Around this time last year, I was touring my future school, the University of San Francisco, trying to imagine what my experience would look like. I searched google, I asked my tour guides, but at the end of the day, my search was inconclusive. After a year of experiencing life as a Don, I now know that this is a unique experience that all USF students can bond over with these specific characteristics (from my personal perspective of course).
1. Having to specify that you go to USFCA, not the University of Southern Florida
Maybe the people you talk to won't need the clarification, but Google definitely does. If you are googling something school related you always have to make sure to type USFCA so that you don't miss a final because you were looking at the University of Southern Florida's schedule.
2. Knowing everyone on campus without actually knowing them
Our campus is so small that your first year you live here will see all of the people that live on campus as well ALL THE TIME. Even if you have never talked to some of these people, you will know them and they will know you. This can be both a blessing and a curse, but mostly a blessing. Although you may dread this if there is someone you are trying to avoid, it mostly makes you feel comfortable in your own little USF bubble and helps make it easier to talk to people in new classes when they seem somewhat familiar.
3. Our beloved flexi
There are two types of people when it comes to our school's form of currency called flexi: those who run out of it a month before the semester ends and those who have too much that they don't know what to do with it. Flexi is a type of non-convertible currency that all students put funds into at the beginning of the year in their tuition in order to cover buying food in the cafeteria and on-campus food stores throughout the year.
While it does transfer across semesters, if you do not spend all of your flexi by the end of the year it is not refundable. That means if you are the type of person who has some left over, you can either treat yourself to a big shopping spree at the end of the year or help keep your friends with no flexi fed.
4. Caf food
Our school is unique in its food services in numerous ways. First of all, Coca-Cola's monopoly. Our drink selection may seem diverse at first, that is, until you realize that Coca-Cola owns Dasani, Smartwater, Minute Maid, Simply Orange, Odwalla, Fanta, Sprite, Vitaminwater, Fuze, Honest Tea, and Powerade (our entire drink selection). Regardless, we still do have a wide variety of drinks to choose from and could try a new flavor of Odwalla every day for a month and still have new drink options while feeling like the fitness Instagram accounts we look up to but aren't motivated enough to be.
Between the grill, main dish, sushi station, salad bar, sandwich line, and pizza there is a lot to think about when going to the caf. The thing is, timing is key to make sure that you get to the lines that are open and not long. At the end of the day, even if I do tend to sometimes get sick of the caf food, I still always find myself getting into the pizza line knowing that it will be the shortest wait no matter how long it is.
Lessons I learned this year in the caf: 1. Even if you want to sleep in on the weekends, caf breakfast is served until 1:30 and is definitely worth it. 2. There's no need to stress if you can't make it to the caf by 8 to get dinner because the undercaf's food is secretly better.
5. Lone Mountain
Part of living in the architecturally rich city of San Francisco means a beautiful and unique campus. Ours is so special that it has its own mountain! Sometimes having class here can seem like sort of an inconvenience, but when you take a minute to sit on one of LOMO's benches look out at the city, it makes it all worth it. (Plus with all walking you can easily escape the freshman 15 without having to think about it)
6. Thursdays are the new Fridays
Club events and the social life of our school tends to always land on Thursdays, so as a Don, Thursdays are your new Friday.
7. Check-in process
Having to check in a guest every time you have someone over. Although it can be annoying at times to always have to go through this process, at the end of the day you appreciate it because it helps you sleep at night knowing you're safe.
8. Sports!
Our school may not have a traditional football team, but we do have the baseball team that everyone at our school becomes familiar with when they awake to the sound of their morning practices. Sports may not be the selling feature of our school, but regardless of this we still do have D1 teams that sports-minded people can support!
9. Small classes
Personally, I have not been in a class over 30 people, and while that means that skipping class is increasingly more awkward than at larger universities, the one on one time I get with my professors and bond that I form with my fellow classmates makes it totally worth it.
10. Close to everything/SF
Probably one of if not the best parts of going to this school is the location. At the exact geographic center of San Francisco, you are no more than three miles from anything you could want to do. Having the 5 bus right in front of your dorm is also a HUGE plus, and if you take advantage of your Muni pass you can feel a lot more "grown-up" figuring out how to navigate around the city on your own!
