by Claire Chock

Created on: February 21, 2009

Ooo goodie! I can share about UMD! I just recently graduated from there so I hope my memory is still fresh. UMD as a whole is a good college with some particularily fresh teachers in the Communication and Cultural Studies departments. One in particular was my 60's Culture class teacher. We did alot of discussion based activites and watched some pretty cool and freaky movies. Looking back over my career, I'd definately say I was challenged in my studies but also had plenty of leverage for creativity and ability.

Going back to the first day I moved in, I was pretty overwhelmed with the sense of freedom I had after my parents left. Participating in the Bulldog Bash activities wasn't mandatory and classes didn't start for another couple days so I could do whatever I wanted. I spent time walking around the campus, not so much the city because I was little daunted by the bus system. UMD has a fairly easy layout as long as you know how to read a map and it's especially easy once you've walked around for a few months. There's nice shortcuts you learn as you navigate the halls. You can get pretty much anywhere on campus in under 10 minutes, 5 if you run, haha. As for the bus system, that's easily navigated as well with practice, map and schedule reading skills. One major thing is to remember the bus system only runs until 7pm on saturdays and 6pm on sundays. Make sure you get on the bus before last to make sure you get where you want to go. I once had to walk clear from I think it was 42nd Ave. W to downtown across the OVERPASS to get back to campus. I met a skunk on the way too, thank God I didn't get sprayed, heh.

My first impression of the dorms during orientation a few months before was that they were pretty utalitarian but once you put a personal touch to it, it's quite a bit cozier. My roomie had moved in before I did so I didn't have much choice where my stuff went. Luckily I brought only what I thought I needed because the rooms are small. It takes ALOT of work to get a couch or futon in a dorm room unless you've got the larger ones and the closets aren't large either, only about 3 feet wide and a foot deep. Quite a few freshmen make the mistake of bringing their entire room to college, be frugal! A very nice feature of the dorms is the 90-something channel cable service, MTV all the way!I loved watching Headbangers Ball and the movie channels like AMC, TNT. The phones are included in tuition too, I could call internationally for free long as I had a calling

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