<p>Does anyone know if Wellesley plans any orientation activities for parents of incoming freshmen? We'd be traveling from California and I'd like to know if I should schedule the next flight home or if I should plan to stay for a few days.</p>
<p>From the orientation packet, it looks like there are some parent activities on the first day, Monday. We are staying Tuesday to have some time in Boston, a new city for us. We are also from CA, the Bay Area, and are going a few days early to do all our dorm shopping.</p>
<p>huh---speaking of which, my mom (I'm a first year, hurrah!) is talking about how it's important that I do all of my shopping (clothes, sheets, ect) beforehand. I've told her that, given the nature of Boston, it shouldn't be hard to find collegekid stuff to buy cheaply when I get there, but she seems pretty sure that that's not a good plan. Does anybody have any ideas why I should shop beforehand?</p>
<p>jabberwocky66,
We were told by some friends whose eldest daughter started at W&M last year that the comforter was the hardest thing to find. She suggested just getting that at home, then buying accessories and sheets to go with it would be easy in the Boston area. I believe the Wellesley site has directions to a nearby shopping area. We're looking forward to lugging less stuff back on the plane, and enjoying the shopping time together.</p>
<p>The parent activities don't extend beyond the first day and Wellesley does not encourage parents to stay at all. So book the flight for the next day. Orientation is being changed this year- hopefully there will be more opportunities that first day for parents and new roomates to pile in the car and go get things they need to pick out together.</p>
<p>There is excellent shopping within 15 minutes of Wellesley. Route 9 in Natick and Framingham has every chain I can think of. If you want to mapquest directions, put in Natick Mall, or Shopper's World. Most everything is on Route 9 (aka Worcester Road), although the Target is on a parallel road, one block north of Route 9. If you want to do a "store locator", Wellesley's zip code is 02481. My basic directions to Route 9 involve turning left out the rt 135 Wellesley entrance, taking your first right under the train bridge (rt 9 is parallel and north of 135, so many roads go through), then turning right at the stoplight at "Lilja School". You intersect route 9 a couple of minutes later. The lights are a little unorthadox. Take Route 9 West and feel free to stop at any store you like on the way. Wellesley will actually give you better directions in the orientation packet.</p>
<p>While never having attempted to hunt one down at Wellesley, I can assure you that a comforter will be easy to find between a Bed Bath and Beyond, Target, Wal-Mart, Building 19, the Natick Mall (with a Sears Macy's and Filene's), and Linen's and Things. Just so you know, XL twin only refers to the fitted sheet and any associated matteress pads. In fact, if you buy a XL twin sheet set, the flat sheet is identical in size to the regular twin size sheet. So you just need to look for regular twin comforters and blankets. If you are taking a plane, I would NOT take a any bedding.</p>
<p>Jabberwocky66 I would do more shopping when you get to Wellesley. Finding stuff is actually quite easy- it's having the time during the first few days of orientation that's the tricky part. On Saturday, the Natick Mall shuttle starts running and you can get pretty much anything there.</p>
<p>If you are from somewhere warm. I would also wait to get any winter clothes. You can get 'em at the mall, any other store on Rte 9, or the sporting goods store in the vil. </p>
<p>The BEST place to get more clothes, sheets and winter gear is the Sister's Keepers Rummage sale, which will be held sometime in the fall. Sister's Keepers is a unification of Wellesley Association For Life and Wellesley Women for Choice to help out Wellesley students with kids. They collect all the clothes and books students get rid of at the end of the year and sell them cheap. Shirts, jeans, skirts, sweaters, scarves, mittens, hats and books are all $1, and winter coats are $5. Last year there were also some bed sheets. You will not believe the volume of clothes that is at this Rummage sale- I think there were something like 400 pairs of jeans. What you can get is spectacular- there's a great quantity of expensive clothes and designer stuff. And then there's just stuff. My favorite things I got were a homemade pair of PJ pants, a shirt paying homage to the Science center that no one sells anymore, and a handmade Slytherin scarf.</p>
<p>Thanks all for the helpful suggestions and thanks WendyMouse for the treasure trove of insider tips! It is much appreciated.</p>
<p>Regarding sight seeing in and around Boston, we did a little during the Spring Open Campus. I bought and read the "Eyewitness Travel Guides, Boston" book (ISBN 0-7894-9559-7) before the visit and it really helped me appreciate the sights. I especially enjoyed the Minute Man Visitor Center (<a href="http://www.nps.gov/mima)%5B/url%5D">http://www.nps.gov/mima)</a>. They present a free multimedia program about the start of the Revolutionary War that I found very interesting. Walking the "Freedom Trail", which starts at Boston Commons, was also enjoyable. There are many more things you can see and do in Boston. What a great place to get a college education!</p>
<p>Wellesley students also get free passes to the Museum of Science, which is quite nice. However, despite my desire to go there as often as possible, I've been all of once. I did spend all last year living with someone who got off campus 4+ days a week, so if it's your big thing, it can be done.</p>
<p>There are FABULOUS places to eat in Wellesley...Blue Ginger for dinner, Figs for lunch, Yama....an excellent Italian takeout in Weston Ctr...also kids love Bertucci....you deserve a good meal!!</p>