First off, congratulations! Getting accepted into college is something to be proud of, and I'm prOUd you're going to be on campus in a few short months. Second, get used to capitalizing the letters "OU" in words as I did above. We do it way too often, even fOUr words that don't have a U in them. See what I did there? If you've heard about HallOUween, you probably already knew that or thought we were all just bad spellers.
Jeff Hall, Lincoln Hall, and Brown Hall are all good dorms
I'm sure the main thing on your mind right now is where you're going to live. What's the best and worst dorm to live in? Well, a lot of the time it depends on if you have a good room selection time or not. Although, I did write an article about the six best freshman dorms (if they're available), here.
Brown Hall, South GreenBrown Hall
Once you enter into Athens (and go through that annoying roundabout) you feel weird
Athens is a beautiful city. I can't even put into words what it'll feel like once you get there. Going into my senior year, it feels more of a home to me than Cleveland does. If you're concerned about going to school in Appalachia coming from a city like Cleveland or Columbus, don't be- You'll understand what I mean soon enough.
Jeff HillKaylee Smith
Uptown life is something to look forward to
Not only is the view of Athens beautiful, but so is uptown. There are so many locally-owned shops and restaurants you need to go to. Don't be that person who eats Chipotle and Wendy's every weekend, try out some new places. Donkey Coffee, Casa Nueva, and Burrito Buggy are some of my favorites and very close to the dorms.
Now, let's talk about bars. Redbrick, Broneys, and Lucky's are some of the best bars and have the best deals some nights of the week. Red Brick has Brick Break and Lucky's has cheap liquor pitchers. Not like any of you guys will follow this advice, though, being only 18 and all. Right? When you're not uptown though (for food or otherwise), there's a lot of things to do in Athens. Take a hike to the haunted Ridges, go workout at Ping, or go to a Hall Council sponsored event. Just make sure that going to Alden is your first priority.
Pumpkin the CatInstagram
Final thoughts to take away
If you leave this article having learned anything, please let it be to bring an umbrella and forget the snowboots. It rains much more than it snows in the winter.
Last but not least, whatever you do, do not wear a lanyard. You might as well wear a bumper sticker on your forehead that says "freshman c/o 2024."
Kaylee Smith
Good luck, incoming Bobcats!
Have a great summer and make sure to social distance so your first year isn't remOUte learning (I forewarned you about the OU's).