Krissie's top ten list of what to bring to college
Apr 04 '00
The same thing happens to nearly every freshman across the country - they come to school with a U-HAUL or van full of junk, most of which is never used. As a matter of fact, I actually took a lot of stuff home by Thanksgiving break of my freshman year, because it was just wasting space in my already-cramped living area. Since this is my third year away from home, I feel like I've pretty much mainstreamed the packing process. I'd like to share the top ten items I bring to campus every year, and why each item has proved so valuable to me:
10) A clothes drying rack. I actually laughed at my mom when she suggested this to me in the aisles of Target the summer before my freshman year. I refused to purchase it, and boy was I sorry. When you get to school, you'll often discover that the laundry room's dryers aren't necessarily efficient at thoroughly drying your clothes. I noticed that if I put in a load of towels, they'd still come out damp 50 minutes later. I was sick and tired of having to put them through 2 dryer cycles. In addition, I had many hand-wash only clothes that I had to lay flat in order to dry. As I didn't have much table or floor space in my freshman dorm, this created a problem. I complained to Mom, and she brought me that stinkin clothes drying rack. Voila! I had a place to air-dry all my towels and hand washables, and it folded up quite neatly when it wasn't in use. I ate my words, and boy they have never tasted so good ;)
9) A TV or Stereo. Some people will want both. I'm a firm believer in having at least one distraction in the room. Yanno, sometimes you just need a break, and it's fun to be able to watch some reruns or listen to your favorite tunes. Some people even study better when they have some kind of noise in the background. This can also provide entertainment if you want to have friends over.
8) Headphones. These will go with your TV, stereo, and/or computer. There are some nights that you will want to listen to music or watch TV, but your roommate is busy studying and you don't want to disturb him/her. Heck, there are even some days that you will want to listen to music, but your roommate is still asleep or hung over from the night before. In any account, headphones are necessary to have, and they also provide your own little "escape" or isolation. Case in point: if I don't want to be bothered, I slip on the headphones. Works every time ;)
7) An alarm clock with an especially loud buzzer. This may seem common-sensical, but you will never fully appreciate the value of an extra-loud buzzer until you're forced to be up at 8 am for an exam when you only fell asleep 2 hours beforehand.
6) A computer. If you can afford it, this is a must-have. It's inconvenient to always have to rely on the school's computing facilities. Also, if your university provides ethernet access and you can afford it, I would suggest purchasing an ethernet card. If you use this to sign on to the internet, you will not have to tie up the phone line with a modem (thus preventing potential roommate conflict).
5) A hot pot. Most universities will permit these, but no other type of cooking device in the room. My hot pot has allowed me to eat many a night when I didn't have time to make it to the cafeteria. I have cooked soups, pasta, spaghettio's, macaroni and cheese, hot chocolate, apple cider, and the oh-so-forgettable Ramen noodles in mine.
4) Nice stationary and a book of stamps. Many students forget to bring these, and it's a pain to purchase stamps on campus. My parents love to get letters from me, as do my grandparents. It's also nice to be able to write my old friends - and it's certainly more personal than e-mail. I feel that by having stationary and stamps ready, it's a good encouragement to write those you love when you have a free moment.
3) Two different sets of sheets. Ideally, this will encourage you to change your sheets more than once every 3 months. Most college students fail to do laundry on a weekly (some even monthly!) basis. If you want to strip your bed, you'd have to wait till the moment you were doing laundry to do so, lest you'd have to sleep with no sheets. Since I have 2 sets of sheets, I can strip the bed and replace the dirty sheets with new ones immediately.
2) Pictures from home, plus a camera and film. First, it will help your room feel less impersonal and more like "home" if you have pictures of your family and friends. Second, many things will happen your freshman year that you will want to take photos of. So many times, my friends said, "I wish I had a camera!" It's fun to take pictures of your new "home" to share to your family and old friends.
1) About 30 pairs of underwear. I am NOT exaggerating here! As you see in my recommendations above, laundry at college is a HUGE pain in the you-know-what. If you have oodles of pairs of underwear, you can forestall the laundry process even further. Yes, I realize this may sound unsanitary, but it is also realistic. I have even known people who went out and BOUGHT new underwear at school so they didn't have to do laundry at that moment. Save yourself the hassle, and get your parents to pay for them before you leave home ;)
I realize some of my recommendations may be non-traditional, but these are the items I truly could not live without here at school. Hopefully these will form some sort of guideline for you as you prepare to move into your new home at college!
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Epinions.com ID:
Krissieliz
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Location: Washington, DC
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About Me:
I'm a lawyer who loves to laugh, nap and watch bad TV.
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