<p>I wanted to chime in on tropical island's issue. Some cultures value "family time" more than others and also believe in less independence than many of the posters do. I know lots of kids who could have gone to better schools but are staying at/near home because their cultures value staying near one's family.
I have no idea what tropical island's cultural background is. MIT is reputed to be tolerant of people from many cultures. Maybe it is part of tropical island's culture to spend more time at home than the typical MIT student does. It's good that the posters INFORMED tropical island that he/she might be missing important parts of college life, but I think they might also be more tolerant and accepting about different cultural assumptions about family/college student ties. Maybe tropical island has something special and good to contribute to the MIT community by maintaining a less typical parent/college student relationship. Maybe the posters should not just inform him/her but also support him/her.</p>
<p>Thank you very much binks!</p>
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Maybe it is part of tropical island's culture to spend more time at home than the typical MIT student does.
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<p>Goody. I have absolutely no problem with that. I'm simply explaining to tropicalisland, who, incidentially, asked for our advice as MIT students, why Orientation, including the nighttime during Orientation, is not a good period to get in that extra family time. And as an MIT student, I can give a whole bunch of reasons, some of which I've provided here, why it's not, and those reasons apply to any MIT student regardless of what culture they come from.</p>
<p>I find it kind of hilarious that you are trying to imply that we're not culturally supportive enough. And my experience after three years as a college student is that there's no such thing as a "typical" parent/college student relationship anyway.</p>
<p>I have explained (rather extensively) to my parents why I should stay on campus during orientation and they allowed me to do so. Yay! I guess the original reason why they wanted me home was that they simply didn't believe it's reasonable for me to stay on campus in a temporary room when we have to move to a permanent one several days later. I am very glad that I can now fully take advantage of orientation and living on my own.</p>
<p>So what's the update on EC parking? Can I get a permit anywhere or do I have to carry stuff across campus?</p>
<p>There's actually parking behind EC on Ames Street. I forget whether or not the spaces are metered but it's available. What I've done in the past was just driving the vehicle onto the open pavement area between building 66 and EC and loaded/unloaded my stuff there. Of course, you can't block off the path, and I didn't do this during Orientation :-P </p>
<p>Good luck on parking. yay boston.</p>
<p>My parents and friends moving in were able to find parking on Ames directly behind the east parallel. Very convenient.</p>