1. Meal Exchange Venues
One of the great things about UVA dining is its flexibility, especially compared to other schools. Like other schools we have meal swipes to get into dining halls, and plus dollars to buy things like Chick-Fil-A and Five Guys. However, we also have meal exchange! Meal Exchange allows you to get food from some non-dining hall locations for nothing but a meal swipe! However, some locations (like Chick-Fil-A and Subway) only do it during certain times, so double check when that is before you go!
2. The Lingo
UVA is somewhat known for its quirky names for things that most colleges use other terms for. It’s fun as a new student to look out for when people use these unique words, and especially fun to see people’s reactions when they mess up! While there is some actual history to some of the words, others are more for fun and for the sake of being different. I like to think of it as another reason UVA is different than other schools, and gives everyone a sense of school pride.
3. Wheelie Kid
While wheelie kid sadly doesn’t attend UVA, he is often spotted taking joy rides through grounds. If you’ve never seen anyone do a good wheelie on a bike in real life, or even if you have, this kid will blow your mind. He can consistently and easily maintain a wheelie for his entire ride through grounds, which is over a mile! Not much is known about him, but if you see him, you will instantly understand the hype.
4. Unicycle Kid
Unlike wheelie kid, unicycle kid does attend UVA! He can be seen riding to and from his classes atop a unicycle. Most people never see him without his unicycle, he takes it everywhere. For student council elections, he even put on a giraffe costume to campaign for a candidate. A couple videos taken of him in the costume got featured on Old Row! Given that this is the first year anyone has seen him, he’ll probably be around a couple more years. Also, he’s already been joined by another unicycle kid after the fall semeseter!
5. Student-led Organizations
One of the biggest things that UVA students will be proud of is how much of the school is student-led. If you’ve ever taken a tour here, you’ve most likely heard all about how we have very independent clubs led entirely by students, our own student government that is entirely student-run, as well as an honor council that is also all student-run. This is different than the way other schools handle their programs, because most of the time administrators want some kind of adult or sponsor to look over the activities. However, one of Thomas Jefferson’s ideas about UVA was that it would be a place where students would be treated as equals by their professors, and that stands to this day with the tradition of letting the students take care of themselves.
