that I already know. I want to see the world and explore anything and everything!
I think that napping on the top of the Rotunda steps on a beautiful day is the best. The University is incredibly beautiful. Old architecture, new architecture, a lot of green, a lot of space, a lot of freedom. There's not much else I can ask for here.

Anyways, if you read on you’ll see how even more awesome I am, so I hope I’ll hear from you. Even if you just need a bedtime story, I will tell you one (except it’ll only be Brothers Grimm versions of fairytales). Feel free to shoot me an e-mail, I’ll answer anything!

Go Hoos!

Dining

Food. Every tour someone asked, "So, how is it?" I never quite understood it. To me, no matter where you go, you have to eat, and of what's offered, you're going to like some of it and there will be meals you don't like. Regardless, you'll find something to eat that you like.

I get it now.

This is the second summer I've had to fend for myself, and I've had two truths reinforced:
1. The microwave is that one friend that you enjoy hanging out with but you know is a bad influence on you.

2. There is a lot more to consider with meals than I thought.

The Basics
At UVa as a first year, you are required to have a meal plan with no fewer than 13 meals. It's a beautiful idea. You don't want to have to worry about a history paper and where the next meal will be. There are three dining halls, all buffet-style, and any student can visit any of them.

Along with every meal plan come Plus Dollars. I've heard them called Monopoly money, but they can be used at UVa food shops like the on Grounds Pizza Hut, Chick-a-fila, Wilsdorf Cafe, Sbarros, Greenberries, the Castle, and West Range Cafe. Plus Dollars are great for adding variety or for a quick snack when the day is busy.


The Cost
Most meal plans at UVa cost the same amount of money whether they are unlimited meals per week or 10 per week (available after the first semester). The reason is that the fewer the number of meals per week, the more Plus Dollars that come with the plan. Athletic and Residential plans cost more but that's because they also include perks such as banquets and for athletes, an additional dining hall to choose from (it's closer to the practice fields than the other three).

Roughly speaking, the cost per semester is $1800, and when I heard this the first time, I started counting in my head. Now, I'm no math major, but I said to myself that's for four full months worth of food (half of August plus half of December). Living on my own, I spend roughly half of that at the grocery store, so what gives?

Well, there are certain unavoidable truths that convinced me to sign up for my third meal plan in a row:

• They cook really well, and I don't.
• They provide an excellent variety of food.
• The dining halls are much closer to me than any non-UVa store.
• I don't have to spend time cooking, shopping, preparing, or cleaning up.
• They're open from 7am to 10pm most nights, so the hours are great.
• Variety, variety, variety. And far more culinary creativity than I have.
  
• Theme Meals. Yes.

Theme Meals
Halloween, Thanksgiving, St. Patrick's Day, random happy days--these are the best reasons to get a meal plan. For Halloween each dining hall had a massive sheet cake that must have been about four feet by six. This Spring Runk Dining Hall bought a fifteen foot strawberry shortcake that was unbelievably delicious.


Variety
Every dining hall has a salad bar, some sort of soup, and at least three main courses to choose from for lunch and dinner. Breakfast is fairly standard (but still good): eggs, potatoes, waffles, omelets to order, pancakes, cereal, juice. For vegetarians and vegans, there are options at every meal. The same goes for celiacs, and if anyone does have an allergy, he or she can talk to a chef about tailored meals. In general, they're very good at taking care of students. Also, UVa Dining is very good at making meals catered to certain religious restrictions (Passover, Lent, Ramadan). The head chefs are also highly visible and love to hear feedback. I know that's how we had grilled salmon for dinner one night.

If you ever want to know what each dining hall is serving for each meal for a given week, just go to UVa's CampusDish website. The dining hall names (Newcomb, O Hill, and Runk) are on the far left side next to other on Grounds establishments. Click on each to see what they're offering. I'm not sure if the menu is open in the Summer, but it is definitely operational during the Fall and Spring.

Other Amenities Included in a Meal Plan
In addition to Plus Dollars, meal plans come with guest swipes. These extra meals come in handy if your family comes to visit, or if you run out of meals in a week. Typically, meals have about ten guest swipes per semester. I should note that the number of meals per week does not roll over; they will not accumulate. Plus Dollars roll over from Fall to Spring but not from Spring to the next Fall.


As for which meal to pick, I strongly suggest fifteen meals per week to start. It's a solid number that comes with a decent amount of Plus Dollars. Typically, a student won't go to three meals per day. Either they wake up too late for breakfast, skip lunch, or use Plus Dollars to grab a snack rather than use a meal swipe. Also, if you find out you don't have enough meals, you can upgrade your meal plan at any point (a perk of each plan costing the same price); however, you can only reduce the number of meals per week for the first two weeks of each semester.