<p>Just a place to put any thoughts about NOLA Experience and/or Move-In. In a week or so I'll create another thread for the first weeks of classes feedback, like last year.</p>
<p>Helped the kid move into an off campus apartment the other day. Perfect moving weather – hot and humid, interspersed with down pours. As wet as you can get without being submerged.</p>
<p>Big thing on campus was the ongoing furious work on the football stadium. Looks like it will be ready to host the opening game, but won’t really be finished for several more weeks/months. </p>
<p>The odd thing is that the new stadium is almost invisible when you are walking around campus. It’s not very tall (for a stadium) and almost completely surrounded by other structures. It is really wedged into a tight space. Should be a great new thing at TU.</p>
That exact subject was actually part of a compromise with people living near the stadium site. It was supposed to be a little taller originally, I forget the exact numbers.</p>
<p>We moved our son into Wall on Monday morning. I was surprised at how big the rooms in Wall are! When we arrived one of the RA’s told us to pull down the alley behind Wall off of Willow and we could park in the small lot behind Patterson to unload . Got everything unloaded, helped son make his bed and some basic organizing and he kicked is out!</p>
<p>He’s doing Explore this week and has texted a few times. He’s in the 21st Century Citizenship track and so far all they have done is dig holes at a school or something!!! Not sure what that is about! We won’t go up on move in day for regular move in, want to stay out of the way while his roommate moves in. Will visit him on Saturday before we hit the road for home in Sunday! </p>
<p>We got back last night from moving in D for sophomore year - boy did I miss all that help from last year! hahaha But, we did find out that you can borrow one of the FedEx carts if you give them a cell phone for collateral so that made things a lot easier. It didn’t seem that busy at SoHo and I was surprised how many people, including D’s roommate and suitemates, weren’t moving in until Sunday. The closet is significantly smaller than what she had last year in Wall, but the dresser is slightly bigger. I think she took way too much stuff with her though and have no idea where she’s going to put it all. They had drinks on ice and Jimmy Johns had some sandwiches available too. The dorm looked really nice and she was happy to see her friends again. I only shed a couple tears when we left so I guess things went pretty well.</p>
<p>Moved our daughter into Sharp on Friday morning. Everything was pretty much what we expected with the upperclassmen helping with the move. One surprise was that only the luggage and boxes are transported on the elevators, so if your child is on the upper floors, be prepared to do lots of stairs. Also, Sharp’s closets don’t have doors, so we bought a shower curtain and spring rod, which worked out well. The rooms are huge compared to the rooms at our state university, with plenty of closet and drawer space. </p>
<p>We were pleasantly surprised by how organized and fast move-in day turned out. We pulled up at 9:00 to Wall and unloaded the car while son went get his Splash Card. I then went park the car and we had to wait in the air condition (poor us) for the students to bring up his stuff. We actually almost had too much time waiting on his luggage. We then went eat and picked up a few things at Wal-Mart. After dropping him off we went home and have only heard the minimum from him. I actually take that as a good sign because if it wasn’t going well I am sure we would be hearing from him! I give great praise to Tulane for being so well organized on move-in day for freshmen.</p>
<p>My daughter arrived on Monday with the bare minimum of stuff because she was participating in “Greenie Camp”, one of the new tracks for the Explore program. We arrived Wednesday and did the Bed Bath and Beyond thing. </p>
<p>First, Greenie Camp was fabulous! There were 60 kids involved and for any future Tulane students I highly recommend that they participate any one of the Explore programs. While the logistics of moving in are complicated the opportunity to bond with other new students is worth all the hassle. Just a couple of days later while walking across campus my D was waving to some, shouting to others and hugging many of the kids we met. She has added over 90 new FaceBook friends in a week. Seeing her feel at home in her new surroundings is important and has helped me leave knowing she has friends to turn to. </p>
<p>Now, back to move-in. She was allowed 2 boxes for Monday which she was able to pick up at the mailroom. The rest of the boxes were in one of the 3 FedEx trailers on campus. The were incredibly organized. D received an email telling her when her boxes arrived and which trailer they were in. While we were told that move in was on Friday, the boxes were available early. We picked them up on Thursday night, before the mad rush. The ROTC was there to help bring the boxes to her room. It was smooth sailing. We took her belongings out of the boxes and didn’t even have to crush the boxes, just brought them down to the dumpster.</p>
<p>On Friday we helped D organize her things and watched while many other students arrived. It was all well organized. And, as above, they asked that the students/parents use the stairs so the 2 elevators could be used exclusively for delivering baggage and boxes. They actually had 2 stairwells labeled, one for going upstairs and one for going downstairs. </p>
<p>While I prepared for the move-in I heard, “don’t worry, it all works” and, yes, all was good. I was shocked by how much “stuff” each of the girls could organize in the room (in Monroe). The closet is large with 2 large doors. We hung a shoe bag on one and some hooks on the other. Inside the closet was the very small dresser that was provided. We hung some additional shelves and added a plastic drawer on the bottom. The bed was raised and we were able to fit 3 sets of 2 drawers under the bed. </p>
<p>After multiple trips to Bed, Bath and Beyond, Target, K-Mart, Wal-Mart and CostCo I think her room is set and she is ready to start her classes. </p>
<p>I had looked at the Explore schedule and saw that we basically had all day Monday to move our son in so we sent down the allowed two early boxes and packed everything else into the car. We got there a little after 9 on Monday and parked about a block away and walked over to Wall. One of the RA’s told us we could park in this little lot behind Wall/Patterson to unload so we did! I had bought a small folding hand cart and we got most of his stuff moved up to his room with two trips, then a trip to Bruff to get his boxes we shipped. We helped him unpack and made a list of what we still needed. Left the son to put everything away and we ran to Target to knock off the list. By the time we came back he was completely unpacked. He brought A LOT. I thought for sure we would be bringing things home but he got everything put away with room to spare! Then he asked us to leave! he wanted time to just be in his room and wander around the dorm and campus. We didn’t see him again until Saturday. We took him for lunch, bought the last two books that we didn’t get to buy early and he went to take a shower as it was a heat index of 112!!! We stopped by on our way out of town Sunday morning to say good bye and that was it!</p>
<p>Wall rooms are pretty big! His roomate wasn’t coming until Friday so had lots of room. </p>
<p>We stayed away on Friday to give his room mate and parents space to do his unloading. </p>
<p>Convocation was BEAUTIFUL! I admit I teared up more than once, just knowing our son will be part of all these wonderful, amazing, ONLY AT TULANE traditions! President Fitts was very inspirational. I am sad that my camera battery decided to die during the Second Line procession so I’m hoping to find it online! </p>
<p>It has been a looooong time since I posted anything. This site was extremely helpful to us last year when my S was a freshman. He is in Paterson this year - not too happy about that but he is living in a suite w/friends so he cannot complain about it. Room has all new furniture and carpeting. I worry, however, about the bathroom they share because they have to clean it themselves. I do not plan to step foot in there when I visit in the future.</p>
<p>Most impressive during move in weekend was Summertime storage. I would HIGHLY recommend them to anyone who wants to store things over the summer. In May, they picked up boxes at my S’s dorm room, and dropped off those same boxes (in good shape) for this semester at his new dorm door - nothing to carry. The only thing we had to move in were the suitcases he traveled with by plane. It was a breeze. </p>
<p>I just wanted to update in case some parents are still worried about their kid at college so far from home. We live within 1.5 hour of Tulane so my son can come home easily. He came home on Sunday and returned today. While he only knew 2 other people attending Tulane (in different dorms) I was amazed that when I dropped him off everyone we passed said his name and hello and HE knew their names in return. It amazed me how quickly they had all made friends and remember each others names! I had worried a little if he would miss going to LSU where 90% of his friends attend but now I feel so comfortable that he has made so many new connections. It was great to see everyone having smiles on their faces and greeting each other.</p>