The hardest part of coming to Northwestern may be mastering the lexicon you’ll hear on a daily basis. To help you out, here’s our guide to some common phrases heard at NU:

A&O – the organization that brings great concerts, movies, and activities to Northwestern.ASB – Alternative Student Breaks, lots of cool ways to help the world during your school breaks. ASG – Associated Student Government, the Northwestern student government.Blackboard – a website accessible via NULINK where teachers can post assignments, documents, and grades for students to view. Blomquist – the much smaller high school-gym-like version for South Campus. CAESAR – the site where you get official grades and register for classes. Dillo Day – an all day outdoor (unless it rains) festival with concerts on the Saturday of Memorial Day weekend where people are generally at least a little inebriated. Dormcest – dating or hooking up with someone inside your dorm. Floorcest – like dormcest, but worse (or better depending on who you ask) because they’re on your floor. Mayfest – the organization that puts on Dillo Day. Norbucks – the Starbucks at Norris. Norris – the student center with lots of food and the headquarters for many student run activities. NULINK – http://nulink.northwestern.edu/ a website where you can access the links to all the organizations at NorthwesternpH – a directory for getting contact information about students and faculty at Northwestern that is accessible via NULINKPlex – short for Foster-Walker Complex, a mid-campus dorm made up mostly of singles for upperclassmen.Purple line – the El line that goes to Northwestern. Saferide – a nighttime car service that you can call so that you can travel safely between locations on campus (call in advance because the wait can be over an hour if you don’t plan ahead). Sexile – what happens when one roommate kicks out another roommate in order to use the room to hook up. SPAC – the beautiful, huge gym facility on North Campus. – Talia Alberts