Hey Class of 2025! Congratulations on getting accepted to the University of Florida! The next best four years of your life are ahead of you, and I am so excited to see you all thrive on and around this campus!
Let me introduce myself. My name is Eliana Burgos, and I am a second year Applied Physiology and Kinesiology major on the Pre-Med track. I enjoy the beach, volleyball, and El Indio (aka best Mexican food in Gainesville). I feel like the best way to genuinely show you my UF experience is by taking you through a day in my life, so that’s what I am going to do!
Every morning, I (try to) wake up around 7 AM to start my day with a workout and get energized. After that, I come home and get ready for the day, which includes taking centuries to figure what to wear now that my classes are in person and I literally forgot how to dress.
After those classes are all over, I walk to Alpha Chi Omega to get lunch and catch up with all of my friends. Chef Dave is literally the best cook so some would argue that this is the highlight of everyone’s day in AXO. I love coming to the house often because even on my low days and my best days, one conversation with any of my sisters automatically cheers me up and encourages me to continue my day with grace and love.
Once I’m done there, I usually walk to UF Health Shands Hospital to volunteer as an Undergraduate Research Assistant. With the advice of my extremely helpful academic mentors in Alpha Chi, I was able to land this really cool research position where we work to try to find a treatment for Fibromyalgia Syndrome. Piece of Advice #1: the really great part about UF is that there are endless opportunities to get involved in the Gainesville community, so the sky is your limit!
By the time I get out of the hospital and depending on the day, I perform my duties as a mentor for a new club called Women Building Women! During the pandemic, one of my best friends in Alpha Chi Omega and I felt that there was a huge need to mentor female high school students, specifically in Alachua County. As a result, we started our own club, and it’s been an in
credible experience thus far! Piece of advice #2: if you find that you want to be a part of something at UF that doesn’t already exist, create it! The process is very smooth, and it really helps grow us as people and leaders on campus!
Before I know it, dinner rolls around at AXO, and all of my friends and I unpack our days to each other as if we hadn’t seen each other literally 6 hours prior. This serves as a huge reset to my day because I always come out so energized from being in such a great community motivated by such strong women. Every day, they push me to be the best version of myself. So, for that, I am forever grateful!
To finish off the day, I usually head to the library with some friends to finish some homework or Zoom into the meetings we have for the different organizations we are involved in on campus! Piece of advice #3: if you can, study and work in a group sometimes because it makes time fly by and really drives you to stay focused and be productive. If this means anything to you, some of my favorite memories are in the library during finals just because everyone’s in there, and it makes you feel like you’re not alone (p.s. you never are!)
To sum it all up, this is usually a day in the life for me, which ends in some self-care at home, spontaneous late night snacks/drives with friends, baking with my roommates, or even any variation of that. My experience at UF, thus far, has truly changed me into a better version of myself because I am surrounded by women who believe in me and inspire me. Each day seems chaotic, but it flows perfectly and I have the best support system helping through the way.
I hope this gave some insight as to what my specific experience at UF is like, but it can look very different for people across the board. My last piece of advice (Piece of advice #4) is to soak up every second of your day and value the friendships that you make here. UF is an amazing place full of diverse opportunities, people, and experiences. I know you all will do amazing things here, and I am excited to see what your “day in the life” looks like. For now, Go Gators and go Class of 2025! Welcome to the next best four years of your life!