With my graduation from the University of Connecticut approaching faster than I’d like to admit, I’ve been reflecting on the countless memories I’ve made in my past few years here. From New England fall to March Madness to themed parties, there’s been something to be excited about every week for years. Using all I’ve learned in the five semesters I actually spent on the main campus in Storrs, Connecticut, I’ve compiled a guide to the top things that made my UConn experience so special.
Fall Semester
September
In the heart of the best season, New England autumn, Storrs offers all the classic fall festivities and foliage. With Horse Listener’s Orchard only 20 minutes off campus and often booked for group trips, apple picking is a must for September at UConn. Moreover, CT has some of the best cider mills in the country, with Hogan’s Cider Mill doubling as a tap room and unique New England find.
While it’s still warm, you can swim in Diana’s Pool, a natural swimming hole 20 minutes off campus, catch a UConn SUBOG Sunset Series concert on Horsebarn Hill, and watch movies at the Mansfield Drive-In 15 minutes off campus. Also at the Mansfield Drive-In, a seemingly endless flea market is set up every Sunday from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. through Thanksgiving.
October
The Big E (Eastern States Exposition), an annual 17-day fair, runs from mid-September to mid-October in West Springfield, MA, one hour from campus (if you can avoid the insane traffic). Moreover, October is the heart of football season and the tailgates and school-spirit darties (day parties) that surround it. Though our stadium is 30 minutes off campus in Hartford, limited free bus tickets to games are available for students to claim. As for non-game days, another classically New England fall darty theme is ‘Flannels and Handles.’
Continuing the theme of New England being the best place to celebrate fall, New England is also one of the best places to celebrate Halloween. Every year, CT fills with ghost tours, haunted houses, corn mazes, hayrides, and towns decorated to perfectly resemble ‘Halloweentown.’ If you really love Halloween, Salem, Massachusetts and Sleepy Hollow, New York are only two hours away as well. And after a month (or more, I wouldn’t judge) of celebrations comes the best weekend of the year: ‘Halloweekend.’
November/December
As the weather quickly transitions from late summer to peak winter, flannels and handles turn into Aspen Après-ski, and there’s about 10 darties with that theme in a row because it’s too cold to wear anything else outside. Honestly, I loved this because I love my wind pants, black earmuffs, and Suki Waterhouse “Coolest Place in the World” crewneck. Joining elite party themes, UConn Club Swift also hosted their Taylor Swift Huskies Bar Night this past November.
As the holidays roll around, it can be difficult getting into the spirit without family or decor, which is why it’s important to create your own traditions at school. If you can organize it, a potluck-style ‘Friendsgiving’ in someone’s apartment/house is always fun. As for Christmas lights, you can drive around nearby towns if you have a car, or travel up to NYC (2.75 hours away) or Boston (1.5 hours away), especially for the Snowport district.
Spring Semester
January/February
Commencing the heart of the basketball and ice hockey seasons, January and February set up some of UConn’s highest achievements and championships in March.
As for nightlife, countless ‘stoplight parties’ (where you wear red if you’re in a relationship and green if you’re single) prepare you for Valentine’s Day, but you will (probably) NOT meet anyone good there, and that’s okay. As for the real February holiday, National Margarita Day, occurs on February 22nd and can be properly celebrated at Square Peg Pizzeria on campus or Chuck’s Steak House Margarita Grill 15 minutes off campus.
March
Just as the weather gets a little too unbearable to walk to class every day, spring break is finally upon us in the second weekend of March. While it’s a canon Northeast spring break event to go to Florida (bonus points for Fort Lauderdale, Daytona, Miami) or Mexico (bonus points for Puerto Vallarta), it can be satisfying to just go home after an 8-week stretch of classes. Fighting for a spot on the calendar with spring break, St. Patrick’s day falls on March 17th, prompting the UMass tradition of ‘Blarney,’ a celebration much larger than anything that would fly at UConn due to its lack of a party-throwing frat house row/ville. Due to this, many people visit their friends at the school 1.5 hours away for this holiday.
Undoubtedly the most important time to be a UConn student, the final weeks of March (and first of April) hold the annual NCAA college basketball tournament, March Madness, which *spoiler* UConn always wins. Due to its consistent participation and housing of Gampel Pavilion, these weeks experience unusual traffic into the cow town, student tickets selling out in 30 seconds, watch parties selling out bars on weeknights, and darties during class hours. And when UConn wins, celebrations can get crazy, with the riots of spring 2023 making national news and continuing to be investigated and punished well into fall 2023.
April/May
As peak winter quickly transitions back into summer, campus refills with sunbathing students, hammocks on the lawns, and UConn Dairy Bar ice-cream cups. It feels like a whole new campus, partially due to all the prospective tours, but it’s beautiful seeing seasonal depression end on the first sunny day.
UCONNIC Music Festival is also held during one of the weekends in mid-April, showcasing headliners Dominic Fike (2022), Trippie Redd (2023), and Swae Lee (2024) in the past few years.
Nightlife
Bars
Until spring 2024, two of the three main campus bars were Huskies and Tav, business Huskies Tavern split in half, with one side hosting DJs weekend nights and the other alternating DJs and live music. However, when a newer version of Huskies Tavern opened in downtown Storrs in Spring 2024, the original two closed, making it unclear what’ll be done with the space in the coming semesters. The third main campus bar, and the last standing in its original place on campus, is Ted’s, which doesn’t feature a dance floor like the others did but install a deck and outdoor tent (which we actually haven’t seen in a while…). Ted’s also hosts trivia Tuesdays and karaoke Wednesdays, giving you excuses to go every day of the week.
Now, Huskies joins Square Peg, another recently opened (Italian restaurant and) bar, downtown, shifting the main bar scene from North campus to downtown Storrs. Though my favorite thing Square Peg has to offer is its $25 bottomless mimosas and bloody Mary’s Sunday brunch special and $6 happy hour drinks. Occasionally, the Indian kitchen and bar downtown, Kathmandu, also hosts party nights for UConn communities/clubs.
Aside from UConn campus bars, Eastern Connecticut State University is only 20 minutes way, opening the possibilities to non-UConn-affiliated Windham and Willimantic bars. The Sports Bar, 20 minutes from UConn campus, hosts student nights on Thursdays, with $5 cover and relatively cheap drinks and shots. Similarly, Blarney’s, Legends, and Corleone’s in Willimantic are all dive/pub style bars where you can escape the UConn bubble while attending student events.
Live Music
Though trickier to navigate than bars, the live music scene in Eastern CT has its perks, from campus building/lawn shows to dive bar/house shows off campus. The best way to find these shows is attending the UConn-affiliated ones (usually run by WHUS Radio, UConn Moon Club, or UConn SUBOG: Sunset Series), following the bands you enjoyed seeing, and waiting for their next show announcements.
To give you a head start, some of my favorite local artists to watch perform in the area are Solgyres, The Jawns, T!LT, Ruby Leftstep, and Pond View.
Greek Life
Greek life at UConn can be extremely unserious, and I didn’t even realize how much until trying to explain it to anyone who didn’t go there. Basically, any girl (sorority-affiliated or not) can go to any frat party, and non-frat boys can go to none. A list of pledges’ (first-semester frat boys who need to earn their way) phone numbers comes out for each party, and you’re supposed to text/call them to secure a ride there, which you’d otherwise have no way of finding (unless someone else you know gets a ride there and sends you the address). Because these addresses are kept secret, you just get into a frat boy’s car (who you know nothing about besides a few exchanged texts) and he drives you to an undisclosed location you have no gage of the distance of, and it somehow always turns out okay. Two important things to note as to how this process is accepted are that 1. it’s free and 2. someone must take one for the team to initially find the address for the rest of the girls.
With Mansfield cops not being very chill, frat house parties have to be concealed to basements, which can get sweaty and gross in a matter of minutes when combining open invitations and the type of basement $1,000 rent will get you in Eastern CT. This is why UConn darties are year-round, and easily the highlight of the party scene. On darty days (pretty much every Saturday), you can see large crowds flowing North through campus, toward houses only a 10 minute walk off campus. Without the stress of booking rides, these are the most convenient and inclusive of UConn Greek life events, with non-frat boys even sometimes getting let in (for the right price, of course).
Conclusion
It can be said that UConn nightlife is boring, but I’ve found anywhere can be boring if you don’t make things fun yourself to some extent. If you like to go out, drink, and party, just surround yourself with others who truly enjoy those things and you’ll have a great time wherever you go. While there’s something to look out for to make each day special, the most important part of the college experience, especially if you’re in a college town, is catering it to yourself.
Everyone’s collegiate adventure is their own, but the most important part of any is to seize as many of the random and plentiful opportunities presented as stand out to you as something you’d enjoy. These opportunities come fast so it can be overwhelming, which is why you don’t have to do it all, just what you’d regret not doing.