<p>It’s not really that crowded trying to move 4 people in at once since everyone has their own room and there is quite a bit of space in the apartments. Even if all the roommates don’t get there at the same time (if some come later in the day or even a few days later), I’m pretty sure the one(s) arriving later may feel a bit left out at first, but they will have the entire year to get to know their roommates. The first day or so is important and exciting, but in my case the people I met on the day I moved in and during the first week I lived on campus became friends of mine, but not people I hung out with regularly. I did not meet my group of friends until a couple months into school. </p>
<p>And just a tip-almost everyone has to go back to the store to pick up something after they move in. Be it shelves, storage containers, extra hangers, or whatever else, so just be prepared because you may have to do this.</p>
<p>Awesome help! It is good to hear that the move-in goes well even with 4 students moving in and I can understand that you will meet lots of people outside of your roommates and they may well be your closer friends.<br>
At SOAR they joked about the crowds at Costco and BBand B! I can imagine the grocery stores are crowded too because food is a bit harder to pack ahead of time.</p>
<p>Any advice for the students to make the sharing of food/chores workout for the best?</p>
<p>Well when I lived in cerro last year, we filled out the roommate contract they give you the first night and it was very helpful. For food, we each did our own grocery shopping, but were happy to pick things up at the store for each other if someone else needed anything. We decided that in order to prevent dirty dishes from piling up, the best policy would for each of us to just wash our own dishes as soon as we were done using them, or at least by the end of the day. This worked out very well too. We shared all of our kitchen stuff (pots,pans,plates,silverware,measuring cups, etc). We bought a shelf for our food in the pantry and each had our own shelf as well as a shared shelf were we could put food that anyone could eat. Similar situation with the fridge. We would just take out the garbage/recycling when ever it was full. We were all pretty neat and considerate so it worked out very well. Also, an airfreshner may be a good idea, just nothing too powerful. It makes the room so much nicer.</p>
<p>Wow! Super post for those kids who will be in Cerro. Thank you! We had heard about the contract and I am glad they encourage that. I have already bought a shelf for the pantry and thought they could each have one shelf. I like the shared idea of the 5th shelf too. The dirty dishes policy is a good one and I hope they follow it.</p>
<p>Each person buying their own food is a good idea. I am guessing that they can pitch in if someone cooks for the whole apartment. </p>
<p>Love the air freshener idea! </p>
<p>What were some of the foods that you guys cooked?
Where was the best/closest place to go shopping? Did you take the bus or did someone have a car?</p>
<p>Yeah occasionally we would cook dinner together (we only did this a couple times all year though, so it was a pretty rare thing), and sometimes one of us would make/bake something and just share it with everyone which was nice. </p>
<p>The best things we cooked…we made some tasty chicken dishes (like marinate the chicken then bake it). That was good. We baked a lot of cookies and some other treats that were delicious. WE also made breakfast a few times on the weekends What’s nice is that you can find recipes for almost everything online, so you don’t even really need a cookbook if you wanna make something.</p>
<p>There are several food stores quite close to campus. There’s a Scolari’s just a couple blocks from downtown (if you take the bus downtown you can easily walk there and shop). There’s a Trader Joe’s, Ralph’s, and Vons also nearby. There are buses that go to all of these. I didn’t have a car, so I took the bus mostly for shopping, but some of my roommates had cars and so I went with them sometimes.</p>
<p>Does that mean the Cerro Vista apartments have ovens?
When I was looking at what appliances Cerro Vista had, they didn’t mention an oven so I assumed they didn’t…</p>
<p>Thank you NTKS17. It sounds like you did some cooking as a group, but maybe more individually. The same with shopping. Thank you also for mentioning the stores that are within a bus ride. It is good to know that you can get there without a car and that it works out fine.</p>
<p>I’m going to show my son how to bake marinated chicken this week. I hope he likes it!</p>
<p>Please keep the tips coming for the Cerro students. We really appreciate it!</p>
<p>When they assign the apartments at Cerro Vista, do they also assign the rooms? Or, when the students arrive do they pick their room out of the 4 that are available? If that’s the case then it might be good to arrive early.</p>
<p>When you get your apartment assignment in a couple weeks, you will also be assigned an individual bedroom (you do not get to choose which room, but can switch with one of your roommates after a couple weeks if they want to, but this is a bit of a hassle).The bedrooms are labeled A, B, C, and D. so if your room number is 303 and your building is Islay (the “F”) building, and you are assigned to room D, it would would something like F303D. So don’t worry about arriving too early cause your room is already reserved for you.</p>
<p>That is what my son and I thought. I like the idea that the rooms are already assigned. It takes the pressure off! The assignments will be up in 6 days! Then the students can start talking with each other about things. I know my son is looking forward to knowing where his room is and who his roommates will be! me too!</p>
<p>That’s what is nice about having your own room. No deciding who sleeps where. I know my daughter isn’t as OCD as me when it comes to choosing the right bed/area of the room. That’s a *good *thing in her case. Her roommate might already have put “dibs” on a particular bed. ;)</p>
<p>I would hope that they talk about it ahead of time or wait until they are both there on move in day. It should be a joint decision between them. if your daughter lets her roommate choose first, then hopefully she truly doesn’t mind. Some people would rather make other people happy and they are fine with that decision. if she really has an opinion about where she sleeps, let’s hope she speaks her mind as well. This is one thing they need to decide on together! There will be lots of other things as they go…</p>
<p>I always encourage her to be assertive, but I don’t think any of my daughters will ever be as assertive as their dear, ol mom. </p>
<p>I have a feeling that she won’t really care where she sleeps in the room, as long as she has a decent bed and and an equal amount of furniture. One thing, though…she likes to have her space organized, so I’m sure she’ll say something about that! ;-)</p>
<p>I hope she has a neat roommate! that can be a problem, but at least she can be organized on her side of the room. One thing I was thinking about for these kids is that they don’t need to be best friends with their roomies, but they do need to be respectful. One thing I hate is when they talk badly about each other to friends. Feelings can really be hurt. I hope they are able to be good roommates even if they are not going to be life-long buddies.<br>
I think your daughter is going in with an open mind and a good attitude if she isn’t too worried about which side she gets. They will work it out for the best.
This Friday will be a busy day when they all find out there rooms and roommates!</p>
<p>I want to make my daughter a curtain valance for her cerro vista room, does anyone know the window dimensions? Any suggestions on how to hang it?</p>
<p>What a nice idea Tricia01! I don’t remember seeing window dimensions, but I would think there are spring loaded type rods that will just fit in any size space. It would go on the inside of the window enclosure. Not sure if that makes sense, but I hope it does!</p>
<p>When and how do we load $ on the laundry card? On the Cerro Site it seems like there is a seperate debit card for the laundry room and they will get it at Move-in. I thought it would be their Poly card, but I guess not.</p>
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