<p>It gets a lot colder in Cambridge than it gets in the dorms. 
The dorms in general are kept pretty warm, so you probably don’t need a heavyweight down comforter, but if you get cold a lot it’s probably worth having. (I am cold all the time, and I kept a space heater in my room to warm it when I woke up in the mornings. Friends of mine on the same floor kept a window cracked all through winter.)</p>
<p>If you’re going to bring all of your stuff to your temp room, I’d suggest leaving most or all of it packed until you move to your final room – no sense unpacking it, then having to repack and move. Try to pack the stuff you’ll need for that first week in a suitcase or on top of a box or something.</p>
<p>I kept cooking supplies both in my room and in the kitchen, depending on how strongly adamant I was that my explicit permission was necessary to use them.</p>