<p>They are from the other side of the country and of modest financial circumstances. Luckily, their son is very self-reliant!</p>
<p>Hi Harvard 2013 Parents! We just got through graduation yesterday and now it’s time to give some thought to August. I will be dropping my student off for International Student Orientation, then will have to return to my home in Europe before the actual move-in starts. I am sick that I will not be there with my child. If you see kids without parents, please volunteer to help them! Mine will not ask for help, but will need it. (And when your kids come to Europe and look lost or need help, I always volunteer, so maybe your kindness will be repaid directly- if not, somone else’s kid will benefit.)</p>
<p>There was a posting earlier in another thread with stores located on a Boston/Cambridge map. For those of you like us who cannot carry a lot, there is a Target close enough to a T (metro) stop to buy dorm supplies, but you’ll probably need to take a taxi back to the dorms if you have lots of goodies. </p>
<p>I also read in another post that Harvard does allow students to store a small amount at the university for the summer, so we don’t have to mail things or buy again new the following year.</p>
<p>Any other ex-pat parents out there who have hints for the naive newbies among you, please pass on your words of wisdom.</p>
<p>Ronsard-m’aimait- My daughter is a rising sophomore and my son will be a freshman. My Daughter will be helping with FIP and son will be attending. They are a really helpful group and I think your child will enjoy it. They take them to the mall and help them set up bank accounts, cell phones etc. in addition to having a lot of fun.
As for bringing/buying stuff… My idea for this year is to order stuff especially bedding online and have it delivered to my sons harvard mail address. They have handtrucks that you can take from the mail room to the dorm. For the other little stuff will have to make a trip to Target or Bed Bath and Beyond I suppose. My impression last year was that parents and students were very helpful, we had a rental car and took numerous trips during move in day to stores and generally had an extra kid or parent tagging along. Feel free to PM me if you want more specific information especially regarding FIP. I will try to think of things that were helpful last year and ask my D as well.</p>
<p>Here’s another question.
Are any of your kids bringing a few high school textbooks with them for reference? Would they even need them…?</p>
<p>My D wants to bring some of her books, but the thought of lugging them along for the ride seems like such a hassle. Have any seasoned parents dealt with this in the past - shipping the books perhaps?</p>
<p>Southbaymom, My D did not use any textbooks but did bring some books she liked. Depends on her major if she has some technical books etc. and wants them each student gets their own bookcase (hip high) so there is room. I would ship it Book Rate to her Harvard Mail address and pick it up on move in day. I am not sure how early they will start receiving mail for new freshman…does anyone else? Safest thing would be to mail them in mid August.</p>
<p>Thanks EAO for the info.</p>
<p>I’m sure some of the veteran parents can help answer this one - </p>
<p>does the school have some place where students can store a few suitcases or boxes through the year? If so, how much space does each student have? … because we’d prefer to leave a couple suitcases with our D so that we don’t have to bring back the empty suitcases for move-out day.</p>
<p>southbaymom: I have a son heading to Harvard in the fall, but have some suggestions for your coast to coast move having made the opposite trek with older son who is at Stanford. This is what we did: We each flew out to the convocation with two suitcases jam-packed with his stuff (so 8 suitcases since younger S came too) and returned with suitcases stuffed inside each other. We shipped his books (not textbooks, but special personal books) and X-box via UPS and had them hold it at their shipping center. We rented a car while we were out there and picked up the shipped boxes. We bought a cheap bike for him at the local Target. THis was a good decision since it was stolen over Christmas break. :). I do not know what Harvard has planned for move in. Is there a convocation? Depending on if there is anything for parents on Friday, we will probably fly home on Friday. I think it works out better to be there a day or two before, rather than after. They need to move in and move on. So long parents. 
And a question: Has anyone received a mailing with Health forms?</p>
<p>Curious 77: You can print out all the medical forms here: </p>
<p>[Harvard</a> University Health Services | Resources | Find a Form | Immunization Forms | Undergraduate Freshman Students 2013](<a href=“http://huhs.harvard.edu/Resources/FindAForm/ImmunizationForms/UndergraduateFreshmanStudents2013.aspx]Harvard”>http://huhs.harvard.edu/Resources/FindAForm/ImmunizationForms/UndergraduateFreshmanStudents2013.aspx)</p>
<p>It’s also linked through the first page to the Harvard College Freshman Dean’s Office - the one that has all the deadlines.</p>
<p>I’m also curious about what you packed in 8 suitcases. Did your son find he needed it all?</p>
<p>Thanks for the forms link 13mom. Well the 8 suitcases also included the rest of the family’s stuff for the trip (maybe one to one and a half for the 3 of us). But yes, he needed it all. Or should I say, wanted it all. As well as the stuff we shipped and stuff we bought. And that is a boy. We carried with us bed linens, a down comforter, towels. It was a lot of stuff (favorite posters, his dvd collection). Oh, I forgot, one of the 8 suitcases was his guitar case. And then we packed seasonal clothing, from shorts and flip flops to jeans and sweaters.<br>
I think I will try to buy more in Boston with this son. Especially, the winter gear and bedding. That stuff takes up a lot of room. But we will fly Southwest (which starts service to Logan in August) and they allow 2 suitcases each for no charge.</p>
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<p>I’m not a parent but a student, class of 13. I’m probably going to bring one textbook, A Writer’s Reference, which was very expensive and has an endless supply of information for the nuances of citations, formatting, etc. </p>
<p>I would bring textbooks if you certainly see yourself using them.</p>
<p>My son just completed his freshman year at H and he has NEVER needed to refer to any book that he used in high school. Harvard has every resource you could possibly need.</p>
<p>Neither did my D but if you have something that you are used to using that works for you like DwightEisenhower, why not bring it. Can’t hurt-except for your back carrying all that weight up the stairs on move in day!</p>
<p>Over the years to lighten daughter’s backpack, we have purchased duplicate books matching her public school classroom books. We plan to go through them all and donate those, that she never plans to use again to the high school. My daughter has claimed that she will be bringing the text from her AP Biology class because she is comfortable and familiar with the content. We are still deciding on the other books.</p>
<p>Can’t find any thread related to Harvard 2014 parents-is there one?</p>
<p>I think parents of all classes are using <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/harvard-university/504059-harvard-parent-thread.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/harvard-university/504059-harvard-parent-thread.html</a>. This way you can get council from those that have been through it already.</p>