To Bring or Not To Bring?
It's getting to be the time of year when you start thinking about going back to school. If this is your first year heading off to college, you're probably also thinking about what to bring with you. As a guy who's been around the block, I'll share my pointers about what stuff will make your year a lot of fun and what stuff will be a pain in the ass to lug all the way to school just to collect dust.
Get the Right Mindset
If you want to watch a movie to get in the mood for college shopping don't rent movies like "Animal House," "Van Wilder," or "Accepted." The rooms you see in the movies are about five times actual size. To get in the right mindset, watch "U-571," "The Hunt For Red October," and "K-19: The Widow-Maker." Freshman dorms are tiny and god awful. So a quick rule of thumb while picking things out is to get the smaller one, no matter what it is. One key purchase is the little TV with the DVD player. Also, raid your house and bring a decent size library of DVDs that you like. When winter rolls in and everyone is stuck inside, you'll have a valuable asset.
Also make sure you bring some sporting equipment. A glove and ball, a football, or the stuff for some other activity you like. Most colleges have nice common areas, and the best way to take advantage of these areas is by organizing some pick-up games. All these things are also great props for making up games to play in the hallway or out in the snow later in the year.
A small set of simple tools should be something else you bring, and unlike the stuff listed above, you might actually need these. You don't need anything too fancy, and no power tools (unless you want your RA in your room). With tools, you can offer to fix things for people, and more importantly, you can build stuff for the hallway games, like hallway jousting. There are only two tools that you really need, and these are duct tape and WD-40. If you mix beer with these two tools, the possibilities are almost endless.
Some stuff should be avoided at all costs, namely anything fragile or light-colored. When picking out anything for your dorm, ask yourself if it can survive an attack from you or one of your friends after you get drunk. If the answer is no and it is not a necessity, don't get it. If it can break, it probably will break during your first year. My freshman hall was able to break the pane out of a door, the frosted window that separated the showers from the rest of the bathroom, and the heating system (don't ask me how). For your bedding, go with a dark color. You can go longer without washing it and the puke/blood/whatever other bodily fluid stains won't be as noticeable when your parents come up for parent's weekend or you somehow convince a girl to come over your room.
Appliances
The fridge is key, the microwave isn't. Unless you want to drink warm booze all year when you pre-game, the mini-fridge is a must. However, you only need one per room, so make sure you and your roommate(s) don't both show up with one. They are bulky, a pain in the ass to lug around, and it doesn't make sense for you and your roommate to break both of your backs getting them into your dorm. In contrast to the fridge, most things you do with a microwave will be legal, and any common area worth its salt has one. It's usually a short distance away and not having one saves a lot of space in your room.
So that's my advice for packing, and if you follow it hopefully you'll be spending less time picking up broken crap and washing stuff and more time drinking and trying to get laid, which we all know is the real reason your going off the college in the first place.
-Stanley Goodspeed
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