New friendships mean a new language: “Are you my entry-mate?”

[ Sep 06, 2001]  The majority of the new students, more than one hundred, arrived last weekend, at the beginning of Orientation Week at IUB. They were met at the airport and train station by friendly faces, volunteers out of the Bremen community, who helped them to carry bags, find bed sheets and set up their rooms in one of the three wings of the new college.

The common language is English, and as new friendships were begun, so began a new lexicon, coined "BUI" by one of the students ("IUB" backwards and pronounced "boo-ie"). Students each have their own room, but share a common entry, hence the term, "entry-mate." And the buildings: Krupp College has three residential halls that will be connected to a commons when final construction is complete this spring. What to call the three buildings (known internally as "Haus A, B, and C"). The answer was soon apparent: "I'm in 'A,' what about you?"

One word you will not hear - the founding class knows, they will never be "freshman." They are, instead, the "pioneers." Whether it is working out the kinks of a new building, or learning the ropes of a new university, they will always be the ones leading the way, and, perhaps, creating the language. Stay tuned for more new entries in the "BUI” lexicon.