Going to visit tomorrow - is no tour guide a problem?

<p>I'm planning to visit tomorrow with my friend and my parents. Is it ok if I don't tag along with a tour guide? I already visited before, and the tour sucked in my opinion...</p>

<p>And what should I visit around Gainesville and UF? :) What are your favorite places? Is there any way I can go to some of the academic buildings?</p>

<p>Nobody’s going to stop you from just doing your own thing, it’s a big campus after all. People probably won’t even realize you arn’t a student. You can go into most buildings, just avoid the classrooms probably (unless it’s between classes, then you could probably look around a bit, just be smart). I have friends who will sit in on random classes, but I wouldn’t advise that for a visitor.</p>

<p>I mean what you should visit sorta depends on what major or program you’re going to pursue. I’ve never been in some buildings that my pre-med friends spend their lives in.</p>

<p>if you know anyone that goes to UF and lives on campus see if they can let you see their dorm, if you’re planning to live on campus.</p>

<p>If you’ve already been on a tour, you probably don’t need one again. Just get a map, visit the buildings that house your major and see if you can check out the dorms. I don’t live in Gainesville yet so I don’t really know what there is to do around town, but I know there’s a zoo at Santa Fe College! :)</p>

<p>You can see a dorm building in jennings.</p>

<p>Make sure to see the bowling alley in the student union.</p>

<p>^^^ I was wondering about the bowling alley. Are games free with the gator1 card or do you need cash? It just seems like the kind of thing Student Government might fund.</p>

<p>nope, it’s not free: [Reitz</a> Union Gameroom X Rates](<a href=“http://www.union.ufl.edu/games/rates.asp]Reitz”>http://www.union.ufl.edu/games/rates.asp)</p>

<p>If you want to check out some courses, go here: [Office</a> of the University Registrar](<a href=“http://www.registrar.ufl.edu/soc/201001/all/]Office”>http://www.registrar.ufl.edu/soc/201001/all/) to find out when they meet and if it’s in a large lecture hall you should be able to drop in without anyone noticing.</p>

<p>I never went on a tour or had even been to Gainesville before Preview. It made everything first semester an adventure! I’m still discovering new buildings and stuff now.</p>

<p>Pro Tip: If you have an iPod Touch, iPhone, or smartphone, download/bookmark the campus maps so you won’t have to wander around with a paper map looking like a tourist. Lifesaver on the first day of classes for me lol</p>

<p>They charge for students to play pool and foosball??? What??? What do they use student activities fees for???</p>

<p>I can understand (obviously) having to pay for bowling but paying to use the pool tables? C’mon now. At my community college we (SGA) use the student activities fees to buy pool tables for the rec room, pool cues, etc. Even air hockey tables and it’s all free to students… they paid for the equipment with their fees, why should they pay again to use it?</p>

<p>Try to sneak into one of the classes. Visit the libraries like Library West and Marston. They are the places where the majority of the students study and grind at.</p>

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<p>Even though the way the SG’s $14.4M budget is spent may be questionable, I feel I’ve already gotten my student activities fee worth out of the amount of free concerts and events I’ve attended in the past 7 months. The gameroom is an optional novelty; I feel like it would be hard to regulate fair usage or be abused if it was free.</p>

<p>Definitely, the game room is one of the best in the country, and if it was free people would just mess it up. Paying 3 dollars for an hour of pool is better then you’ll find anywhere else. If there wasn’t that fee there would be a bunch of idiots just mulling about damaging the tables.</p>

<p>I’ll have to check the game room out when I get up there in the next few weeks.</p>