The ELI Weekly
Out and About: UF Water Polo
–by Alvaro Herrera, RW 40
UF Water Polo team is a good place to meet friends and do sport. They have two teams: women and men. They practice water polo in the university pool in front of the stadium. Water polo is a team sport in the water with the aim of being fit and making friends. There are people from different countries. If you want to try it, you are invited. We are waiting for you.
CIP Weekday Activities
Sign up for all activities here:
https://www.signupgenius.com/go/20F0C4BA9A823A02-student12
Monday October 4th – Coffee Talk – 6:30 – 9:00pm
Come drink coffee or get dinner and socialize at the Butler Plaza Starbucks near Burger Fi – 3524 SW Archer Rd! Take bus 1.
- You must sign up to attend.
Tuesday October 5th – Soccer – 6:30 – 9:00pm
Come play Soccer on campus at Flavet Field! No experience necessary!
- You must sign up to attend.
Wednesday October 6th – Volleyball – 6:30 – 9:00 pm
Come play volleyball and hang out at Lexington Crossing Apartments Phase 2! No experience necessary! Take bus 34 or 35
- You must sign up to attend.
Thursday October 7th – Sweetberries – 6:30 – 8:30pm
Try some delicious ice cream at this popular spot and hang out with your ELI friends! Meet in front of Sweetberries. Take bus 8 or 10, or just walk from Matherly Hall!
- You must sign up to attend.
Friday October 8th – Homecoming Parade – 10:45am – 1:00pm
Celebrate the Florida Gators and watch this annual parade, a UF and Gainesville tradition! Wear orange and blue! Meet the ELI at Norman Garage. Then we will find a spot together to watch the parade in front of Norman lawn. Please note this is NOT a football game. There is no Gator Nights event this Friday.
- You must sign up to attend this activity.
Weekend Activities
There is no Saturday activity this week.
Conversation Partners (CPs): Want to meet with an English speaker once a week and make a new friend?! Sign up here! https://forms.gle/ctQAzW8EjXgvhYgHA.
Returning students who want a CP should still fill out this form, even if you had a CP last semester!
This is optional, but if you sign up, you agree to meet your partner once a week for one hour to speak English and respond to them when they contact you to make plans to arrange a meeting.
Try meeting them on campus or a coffee shop. Try chatting about your family or home country to start practice English with your new friend! CPs are excited to meet you! Wait two weeks after signing up to be paired. Email conversationpartners@eli.ufl.edu if your partner does not respond after one week.
Notes from the Office
Homecoming Holiday: Friday, October 8, is homecoming. There will be no ELI classes, and the ELI office will be closed.
Bus Changes: The RTS bus schedules may change for Homecoming. Check RTS for changes on Friday: https://go-rts.com/. RTS is also changing the Rider App. Check here for details: https://www.riderts.app/home .
Santa Fe College: Join representatives from Santa Fe College to learn more about what the college has to offer and how the international student admissions process works. After the presentation, you will have an opportunity to ask questions. This event will be on October 13, at 5:15 pm, in Room 116 Matherly Hall, on the UF campus.
Students Wanted: The ELI Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion committee is a group of teachers, administrators, staff, and Language Assistants that hopes to make the ELI a more welcoming and accepting place for people of all races, religions, gender identities, sexual orientations, social statuses, and abilities. We are looking for students to be part of a group that will give their thoughts about the ELI and possible changes to ELI policies. If you are interested, please email Thomas Dolce at tomdolce@ufl.edu for more information. You can also read the ELI’s statement of commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion at https://eli.ufl.edu/about-us/uf-eli-commitment-to-diversity-equity-and-inclusion/.
Hallway Etiquette: Remember that many UF faculty and staff have offices open to the hallways on campus (for example, the ELI, the Department of Economics, and PURC all have offices on the second floor of Matherly Hall). For this reason, if you are hanging out in the hallways between classes, please remember to keep the noise level down, so that people trying to work are not disturbed. Also, please do not block the hallways or stairwells in buildings and be careful around doors that may suddenly open.
Keep Your Belongings Safe: We are seeing backpacks, phones, and other personal items left unattended in classrooms and in the hallway. Please keep your things safe by keeping them with you.
Weekend Photo
Manners and Culture
Q: What do I call Coca-Cola when I order it at a restaurant?
A: When the server asks for your drink order, you can say, “I’ll have a Coke.”
In some parts of Florida, the server might ask, “What kind (of Coke)?” They are asking this question because in the southern US, the word “Coke” can be the general word for the sweet fizzy drink. In other areas of the US, the general term for the drink is called “pop,” “soda,” or “soft drink.”
If the server asks, “What kind of Coke,” you can answer, “Just a regular Coke,” if you want Coca-Cola. Otherwise, fill in with the specific name of your drink if you want some other type: “I’d like a Sprite.” or “A Pepsi, please.”
Birthdays!
Students:
- 10/4—Daniel Corona Ibarra
- 10/4—Eunji Jeong
- 10/4—Hyung Jun Kim
- 10/9—Taeyang Lee
- 10/9—Victor Javier Gonzalez Vasquez
Staff: none
Notes from the Editor
The Weekly needs you! I need more stories about your experiences at UF and around Gainesville. I need more questions about manners, culture, and grammar. Send your stories and questions to Maya (mshastri@ufl.edu).