<p>My D is a member of the class of 2013. We plan to arrive in Waltham on Saturday afternoon before Sunday move-in, explore the campus (H hasn’t been there ), and pick up our order at Bed Bath & Beyond. D wants to have dinner Saturday night with her roommate and another friend and their parents, so I am searching for restaurants in the area that will please 1) Midwesterners eager for seafood; 2) at least one vegetarian; and 3) the other parents who I don’t know at all. Any suggestions?</p>
<p>Any other advice about move-in and orientation would be greatly appreciated! D is our oldest and this is all new to us. Thanks!</p>
<p>its been a few years since we moved in our student, but if they are doing things like they did then, move-in was very well organized. they had the cars line up by dorms to control the flow of traffic, orientation leaders emptied the car quickly so you could move the car to a remote lot (shuttle bus for driver to get back). if they are still sending out a pass to allow you to come on to campus for move-in, don’t forget it – they did check it our year. the car lines were long, especially early in the day, but they did keep moving.</p>
<p>there were tons of orientation leaders around to answer questions and direct you around to get id card, phone, etc. (at least when we went, you needed to get the phone before you hooked up the computer because the computer is connected thru the same connection – i don’t recall the details, just that we had to get the phone first). there were also plenty of students there specifically to help with computer set up.</p>
<p>after opening convocation, they left time for parents to accompany the students back to their rooms where their orientation group would then pick them up – ie it was scheduled so that there was a definite time for parents to say good-bye which we found nice – no time for prolonged good-byes since the student had to leave when their orientation leader came by assembling their orientation group. only downside – all the parents leaving at the same time meant crowded shuttles back to the parking lot.</p>
<p>don’t know that i can really help with restaurant advice – waltham is known for its restaurants. we like the chateau which bills itself as an italian restaurant but has a truly enormous menu with a vast selection so that everyone can find something (including vegetarians), but we’ve never tried the seafood there. the restaurant is also huge so we’ve rarely had to wait long for a table. i don’t know if i can put a commercial link here – but if you start here – [url=<a href=“http://my.brandeis.edu/]myBrandeis[/url”>http://my.brandeis.edu/]myBrandeis[/url</a>] – you can click on the waltham restaurants link on the left - it’ll bring you to a huge list of restaurants and you can find a link to the chateau there (as well as many other restaurants).</p>
<p>thanks, brandeismom! they are still doing the move-in pass and remote parking system. I have a question about that, too. I had envisioned moving her in and then running out to Target or BB&B or somewhere to get the few things we forget. but it doesn’t sound like we can drive back to the dorm a second time…</p>
<p>
still the same - 4:30pm Sunday August 23, 2009. its been on my calendar (and on my mind) for months. (not that I’m counting the days or minutes or anything :o)</p>
<p>thanks for the heads up on the phones and crowded shuttles. and the restaurant advice - I’m not sure if this group thing will actually happen (or if I even want to do it - might be nice to have our last dinner just as a family.)</p>
<p>We moved our D in last fall and had many the same questions you have now. </p>
<p>One definite suggestion would be to get there as early as possible. </p>
<p>There was not room for all the cars by the freshman dorms, so a queue system was set up in the parking lot behind the theater - letting cars leave for their respective dorm only when there was room for another car to unload by that dorm. We were there first thing and had no problem - lots of orientaion leaders were waiting by each dorm to help move everything in (the guys were the first to approach each car asking “Do you have a refridgerator?” ). However my D’s two roommies arrived on campus later in the morning (11:00-noon or so) and waited two hours in the parking lot before they were allowed to drive back to the dorm and unload. They barely had time to unpack before convocation.</p>
<p>As for restaurants - there are a couple places we like and have returned to when we visit. In order of price:
Ninety-Nine - very near campus, kinda like a TGIF’s, moderate prices, always crowded, seems to be a local favorite</p>
<p>Naked Fish - on Totten Pond Rd. - many people like Legal Seafood for fish, but we prefer this place, prices are more reasonable and seemed to be a better selection for our whole family</p>
<p>Tempo - in Waltham, more upscale in selections and higher price but each time we have had delicious meals</p>
<p>Thanks RoselawnMom:) We will definitely plan to get there early - we are staying nearby Saturday night so that shouldn’t be a problem. And thanks for the restaurant information - very helpful.</p>
<p>re naked fish – great for those who want seafood – but may be a problem for a vegetarian. we have a vegetarian in the family and had to leave the restaurant when the vegetarian didn’t give a thumbs up to the menu.</p>
<p>re running to pick stuff up and coming back to campus – officially they allow one car per family on campus one time. i knew one parent who talked his way back on later in the afternoon when things were quieter, but its risky to count on being able to do that. but you could pick the stuff up and park in the remote lot and then take a shuttle back to campus. i knew one family that came back the next day to drop more stuff off – but that may prolong the good-byes – don’t know how you or your d would feel about that. </p>
<p>oh - one more suggestion – make sure everything you will be unloading at the dorm has your d’s name and room number CLEARLY marked on it – there will often be more than one car being unloaded at once with a lot of stuff being unloaded and the last thing you want to have to worry about is tracking down a bag that ended up with someone else’s things.</p>
<p>It has been a long time since my d’s freshman move-in but we did leave campus in the afternoon to pick up some additional things including cable wire for the tv her roommate brought, and it was not a tremendous problem being let back up to the dorm area.
There is a French Cambodian restaurant on Main Street -can’t think of the name at the moment that is quite good and might fit all your assorted needs. You’ll get to know the Waltham restaurants well over the four years, including the famous Josephs Two for breakfast, but it also very easy to head into Cambridge and downtown Boston also.</p>
<p>Other places I’ve been with my friends during my past 3 years at Brandeis:
Tom Can Cook - general Asian food
and Erawan, a Thai Restaurant
I’ve definitely been both places with vegetarians I’m pretty sure
and 99 would be good for general American food.
You can probably google the names of those places with Waltham for exact addresses.</p>
<p>We did the freshman thing last year with my ds. I recommend ordering everything at your local Bed, Bath and Beyond having them send it directly to Brandeis. You then pickup your packages, no need to shop. My husband and s arrived the day before, went early the next morning to the school. I didnt want them to go to the good-bye ceremony, but my husband did. He regrets going as it was sad. So if you are emotionally you may want to skip it. This year I went back to Bed, Bath and Beyond for all his shampoos, etc…again they are mailing everything… Last year he didnt run out of anything all year, it was great.</p>
<p>brandeismom: trying to talk our way back onto campus is not our style (did I mention we are from the Midwest? ;)) so we’ll hope we’ve got everything we need or do the remote parking thing. definitely not staying around until the next day! thanks for the advice to put her name/room number on everything. </p>
<p>bookmama and catperson: thanks for the restaurant recommendations. they will help for this and future visits.</p>
<p>littlemimie: I expect the opening ceremony to be sad and I am definitely emotional, so we’ll go with plenty of tissues.</p>
<p>When I was a first year two years ago, the move in was extremely well organized. I got there around 11, I think they open at 9 and there was hardly any wait. They first direct you one parking lot where you wait in lines depending on where your dorm room is. Orientation Leaders will come over and help guide you and come over to your car and give you your Orientation packet and other information. Once you get to the front, you drive all the way around the loop to another parking lot by your dorm. Once you get to the front of that line, you are allowed to pull your car directly to the front of your building where you have 15 minutes to get your stuff inside. However, you have multiple orientation leaders helping you who will bring stuff to your room so you can practically blink and all of your stuff will be unloaded. </p>
<p>Students are told to go get their room keys and their phones/cables at a table in the quad while parents go to the rooms with the students belongings. You have several hours to unpack, get settled, get lunch, there are information booths about lots of things on campus, there may be some other events going on, but usually around 3 I think they have the Brandeis Beginnings ceremony. As a student, it wasn’t really that sad, but I guess as a parent it could be a little emotional. It’s basically just a Welcome to Brandeis with short speeches given by various important administrators such as Jehuda Reinharz the president and the Dean of Arts and Sciences. Once the program ends, there is about a half hour block of time between the ceremony and when the Orientation program begins. It is nice that there is a short block of time designated for goodbyes and that the students will immediately be occupied with Orientation once their parents leave. </p>
<p>The orientation program is really great in my opinion. You are put with a group of about 6-7 other students and you spend the entire 5 days with them. It is nice because you instantly have a group of students you learn to know very well. To this day, I am still friends with several people in my orientation group. Over the course of the five days, there are plenty of presentations and activities to help acclimate you to Brandeis academically and socially and plenty of social events where students have the opportunity to meet people outside of their orientation group. Although no event is mandatory, it is highly encouraged to attend them because you won’t get the full experience otherwise.</p>
<p>Good luck to you and your daughter! I know the last couple weeks before are exciting, nerve-racking, happy, and sad all at the same time. If you have any other questions about orientation or Brandeis in general, feel free to PM me.</p>
<p>did anyone have problem moving all their stuff in? i dont think its possible for me to put all my belongings into only one car, do you think they’ll allow me to do two?</p>
<p>at least the year i moved my student in, when they said one car, they meant one car. i knew a family that drove 2 cars up to fit everything – the day of move-in they crammed as much as they could into one car with just the student and a driver – rest of family members and rest of stuff went to the remote lot in the second car and shuttled to campus.</p>
<p>but in any event – think long and hard about how much stuff you are taking – the rooms are not that big. if you can’t fit it all in one car, really think about whether you need that much stuff.</p>
<p>I agree with brandeismom and I’ve been telling my D the same thing. better to start out missing a few things (which we can ship later) than having more stuff than you can comfortably fit into your room.</p>
<p>Not sure I am winning the argument though - we’ll see when we start to load the car ;)</p>
<p>D is now happily settled at Brandeis. We made it through move-in with no problem, thanks to all of your advice. (When I recover from the 90 degree heat and the 12 hour drive home, I’m going to start a separate thread describing move-in for people like me who are looking for information next year.)</p>
<p>And dinner at Tempo Saturday night was perfect - a delicious vegetarian special for one of us, and fried clams and a lobster roll for those of us craving seafood. It was perfect :)</p>
<p>bumping this for any new Brandeis parents. this thread was a big help to me as we moved D in last August. </p>
<p>we got in line to unload pretty early on Sunday morning which turned out to be a great idea - we heard about waits of a couple of hours from people who arrived later. it also helped that we arrived well before D’s roommate, simply because having 4 parents and 2 students trying to unpack/set up room all at once would have been a mess. as it turned out, we were just finishing up as her roommate arrived.</p>
<p>i didn’t think to include this when the thread originally ran, but now rereading it – another piece of advise i have – which really isn’t brandeis specific – if possible, try to find room to squeeze in a small cooler with a few bottles of water, soda, gatorade, whatever – chances are it will be hot, the freshman dorms aren’t air conditioned and having cold beverages right there to rehydrate really helped.</p>
<p>^^ great idea. somehow I didn’t anticipate just how hot we would get, moving into and unpacking in an un-airconditioned dorm when it was 90 degrees out.</p>