The secrets of Ohio University delve much deeper than stories you hear about haunted dorm rooms and The Ridges. Whether the higher-ups of OU don’t want you to know, they plan to let you figure it out on your own or just forgot to mention them at Bobcat Student Orientation, the secrets are there and need to be exposed.
One: You can figure out when your Spring Quarter finals will be. Sick of staying in Athens until the absolute last minute for finals week? Then do a little research and learn the system for your future finals. It’s an algorithm that assigns finals based on which classes start on which days and times.
When preparing your classes, go to ohio.edu/registrar/finals and determine when you want to start your summer vacation. If only we could get our syllabuses early, then we would know when our midterm exams were.
Two: There’s more than coffee in the Front Room. When you’re having a study session with your friends at the Front Room, the idea of drinking tea or coffee might not exactly be your cup of joe. So instead of dying of thirst or paying the 50 cents for flavorless water, you can order a soda pop.
Because it isn’t plastered on the sign as an option to buy one, the fact that they serve Pepsi products might be a lost fact to many. So if you don’t have Bobcat Cash for the vending machine or it’s Saturday and West 82 is closed, you can fill your fizzy craving thanks to the Front Room.
Three: You can walk to Sonic. If you aren’t from around Athens, you may not know the location of anything off-campus other than Kroger and Walmart. Every once in a while, you get sick of dining hall food and the places on Court Street. When this time comes, on a cool sunny day, you can take a stroll to Sonic.
From West Green, follow the bike path on the river toward South Green and keep walking. Eventually the path will fork into the option of taking a left or going right, which will lead you under a bridge. Take the left and Sonic will be right there. Enjoy your Limeade Chiller on the walk home.
Four: There’s a bus-riding option, and not just throughout campus and to The Summit. Tired of waiting to go to Walmart until your parents come down? Dying to see The Roommatebut think you have to wait until the next time you go home? Well, your problems are forever solved because there is a bus that will take you up and down East State Street at the price of $1.50 a trip.
Grab an Athens Transit bus schedule from the Customer Service desk in Baker University Center and plan your timing so you have enough time to catch the bus, run your errand and catch the bus back to campus.
If you are exploring campus and finding your own secrets, share the good ones with others. Tell your friends because they probably have a similar problem that can be solved with the secret that you have found.
You have at least four years of finding the unrevealed treasures of Athens, Ohio. So pull out your map, start aimlessly wandering and figure out where “X” marks the spot.
Mesha Baylis-Blalock is a freshman studying journalism and a columnist for The Post. Have you found any “X” marks? Let Mesha know at mb345109@ohiou.edu.
