College move-in day. It is probably one of the most popular, memorable, chaotic, and exciting days of the year. Looking back at my freshman year, that moment was terrifying. Moving from California to Arizona was such a normal act, yet insane to me for some reason. Don’t get me wrong, I was so excited to start my new life at ASU and was, even more, looking forward to rooming with one of my best friends from high school, but I was also terrified.
So just a brief little schedule on what college move-in day looks like at Arizona State University.
- Check-In @ Wells Fargo Arena, aka the basketball arena. This is where you walk halfway around the arena itself going through a little fair type of thing with booths on each side of the aisle (there’s no way to get past it) and just a helpful tip, GET AS MUCH STUFF AS YOU CAN, including clear drawstring bags, or any clear bags for that matter. I can promise you that everything you get from each booth will be useful later on. Anyway, here at the Wells Fargo Arena is where you get your room keys, mail keys, and information on where to go and unload all of your stuff, along with the passes to get around campus. Once you get your keys and all of your information, you need to get out as quickly as possible because leaving the arena is no joke. Next Up is unloading.
- So for me, I was a part of CLAS (College of Liberal Art & Sciences) and with that, we simply had to pull up all our cars to the designated drop off area near our building (Palo Verde East) and some very nice and hard-working individuals unlock EVERYTHING within 5 mins and loaded it into bigger boxes on wheels, and told us to go park and go check in to our dorm room and our stuff should be up in the next 30 minutes.
- If you get the chance to have this amazing service of not physically taking all your stuff into your room, then be aware of one thing: You and your family will have to take the stairs, unless you are a physically disabled individual. Because the elevators are all being used by the helpers to deliver your things to your rooms. That will be going on for the rest of the day and that entire weekend, depending on your move-in day.
- During a span of 30 minutes before all your stuff has arrived, move your furniture around and place it exactly where you want because as soon as your stuff gets there your biggest task is unpacking, and I swear your dorm size cuts in half with all your stuff inside.
- Once your stuff gets there, START CLEANING EVERYTHING, and I mean sanitizing E V E R Y T H I N G !!!!!! I cannot say this enough. You better wipe down that mattress with Clorox wipes (not sponsored), along with every single piece of furniture that was in the room because it’s actually disgusting. Then, start putting everything together. While all of this is happening, my best advice is to send your parents shopping for all the other things you might need, like food, drinks, etc. It may seem rude, but it’s best to get them out of your area, at least for me it was because it gave me and my roomie time to fully start decorating and organizing everything without our parents crowding the room because like I said, your dorm will never be as big as you imagine.
- It took nearly 2-3 hours to get everything fully organized, and even the next couple of days following to have everything decorated to our standards. But when we finished it, everything was fantastic.
- For us, move-in day was also the day of our first-floor meeting at 6 pm, so my best advice would be to not plan any dinners that night with your families because there will be meetings and events going on around campus. And trust me, you need to go to these events. From the moment you move in to the day before finals, there will be loads of university events encouraging you to meet and make new friends. DO IT!!! We went with our suite mate and her friends, and it was a blast. Just keep in mind that everyone is in the same boat and more than likely doesn’t know many people, so everyone wants to make friends.
To be honest, move-in will never be as glamorous as the YouTube vlogs you’ve watched beforehand. And it will not be as smooth as you think. Expect some bumps in the road, but know that in the end, everything will be fine. Don’t forget to put a little effort into your dorm and make it comfortable for you, this is your new home for the next year.