Move In - Organized chaos or a free for all?

<p>As the loft in our home quickly fills with "going to Gainesville" stuff, I have begun wondering about how we are going to get all this stuff out of the car and into my daughters dorm room. If move in begins at 9 am, how much earlier will the cars start massing? Will the parking rules be suspended on move in day or will the campus police be having a ticket party? Does the school have any hand trucks or dollys for move in use or must everyone lug everything by their own strength? When do the local stores (target, walmart, bed bath and beyond) get ridiculously crowded and when do they empty out?I heard that traffic on the turnpike south the day after move in day can be backed up for hours. Is there a better time to leave? Any seasoned Gators have advice or answers?</p>

<p>i was going to start a similar thread, so instead i'll tag on to this one. what do experienced students/parents have to offer regarding the most helpful items to remember to bring? i was just told that a dustbuster, end table, under bed storage are great. anything else?</p>

<p>We are bringing an over the door type shoe bag/pocket caddy so D can store her blow dryer, curling iron, hair stuff, and knick knacks in the pockets. The kids hang these on the solid side of the closet (only half of the closet is exposed).Also a pop up or mesh laundry hamper with a strap so she can tote it easily to the laundry room. A bulletin board and/or french memo board to tack up photos and/or important papers on. Don't forget printer paper, extra ink cartridges and the USB cable for printing papers off her computer. If new, set up the software for the printer (on her computer) at home before you go to school to save time move in day. Something to lock up valuable items would be a good idea, we are sending a locking footlocker (for underbed storage, secure lockable place for laptop/i pod/whatever, and it can double as a table if needed). Also bring dry erase board for the dorm door, power strips with circuit breakers, an extension cord, mounting tape, basic tools (hammer, screwdriver etc.),an electric pencil sharpener, a desk lamp and a lamp for reading in bed, shower caddie and shower flip flops, a long tv cable if you are bringing a tv set. The top of her dorm fridge can double as an end table. Just a few suggestions... :)</p>

<p>Oh....... you picked a good day to ask about moving in, Seiclan. Today was the last day of Summer B semester, and the school allowed the kids to move their large items into the closet of their Fall dorm room. We moved my son's file cabinet and some other large items into his closet so we wouldn't have to bring them home, and back up again next Saturday. They'd only allow us to fill the closet.</p>

<p>I called the housing dept. this week to ask about parking, and they said that the parking rules would be suspended for moving in today, just like they were for move-in day last June. We pulled up to Broward and the short driveway in front of the dorm was full (four cars filled it up). The small adjacent parking lot for work trucks was empty, but it was completely blocked off.</p>

<p>I miraculously got a legitimate parking space right in front of Broward! Someone just happened to pull out while we were sitting there on Inner Road, trying to figure out what we were going to do. What luck! Well.......we made two trips up to his new dorm room, and when we got back there was a TICKET on my windshield!! What jerks! So, we left the ticket on the windshield, and had lunch in Broward Dining before leaving Gainesville.</p>

<p>When we got home, I called campus police and the woman told me I should appeal the ticket. She gave me a number, but when I called I got someone's voicemail. You know, I can't count how many times we've parked on Inner Road to visit Broward or eat at Broward Dining. I didn't even know those spaces were designated parking. We'll see what happens with the appeal.</p>

<p>I imagine that on the big move-in days, people park all over the lawns near Broward. There's nowhere else to park there! Maybe your husband could drop you and your daughter off with her bedding very early in the morning. You two can run upstairs and make up her bed, just to claim the side of the room she wants. Then you can unload the rest of her stuff a few hours later when the crowd thins and you can park the car. When we moved my son into Jennings last June, the crowd thinned considerably in the afternoon, and by 5:00 pm, there were very few cars parked around the dorm. Good luck to you and all of us next Saturday!!</p>

<p>A few more things about moving into Broward today........</p>

<p>There were big signs on the doors and the front desk that said the elevator was not available for moving in. Now, when we moved my son into Jennings last June, there were signs that said you should go to the front desk in the lobby to ask to use the elevator if you needed it.</p>

<p>Also, we had our own, small luggage cart today, which is all we needed. I heard someone ask if there were any carts available, and the woman at the lobby desk said that they had only one, and she didn't know where it was. </p>

<p>Luckily, my son noticed in his Broward room that above one desk, there was an outlet for cable, and two phone outlets: one for a phone, and a larger one for the cable internet hookup. The other desk did not have a phone outlet, for some reason. </p>

<p>In Jennings, the phone outlet was on a middle wall, and he and his roommate shared it with one of those splicer gadgets. It would be hard to hook up two phones in his Broward room because of the outlet's awkward location. Since he checked in a week early, my son was able to pick which side of the room he wanted. A lot of kids are using only their cell phones, but my son and his summer roommate both wanted land line phones, too. More comfortable to hold (during long conversations with girlfriends), and they don't have to be re-charged all the time.</p>

<p>Jennings had very cold (too cold for me) air conditioning. The A/C in my son's Broward room today wasn't nearly as good, and it was muggy in the room. Maybe it just needed adjusting, but he's definitely bringing a fan this semester.</p>

<p>After you move into your room, you'll be asked to fill out a form about it's condition. You'll list all the things that are wrong, so you won't be held responsible for them at the end of the year. At inspection today, the RA hassled my son about a missing knob on one of the room's windows. My son kept telling him that it had been like that when he moved in, and that he had listed it on his HAWK list (that what's they call the 'room condition' list you fill out). Eventually, the RA let it pass, but it was annoying. Next Saturday, I'm going over the room very carefully with my son and we'll fill out the form together before I leave him there alone. (I think I remember that we got the HAWK form with his room keys when we checked into Jennings in June.)</p>

<p>I know there was more I wanted to tell you about today, but I can't remember right now. When I think of it, I'll let you know. Lunch in Broward was delicious! These kids don't know how lucky they are, with 'food stations' and eight different international entrees every night. Remember our cafeteria meals? I shudder to think about them. How many different ways can you serve meatloaf -- or turkey, gravy, and mashed potatoes?!! :-)</p>

<p>Does anybody have any experience with the move in situation at Hume?</p>

<p>Still no pointers on moving into Hume? Help. anyone?</p>

<p>when i moved into hume in june, it wasnt much of an hassle since i came when the crowd was preety much gone. Go to hume commons first!...i walked to east just to walk back to the commons because the keys were there...its not fun walking back and forth with a lot of stuff in the hot heat. you do the HAWK form, just as mentioned earlier and thats preety much it. you can rent dollys but since i didnt have too much stuff there was no need for anyone, since i planned on going back home to get my car and get everything else. Moving out day sucked!!! my friend and I didnt have nice loving dads to help us move out. (nothings wrong with that but just a point), she and I moved her appliances and stuff to Graham for storage, and I must say that numerous grown men watched as we were struggling and would not offer to help us, which really irritated me since they were moving their son's belongings out.
If you arrive during the rush, dont expect to freely go on the elevator as you wish, since it will take forever and also be full. The same friend and I were waiting for the elevator when another man came few minutes later, when the elevator finally came it was crowded and the man quickly ran into the elevator (not to be mean but I wondered if all men were jerks that day)..so after it was taking another five years to come we decided to lug everything down the stairs from the 3rd floor to ground.
Hope that gave you a slight idea of what to expect, my intentions was not to scare you but just giving you an insight to what happened to me.</p>

<p>i have so much stuff we are bringing one of those mini u hauls. I am lofting my bed, so i have a giant reading chair for underneath and also a TV stand for my TV and storage for me and my roomate. i had a question but now i cant remember it, so i guess ill repost when i remember. any more tips?</p>

<p>:)</p>

<p>Helped S moved in to Hume Hall yesterday. Arrived around 3pm and the situation did not seem chaotic at all. His room is on level 1 flushed with the roadway and the first one after the door. So no hassle with the elevator too. All in all we were done by five plus, one hour of which was actually spent waiting for him to assemble a cupboard with locked door (on sale at Staples).</p>

<p>What an uneventful moving-in that it turned out to be.</p>

<p>Moved D into Broward Hall on Saturday. Was well prepared by previous posts. It was a long exhausting day, but no problems. Very exciting for all. Had to lug everything up 5 sets of stairs (although D is on the 2nd floor)...the back door was closest her room and to our car ( in the garage behind Broward/Rawling) which was below the ground floor level! Got a really good workout there. Ate at two amazing restaurants in old Gainesville this weekend, Mark's US Prime (Best steak I ever had) and Harry's Seafood (New Orlean's Style). Good luck Gators! Have a wonderful semester!</p>

<p>I moved into Yulee on Saturday around 11:30 am. Check-in wasn't bad at all. There was actually no wait for that. The only part I'd consider chaotic was the parking situation and the Wal-Mart on Archer.</p>