|
|
FactsSlang
- A-News - Nickname for the Athens newspaper, the Athens News.
- Front Four - The residence halls at the front of South Green: Brown, Crawford, McKinnon, and Pickering.
- HDL Center - Located on West State, it’s where you go to get your ID cards, Ethernet hubs and cards, cables, and to get your computer fixed.
- Jeff Hill - The hills are so monstrous at OU that they’re named. Jeff Hill, a brick-lined, hazardous hill from you-know-where is now blocked off to traffic. But students still have to trek up it, which is never a good time.
- Mem Aud - Nickname for Templeton-Blackburn Memorial Auditorium.
- RAC - Registration Access Code given to each student, which they will use to register, and change, classes.
- Shuffle - Otherwise known as a bar crawl.
- TCOM - Abbreviated name of The School of Telecommunications.
- Tech Depot - Located in Baker Center, it’s where you go to get your ID cards, Ethernet hubs and cards, cables, and to get your computer fixed.
- The Post - Student-run newspaper.
- The Virgin Vault - Jefferson Hall, once the only all female freshman dorm.
- Townie - A person who lives in Athens and is not a student.
- Uptown - Court Street and the surrounding area, which includes bars, restaurants, shops, and many classroom buildings. It’s definitely an ideal, but expensive, place to live!
- Walk of Shame - After a night of hooking up (be it random or with a friend), any student seen the next morning, dressed in clothes from the night before, making the long trek home.
Things I Wish I Knew Before Coming To School
- It rains a lot in Athens (more than one umbrella is helpful).
- It’s not necessary to cram your schedule full of classes, activities, and organizations—make sure you have time to study and have fun without stretching yourself too thin.
- Partying goes on 24/7, so make sure to avoid distractions (head to the library, a coffee shop or a study lounge to get work done if roomies are pressuring you to go out.)
- SI sessions are really, really helpful.
- The fests are so much better than Halloween.
- The first year is the most important, so make sure your GPA is good (no matter how hard you work your other years, if you did badly the first year, it’s hard to get your GPA up).
Tips to Succeed
- Always check your OAK account (or have all campus mail forwarded to your regular e-mail address).
- Don’t be shy, whether it’s with professors or fellow students.
- Don’t spend more time on Court Street than in class.
- If you can, get a job (some great major-specific jobs are available through the University—money and experience).
- Join at least one academic organization. They provide excellent networking, job opportunities, and information about your area of interest (not to mention great study buddies).
- Meet with your advisor. They are there to help you.
- Talk to professors. Take the initiative to make sure they at least know your name and don’t hesitate to ask questions.
- Work hard during the week and save the weekend for partying even harder.
Urban Legends
- If you step on the school seal in front of College Green, you will never graduate
- In 1908, the University’s board of trustees formed a committee to obtain squirrels for the campus green (apparently they were inspired after a Harvard visit, where the campus was populated with squirrels). This is supposedly why squirrels run rampant on campus.
- Many places on campus are haunted, including Wilson Hall (where a girl supposedly committed suicide after writing on the walls with blood), Simms Cemetery and the Ridges (an old insane asylum, which has a haunted “stain”).
- People have been saying for years that Athens holds the record for most bars on one stretch of street.
- Supposedly an English professor once told a student, “I am returning this otherwise good typing paper to you because someone has printed gibberish all over it and put your name at the top.”
- While a student at OU, Paul Newman supposedly was expelled after crashing a beer keg into the University president’s car.
Traditions
- Family Weekends - Moms, dads, and siblings all have their own weekends to come visit OU, which make for some of the best times on campus (there’s nothing like watching a bunch of soccer moms getting tanked off their martinis while dancing and singing to “Pour Some Sugar on Me”). While the University offers some fun activities for each weekend (Casino Night, Mamapalooza, Glow Fishin’), most students opt to take mom and dad to the bars. Either way, it makes for a weekend to remember, not to mention being profitable for the bars. (Mom’s weekend in May brings in more alcohol sales than Halloween weekend!)
- Homecoming - A notorious party school, OU definitely knows how to celebrate Homecoming, even though the student body usually cares very little about the football team. On Homecoming Saturday, bars open up as early as 6:30 a.m., and half of the campus, still buzzed off of Junction Punches, fills the bars. Stick around for the parade that starts around 11 a.m. (it’s best enjoyed from a friend’s porch where you can continue drinking and catch the candy that the parade-goers hurl at you). Then grab some food, go home for a nap, and head back uptown to continue the celebration.
- Palmerfest - A day full of drinking, Jell-O wrestling, beer pong playing, and avoiding cops on horses, Palmerfest is a huge block party that takes place every May on Palmer Street. Palmer residents, wearing T-shirts customized for the occasion, become everyone’s best friend as they stand at their houses’ entrances with a list of who is worthy to enter. Needless to say, most people have a friend of a friend who can get them into at least one house on Palmer, and once it gets dark and the makeshift fences have been trampled down, you can pretty much get in anywhere.
- Shuffles - Students usually partake in this ritual their senior year. Wearing T-shirts bearing their shuffle’s name (“We’re Going to Be Teaching Your Kids Shuffle”; “If Found, Take Me Home Shuffle”, and more), they try to make it to every bar on campus, which is easier said than done. A highlight of every shuffle is having bar patrons sign the T-shirts, which always makes for a few good laughs in the morning, as well as signing your shuffle’s name on each bar’s bathroom wall (just make sure you don’t get caught—some bars will make you stay and clean the walls).
- Time Change “Riots” - Leave it to OU students to riot when the clocks are turned ahead each spring and (God forbid) they lose an hour at the bars. Well, that’s supposedly how the notorious Time Change Riots began in 1997. Since then, students, whether returning from the bars or just out of curiosity, have been gathering at Court Street, leading to vandalism, fights, many arrests, and the use of tear gas and rubber bullets by police. While many students just go uptown to check out what the excitement is all about, many innocent bystanders actually end up getting injured, arrested, or both. But, no matter how many warnings the University sends out, there is still a huge crowd that hangs out on Court Street after the bars call it quits an hour early. Use your best judgment.
School Spirit
Though spirit for the athletic teams is lacking at OU, it can’t be denied that students bleed green and white. OU students are proud of their school, and students are generally happy with the choice they made. It is pretty hard to find someone who doesn’t love going to OU. Many students rarely leave campus, even to go home to see family! The sentimental attachment is even more obvious when the impending graduation creeps up on seniors. Right around graduation day, many students (guys and girls) can be seen literally sobbing over their beers because soon they’ll have to leave their beloved school.
Write for Us! College Prowler is actively seeking talented students to be "Contributing Authors," and assist with updating
the College Prowler guide to their school. This is a great opportunity for a student to gain internship experience, be a part of a nationally
recognized company, gain tremendous exposure, utilize new media techniques, and share advice with high school students about what life is
really like at your college. Read more >
|
|
