That’s where it all started! Before arriving in Cincinnati, I decided to register for this orientation and take advantage of it because I heard that it would be very helpful for new students. This program helped me tremendously in my college life here.

The Summer Bridge Program is a way to help new undergraduate students make friends, but there are many other advantages to it. When you arrive in Cincinnati, you are taken care of from the beginning. This 6-day orientation is designed for you to feel comfortable with your new home. As a group, you will:

Explore campus buildings in details and tour UC

Entering and taking a tour inside of some buildings was a good experience in order to ensure that you don’t get lost. You will know at least some directions of where to go prior to the commencement of the academic year.

Get acquainted with dining halls across the campus

Another helpful experience was going to dining halls, as most of you are going to have unlimited meal plans and you will likely be visiting dining halls multiple times a day. So, knowing where to go and what to pick was a useful thing for me.

Explore the downtown area of Cincinnati on a city tour

The beginning of the day was taking a bus into the downtown area. Our first destination was the Findlay market where we had a chance to try food and snacks while there. The next destination was Fountain Square and going up to the Carew Tour to see an overview of the city (the view was breathtaking). Finally, we were walking over to the riverside next to the John A. Roebling Suspension Bridge.

Go on a relaxing cruise along the Ohio River

Lastly, we had a cruise along the Ohio River, which was awesome and at the same time a very rare experience for me. We had a wonderful time, took lots of pictures, and enjoyed the relaxing journey by looking at the downtown area from a boat!

Make new friends

So, guess which specific aspect of this program helped me a lot…? Right, it’s related to making new connections! The people that I became friends with helped me to expand my community immensely, I got to know friends of my friends and so on. This is a great way to meet people in college. Now, I have a lot of friends, so it makes me feel like UC is my second home where everyone is super welcoming and friendly. The community of friends plays an important role for each student because you will be more likely to succeed in college life as well as there will be people who will empathize, support, and encourage you which makes you be ready to face challenges in your higher education and in life!