| School Slang | |
- 8-Care: Dial this on your room phone whenever the power goes out, the air conditioning breaks, or anything else goes wrong with school equipment, and a UM employee will come fix it.
- Book Horizons: The sketchy bookstore across the street from campus that sometimes gets books cheaper than its on-campus rival; also carries school supplies and UM merchandise.
- Chartwells: The name of the two dining halls on campus, also known to disgruntled students as Chart-Hells.
- The C-Store: The convenience store located in the UC, which stays open until the middle of the night and accepts dining dollars.
- Dining Dollars: Money that comes with a student’s meal plan, which can be used like a credit card at most of the restaurants on campus.
- Hurricane Drive: The street that runs through campus, past the baseball field and the fraternity houses; connects Ponce to the back roads of the campus; also known as San Amaro Drive.
- The IM Field: A giant field that is used for intramurals or just for fun.
- The Lake: Lake Osceola, a huge body of water in the center of campus; a path around it connects the Towers to Eaton Residential College, the UC, and several campus buildings.
- The LC: The Whitten Learning Center, a group of lecture-sized classrooms where many large classes are held.
- Memorial: A long building that holds hundreds of classes per day, as well as the campus movie theater.
- Metrorail: Miami’s elevated train system
- myUM: The name of the computer network where students can log in to retrieve their grades, professor rankings, course schedules, and most other student-related information.
- The Pit: A large, mysterious hole in the ground behind Memorial where students study and hang out under the cover of thick trees.
- Ponce: The smaller road running right past campus, which runs through downtown Coral Gables. Real name: Ponce de Leon Blvd.
- The Rat: Refers to the Rathskellar, a popular bar on campus.
- Resident Master: A member of the faculty who lives in an apartment in the lobby of every residential college; the teacher and his or her family act as a host for the students living in the building and often have students over for dinner or meetings.
- The Rock: The main area outside of the UC where pep rallies, protests, and other campus events are held.
- Sebastian the Ibis: The school’s mascot, a common face around campus; the ibis is supposedly the last bird to leave before a hurricane and the first to return afterwards.
- Stanford Circle: The driveway outside the UC where students get picked up and dropped off; the name refers to Stanford Drive, which is the main entrance to the campus.
- The Towers: The dorms where most freshmen live, also known as Hecht and Stanford; there are actually two 12-story buildings in each dorm, making for four identical “towers” on one side of the lake.
- U.S. 1: The main road running near campus that is almost always insanely crowded; this road runs from Key West up to Maine, where the traffic must ease up slightly.
- The UC: The University Center, aptly located in the center of campus, which is home to the food court, a student lounge, the book store, a swimming pool, and assorted offices.
- Unicco: The janitorial service on campus that cleans the floor bathrooms, halls, and study lounges; treat the Unicco staff nicely or they may not get to your floor’s bathroom for a while.
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| Things I Wish I Knew Before Coming To School | |
- According to University policy a student does not have to have more than two finals per day.
- An up-to-date video game system will make you plenty of friends in a hurry.
- Bring a long Ethernet cord so you can use your laptop in bed.
- Bring plenty of quarters to wash clothes, because, for some reason, there are no change machines in the laundry rooms.
- Don’t buy the posters they sell on campus in the first couple weeks. Prices plummet later in the semester when they’re desperate to get rid of inventory.
- Get the smallest meal plan allowed.
- If you’re a light sleeper, bring earplugs, because the freshman dorms are usually pretty loud late into the night.
- Leave your door open for the first week so people on the floor feel like they can talk to you. Walk around to others’ rooms and talk to them.
- Make friends with people in your orientation group, especially ones of the opposite sex.
- Never buy school merchandise (clothes and hats) from the bookstore on campus, unless you like long lines and inflated prices.
- Some local restaurants offer UM student’s discounts.
- Students can get their clothes dry-cleaned in the UC.
- Students can sell back their books to the UM bookstore all year round.
- The air conditioners don’t always do what you want, so be prepared to make wardrobe or linen adjustments.
- The second floor of the Student Health Center has a student pharmacy.
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