MAYBE if you've been born and raised with the intention of heading off to U.Va. after high school, the University's football games - and the traditions that accompany them - seem normal to you.
YOU COULD say that I was less than pleased when I discovered an e-mail in my inbox early this July instructing me to write "an advice column to first years" which was to be mailed out to the entire University population.
STUDENTS, alumni and sports fans gathering to cheer on the University's varsity football team expect sport and entertainment but experience much more.
GETTING away from my parents and partying until dawn were the two main thoughts on my mind as I unpacked my belongings and set up my college pad.
THE GOOD folks at The Cavalier Daily have asked for a column directed at incoming students.
It really isn't so bad that the latest headlines involve fibbing politicians, sly mistresses, and the sordid details about their affairs.
COLLEGE is not about learning. By that, I don't mean that academia is a farce. Higher education does offer positive knowledge - answers.
I'm from Connecticut. A perhaps little known fact about Connecticut is that everything is cold.
RACE MATTERS at the University of Virginia. Despite the University's lingering reputation as a bastion of white male conservatism, debates thrive on topics ranging from affirmative action to self-segregation.
DEAR FIRST-YEAR students, Guess what? You're the new guys, so that makes you inferior. This is a social fact that you will want to keep in mind as you interact with your upper class friends and acquaintances that are more knowledgeable, even-tempered and intelligent than you are.
AS THE new school year approaches we begin to build expectations for the future, and build on experiences of the past.
A STUDENT'S first year at the University is the most difficult and eventually rewarding one he will face.
I CANNOT know whether any advice that I might humbly offer now is worth more than if I were fresh out of my first year.
I WAS CUT from the U.Va. Club Water Polo team. To the best of my knowledge, last year was the first time in the history of the University that the Water Polo team made cuts. It was nice to make history, and in all due fairness, I had never swam competitively or played water polo before last year.
TOMORROW the move is official. A couple signatures, a handshake or two and my parents will finally put to bed weeks of quiet anxiety and a final couple days of furious packing.
I CAN SAY that I was on ESPN my first year at the University of Virginia. It was the nationally televised football game between the Cavaliers and perennially-evil Florida State.
SURE, EVERYONE KNOWS about that thing with the dome and the big patch of grass in front of it. But what about the other places in and around Grounds?
AS IMPORTANT as the discovery of alien life forms may appear to be, this should not be a priority of the United States government. The House space science subcommittee heard testimony from experts on the possibility of extraterrestrial life on such gaseous planets of Jupiter and Uranus and in distant galaxies.
AS THE first anniversary of the crash of Air France Flight AF4560 over Paris approaches, the famous airliner has made its way to the sky once more.
IT HAS been part of our civilization for thousands of years, and also has been abused since the beginning.
