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HUGE Campus. No problem!

By Thao Nguyen on October 27, 2012 8:00 AM | No Comments | No TrackBacks

Hello my wonderful friends!!!

I might be cheap but I have to admit that I LOVE FREE STUFF. If you haven't had a chance to look at Tamilola's blog about navigating around the Twin cities, do it! http://blog.lib.umn.edu/isss/undergraduate/2012/10/minneapolis-is-probably-one-of.htm It's very helpful. You can use public transportation in a smart way to save a lot of money.

However, they are still not free. In this blog, I will mention a free transportation that the U of M provides you. And as a student at the U of M, getting around the campus is one of the most important things you need to master!

Let's me start with a question: What is the most common thing you hear about University of Minnesota? Like it or not, attending University of Minnesota means going to a HUGE campus.

The University of Minnesota size is 1,204 acres (about 5 square kilometers) with three campus locations: West Bank, Eat Bank and St. Paul. To make it easy to understand, just imagine a campus in two cities: St. Paul and Minneapolis. The distance between St. Paul campus and Minneapolis campus is about 4 miles (approximately 6.5 km)
I took the distance from Coffman Memorial Union in the East Bank to St. Paul Student Center in St. Paul campus. University-of-Minnesota-Twin-Cities-Campus-Map_mediumthumb.jpg

In the Minneapolis campus, the Mississippi river separated the campus into 2 parts: the East Bank and the West Bank, which takes you about 15-20 minutes to cross the river.

Take me as a specific example. My major is Communication studies. Thus, most of my classes are in Ford Hall, the East Bank. I have a minor in Environmental Science, Policy and Management, which has all the classes in St. Paul campus. As an international student and international student ambassador, I work with ISSS a lot. ISSS office is in the West Bank. I also work an on-campus job in Coffman Memorial Union, which is in the East Bank. Now, you can imagine how crazy I would be just to run around!

BUT... DON'T FREAK OUT!

The Campus connectors and Campus circulators are there for you! I still remember that figuring out how to use the Campus shuttle was one of the most useful things for me during my time at the U. The Campus connectors take you from the West Bank to the East Bank in less than five minutes, from the East Bank to St. Paul in about 20 minutes. The Campus circulators take you around each campus location within few minutes. But that's not everything! The Campus shuttles have a super high frequency. In peak hour of classes, the campus shuttles come almost every minute. Otherwise, they come in about 5-10 minutes. In the evening or late at night, still they come in about 15-20 minutes.

You can check out more details as well as the Campus shuttles' stop and routes.

http://www1.umn.edu/pts/bus/shuttle.html

Free. Fast. No more cold. No more waiting. Navigating around campus can never be easier!

Welcome to Seol's Pre-Campus Life 101

By Seol Lee on October 14, 2011 11:02 AM | No Comments | No TrackBacks

Welcome back!
I wanted to talk a little bit about two things before I tell you all about how fun the school life, and campus life!
Two things are...
1. What should I do?! I just arrived at the airport!
2. Mr. Housing and Residential life, where should I live?

So before we jump right into the campus life 101, let me tell you my first day at U.
I still remember the day I came to U of M. It was night when I arrived here from South Korea, and I was lucky that I had somebody who helped me to move in. But I know many International students don't have any relatives or friends to ask when they first arrive at St. Paul International Airport (MSP). So how can they come to campus? Of course there are many options of taking bus, train, or taxi, but there is another option, better option, that you can choose!

Gopher Chauffeur is a good way to arrive on campus free. The program is through Boynton health service . This program, unfortunately, is only available right before the semester begins. For more informational, you can contact Julie Sanem, Advisor(jsanem@bhs.umn.edu). At least now, you don't have to worry how to get here.

Now you are arrived on campus, do you have any specific resident hall or apartment on your mind? If you do not, don't worry! We have plenty places where students can live. We have Bailey Hall (St. Paul campus), Comstock Hall (East bank), Middlebrook hall (West bank), Sanford Hall, Centennial Hall (SuperBlock), Frontier Hall (SuperBlock, freshman-only living), Pioneer Hall (SuperBlock), and Territorial Hall (SuperBlock, freshman-only living) as a residential hall. We also have on campus apartment buildings, and University Village, Roy Wilkins Hall, and Mark G. Yudof Hall are the apartment buildings. Every buildings have unique advantages, and as for the International student I would strongly suggest to go over each website. If you are arriving earlier, then Centennial hall has International Reception Center program where you can apply to make reservations to stay there for several nights. I believe the cost is $21 per night, and it is better to stay there. I myself arrived U this year one week earlier for pre-welcome week training for welcome week leaders (through OFYP- orientations and first-year programs). I had many suitcases, and I wasn't feeling comfortable going hotel by myself. Besides hotels can be very expensive... One thing that I recommend is that when you choose where to live, make sure whether your-choice residential hall opens during breaks. If you live in apartment, you don't have to worry, but each residential hall has different schedule of opening. For example, Middlebrook hall opens during winter break without any additional cost, but comstock hall isn't. I attached the file Detail information.pdf that you can review the appropriate information regarding to this (p. 23&24). So please check out if you are interested in! :-)