Whatever UNF apartment you and your roommates land on, you are going to make it your own and learn to thrive in it. I have found that one of the best parts of living with your best friends is getting to make all sorts of unique, funky, special traditions that you will remember forever. Here are a couple of ideas to help you get started.
Birthdays
Every birthday you and your roommates celebrate at the University of North Florida will be one-of-a-kind. Birthdays in your apartment present some special opportunities for traditions to be made, especially when it comes to the party. While our culture has kind of given us an idea of that ahead-of-time ("icing" your friends on their 21st, etc.), these are chances for your household to strengthen its bond. What if, for each roommate's birthday, all the other roommates made them a homemade project, like a sign or a tee shirt? That would be a fun tradition that is easily replicable for an apartment of three or more roommates.
You could also have a favorite restaurant you go to for each roommate's trip around the sun. To be completely honest, not only does my apartment do this, but the restaurant we go to for my birthday will always be Chili's. One of my roommates' moms has gone to the same restaurant for her birthday for the last thirty years!
Breaks
A classic cliché of college living is the idea of a Spring or Summer road trip. Luckily, you're moving to Florida, so Winter break trips are just as easy. Many roomies have a tradition of going on a road trip during one of these breaks every year to get some time outdoors! Especially after such a year of cabin fever, setting up a tent in the woods, visiting a city you've never been to, or even just hitting the road with your best buds from your UNF apartment beats the boredom of being home any day.
Going Out
Spoiler alert: your apartment will have a favorite bar to go to. If you live downtown, you might go out to Jacksonville Beach every weekend, just like if you live in JB, you might hit the strip downtown every Saturday. For a birthday celebration, you want to ditch the usual and branch out into the unknown— or, at least, go someplace you don't go often. I would suggest picking the same club or bar for every birthday, so you can have a relationship with the bartenders while keeping visits to special occasions only.
It is your job right now to try new things with your roommates and find new traditions to start. Opportunities are abundant, hiding all over UNF, Jacksonville, and Florida as a whole! Another perk of living in Jacksonville is the easy access to Georgia; who knows what lies beyond the border! Whatever traditions you and your roommates start in your apartment near UNF, they will lead to laughter and lasting memories for years to come.