By: Kirthana Iyer
Welcome back to school, you guys! For freshmen, congratulations, you made it through your first move in…. get ready for three more. For everyone else, yay you’re back! Move-in is a crazy time for everyone, whether you’re flying or driving in. The packing, the planning, and the last-minute shopping runs are the epitome of stress for almost every parent and student.
But the question remains: is there a difference between moving in during Fall semester or Spring semester?
The answer: UHM YES.
Last year, I moved in during Spring semester which really means that I moved in during snow season. Let me be the one to tell you: Boy, is that not fun. Lugging two big suitcases, a backpack, and a carry-on up six flights of stairs wearing your winter coat is NOT the move.
You’re cold walking from the car so you’re wearing your winter coat, but once you get into one of the beautiful brownstones where there is no air conditioning, you actually turn into a piece of fried chicken.
A piece of chicken walking up the stairs with suitcases bigger than herself. And on top of that, once you get into the room, the heat is ON. LIKE BURNING THE ROOM TO THE GROUND ON. I remember walking in expecting it to be colder in the room, and it was like a sauna. Below is a visual of me once I bought a fan.
However, I can’t deny some of the benefits: No traffic on Commonwealth Avenue when moving in, nothing is out of stock at your local Target, you can actually find a parking spot, and there’s always a decently priced hotel room available at the nearby Marriott. YAY!
But… little did I know that these little blessings were privileges not rights that could be taken for granted, because I was in for a SURPRISE while moving in this year.
So, we were reaching about a month before move-in and we decided to start booking our tickets and look for a hotel room. I live in Northern California, so a flight to Boston is around $300 on a good day. Well… turns out… move-in is not a good day. Every flight was either booked or only first class was available, and well first class just wasn’t in the cards for me (and by that I mean wasn’t in the bank account for me yay broke college gals).
We ended up booking a later flight yay so crisis averted.
Now onto the next, a hotel room! No hotel rooms were available in the nearby hotels or they were at outrageous costs. Once again… wasn’t exactly in the cards for a ye ol college gal like myself or my dad who was paying for my incredible tuition (i love you dad). Finally, we found a room for just my dad because there were no rooms available for two people that were decently priced and we were set to go!
~In Boston~
We get here and everyone, and I mean EVERYONE, at the airport was wearing their respective college gear and waiting for all their suitcases anxious to move in! As a Spring admit, I never really got to see a bunch of students getting their families together and moving in. It was different, kind of nice actually so yay a PRO to moving in the Fall. You get to see people smiling.
Then, we get our rental car and go to the fun and friendly Target in Fenway to get some notebooks and some new sheets. We go up the escalator to the section with notebooks and find nothing. The whole section is empty: no notebooks, no pencils, no erasers, no pens, no binder paper or even printer paper for that matter. I was disoriented.
“Guess, I’m just not using notebooks this semester, welp better luck next time.”
So no notebooks, we head onto Commonwealth Avenue to leave my suitcases in my room to go look at other stores around Boston with the hopes of finding binder paper. We get onto the Avenue and there are people everywhere: walking, driving, talking, sitting, and even texting. The streets are flooded.
At this point, my dad and I have had a collective two hours of sleep in the last 24 hours and we are tired which means we are panicking and annoyed. It took us over 25 minutes to get from the George Sherman Union to Bay State Road while driving. Suffice to say, this was definitely not a pro for Fall move in.
We get to Bay State and since the weather is decent, we are able to go into my brownstone with no winter coat worry. We’re both feeling just a little more optimistic. Our mistake. The six flights of stairs felt like a hike that was never going to end.
Finally, we reached my room! And of course, nothing was going to go right that day.The room smelled AWFUL. I mean, just horrible. Since it was still really hot outside and my room faces the Charles, the garbage cans outside gave off a glorious scent that had been captured within my room.
*insert sarcastic yay here*
So, I sprayed the entire room with Febreeze and I finally was able to move in and sleep. And it only took a whole day, a bunch of traffic and no notebooks. But I will say, there were a couple benefits: I got to meet some people on my floor which was pretty cool, there wasn’t a snowstorm outside so driving wasn’t too bad, and once I move in, I only have to repack in eight months instead of four.
Moving in is honestly a crazy experience regardless of when it is. There are always other factors, but you got to make the most of it. About a week in, I finally got notebooks and the smell started going away so yay! We’re off to a good start and we are already setting sail into Fall semester.
Welcome to Fall Semester, make it a good one.
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