<p>Hey Everyone,
As you say goodbyes to friends and family at home, put the finishing touches on packing and get ready to travel to Pittsburgh....I want to extend congrats on your joining the Class of 2014 and wish you the very best as you begin your journey at Carnegie Mellon!</p>
<p>Have a safe trip to Pittsburgh!
And again Welcome to Students, Parents and Family</p>
<p>Yay Tartans!</p>
<p>P.S. If you haven't already memorized your SS #...you need to do so now, as the last four digits of your SS number are necessary each and every time you enter your dorm room with your CMU Id card (which you get at room key check in)</p>
<p>My son is so excited. He’s been packed for days and we just got notification that the boxes we shipped have arrived! He’s been out with his friends a lot but also hanging with his older brother and us, his parents!! I’ve already packed my tissues! Lol! I’m looking forward for him starting his new journey at CMU! I know it will be some of the best years of his life! See you all tomorrow!</p>
<p>As an orientation counselor for this year’s freshmen orientation, we’re really really excited to see you folks soon! I can’t believe it’s tomorrow! We’ve been working really hard to make this orientation special and parents, we’ll be sure to take good care of your kids!</p>
<p>My husband and daughter just pulled out the driveway for the 10 hour drive to Pittsburgh (more room in the car for “stuff” with just the two of them and I’ll fly down tomorrow). I read that two roads around CMU will be closed to traffic tomorrow so the 1470 plus freshmen can check in. Exciting times! Advance thanks to all the orientation counselors for their help.</p>
<p>H is packing up the cars…wow, so much easier for S than D…he has lots less clothing and “junk” than D! Ha D is using the van to move into off-campus housing this evening, S’s stuff fits into our small Toyota-- quite amazing-- will be a snap unloading at the dorm. </p>
<p>We’re heading out to Pittsburgh this afternoon.</p>
<p>It is just as exciting second time around as it was the first time two years ago!</p>
<p>I’m helping new freshmen move into Mudge as we speak.</p>
<p>One mother came up to me and asked if she could re-paint her son’s walls because they were such an “ugly color.” (they’re white.) she offered to pay for the painting service.</p>
<p>For future reference, the answer to this question is always “lol, no.”</p>
<p>How is it you are helping freshmen move into Mudge today? Isn’t move-in day tomorrow?</p>
<p>I wish I could be there. My husband and D caught a plane yesterday morning at 6am. </p>
<p>We’ve hardly thought about the room (not to mention the white walls). All of our energy went into moving stuff from bag to bag to keep all of the bags under 50 lbs to avoid the extra $50 per bag charge on Southwest. In the end, posters were left behind to be mailed.</p>
<p>I’m in A100, the special interest housing room, so we and the RAs and OCs have been generally getting up to shenanigans for the last couple of days. Certain groups of kids, like athletes, CMARC (diversity) kids, and International students are allowed to move in early, so we’ve been helping them do so.</p>
<p>I arrived on Thursday night and I went and walked around campus today…so far, Pittsburgh seems nice! I like the weather (for now) because it’s so much warmer than back in CA. I’ve run into sooo many CMU (and Pitt) students everywhere, basically. I’m super excited to move in tomorrow!</p>
<p>I will never forget a professor who, on my first week of classes at CMU, on a very hot August afternoon, said something like (stress added): "Don’t mind the heat. It ** will ** get colder in the next months. It’s known to have happened in the past. "</p>
<p>Returned late last night after saying good bye. What a smooth move in - hats off to CMU - it was a breeze - drove right up at 9 am and the students unloaded the car in seconds flat and had everything neatly stacked on my son’s side of the room when we arrived. Spent rest of the day attending orientation activities. We are so impressed with CMU and look forward to seeing all the amazing growth and opportunities our son will have.</p>
<p>Ditto…kudos to all the RAs and staff and students. We unloaded the night before (roomate had attended Origins) and as we arrived …some students (not apparently RAs) jumped up to help unload S’s stuff and chatted about the joys of orientation week. </p>
<p>Orientation was well run…with the small exception of lunch where the little eateries were overwhelmed by so many customers…Who were the students giving out free chocolate chip pancakes? Just as we were wilting from lack of sustenance we discovered them. This made huge impression on little sister! Everyone was so friendly and enthusiastic. LOL about the mom who wanted to repaint the dorm room. I think a few airfresheners scattered around would have been a good idea for finicky moms…the dorm was starting to smell a bit like a gym after so much lugging of luggage. Luckily, I don’t have to live there and it should be cooler when we visit for parents’ weekend.</p>
<p>I spent the day being one of the luggage unloaders. If you live on the third floor and decided to bring an Ikea shelf set and 80 pound fridge, with all due respect, you suck. I’m strong, but not THAT strong.</p>
<p>Some of the parents were yelling at us, too. Things like “I told you the room was A215, but it’s actually A315, and now our luggage is in the wrong place and it’s ALL YOUR FAULT GRAHH.”</p>
<p>You have GOT to be kidding Kate! I am so ashamed of fellow parents. I was all for putting together a thank you letter for S’s RA and the nameless helpers. My worry is that S would think that was creepy. I saw that RA deal with some very stressed parents and kids (none rude, just sending out major stress vibes) and he was only a sophomore. He stayed very calm and reassuring. I would think parents would be on best behavior so as not to mortify offspring so you may have been spared worse.</p>
<p>That is just awful, what is wrong with people. I mean, what the crap, we brought our son’s own luggage up. If someone did it for him, even if it ended up in the wrong place, I still can’t imagine being a jerk about it.</p>