Alright, you’re all ready for your first day and your first week… or are you?! I’m really old and jaded now, so I have a hard time remembering what freaked me out my first day, though I’m sure the answer is everything. So for the next couple posts, I’m going to try to offer some tips and tricks about some common question and concerns!
TRICKS TO GET AROUND!
So, finding classes. That’s the part I remember being the most nervous for. What if I got lost? Where are all the buildings? What are the letters for? The easiest way to do this is to find your classes a couple days before. The U is pretty straightforward, but there are some bizarre classrooms that seem to be hidden (especially in UHall or the Fine Arts Building). It’s not always possible to find them in advance, so just do your best. Profs know you’re new, especially in the 1000 level courses. But here’s how the University works, as far as classrooms. Each classroom starts with a letter, denoting the building it is located in. The next number (or numbers, though this only happens in the library) tells you the floor, and the next two numbers are the class itself. For example, L1170 means it’s in the Library, on floor 11.
A, B, C, D and E are all located in UHall. These can be on any floor from 4 to 8, though the main hallway is floor 6. Each letter has its own stairwell, but all the letters are connected, so you can move freely between sections once you’re on the appropriate floor. Floor 8 houses offices and research labs for professors, and it has lots of hanging signs so you can easily navigate the different departments. E690 is the biggest classroom in UHall, and it’s located on the main floor at the veeeeeery end of the hallway. This makes for a mad dash if you have class in E690 then up in PE (First Choice building – think Phys Ed) afterward.
W is the Fine Arts Building. It connects the library to UHall. When you go down the “airport hallway” (after Mr. Sub), all those stairs that take you to the Atrium and even lower are in the Fine Arts Building. This also houses the Main Theatre, located on floor 5. I haven’t had a ridiculous amount of classes down there, but W5 is quite popular.
L is the library. There aren’t too many classrooms here, but the ones in the Study Hall (L1060 and L1070) are sometimes used for general classes. The 11th floor classrooms are generally reserved solely for Education classes in third year and above.
PE is the Phys Ed Building. There are only a handful of classes in the PE Building and they are quite large. The biggest of all is PE250 which has 2 entrances and can hold about 300 students. It is pretty much a guarantee that you will have at least one class in there, but don’t worry, it’s ridiculously easy to find.
TH is Turcotte Hall. Turcotte is a tricky building, because there’s new-Turcotte and old-Turcotte and they are connected, but you have to go out a door marked “Exit” to actually connect them. I definitely got lost trying to find a prof’s office because I was wondering around in old-Turcotte and she was located in new-Turcotte. New-Turcotte connects to the side of the PE Building and E parking lot. It’s beautiful. Old-Turcotte has an entrance by the SU door behind the food court. There aren’t many intro courses taught in Turcotte, so you shouldn’t have any issues.
AH is Anderson Hall. There is only one floor, so classrooms are pretty easy to find. They don’t have any windows, though, which I find a little depressing. Anderson is one of only two buildings that aren’t connected – you have to go outside to get there.
M is Markin Hall, the newest addition. Markin is mostly reserved for Nursing and Management students and it is beautiful. It’s also the second building that isn’t connected to the main part of campus, so you have to go outside. Markin has some brand new group study rooms and some really comfy chairs by the windows, a great place to relax.
It’s pretty easy, once you get the hang of it. Also important to know is that there is a tunnel that connects the Library to the SU. This is really nice in the winter! It’s attached to floor 1 of the SU, floor 1 of the PE Building and floor 9 of the library. It’s located to the left of Mr. Sub, if you’re facing it. I didn’t know about the tunnel for months, which made my days extra windy and cold!
So there you have it, Getting Around U of L 101. You’ll do great.