We’ve All Been There: Move-in Day

"No, dad, I do not want the desk in the middle of the room."

It’s the start of a new school year and to honor that, we at CollegeCandy are bringing back our favorite series “We’ve All Been There.” Every week, Lauren – University of Michigan will comment on the common experiences all college women share, including some new ones thrown into the mix.

By Lauren

After a long drive and an even longer wait to get a prime spot by the curb, you get out of the car (where you were pressed between the door and a chest of plastic drawers for the past three hours) and start unloading your life onto the sidewalk. Sweaty students circle you, maneuvering their university-supplied dolly around your growing pile of stuff, while “Move-in Makers” (or older students who were clearly roped into this by their student organization) rush towards you and offer to help.

You pile your first load onto the flat bed, load your mom up with the lighter stuff (like your laptop and backpack) and make your first trip into the dorm while your dad sits outside to “watch your stuff”/take a moment to breathe and work off the road rage.

You check in, get your keys, then follow one of the helpers to the elevator. When an empty one finally arrives, you elbow your way in, rolling over yours/everyone else’s toes in the process. You push the button for your floor and stand awkwardly close to a complete stranger holding a microwave until the door opens on your floor.

You eventually make it to your room and, oh my god – it’s so tiny. You wonder how the hell all of the stuff in your first load will fit, let alone the giant pile still on the street. But before you have time to freak out, your mom starts unloading everything onto the floor, eager to empty out the car before the 30 minute limit is up and your dad needs to move it for the next round of students.

Three trips (plus one to the vending machine for a much needed Diet Coke) and one minor fight with your parents later (“No, dad, I don’t think it’s a good idea for you to stay out of mine and mom’s way and go watch TV at a bar!”), your entire life is in a pile in the middle of your new room. Or rather, taking up every inch of your new room. Your roommate doesn’t arrive until tomorrow, thank god, so you pick your side of the room and get to business.

The next few hours are a whirlwind of tearing open boxes, refolding clothes, giving your parents stern instructions on where to hang your shoe rack, and trying to figure out the wireless network for the dorm so you can update your Facebook status while your mom yells at you to help her make your bed.

Finally, what seems like 10 hours and 8 gallons of sweat later, your clothes are all put away (or stuffed into every possible nook and cranny you can find), your desk is set up and your dad is hauling all the empty boxes to the garbage dump outside. There’s still a lot of decorating to do (like finding the perfect place to hang that collage your BFFs from high school made you), but you’re so wiped out (and sick of your parents’ urging to take you to the bookstore to get all your textbooks) that all you want to do is send your parents home and lay down on your brand new bedding to take a nap.

But not before you get them to buy you one last meal. And maybe give you a little “Goodbye, we’ll miss you” cash.

Yeah, we’ve all been there….and it’s only the first of many experiences every college girl will share.