By now I hope that you have started your college shopping, so I feel that some of this may be a bit late, however I want to touch on what you really will need and what may seem like a necessity (but really I feel that sadly it is not). Just so you know, there is a Target, a Walmart no more than 5 minutes from Goucher, so if you have a long trip, just bring your clothing, and don’t worry about the big things until you get to school. As far as things you truly do need:

*for bedding: make sure you have at least two sets of bed sheets and a really good mattress pad (it may sounds strange getting two sets of sheets but trust me, it’s a good idea).

*As far as clothing is concerned, you may think that since it’s school, all you will need is jeans, and shirts and sweats, but bring at least one “semi-formal” outfit; if you are a girl bring a nice dress and nice shoes, and for a guy, it never hurts to bring a blazer and khakis, you never know when you are going to need to wear nice clothing. With that being said, remember to bring hangers, I forgot hangers last year and my parents had to run out and go on a hanger search while I was unpacking (you can get a lot of hangers for very cheap at the Target, Walmart, CVS, etc.).

*Big dorm supplies that are a very very good idea to have include a lamp (it may sound strange but a little extra light is always good. I have large standing lamp for my room), a mini-fridge (I recommend renting one your first year, it’s just easier), if you are in a single, a chair or something for others to sit on, MAKE SURE that you bring a little vacuum cleaner — you will need it.

* in my opinion TVs are not really something you need, they are optional, every common room has a TV, plus it’s a great way to meet people in your dorm.

* Bring a few glasses and pots and pans, because I promise you that there will be times when all you want is food that is not from the dining hall, and it’s expensive to order food.

I know that Goucher is one of the few schools that allows its freshman to have cars on campus, but I must be honest with you, having a car as a freshman is both a blessing and a curse. If you are from somewhere close to school, a car allows you to go home when and if you need to (other then vacations), however a car also can serve as a major distraction from studies since it allows you to leave campus whenever you feel like it. I do have a car but the reason for that is in order to get to work (I baby sit). I need a car (however the reason i got a car at school initially was because my knee blew at the beginning of first semester my freshman year, and I needed a car since I could not walk). Also remember gas is expensive now, and also as a freshman, you do not get the liberty of parking anywhere you want to; you must park in the freshman lot which is behind the library. If there is a reason that you do need a car on campus, then yes you should have one, but otherwise, there are plenty of people on campus who can give rides. And since there are tons of people from the same areas, its not hard to find someone to give you a ride home for school breaks.

Please let me know if you have any questions as move-in gets closer. You can facebook me or email me at hannah.kroll@goucher.edu. I would be more than happy to answer any of your questions.

• First of all take care of the little things, for instance it is an election year and you will be kicking yourself come November if you have forgotten to get an absentee ballot, so even if it seems to early to do so, go online and fill out the application for one, because in a few weeks everything is going to become a little hectic and it may slip your mind.

• Another thing to do is to try to spend a decent amount of time with your family, especially one on one time with a younger sibling ** if you went to a boarding school spending time with your family is still important but the following anecdote does not apply to you. From personal experience I can attest to how important this is; I have a younger brother who is almost seven years younger than me, so before I left for school he had really never been alone with our parents (except when I was way over the summers before he left for camp). The first few days I was at school I got calls from him at night about how much he missed me, to the point where for a little while he actually slept in my room. Unfortunately I was busy most of the summer, and he was away at camp so we did not get to spend that much time just hanging out together, but I wish we had; not only did he miss me, I really missed him. Although most of you will have a room mate it is not the same as a sibling at all, you never know how you will end up getting along with a roommate, etc.

• It is also a good idea to start brainstorming about what you will need to bring. Wait until you find out who your roommate is to start worrying about/ planning out the big things like the fridge. However on the subject of the big things, I do not recommend that you get a TV, it serves as an extra distraction, I did not have one at all, although I know that a lot of people do. It’s really a personal choice, however you really don’t need one, all the common rooms have TVs plus most shows are also on line. I do recommend that you buy fans because the dorms get very hot, that is something that you do not need to wait for a roommate before getting, I know that I brought two fans… you can never have too many fans.

One extremely exciting thing about orientation is that you will finally get your goucher email and be able to join the goucher network on facebook :-). sadly you will not find out who your roommate is or where you are living until later on in the summer.

good luck and have a great summer i’ll be back next month for another installment!

So the other day i was sitting and talking to one of my best friends about how i needed to fix my schedule for next year (since one of the classes i was signed up for got canceled). The convo then turned into where i was living next year, had i ended up getting the single i wanted during that circus know to all as room draw (an explanation of that will be in another post). Suddenly it hit me, she was not going to be here next year….. she is graduating in two weeks. in my head i went through my list of friends, and realized that not only was one of my best friends graduating, but it seemed like close to half my friends were graduating as well.

I know that this weekend should be an awesome and great weekend, it is the last weekend of work, it is the last weekend before summer etc. however to me it is a very bittersweet weekend. It is the last weekend that i will be able to hang out with a lot of my friends before they graduate, and here i am at 10:50 am sitting in the library doing home work.

One of the strange things about college as a whole, and goucher is no exception, is that you develop extremely tight bonds with your friends since you live with/around them pretty much 24/7. The nice thing though is that freshman can become friends with seniors, there really is not “class” divide. that is until the end of second semester. As i am sitting and really just starting out, getting ready for next year, for what classes i am taking next semester and how i am spending my summer, many of my friends are getting ready to end their college careers, graduate and figure out what they are doing when they leave goucher. it is at this point when one really realizes that your best friends are seniors. but it does not matter. just because i am a freshman and they are seniors does not mean i love them any less. they have been there for me and helped me learn about my self, they have helped me stay up when i needed to finish papers, we have goofed off in the library when we have needed a break from work.

I hope that this post does not sound like i am telling you to avoid making friends with seniors because that is absolutely not what i am trying to say.

The fact is that when you get to goucher, it will feel strange at first, after all only a few months earlier you were the big shots at school. but when you get here, you will be the youngest again. for me my senior friends have helped me to adjust to being the youngest again. granted we all make jokes about how i am the youngest, if someone says something “inappropriate” another person (sometimes even me) will say “hey hey hey we have a freshman in the room.” but not matter what, they don’t see me as less of a friend or less of a person.

so i must dedicate this post to my friends who are graduating in two weeks. i love them all so much and i know i am going to miss them, but of course the joy of college is that there is always an opportunity to make new friends with the incoming freshman. but i will never replace my friends in the class of 2008 in my heart.

HELL WEEK:

Hell week is more like three weeks, and it is the last three weeks (and finals week) of the semester. we all move into the library and work work work work. it is stressful and exhausting. and if you get to the library after about 4 pm you can kiss your chances of getting a computer good bye. however there are some fun (yea i know what is fun about home work) things about hell week. for instance, all of your friends have also moved into the library so, you still get to spend time with them. this comes in very handy at 11:30 pm when you want to order a pizza or something. yea that’s right, you can get food delivered directly to the library.

So that’s what i have to say right now….. back to home work. hope this post helped some. next post, i will try to talk more about my experience with adjusting and stuff like that.

My name is hannah and i am a freshman from washington dc. unlike most freshman i already know what i am majoring in and am supposed to be declaring it soon. that being said i should probably tell you that i am a spanish major! its ok though if you don’t know what your major is at this point…. most people don’t. I am a shorty (5′1″ ) and very involved in hillel and other clubs on campus. also i have a total addiction to facebook . come find me there!

congrats on coming to goucher! cant wait to meet you!

ok so now i guess my blog can really begin