We’ve all seen the UW-Madison housing pamphlets that arrive in our mailbox the summer before freshman year. And we might have even read the “What Would Bucky Bring” list that was in everyone’s shopping carts at Bed Bath & Beyond. We have our matching comforters, color-coded school supplies, and most of us have managed to bring more clothes than our dads’ thought possible. However, there are a few things even Bucky forgot. Here is my declassified dorm room essential list:
1. iPhone Charger. Get the extra-long 6 foot phone charger. You might think this sounds extreme, but trust me, you’ll want it.
2. An industrial fan. You need it for three good reasons: It will make the first two weeks of school livable if don’t have AC, it will cancel out all the noise from traffic outside, and it will beat out your next door neighbor for loudest sound system.
3. Microwave. They shouldn’t have listed this as “optional” in the UW-Madison Housing pamphlet. What is movie night without popcorn and college without at least one movie night? Embrace your inner Demi Lovato.
4. Pictures from home/high school. There will be times you will miss home. Miss your friends. Miss your parents. And if you can’t admit that, pictures are good proof to your new friends that you were actually cool in high school.
5. Febreze. Because boys stink. And their puke outside your door stinks even more.
6. A box of your favorite cereal. We all know it’s enough of a challenge getting out of your lofted bed in the morning. Have it for those mornings you hit the snooze button at least ten times, and for really any other time in your life. Running up Bascom like Peeta from Hunger Games sounds a lot better when you have fruit loops in your pockets.
7. Vacuum. If you listened to the pamphlet, chances are you bought a super cute carpet for your dorm. What the pamphlet doesn’t say, however, is that your carpet will probably shed—a lot. Buy a vacuum before it looks like you are housing seven cats in your dorm room.
8. Desk Lamp. In college, “studying” is reading millions of pages, and 12 AM is going to bed early. You will want this on the nights your roommate doesn’t procrastinate, but you do.
9. A ladder. If you choose to loft your beds, you’re going to thank me one day. Unless you are trying out for American Ninja, a ladder will help you on your good days and not so good days.
Chances are you forgot about half the things you need, and that is okay. Stopping by Target with your parents many times while moving in might announce to the whole campus you are a freshman. But so will the lanyard around your neck. Hopefully you have a great roommate who even remembered chocolate covered strawberries, next door neighbors that put the industrial fan to good use, and floormates that will donate Febreze.