<p>Hey, I’m going to be a freshman and the oldest child to leave for college so naturally I am lost. Maybe someone can take pity and help me out.</p>
<li><p>I’m from the south where winter lasts for 4 weeks and almost never freezes. What do students wear on their feet in the snow/rain/slush? What do students wear/use in inclement weather?</p></li>
<li><p>What’s the deal with carpets in the rooms? Should I bring my own or order them through the bookstore? I’m in Morrissey so room will be tight. </p></li>
<li><p>Can I use the ATMs without being charged by my bank if I use Bank of America? How does banking in general work?</p></li>
<li><p>What are the rooms like in Morrissey (besides small)? What would be some things to get/avoid furniture wise? </p></li>
<li><p>How does St. Michael’s Luandry service work? Where do I drop off and get my laundry back?</p></li>
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<li><p>You get used to it. Or you don't, I dunno what to tell you. I wear sneakers and a sweatshirt for most of the winter, but I do know people who break out the eskimo parka the day it drops below 50. Don't be one of those people.</p></li>
<li><p>Here's my advice: Go to Lowes' on 23, go to the back, and get a cut of unbound carpet. It's perfect for the year - you don't need an expensive bound carpet if you're gonna throw it out at the end of the year - and it's relatively cheap. They also have carpet pad there, too, by the foot. I carpeted and padded 3 rooms of a quad for around 100 bucks.</p></li>
<li><p>All ATMs on campus are charge-free, regardless of who your account is with.</p></li>
<li><p>Umm... small. I live in Alumni, which has the next smallest dorms on campus, and all I can tell you is wait until you get to your room and can take actual physical measurements before you get any extra seating. Get your carpet, set up your bed/desk/wardrobe, and see what you have to work with from there.</p></li>
<li><p>St. Mike's is great. For me, I drop it down a laundry chute on Sunday and get it back on Wednesday (they pick it up very early in the morning). All the dorms are on rotating schedules year to year, so I don't know when Morrissey's pick up is, but it's a 3 day turnaround, unless it gets picked up on a Thursday or Friday. I highly recommend it, even at the somewhat higher cost.</p></li>
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<p>I'm a rising junior at ND, aerospace engineering major. To answer your questions:</p>
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<li><p>I'm also from the south. Winter at ND lasts from October to late March and there's a period between about January and early March where it's particularly bad and you usually don't see the sun for a few weeks at a time. That said, winter is usually bearable. As for apparel, I usually bundle pretty heavily, but I still wear tennis shoes on my feet - boots aren't really necessary because the sidewalks are constantly salted and/or swept clear of snow at least once per day (at approx. 3 AM if you're interested, I've been up that late studying and seen them in action). Some of the hardened yankee types - as well as the unprepared folks from places like Florida and California - like to walk around in freezing temperatures in short sleeves and flip-flops. My roomate for the past two years is from Rhode Island and he usually gets by in short sleeves and jeans. I wear short sleeves and jeans too because it's warm inside, but I also wear a heavy jacket and sometimes a sweatshirt over that.</p></li>
<li><p>I agree with kevdude, just go to Home Depot or a similar giant hardware establishment with your room dimensions, they'll cut it for you. Word of advice: TAKE ALL OF THE FURNITURE OUT OF YOUR ROOM BEFORE YOU LAY CARPET. I learned that cutting around your furniture is just a way to make a mess freshman year.</p></li>
<li><p>I guess kevdude is correct, I use a local bank from home and I've had no problems.</p></li>
<li><p>I stayed in Morissey a while ago for a summer program and my parents thought they mixed me up and assigned me to a storage closet with a roommate instead of a real room. But that was a summer program and I'm sure they'll put you in bigger rooms. Or not. Given the average size of a first-floor Morissey room, I'd say avoid couches and go for folding chairs or beanbags. In short, avoid large implements.</p></li>
<li><p>Agree with kevdude. Just stuff your bag full of dirty clothes, drop it down the chute, and 2 days later your clothes come back folded and clean. Saves you a ton of time and probably pays for itself in quarters for the laundromat and detergent.</p></li>
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<p>I would have to disagree about the winters. As someone from coastal Southern California, I must say that the winters in South Bend can be ungodly cold, and walking across South Quad on your way to DeBartolo can be tortuous. If you're from the South, you've probably never seen a winter like a SB one with lots of lake-effect snow and blistering wind. I bought lots of scarves and gloves and a parka or two from the North Face, which is great because they're really warm and not too bulky. It's also good to have hats if you're a hat person--I'm not. When it was really snowy, I would wear my Uggs, but usually I just wore my regular shoes, put my head down and booked to class. In the transition periods between fall and winter and winter and spring I wear peacoats. I guess I just have a different perspective being from S. California.</p>
<p>We get our schedules Aug 1 last time I checked. When do we get a list of books that we need. I think I can buy some used from my dorm and then the rest I can't find, I can buy new from the bookstore? </p>
<p>For keeping our dorms clean we are on our own right?</p>
<p>Just a couple things to add to what has already been said:</p>
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<li><p>Coming from Minnesota, I think the winters are perfectly bearable. However, freshman year, I came home to find my roommate from Alabama huddled under 3 blankets on our futon whimpering. She has since acclimated and now goes most of the winter wearing just her North Face fleece. I have boots, but I tend to only wear them when its actually snowing.</p></li>
<li><p>I think the laundry service is totally unnecessary and a waste of money. If you do laundry like I do (sort it, throw it in, take it out, and leave it in a pile on top of my dresser until I wear it next...), then laundry takes hardly any time at all. Of course, I've also been doing my own laundry since the beginning of high school, so it wasn't that much of a transition for me.</p></li>
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<p>You can buy all your books from the bookstore, but you can save some money by shopping around.</p>
<p>And yes, you are on your own for dorm cleaning. For this, Clorox wipes are really handy, you can use them on pretty much any surface in your room.</p>
<p>I've been in Indiana 45 years and northern Indiana 30. The winters stink and they are more intolerable every year. Shellzie--you just have low standards for a "bearable" winter! :) Really, everything except Jan/Feb is tolerable and they can be pass-able, at times. The grayness and the wind are the killers for me. I don't need the depths of winter to appreciate the other seasons. 80 and sunny year round would be just fine.</p>
<p>Agree w/above on carpet and ATMs. S's freshman room was so small that roommate's mother and I were ummm, quite aghast, that a place could actually charge so much for the rental of a shoebox. I thought all dorm rooms had a chest of drawers. Wrong!!! 18" of closet rod was enough for S, barely.</p>
<p>S says food is much better than mine (not a real high bar to pass...., but he likes ND's food)</p>
<p>Laundry--if you have the $ and want the convenience, I guess it's a good thing. I just never thought throwing in laundry was that difficult or time consuming. You can do all your loads simultaneously. Parents are doing it for all family members with 1 washer and 1 dryer. I'd suggest try doing your own for a semester and seeing if it's that burdensome.</p>
<p>OP-Pack lighter than you originally plan. Or at least lighter than what your mother might plan, if she's anything like me. S is probably taking back 25% of the stuff he took beginning of freshman year.</p>
<p>It gets colder and there's definitely more snow, but, coming from right outside NYC, I really had no problem adjusting. I did have to buy a big North Face for the coldest part of the winter (it got down to about -20), but, like I said, I usually roll with a fleece or a sweatshirt, and I'm pretty fine. The trick is layering. Although there's really no way to avoid those days when your nose-hairs start freezing.</p>
<p>My roommate from San Diego, on the other hand? Well, I made sure to check every day to make sure he was still alive. There were days when he just refused to go outside. </p>
<p>Regardless, on the outside, you need to spend no more than 5-10 minutes walking basically anywhere from anywhere. The dorms are well heated, and I find the cold months also allow for a good excuse to lay around, watch movies, do nothing, and basically hang out with people around the dorm, without feeling bad about not being active.</p>
<p>Don't mislead the poor kids, air temperature dropped down to -19 two years ago, with windchill bringing it down to a crisp -27. But be (emotionally and physically) prepared for a relatively long stretch of time when it doesn't get above -10. I think at one point we went a month without getting out of abs(20) degrees (everyone should understand what that means, or else you shouldn't plan on taking anything else but Basic Logic for your math requirement).</p>
<p>Yea, now that you mention, the winter two years ago was absurdly brutal. The time to time thing was meant to be sarcastic. Winter in SB are no joke, folks. And if you're a guy with really short hair like myself, invest in head cover of some sort.</p>
<p>You don't need a space heater. In fact, in the past, my dorm room has gotten so hot during the winter that my roommates and I have opened the window (yes, even with a roommate from Alabama). Also, it only gets that cold occasionally. I believe the record low for January in South Bend is -22 degrees F. The normal low is 16 degrees. Yes, its cold, but invest in some good winter clothes and you'll be fine. South</a> Bend, Indiana - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia</p>
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<li>What's the deal with carpets in the rooms? Should I bring my own or order them through the bookstore? I'm in Morrissey so room will be tight. </li>
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<p>Son was in Morrissey for two years- so more about Morrissey rooms and carpet.
As I recall Freshman move in was wonderful because the upper classmen helped carry everything in the room.
They, also, offered to Loft the beds as all the rooms did because they are so small.</p>
<p>Once the beds were lofted that left enough space for two or three small carpet section- purchased at Meyers (great store).</p>
<p>Also, we used the Bed, Bath and Beyond campus program. We selected bedding items, fans, desk light, ect here in NJ, and then picked it up at the local BBB store in South Bend. It was all ready assembled in a cart, we just paid for it (lower taxes there, too).</p>
<p>Come on, don't talk in terms of windchills... it's misleading, talk about just what the temperature. It is 5 degrees with cold wind. It NEVER reaches -19 degrees. I am from a northern region, it is not that cold.</p>