College Move-In: The Reality

AHHHHH!!!! I’m officially moved into college! I can’t believe it. I’m a college student. I had no idea what to expect, and even with all the information in the world, every move-in day experience is different. So, if you have any questions about moving in or just wanting to read about college move-in experiences, this is the post for you!

The WEEKS BEFORE:

I was so excited to be going to college that I no joke bought my comforter before I even graduated high school. Yeah that sounds strange, but I was so excited. I started slowly collecting things over the summer and storing them in an extra room. Here are some pictures of that disaster.

This one’s from when I just spread everything out. It was a mess.

My mom helped me organize some things and piling what was actually packed.

THE DAY BEFORE:

My parents and I drove in early because our move-in time was 8 AM, and there’s no way we were going to leave at 3 AM to get there on time. When we got to Columbia, my mom and I headed off to Target for a two hour shopping adventure. I had a whole list of things I needed to get. Since our car was small, I waited to get all my food and toiletries and school supplies. We picked up anything and everything.

THE MORNING of:

6 AM. I did not want to get up. Not because I wasn’t excited because believe me, I totally was, but I hadn’t slept much the previous nights because of stress and nerves. I got up and threw on basically the same clothes that I had been wearing the past couple of days because I didn’t want to do laundry when I got to school.

7:45 AM. My parents and I arrived at USC and unloaded our car. We got there early, so there weren’t a lot of people, and we were able to unload relatively quick.

This is how full it was. Granted a Prius doesn’t hold much, but somehow we managed to squeeze everything in the car.

8 AM. Check-in opened, I got my key, and we headed up. We were lucky enough to snag a cart so it only took us two trips to take everything up. Before we started unpacking anything, we wiped everything down. Always wipe everything down. You never know how well the person before you cleaned the room.

10:30 AM. We got a majority of things unpacked and organized. I hung up my cork board and my USC letters. We made a list of all the things that I still needed to get. By the time we left, it was around 11. We were all super hungry, so we went to this cool little local deli that was AMAZING. Best sandwich I’ve had in a long time.

12 PM. We went to Target again and picked up some more food and storage. Target three times in two days. Is that a problem?

3 PM. We headed back to the hotel around 2 to take a break and rest for a little bit. At 3, we headed back to the dorm to construct the bookshelf we bought and continue organizing and unpacking.

5 PM. My parents took my roommate and I out to dinner, and then they dropped us off at our dorm and said goodbye for now. They were spending the night and had planned on taking me to lunch the next day.

My specific dorm sponsored an ice cream social that night. My roommate and I went and then met some people and decided to go walk around campus. It was actually a lot of fun. All of us were extremely exhausted, so we all headed to our dorms around 9 PM.

This is what my dorm room currently looks like. Yes, it’s not perfect, but I love it. If you want to see a college dorm room tour, let me know in the comments below! I can’t wait for this year!

-Abigail T.