Thinking back to my freshman year at the University of Dayton, sometimes it was hard to know what people were talking about because they were throwing around all these acronyms I had never heard before. It took me a while to understand the lingo but once I did I finally felt like I fit in. Hopefully any future flyers reading this will be able to skip that awkward time of confusion and seamlessly be able to blend in with the upperclassmen at UD. The following list should give you just about everything you need to know when it comes to the short hand students use.

1. VWK

VWK is short for Virginia W. Kettering Hall, a sophomore dorm. This dorm is situated along Stuart Hill, so it's a bit of a hike to class. It has an infamously confusing layout that can be very difficult to navigate. The suites themselves are pretty nice, hold four people, and have just about everything you could want, except a kitchen. But fear not because there is a full dining hall in this building that serves everything from sandwiches to Mongolian food.

2. PATH

PATH stands for Points Accumulated Towards Housing, yet students tend to redundantly say "PATH points." These are the bane of everyone's existence. You can acquire PATH points by attending various events on campus, and the more points you get, the better the chance you'll get the housing that you want. As annoying as they may be, PATH points are definitely something you don't want to forget about.

3. KU

KU is short for Kennedy Union and it is a hub of activity for students. KU has plenty of places to study, grab food, or even go bowling. It's located near the academic buildings so it is a great place to kill time between classes. Many club meetings and PATH events are held in KU as well.

4. 2FA

2FA stands for two factor authentication. Basically, 2FA is something that gets installed on you phone so that every time you try to log on to a UD webpage, you have to confirm your login on your phone. It is supposed to be more secure because you need two devices to log in, but mostly it's just a pain. Right now only student employees have 2FA but everyone will need to start using it soon.

5. POD

POD is short for Pride of Dayton, UD's awesome marching band! I made the mistake freshman year of thinking POD stood for Pride of Damerica, stupid I know. Members of POD work really hard and it totally shows when you see them perform at football games and other events.

6. KL

KL stands for Kettering Labs, which is the engineering building. I personally have never stepped foot inside of KL because I am an English major and math is not my thing, but many students spend a lot of time there since UD has a really great engineering program.

7. ABP

ABP stands for Au Bon Pain which is french for "of good bread." ABP is a bakery/cafe serving soups, sandwiches, salads, specialty coffee and baked goods. It is always really busy but if you don't mind waiting in line the food is pretty good! ABP is located on the first floor (not to be confused with the ground floor) of KU.

8. PAVE

PAVE stands for Peers Advocating for Violence Education. PAVE is a group of students working to educate the UD community on power based personal violence. Power based personal violence includes sexual assault, stalking, and intimate partner violence. PAVE is a great resource on campus!

9. POTH

POTH stands for "putting on the hits". It is a big dance competition between all the values-based fraternities and sororities on campus as part of Greek Week! There is a different theme every year and it's a ton of fun! Even if you're not involved in Greek Life, I highly recommend attending POTH in the fall to watch all the fun dances.

10. CPC

Alright this one is tricky, because technically there is not a building on campus called the CPC. However some upperclassmen call Fitz Hall the CPC because that is what it used to be called several years ago. Fitz Hall is the building for the music, theatre, education and physical therapy programs. Oh and I'm sorry but I don't know what CPC stands for, I don't think anyone really knows anymore.

11. UD

Of course UD stands for the University of Dayton, the school you will grow to love. UD became a second home for me as it does for most students.