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Campus Life
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Starting graduate school and moving to a new area are bound be be
confusing and frustrating experiences. The aim of this page is to point
you to some resources that will hopefully make that experience a little
less confusing and frustrating, as well as guide you to some of the
riches that campus, and to a lesser extent College Park, has to offer.
I'm
here. Now what? | Daily life on campus | Academic
resources | What to do in College Park
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I'm here. Now what?
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So you decided to come to College Park. What do
you do now? First, you should learn to find your way around campus -
look at this map to
familiarize yourself with campus. The Government and Politics
department is located in Tydings
Hall, which is seated on the Mall, right next to McKeldin
Library.
If you haven't found a place to live, the housing office
has searchable online listings to help you find somewhere. And you can
buy cheap furniture at the Terrapin Trader -
mostly filing cabinets, desks, and chairs, but these are things you'll
need as a grad student.
You can get to campus in one of two ways: you can drive, in which case
you'll need to visit the parking office
to get a parking permit, or you can use public transportation. Public
transportation centers on Metrorail,
which is the subway system that connects Washington, D.C., Virginia and
Maryland. It is very safe and clean. College Park has a stop, though it
is not terribly convenient to campus. The walk is about 20 minutes from
Tydings Hall. The university also provides a free shuttle service from a
stop across the street from the Stamp Student Union. Keep in mind - the
Metro stops running at about midnight, except on weekends, when it runs
until 2am. It can be an expensive cab ride back to College Park if you
miss the last train! In addition to the College Park Metro station, the
university's free shuttle provides service to graduate housing, the
Greenbelt area, Silver Spring and other areas. You can get maps and
schedules in the Stamp Student Union. Most routes require riders to
present a University of Maryland student or faculty identification
card. Metrobuses also connect the University with Metrorail and
neighboring communities, running on late nights and weekends when most
University of Maryland shuttles do not. For routes and schedule
information, you can call the Ride-On bus, which serves Montgomery
County, Md., at (301) 217-7433 or Metrobus, which serves most of the DC
area, at (202) 637-7000.
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Daily Life
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There are plenty of resources on campus to help
you get along in your daily life. For example, you want to eat. There is a self-service
dining facility, the South Campus Dining Hall, located on the
other side of LeFrak Hall. It has a variety of breakfast, lunch, and
dinner foods and has a faculty (grad students included) dining room in
the back, open during lunch. There are also several fast food
restaurants located in the Stamp Student Union, including the Maryland
Food Co-op, which sells inexpensive and tasty organic food, as well
as a McDonald's and Taco Bell. Adele's, also in
the union, offers a more expensive, upscale dining alternative.
Also, there is a health
center on campus (across Campus Drive from the Stamp Student Union)
that is a part of the university health program. Those who have used
their services have generally been happy with it. You can get some
services for free, but others involve a charge (generally $10). It also
has a pharmacy and provides free condoms. Contact the health center for
more information at (301) 314-8184.
You might want to get some extra cash to help pay the rent. The career center has plenty of
job listings, as well as lots of other information that will help you
find a job.
If you're trying to activate yourself, there are sports centers on
campus that offer various facilities, including racquetball courts and
weight rooms. There are also several swimming pools on campus
(including a new, popular outdoor pool) that are open during different
hours, please check campus recreation
services for their hours. Intramurals are offered by the school in
Reckord Armory. Different sports are offered, including basketball and
softball. Contact Reckord Armory for more information. HHP and Ritchie
Coliseum have additional facilities including swimming, aerobics,
weight facilities. The new Campus Recreation Center, in addition to the
facilities listed above, contains an indoor track and a slew of classes
to help you stay in shape. The University has an 18-hole golf course
off of Route 193, which has just gone through an extensive renovation.
It is a nice course but a bit pricy - the student rate is $17 for 18
holes, plus $12/person for a cart (required on weekends). You can call
five days in advance to make a tee time, (301) 403-4299.
If you're looking for other distractions, campus has a brand new performing arts center,
which is where most of the dance, music, and theater performances on
campus will be held. If you prefer movies, check out the Hoff, located
in the Student Union. And there's always athletics. The Maryland
Terrapins offer free football and basketball tickets to graduate
students. Football tickets are generally available the day of the game
(at the stadium’s north end). Basketball tickets are much more popular,
and should be acquired in advance at Cole Field House next to the
union. Other campus sports teams generally don’t require tickets,
although some require the presentation of student identification.
Of course, there are many more resources to help you get along in your
daily life. The Student
Union is worth walking through to get a sense of its offerings. It
is undergoing renovations right now, so it's difficult to say exactly
what will be available when everything is done. In general, there are
numerous fast food and cafeteria-style restaurants, as well as one
sit-down restaurant. The Co-op offers a wide selection of low-cost
organic and otherwise healthy and good-for-the-world food selections.
There is also a small convenience-type store which offers less healthy
snacks, as well as a Starbucks, if you need that $4 cup of coffee. On
the ground floor, you will find boards with items for sale, postings
for events and activities and job opportunities. There is a bank and
ATM, as well as a ticket office for events in and around the D.C. area.
Mail Boxes Etc., which offers 33-cent stamps for 40 cents and other
parcel services, is located next to the ticket office. (There is no
post office on campus.) Upstairs, there are meeting rooms, a commuter
lounge and student organization offices. The University Book Center is
also in the basement of the union. Right next to the Student Union is
the Nyumburu Cultural
Center, which houses lectures and events throughout the year.
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Academic Resources
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Obviously, there are also many academic
resources on campus, the foremost being the libraries. McKeldin is the
graduate library, offering a decent selection of books, an extensive
selection of journals, helpful librarians and inconvenient working
hours, meaning it closes early on Fridays and Saturdays. If you do not
have an office in Tydings, you can request a cubicle at McKeldin (first
floor, public services division office, south end of McKeldin). When
going to go McKeldin, remember to bring your ID card if you want to
check out any materials. McKeldin has a cluster of computer terminals
to the left of the main entrance. The majority of terminals run Victor, which is the library's
electronic card catalog. Victor will search the stacks for books and
serials by author name, title or subject. The database will say whether
the book is checked out and, if so, when it is due. If a book is
checked out, you can recall it through Victor. You will need to know
the 14 digits on the back of your student ID card to do this. Note that
if you get a recall notice on a book you have checked out, be certain
to return the book as soon as possible - library fines on recalled
books are hefty. If you still need the book, you can return it and
immediately place it on hold-recall. Victor terminals also offer the
Uncover and FirstSearch services, which can be found along with a
variety of other resources for finding books and articles. Victor will
also search the stacks of other libraries to which you have access as a
University of Maryland graduate student. In addition to Victor, many of
the computer terminals provide general internet access. However, be
aware that the university charges for printing at these computers.
Other useful resources in McKeldin:
The interlibrary loan office is located on the first floor (pass the
elevators on your right, take an immediate right, pass the copiers, and
the office is on your right).
Government documents are located on the second floor.
Bound periodicals, which do not normally circulate, can be checked out
for two hours at the circulation desk. This can be a useful service for
students with GVPT copy cards.
McKeldin Library has undergone a transition because Hornbake Library,
which was the undergraduate library, will eventually be closing as a
library facility. Hornbake's closing will leave McKeldin to serve all
general library needs of graduate and undergraduate students.
At some point, you'll have to buy books for your classes. The University Book Center (in the
Student Union) and the Maryland
Book Exchange (on Baltimore Avenue) have textbooks for all of the
classes - or at least they're supposed to. There is one more bookstore
in College Park: Vertigo
Books, in the strip mall just south of campus, also has a wide
variety of political science books.
How do you get connected to the internet? The Office of Information Technology
will help you get a dial-up connection, a WAM account, and many other
computing resources. The College of Behavioral and Social Sciences has
its own computing office: OACS
will help you with the computers in Tydings, and it also runs the
computer labs on the first floor of LeFrak Hall.
Do you have other questions about graduate life at the University of
Maryland? The Graduate
Catalog is your online handbook to services, policies, and
requirements for graduate students.
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What to do in College Park
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There's more to life in College Park than just
campus. For example, we have our own national park: Greenbelt Park is located just a
few minutes from campus. The College Park area is also home to numerous
other parks and paved biker-hiker trails. The Anacostia River tributary
system of trails runs throughout the area. Wells (Ice) Skating Rink is
located on Paint Branch Road, east of campus. In addition, the National
Arboretum, a 250-acre oasis in the middle of the urban area, is
conveniently located 6 miles from the campus off Bladensburg Road and
New York Avenue in northeast DC.
There are also a few movie theaters in the area: Beltway Plaza,
Greenbelt Road (301) 998-4262 (currently $3.75 with student
identification); Sony Theater, 4001 Powder Mill Road (from Route 1 take
a left onto Cherry Hill Road, then a right onto Powder Mill Road. The
theater is on your right. Or take the Calverton exit from I-95.);
P&G Old Greenbelt, 132 Center Way (Greenbelt) (301) 474-9744.
And then there's eating: Chipotle offers a variety of burritos
and other Mexican-inspired food at very reasonable prices. It is
located in a little shopping plaza that also includes CVS, McDonald's,
a frozen yogurt shop, and the Wawa convenience store, which also sells
sandwiches. Another bagel/coffee/sandwich place is Bagel Place,
which is near the Maryland Book Exchange on Route 1. Marathon Deli,
just south of campus, offers some of the tastiest Greek food around. Smoothie
King is located at the corner of Route 1 and Knox Road. For pizza
try Ratsi's (plus good calzones) right on Route 1. A place
where many UMCP students drink to their prospectuses, dissertations and
lost loves, when they do not have time to go to D.C., is the Santa
Fe Cafe. A southwestern-style restaurant-bar offers good selections
of beer, decent appetizers and friendly service. It also has a big
screen TV, a satellite-based interactive trivia game, a foosball table,
and a balding buffalo head on the wall. For a tolerable drinking/dining
experience (great burgers), try the Cornerstone, a conveniently
located (Route 1) watering hole, with an open-air atmosphere, weather
permitting. Upstairs from the Cornerstone is the recently remodeled Loft,
which has the same menu as the Cornerstone, but also has pool tables.
Next door, Bentley's offers standard American fare and a full
bar. Plato's Diner offers good diner food, along with a unique
selection of Greek specialities. It is located south of campus on Route
1, just north of Guilford Road. Applebee's is right down the
road and offers standard American fare. Lovers of vegetarian food can
go to Udupi Palace at 1329 University Blvd. East, (301)
434-1531. It has a good vegetarian South Indian food, even by Indian
standards. Seven Seas, specializing in Japanese and Chinese
cuisine, is located at 8503 Baltimore Ave., (301) 345-5807. It has
decent sushi, and special vegetarian and low-fat menus. It offers
delivery until late at night. Head east to Greenbelt for Sakura,
a great Japanese restaurant with a sushi happy hour in the early
evening. If you are really feeling exotic, head north to Beltsville for
Jonesies, a diversion from the prissy bar circuit with
Rainier on tap and all-you-can-eat spicy Goldfish/pretzel mix. A
similar experience is Lasicks on Route 1, with an older,
football fan clientele. Another change of pace is 94th Aero Squadron.
This bar has a WWII motif, but varies greatly in intensity from night
to night. After you've tied on a few, you'll start feeling like
swapping war stories. They do offer a nice $8 lunch buffet during the
week. If you are determined to escape from the world of college
students, head to Riverdale for the Riverdale Pizza Pub on
Kenilworth Avenue between River Road and East-West Highway, complete
with cheap beer, pool tables, darts, and pinball machines.
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