<p>Daughter is excited but anxious to move in. All set to take her early morning, the 24th. Our disagreement: She wants me to attend all the parent functions on Friday. Seems to think it's mandatory. I'd rather move her in, get her a bit settled, and then head to Bush Gardens for the day. </p>
<p>Thoughts? Parents sticking around? Students, want your parents around?</p>
<p>Momray, Certainly attending all those events isn't mandatory; some students are likely to come on their own, esp. if they arrive from a distance. But H and I both plan on spending as much of the rest of the day there as possible; it looks like a long and exhausting day, esp. after what will probably be a very early start and several trips up and down 3 flights of stairs at D's dorm. </p>
<p>Do you have any sense of how early cars will start lining up to drop off stuff? Certainly not everyone arrives at 8...</p>
<p>I think my D is fine with us staying; we don't expect to see her at all after 2:00 (I've been told the school arranges things this way deliberately). And I know that if we went to Busch Gardens she would be awfully envious!</p>
<p>PS we drove down yesterday (from NOVA) to get her ID, buy books, and look at how the dorm is situated (she's in Boutetout (sp?)). It was a nice day, very productive, and we both returned feeling better about everything...</p>
<p>What dorm of Botetourt? D is 3rd floor Faquier. We've gotten the ID already. Her roommate arrives early as she's an international student. I've heard between 9 and 1 are the worse times. We are close so anticipate arriving at 8.</p>
<p>D is in Nicholson. Her roommate hasn't been as communicative as she would like (facebook messages; she doesn't want to share fridge or microwave) so we're not sure about what will happen depending on who arrives first. Thanks for the advice; we'll surely arrive by 8.</p>
<p>After a certain point in the afternoon, all of the students will be whisked away to begin orientation, and won't be available to do anything, so I see no reason why you would have to stay.</p>
<p>Look at half.com for books. S found them about 50-60% of Bookstore price. You can get the exact ISDN number of my.wm and look the books up at half.com</p>
<p>Just read orientation for students and families......Guess 3:00 is the bewitching hour. </p>
<p>Will have her check out half.com......Bookstore prices just for her Chem classes are $230+ and books are used!</p>
<p>We're sticking around and plan to go to the President's Reception and CWF reception on Friday and then whatever's happening on Sunday. Our daughter's the last one at home and this is our last "First" day of college, so we're going to enjoy it. </p>
<p>D's on 3rd Floor Monroe...I'm wearing sensible shoes for all those stairs!! </p>
<p>We live in NOVA, but we're going down on Thursday. Two other families from our high school are doing the same thing.</p>
<p>We lucked out, my S is on 1st floor of Yates! No stairs, or at least, few stairs.</p>
<p>I went to W&M, but never set foot in Yates. I think it was a girls dorm back then, and Dupont was a boys dorm. I think both are coed now.</p>
<p>Our S is also on the first floor of Yates. No stairs! Feeling very lucky since our last child to move into a dorm at UVA was on the 3rd floor</p>
<p>After having been through the process, I would recommend moving in as early as possible. It's not too hot that earaly in the morning, and the crowds really aren't all that bad (at least for the Botetourt Complex). Besides, it's a very efficient process (after all, they've had over 300 years to get it down, right?). There are tons of volunteers to help you unload and carry stuff up to your room, even if it's on the top floor. My jam-packed SUV was fully unloaded in less than five minutes, and it didn't take much longer than that to move everything up to the third floor of Fauquier. Like I said, there are TONS of people available to help; even Big Nic can usually be found hauling mini-fridges up three flights of stairs.</p>
<p>Also, there are other reasons to move in early:
1. Being first to move in <em>usually</em> gives you some leverage when it comes to first pick of the bunk and desks.
2. When meeting new people, groups of friends form quickly. If you're the last to move in and everybody in your hall already knows each other, you'll be playing catch-up, which is never fun. This is not to say that the overwhelming majority of your hallmates aren't open and welcoming, or that you'll be at all shut out, but from a social standpoint I strongly prefer being the first person to move in and meeting everyone else as they move in, rather than being the latecomer.</p>
<p>Also, parents, feel free to stick around for the orientation activities, but they're certainly not required. After the welcome ceremony you really won't see your kid much, and parent orientation is pretty much entirely separate. It's structured that way intentionally, since freshman orientation is jam-packed. And as much as you might want to stick around for the weekend and take your son or daugher out for meals and church and the like, I would highly discourage it. First of all, the orientation schedule is prohibitive. More importantly though, for your student, the first weekend is about meeting new people and starting a new adventure, so most really don't enjoy it when their parents try to spend every last possible minute together before parting. It's got nothing at all to do with you; they're just in a new environment and need to feel things out. And like I already mentioned, groups of friends form quickly. Move-in weekend is about embracing the new year, not holding on to summer, and as difficult as it might be to hear, that means leaving Mom and Dad behind.</p>
<p>Yates was Girls' dorm, back in the day. My "big" sister from high school lived in Yates.</p>
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<p>In most of the rooms, are the beds bunked? Because I would rather not have a bunk bed, but my own bed...</p>
<p>lots of rooms do have bunked beds. In some of the smaller rooms, it seems as though it almost must be that way, but in the bigger rooms there is definitely room to unbunk. I actually unbunked the beds in my Taliaferro room part way through Freshmen year, it made the room very cozy though. But really, when you are in your room, you are either at your desk, or on your bed. Really those are the only options, so it doesn't matter if there's not much space to move around.</p>
<p>Daughter's room is a double but the floor plan seems rather large. (165 sq ft) She's hoping if the beds ARE bunked, she can bring a big round chair to the room. Very cozy for reading. Guess we'll know next Friday.</p>
<p>D and her roommate don't want bunks, but we're bring bed risers to give D more room under her bed for storage.</p>
<p>I believe the Botetourte beds are not bunked. She has ordered the lofting service for her bed.</p>
<p>On selecting bed/desk--the parents materials say the first student there should wait until the other shows so they can work it out. But how do we know how long to wait? We plan to help D a bit with setup so we'd need to know the side to put things...</p>
<p>It would be nice to work this out ahead of time but D's roommate isn't into it yet.</p>
<p>Daughter's info on Botetourte is just opposite, smdur. She was told beds can bunk or not. Also, that is was difficult to loft a bed due to the fact the desks, etc are nailed in place. Her room, according to the website, is 175 s ft. (contrary to 165 earlier posted)</p>
<p>Her roommate arrives early so guess she gets the leftovers! My opinion....first one to arrive gets first choice.</p>
<p>Hmmm...D had e-mailed her RA who told her that lofting was fine. Although...she did mention that ceilings were 7ft10in and to keep that in mind. Oh the podcast the beds are shown bunked...</p>
<p>RA also said halogen desk lamps aren't allowed but in other materials it says they are...</p>
<p>D said she could not take halogen. Also applicance had to have energy star rating. I went out to buy adapters today, just in case. Old buildings and their antiquated electrical outlets.</p>