yeah, we're like, so elitist.

Today I'd like to tackle one of the topics that people often refer to in conjunction with UVA. We're stuck up, pretentious and elitist snobs (or however kind or even uglier you've heard). Reasoning behind these labels often include our lingo, "Oh look at them, they're so snobby they even have their own language, like they're too good for regular terms and phrases."

Well... no. That's not why we have our own terms of 'Grounds' and 'first year, second year, etcetc.' To explain why we have that, we need to go back to our founder, Thomas Jefferson. He believed that learning could never end. You couldn't be a senior and be some ultimate master of wisdom. That's why we call our seniors (and each respective grade accordingly) fourth years, thereby indicating that they have more years of learning ahead of them, that they can go on to explore more fields. (Now the following is my opinion...) I rather think that's a humble way to view oneself, that no matter how much you know, there's always a never ending horizon of learning ahead of you. As for substituting Grounds for campus... I'm not sure why anymore. But Jefferson insisted on it and so we respect his wishes.

What else? Ah yes, we're preppy and thus somehow elitist (elitist and preppy seem to be synonymous to some people..). I do admit, we do have more students dressed more preppily than maybe your average college. But seriously, we have 13,000 undergrads. There's such a span of diversity in it that I don't really understand how we're elitist (in the sense that we're all white, wealthy, and who knows what else). We have your liberals, your conservatives, your moderates, and everyone in between. If you're a numbers person, we have 15% Asian Americans, 14% African Americans, 10% Hispanic Americans, 5% international, and so on and so forth. We even have 2% Native American (I may be wrong on that number). We did away with our Early Decision so those with a lower socioeconomic background have a greater chance of attending. We have an entire program (AccessUVA) designed specifically for people in financial straits. But back to clothing. I think the preppiest thing I own is probably a pair of fleece lined Sperry's. Can't help it, they're warm and perfect for winter time. Not all students walk around with popped collars and plaid shorts. To blanketly stereotype UVA students would do us a huge disservice.

The rest of this mistaken reputation may come from the fact that UVA graduates tend to sing our alma mater's praises whenever we're asked about her. Again, can't help it. UVA is an amazing place to be and people are just really happy here. Everyone gets so involved and fired up about their organizations. Students are genuinely passionate about what they study. We have the benefit of attending school in an amazingly beautiful campus. Charlottesville city is a really nice place to be. We're proud of what we have here. And alright, we may be a bit too proud. But how many colleges can boast having a President as one of their founders? On Thomas Jefferson's grave, he has the epitaphs of 'Writer of the Declaration of Independence' and 'Founder of the University of Virginia'.

london bridge is falling down..

Well, more like UVA Grounds is falling, and no, we're not really collapsing on ourselves. There's just construction going on everywhere and it's always a guessing game to decide where to take my tour. Several additions that I'm really excited about are the new drama buildings. They're getting a huge building for classrooms and workshops, and they just had a parking lot finished. I imagine that'll draw even larger audiences for drama productions.

I'm kind of wondering how the new Curry building will be like, hopefully with some underground parking? We can't afford to lose anymore parking space...

One development that I don't like so much is the South Lawn project. I understand the need for more classroom space and more academic buildings, but to extend our Lawn? Meh. We're not even knocking down the buildings that will divide the two Lawns. (Interesting tidbit: I've heard that it would be much too expensive to knock down Cabell Hall as it was built at the end of WWII -- it can withstand an atomic bomb. O_O) We had to raze our JPA parking lot to build the Lawn, and make it pretty inconvenient for Brandon Avenue residents to get to class. Meh, I'm not a huge fan. But it looks like it'll be really pretty, cheers for paying homage to Jefferson's preferred architectural style!

If you ever come for a campus visit, you'll notice that all the buildings look pretty much the same with colonades, white paint and red brick. We're really proud of our history and traditions here, and strive to respect most of Jefferson's wishes. This was his favorite architectural style -- his home at Monticello was built in the same way. I rather like the uniform look of the buildings as a result of that -- you don't have some musty 50 year old buildings in some random dump on Grounds. Rather, the buildings provide an aesthetically pleasing front.

the good ole song of wa..hoo..wa

I was walking past old dorms today with my tour group when an alum brought up the good ole song. Of course, once it's been brought up, I had to give an impromptu performance. Thank goodness I pulled it off, haha. I hadn't thought I'd sing our school song during the summertime, it was a nice touch that capped off a really wonderful tour (great people, asked lots of questions). It's an amazing feeling to put your arms around the shoulders of the people next to you during football games and sing our song whenever we make a touchdown. At that moment, everyone in the stands of Scott Stadium (alumni as well) are singing the same words, and we all yell the same cheer at the end. It always gives me the shivers, and I'm so proud to be a part of the UVA community whenever that happens.

One of my favorite memories is during first year orientation - we were sitting the Old Cabell auditorium when all of a sudden, someone's cell phone rang. The ring tone was the good ole song. The orientation leader with that phone promptly stood up and started singing along and walked down towards the stage. All of a sudden, people (other orientation leaders) started rushing in from all parts of the auditorium and sang together on the stage. That was such a funny introduction to UVA (and hopefully I didn't spoil too much stuff for you guys!).

Another interesting encounter with the good ole song was with a friend's bottle opener, of all things. His bottle opener would play the good ole song whenever a bottle was opened. I think he got it from the bookstore... I'm not quite sure. Unfortunately, that rendition quickly got really annoying as around 20 bottles were opened over the course of the night. *facepalm*

home sweet home

Whoo what a weekend! I suddenly had a group of friends descend on me, some were alum, some were grad students, and the rest were undergrad. We did the usual of going to movies, hitting up favorite restaurants, and chilling at each others' places. Good times, I miss them already.

Sometime during their visit, it made me wonder just why do people come back to C'ville (Charlottesville) after graduation. It's an unprepossing college town, full of character and history, but definitely not the same as a huge city. Yet time and time again, I would be walking around on Grounds and bump into someone who's already working in another state. Fond memories? Friends and significant others still here? Maybe. It's odd, but even my friends who graduated two years ago mention that C'ville has a special draw of some type. People just keep coming back.

we're a happy family..

Your favorite semi loony person again! I randomly flipped through a Barney episode yesterday on TV, and yup, they were singing that 'I love you.. you love me' song. So other than the fact that I have no idea why I loved that show so much when I was small, for some reason, that also made me think of the love I've experienced since coming to UVA. People in the Charlottesville community are all really nice. Case in point: I had walked to the Kroger at Barracks Road because I wanted to save some gas (gas prices are ridiculous..) and decided I would.. probably hate myself on the walk back. I'd grabbed juices and cans and frozen meats.. the whole nine yards. So while perusing the juice section, I met a random lady and we bonded over the lack of produce in her desired shelf. Somehow the conversation turned to transportation and I mentioned my lack of. Immediately, she offered me a ride home.

Now, if this was New York I probably would have ran away while dialing 911. But this being Charlottesville.. I took her up on the offer. The surrounding community at UVA is really nice and the people are so warm and welcoming. It's not uncommon to walk down the street and smile at a stranger, and have them say good morning in response. People are patient and take the time to point you in the right way, cars stop for pedestrians even if they're five feet away from the crosswalk. It's quite amazing really. Charlottesville has also been voted the 'best city to live in' for a couple years in a row now. It's a well deserved title in my opinion.