Dorm Floor Peer-relationships

I'm from a fairly small town in Lindenwold, New Jersey. Nothing too exciting goes on there, that's why I decided to go to West Virginia University! After seeing a football game on T.V. I knew that WVU was always going to have a place in my heart, winning Class Clown and Most School Spirited at my high school, encouraged me to apply to WVU, because I wanted to share that with thousands of Freshmen that were like me and completely different. I NEVER in a thousand years, thought I'd know every person on my floor in Brooke Towers! The fifth floor of Brooke Towers is absolutely poppin, we all know each other and I love that feeling. The other night, we had movie night in this kid's dorm and just tonight, we had a dance party, that soon got busted because it was after quiet hours! Oops! I walk around Brooke Towers all the time and I don't see any hallway that is as social as ours. Just about every person on the fifth floor of Brooke Tower has the door open, on any other floor, most of the doors are shut. This hallway has made me come out of my shell a little bit, when I first got here, I was home sick and I didn't know how I was going to survive a whole year here. But my floor has made it so much fun and I can truly say that if I was on another floor, I would absolutely dread living in the dorms!

- Samantha Messner

Is this similar or dissimilar to your experiences in the dorms? -- JG

So ... Thoughts?

So, now that you've been here a week, what've been the things that surprised you the most about life at WVU? Are there things you wish you'd known before you left home and moved here? What would you do differently? Or, what has been unexpectedly good about WVU?

-- JG

Do Students Need Cars Anyway?

Piggy-backing off of the post just under this one, it seems to me that one way to solve the parking problem is to leave your cars at home. If you think about the amount of money you'd probably pay to park, the hassle of finding a spot, digging your car out from the snow and ice during winter time, the time you waste driving when sometimes walking is just as fast...why bring it in the first place? Sure, Morgantown is somewhat spread out and not everything is within walking distance. But do you really need your car--or can you get by without it?

-- JG

WVU & Parking Issues

I just don’t understand why WVU only offers one free parking lot for us students to park. It really frustrates me on football and basketball game days when the WVU officials block off over half of the coliseum lot so fans can park there. Now I don’t want to sound like I am angry that the fans park at the coliseum, I am just aggravated by the fact that if you don’t have an 8:00A.M. or 8:30A.M. class then you have a very little chance of actually getting a parking spot on game days. The worst part is that for football games they block the lots off two days before a game. Lastly, it bothers me for the people who can’t find parking spots and have to park in random spots at the coliseum and then they are given a ticket for not being in an “actual” parking space. To my knowledge, the coliseum is the only free lot for students, and I do realize the parking garage is an option, but it can be very difficult to get a spot there too. I just wish that WVU would offer another form of free parking especially on game days.

M.Hamilton

Man Up and Go Greek

As school starts up for many students, students are bombarded with clubs and activities to join and are usually asked to join within the first days of arrival at school. Out of all the different clubs and activities to join, there is one activity that jumps out the most; Greek Life. Many students believe that Greek life is just one big party; which is why I’m typing this blog. Before I make my case for Greek life, I am fully aware that rush is over and that the only other time to try and rush is next semester. With that said, let me make my case. Too often students stereotype fraternities into the image given from the hit movie Animal House. The truth is that no one would ever consider rushing a fraternity if people partied that much. Students do not see the numerous library hours put in night after night or the physical training done at six in the morning at the recreational center. Students also never see the plethora of community service work done by all of the fraternities. All students see is the party that got busted for a noise violation. People seem to think that with fraternities, grades will slip and lead to college doom, while nothing could be more false. Fraternities require a minimum of a 2.5 grade point average at the least. While that is the University’s requirement for grade point average, most fraternities themselves raise that standard. I could counter any other argument against going Greek so let me end this with a challenge. I challenge any student in the University that has any interest to go Greek next semester to rush. I promise whether it is a fraternity or sorority, there will be one house that fits you best to your preference. Just remember, a fraternity is supposed to help you, not hurt you! If any Greek house is detrimental to your grades or health, then it is not even worth staying around for, so go somewhere else. Remember my challenge and good luck next semester.

--Orgasmo

Food!

The first thing I did when I found out I was living on the Evansdale Campus was to find out what places there were to eat close by. I had a few friends that went to school at WVU already, and they said that Towers was the best place to eat because they had the best food. They told me that the food was better than all of the cafeterias on the Downtown Campus too. I was looking forward to eating there from now on. When I started goin there everyday, the food seemed like it was repeating itself. Also, it just seemed to get nastier each day. Everyday now when I think about eating, I think about the food my mom cooked back home. I miss her food. Has anyone else came to this conclusion? Does anyone else miss the food from back home yet?

-- LB

Nursing Majors

As a freshman pre-nursing major, I find it very frustrating that I maynot even get into the School of Nursing at WVU. It’s extremely difficultto get into the nursing program here. Out of our entire nursing classonly about 40% of the students will get into the School of Nursing. Ibelieve the actual number of students is somewhere around 80. What aboutall the others? What if nursing is the only thing that we want to do?Many people dream of being nurses since they were little. We don’t wantto change our lifelong dreams just because a program is too difficult toget into. Everywhere you’re always hearing that there is a nursingshortage. In my nursing class, we learned that by 2025, the shortage fornurses could reach 500,000. If we are that short on nurses, why can’tmore qualified applicants get into the nursing programs? Does anyoneelse find that absolutely frustrating?

-- AW