Getting Around Milwaukee

There is so much to explore in Milwaukee.  Don’t feel confined to only explore within walking distance!  All UWM students receive a UPass at the beginning of every semester, which they can use to ride any Milwaukee County Transit bus.  A UPass is a sticker on your student ID that you show the bus drivers.  I use my UPass all the time to take the 21 to Mayfair Mall, but it took me a little while to get used to the bus system.  There’s almost nowhere in Milwaukee that you can’t get to by bus. 

Here’s a quick MCTS how-to:

1)      Go to ridemcts.com and enter your starting location, your destination, and the time you are planning on leaving for your destination.

2)      Make sure you know what route number you need to take.  Also, be aware if you have to switch buses during your trip. 

3)      Wait at the bus stop for the bus.   The bus stop will have the route number written on the sign.   If there is more than one bus route at a stop, check the electronic sign on the front of the bus to see what route it’s traveling.  Also, make sure you are on the correct side of the street.  If you are on the wrong side, you will travel in the opposite direction of where you want to go.  If you are not sure, just ask the bus driver.

4)      Enter the bus in the front doors and flash your UPass to the driver.

5)      Know what stop you are getting off on.  It’s a good idea to pay attention to the cross-streets.  When you are ready to get off, pull on the yellow cord by the windows.  This will signal to the driver that you are getting off at the next stop.

6)      Exit the bus through the rear doors.

That’s all you have to do to ride MCTS.  It may be confusing at first, but all you have to do is ask if you aren’t sure.

                Although there is a lot to do in Milwaukee, you may want to get out of town for a while.  Maybe take a day trip to Chicago or Madison.  Every Friday and Sunday, the Badger Bus picks up from the Union and drives to Madison, with a few stops along the way.  It only costs $10 to ride!  The Badger Bus runs every day of the week, although you would have to go downtown to catch it Monday through Thursday.  If you feel like going to the Windy City, you could take short train ride.  You can easily take a weekend and travel down to Chicago for pretty cheap.  (You’ll probably need all the money you can save to go shopping on the Magnificent Mile, anyways!)  You can take the bus down to the Amtrak station downtown, and you’ll be on your way.  Have fun exploring Milwaukee and our neighboring cities!    

Meet the Outreach Assistants

 Hey All!  We are the Outreach Assistants in University Housing at UWM.  Our jobs are to answer your questions, give tours, work at New Student Orientation, and update all the social media in Housing.  Please ask us any questions that you might have about anything related to University Housing, UWM, and life in Milwaukee. If we don’t have the answer to your question, we probably know someone who does.  Can’t wait to see you at Orientation!

Connie Nimmo

Watertown, WI

Hi!  My name is Connie.  This fall, I will start my third year at UWM. I am a Linguistics major in the College of Letters and Sciences. I chose UWM because it is one of only two UW-system schools that has a Linguistics program.  I love studying language and traveling.  I aspire to travel the world.  This is also my third year working for University Housing. I began in August 2010 as security in University Housing's newest building, Cambridge Commons, where I lived. A semester later, I was hired to be a Resident Assistant in RiverView Residence Hall. Although I love traveling the world, the east side of Milwaukee is easily my favorite place to explore. Even after two years of living in Milwaukee, I still have a lot to see.  I've been working for University Housing in Outreach since 2010. I’m excited about this summer, especially New Student Orientation.  UWM and University Housing has some new and exciting changes from years past.  I was one of the first residents to write for the Life @ UWM Blog and am very excited to continue.  Chat with me on Facebook!  Make sure you check out Zachery and Leya's blog posts, too!

Leya Ruchti

McFarland, WI

Hello. My name is Leya (yes, like the princess from Star Wars). I am a senior with one year to go! Don’t believe the lie that you can’t get it done in four years. I am a Communication major with an emphasis on Health Communication. My first year at UWM I lived in Riverview, was part of the Visual Arts LLC (Living Learning Community) and worked in Sandburg for the Program Services Office. For the past two years I have lived off-campus but have continued to work for University Housing. My past job as an Event Assistant was a lot of making copies, crafts, office tasks, and large-scale event programming. I have DJ-ed dance parties, karaoke, and played movies in the Sandburg movie theater. Now I work as an Outreach Assistant for University Housing and get to spend my days blogging, giving tours, and stuffing envelopes. I’m looking forward to sharing my experiences at UWM, in University Housing, and just my life in Milwaukee. If you have any questions or blog topic ideas, please do not hesitate to comment. If you would like to contact me via facebook here is my page. May the force be with you.

Zachery Holder

Verona, WI

My name is Zachery. I am a soon to be alumnus of UWM,   graduating with a BFA in Film.  I have been a part of the Residence Halls the past 4 years. The first year I lived in the Residence Halls, I was a first year student in Sandburg.  The following three years I was a student employee working as a Resident Assistant, Paint Crew, Program Specialist, and  Outreach Assistant. I also had the opportunity to be President of our NRHH (National Residence Hall Honorary) Panther Chapter. I have lived in 4 different halls including traditional Sandburg Towers, East Tower, and Purin Hall! I have loved my experience here at UWM and in University Housing. I get to share all my experiences, stories, and favorites here for the summer and I have plenty of them to go around so enjoy it!

Welcome Back!

Welcome to the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee’s Life @ UWM blog. Here you will read what our students (and occasionally our staff) have to say about University Housing, UWM, Milwaukee, or just residence life, in general.

In University Housing, we are proud to have wonderful student employees. Did you know we hire over 300 student-employees each year (academic year and summer)? This summer, some of our more experienced student staff members will be writing blog entries to give our readers a glimpse of life around UWM during the summer. Others are working on tour videos of each of our buildings, so you get a feel for them before making your first visit to campus. Here's a teaser for the videos they are currently working on.

We were proud to see so many of our students (over 3,700) have their degrees conferred at our Commencement Exercises, held last weekend at the U.S. Cellular Arena, downtown. But now that we’ve sent our most recent group of alumni into the world, it’s time to turn the page to the entering class for Fall 2012.

If you are entering in Fall 2012, remember: we have a summer full of New Student Orientations, Preview Days, Move-In and Fall Welcome to complete before we start the Fall semester. Our goal for this blog is to continue those experiences and provide a wider-lens look at life at UWM, beyond the one or two-day Orientation or Preview experiences you may have had previously. We are excited for you to join us in August, and call University Housing your home.

To the rest of our guests and readers: please share your thoughts and recollections. UWM is a great community, and the wisdom of those who have experience around campus and around Milwaukee is always appreciated.

In the meantime, click on the YouTube video above for a quick glance at our University Housing facilities.

It's Finally Spring!

It’s finally spring break at UWM! I have been super busy lately with classes and working and student orgs! Now that the weather is starting to get warm it has been so much harder to get things done, I just want to sit outside in the sun all day!

Speaking of spring, it’s time to start signing up for housing for next year. I still have not decided for certain where I want to live. I am planning to apply for a spot in Kenilworth Apartments but have not done that yet. Summer housing rates are up if you wanted to stay on campus over break as well. They have super cheap rates compared to subleasing or renting in the city.

I currently live in Purin Hall. I have two amazing roommates, probably the best ones I have ever had, and I also work with them at Sandburg Cafeteria. I just started this month and I really like it. It’s nice to be back working again and making some money. Working on campus is nice because they are always super flexible to accommodate your class schedule.

Classes are really great. I officially declared a Journalism and Political Science double major and am currently taking 16 credits in those areas. I plan on graduating in December 2012. I have been thinking about taking summer classes, but as of now I’m not sure where I will get the funding for that. I really enjoy both of my majors and have been trying to get as involved as I can with student organizations on campus.

This month I joined Pi Sigma Alpha, it’s a Political Science honors fraternity here on campus. It was inactive for quite some time but has just become active again. We have already held elections, and had guest speaker JoAnne Kloppenburg, a candidate for Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice, all within the first month of starting up. It’s a great opportunity to get involved if you are interested in Politics.

I am about to head home to Minneapolis for spring break. I don’t have anything fun planned, just working, the dentist, annual eye exam, all of those fun things that I figured I might as well cram into one week. Don’t forget to sign up for housing for next year! If there are any new students interested in hearing about the residence halls from a student’s point of view let me know and I will tell you everything I know!

Buying Textbooks.

What is the one thing you dread when starting a new semester? That's right, buying textbooks! They are so expensive to buy and selling them back at the end of the semester can leave you feeling ripped off. I have become very skilled at buying books and have never spent more than $100 on books for a semester, although it's usually a lot less.

There are a number of places you can buy books from.

The UWM Bookstore- Buying books here is most convenient because it is close, and if you have any problems it is easy to resolve them fast and efficiently. There are also other bookstores around the Milwaukee area that offer cheap textbooks such as the Panther Bookstore.

Library Reserve- Some teachers will keep a copy of their textbook on reserve for students to check out and use. This is not ideal if you will be using your textbook a lot, as students are typically only allowed to keep the book for two hours. It is nice to use if you order books and they arrive in the mail a few weeks after your classes have started. You can search on the website to see if there is a book on reserve for your specific class.

Renting books- This can seem cheap if you typically buy books from the bookstore and then sell them back to the bookstore but beware, if you rent you spend money on the books and have nothing left to sell back at the end of the semester. Sometimes there are fees if you send the book back late, lose or damage the book, or a number of other issues.

Ebooks- Just like renting books, you have nothing to sell back at the end of the semester. They also usually do not come with any access codes or supplementary material that a book may come with. I bought my first ebook this semester, I am not sure if I will like it a lot but it is nice that I can print out the pages that I need, and highlight and mark things on the computer. Most ebooks expire around 180 days after being purchased. If you think you might want to retake a class because you didn't do well, you would have to purchase the ebook twice.

Online- I typically buy and sell all of my books online. I find this best for me because I am able to pick out my classes a month or so ahead of time, find the books that are required, and then watch the book prices and buy when they are cheapest. If you do buy online, make sure you buy from a reputable company or seller. Buying and selling online is for those who are highly motivated and willing to get to a post office every time they sell something. It also can come with problems such as books arriving three weeks after class has started, or the wrong book coming all together.


A really great way to save money is to see if your friends have taken the classes that you are signed up for. You could pay them some money to borrow their book, or let them borrow one of yours for their classes. Textbooks are never a fun thing to spend money on, but if you are an informed consumer you can save a lot of money. Don't be afraid to buy used books either, they are often just as good as new books but at a fraction of the price.