Tag: Louisville

Here to There

Apps such as Uber and Lyft have become wildly popular in the college scene. Whether it be riding to and from parties, restaurants, or sporting events, students are loving these car ride apps.

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The University of Louisville has recently taken measures to provide rides for students. Previously, the campus police or ULPD provided rides at night to student who needed a safe way home. Now, the Card Cab service has been implemented. The ULPD still provides rides to students from the hours of dusk to 10PM and 4AM to dawn, 7 days a week. Card Cab seats multiple students and is available from 10PM to 4AM, Monday through Saturday.

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Pictured: Card Cab vehicles have three rows of seating for multiple-passenger pickups.

One huge advantage to the Card Cab is that it is free. The cab will drive you around campus and surrounding housing complexes, completely free.

Uber and Lyft will typically charge around $4-7 to get across campus and they have all sorts of hidden charges and fees they will hit you with. For example, I had an uber driver charge me $16 on what should have been a $4 ride, because the ride took longer than expected, but HE took the wrong route. Riding with students who know the campus is not only safer but easier.

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Pictured: Gotcha app icon

Card Cab has an app called “Gotcha” that you download that looks very similar to the Uber and Lyft apps, and it is extremely user friendly. One feature I like is that you have to put in your school email to verify you are a student, meaning you will only be riding with students and not random people. All you have to do is go in the app and request a ride, you put in your exact location and destination and someone will show up within minutes.

Having a free night time ride service that is ONLY for students was a great choice by UofL. It not only promotes safety, but makes a bigger effort to maintain sustainability on campus.

Did you know about Dance?

The world of college dance is vast and wide in variety, there are hundreds of college dance teams just in the United States alone. College dancers serve to provide entertainment and school spirit at sporting events and appearances around their campus. Typically, you can recognize a college dance team by their flashy makeup, big hair, and lots of sparkle.

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Pictured: Louisiana State University Tiger Girls dance team

What many people do not see is all of the hard work that these dancers put into their routines, gameday material, and appearance. Most college dancers have trained for many years of their life in multiple styles of dance to be on a college team. College dance teams require vigorous training and being able to have a quick memory and high levels of athleticism. A typical week of a college dancer could include workouts with a trainer, multiple team practices, games, and multiple appearances in the community on top of school work and possibly a job.

Other than pumping up the crowd and providing entertainment on gameday, a college dance team’s main goal is doing well at the national championships each year. Teams can choose between participating in National Dance Association (NDA) nationals or Universal Dance Association (UDA) nationals. Each company provides a national championship experience for college teams, but they occur at different dates and different places. UDA tends to occur in Disney World on February 1-3, while NDA occurs at the Daytona Beach bandshell in Florida on April 3-7.

Pictured (Left to Right): UDA pom and jazz double national champions Ohio State, NDA hip hop and team performance double national champions Louisville Ladybirds, NDA pom and jazz double national champions Texas Tech.

The work put in for a nationals routine is incredibly tough, teams typically learn their routines months before nationals so they have time to perfect them before competition. The ultimate goal at nationals is, of course, to win and receive a big trophy and rings to commemorate accomplishing a huge goal with your team.

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Pictured: Louisville Ladybirds nationals rings

A lot more goes in to college dance than people see, most fans who watch the team all year never get to see the team’s true talents that they put on the nationals floor each year. Next time you see your favorite college team’s dance team, consider all of the blood, sweat, and tears they put in to putting on a show for the fans.

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