The Move into University

So we left the house at about 6.40 am the morning of the move and arrived in less than 2 hours, no traffic. We stopped at a McDonald's for a quick breakfast. The unloading procedure was very organized, there were a lot of kids moving in that day. L went to check in and get all her documents while some students unloaded our 29 small boxes into trolleys and up the elevator to her suite. (Still don't know how M got everything packed into our van). The movers said they liked our small boxes that fit so well in their carts (I had picked them out of our supermarket bin). K and I walked up the stairs with all the valuables while M parked the van.

By the time we got up to the suite, all her boxes were outside so we started moving stuff in and unpacking. We met one of L's roommates inside and she mentioned that one of the other roommates is her friend. She had moved in the day before because she thought she had a sports tournament on the day of the move, but it got cancelled. I could tell she's organized by the way all her stuff was already laid out. I heard she had even re-arranged all the furniture in her room. She had a very tasteful, tall set of salt and pepper shakers, so I just put L's Walmart brand salt and pepper shakers in her pantry (lol). The girl had her own TV in the living room, her own set of pots and pans, a toaster oven and a section of the fridge was stocked with yogurt, juice, etc. She had her own loaf of bread in the freezer. L and M came into the suite a short while later.

The kitchenette has lots of storage in a way that each of the 4 girls can have shelves of their own for pots, dishes, etc. There is even a pantry with 4 separate sets of shelves.

L's roommate from her old school arrived with her mom and sister. Then the 4th girl's family came in. I don't remember meeting this 4th girl. She had a younger 16 yr old brother. I noticed the mom wiping the front door handles with a scrunched up face (like eww!). K said he saw her wiping down the kitchen cupboards, even the fronts of the doors. I liked that. I think when M and L filled out the residence survey, they must have asked for neat, organized people! One of the moms asked if we had a vacuum, so I told her I noticed a sign in the garbage room that you could borrow cleaning items from the Front Desk, so she was able to get a vacuum there, which she lent to M afterward.

The girl who had arrived the day before was bored and kept asking if anyone needed any help, but I didn't feel right putting her to work. K took all the boxes for recycling down to the first floor room.

K noticed a lot of first year boys moving XBOX 360's to their rooms and liked that. I had to remind him that serious study would have to start soon. He had forgotten. M saw others with speaker sound systems.

L was excited though tired. I think she's going to love the whole experience once she settles in. Hopefully she can get enough 'down' time. M heard on the news that Frosh week can be more stressful than the regular school week. The Soph kept coming into the suite announcing times for an evening floor meeting. He was probably wondering why we were still there.

All the parents came for less than an hour basically dropping the girls off. We stayed for 4 hours and completely unpacked. It took an extra hour figuring out how to cover L's unfortunately soiled mattress. It was a massive dried stain on the underside. We wrapped that section with clear plastic garbage bags, taped with packing tape. Then we put the provided flimsy mattress cover on top. Then we laid our memory foam which came with a covering layer and its own mattress pad. Then we put another mattress pad I had bought before I knew the memory foam had its own pad. Then we put the fitted sheet on top. Hopefully she can get a new one after she files a problem report.

So we finished around 2pm, caught our breath then left around 2.30pm. We saw L walking outside with her new roommates as we turned the corner. We stopped at McDonald's near the highway for a quick meal then were back home in about 2 hours, a bit past 5pm. Traffic wasn't too bad.

Close to midnight, we Skyped a bit with L who was exhausted from the busy day. Skype's wonderful. Her roommates had helped her mount some photos and posters (gifts from friends) on the wall and it looked lovely.

I was exhausted that night, though. The next day was a bit better. It was just good to slow down for awhile and return to normal breathing after weeks of packing and then unpacking.