<p>Bringing only essentials for orientation and then having the rest of your stuff come when you’re in your permanent room is definitely a better option than bringing everything at once. </p>
<p>Obviously, not everybody has that option, since most parents aren’t able to stay through orientation or to come back for moving day. Most people move with the help of their new dorm/floor/entrymates and/or with the help of various MIT students (often fraternity members) pressed into service by the REX chair to drive moving vans around.</p>
<p>Yes, each dorm has communal vacuum cleaners, although New Houses seem always to be broken or disappearing (and we have 5! ***). At least Next House was kind enough to let me borrow one (:</p>
<p>How about in terms of kitchen stuff? What’s provided, what should we definitely bring ourselves?
(EC, specifically, but I doubt I’m the only one wondering.)</p>
<p>I lived in EC, and I had my own dishes and a small fridge. EC halls do have a big fridge, and there tends to be communal pots and pans. There are communal cups and plates too… but they seemed a little grody, I suggest getting your own :P</p>
<p>Depends how much of your own cooking you’re planning to do. :)</p>
<p>Generally, a pot and pan and some plates might be a good place to start – the cheaper, the better. MacGregor kitchens don’t generally have suite-owned cookware, but people will let you borrow theirs if you’re a good steward of it. Of course, if you cook a lot, you will probably want your own stuff. I came to MIT with nothing except an electric pot, but by the end of college, I had acquired a full set of pots and pans, a set of dishes and silverware, a spice collection, some knives, various baking dishes and cookie sheets, and a few mixing bowls.</p>
<p>Having a rice cooker is awesome. You can make a big meal of rice/noodles/vegetables for under 5 dollars, without having to do much at all. My roommate has a water heater that gets a lot of use too.</p>