<p>Hey everyone,</p>
<p>I was wondering if anyone had advice on what to bring to Chicago in the fall, like either basic necessities or maybe an odd item that most people forget but is really helpful. I've already been told that an uber-calculator won't be necessary, any other suggestions or ideas?</p>
<p>Cold weather clothing!!! </p>
<p>Don’t go too crazy at Target or Bed Bath and Beyond. Those stores market exclusively to incoming college students who don’t realize all that they don’t need.</p>
<p>Thanks unalove! I live in the northeast so I have some cold weather clothing, but probably not hardcore enough for Chicago- are there any brands you recommend (especially for boots?) Oh, and when I went on the dorm tour they said you weren’t allowed to have specific electronic stuff like microwaves, but do you think a hot water boiler would be allowed? Or is it different for each dorm?</p>
<p>K, so I lived in Chicago for 18 years and I think the cold is over-rated (for the most part). I always wear single layer underneath my coat and it ain’t bad. The face is where its at…</p>
<p>I brought an electric tea kettle and it was probably the single most useful thing I brought. You can buy one at Target for around $20. Those are allowed - anything with a hot plate is not. Microwaves aren’t technically allowed, and though you can certainly get away with having one, it isn’t really necessary if you live in a dorm with a community kitchen. Other things I found useful: hanging shelves for inside the closet, a toolkit (though the hammer was really the only thing I used), and some drawer organizers for my desk and bathroom drawer. Things I brought but didn’t need were an iron and a fan (though this will differ if you live in a building without air conditioning). As for winter clothes - I’m from the northeast and still found that I needed a heavier winter coat - I have the insulated Squall parka from Land’s End. As for winter boots, just make sure they’re waterproof, and ideally cover part of your calf, to keep the bottoms of your pants from getting soaked. People suggested long underwear, but I found I was just fine layering on the top - it was helpful that my coat covered part of my legs.</p>
<p>Things to bring?</p>
<p>A credit card. Travel light until you see what you really do need, and what your roomies did not bring. Then order it.</p>
<p>Too many first years end up with 3-4 fridges in a suite, two kettles in a room, and so forth. So anything that could possibly be shared, don’t bring. See if you need it.</p>
<p>Things you will not need: TV. This is college. Printer. Decent shared. Food. Markets are nearby. </p>
<p>Things you probably will wish you brought: Extension cords; multi-outlet strips or cube taps for all the chargers you need to plug in.</p>
<p>Hangers for stuff you want to hang. Extension cords/strips, yes yes yes. Lamps are good, if you can bring them.</p>
<p>Cash (and a local account) is good, too. There’s very little you might need that you can’t buy second-hand for cash. And, as newmassdad suggests, you can get the same great prices from online vendors from Chicago that you can get from wherever you are now, and THEY get the stuff to your dorm for you. There is very little that you could possibly need that you can’t wait a couple of days for. There’s also an O-Week shuttle to a nearby Target, and a walking-distance Hyde Park Office Max.</p>
<p>If all of that doesn’t slake your consumer thirst, there’s a little something called The Magnificent Mile conveniently located about two blocks past the end of the #6 bus line (with which you will become familiar). Hyde Park is under-retailed; Chicago most definitely isn’t.</p>
<p>I’m going to vouch again for getting here, assessing your room size and what your roommate (or roommates) bring, if you have them, and then filling the space. During O-Week you don’t really need anything beyond your clothes, bedding, and toiletries- although every single catalog ever tells you you need their Dorm Essentials, honestly, you’ll wind up spending money more usefully and have less crap lying around your room if you go to Target during orientation week than beforehand.
Things that are nice to have:
+Hangers
+Surge protectors
+A printer (in years past, we have had in-dorm printing for a fee; the system is broken and it can be a hassle to print readings in the library, although a portion of the library will let you print your own self-created documents for free). If you have the money to do so, I’d highly recommend a laser printer; many models are much faster and eat ink much more slowly than inkjet, although they do cost more initially. I bought a cheap Lexmark inkjet, found it useless, sold it to someone else, and replaced it with a Samsung laser printer this winter and have been quite happy.
+A first aid kit, with bandaids, neosporin, a thermometer, some pain medication (Tylenol, etc), DayQuil and NyQuil, and antacids. Mine has come in handy more times than I would have thought possible. </p>
<p>I would advise against buying new winter clothes/boots/a coat while you are at home, regardless of where you live. I am originally from a climate with harsh winters, but found Chicago winter verrrrry different from winters at home, and wound up replacing a lot of my winterwear and getting new boots and a coat while I was here. Your personal style is also likely to change between now and starting college, so it can be a hassle to have a nice, sturdy winter coat that you purchased at home and planned on wearing for four years that you no longer think looks good. Stores all over Chicago will have the winter clothes you need, and you will be able to find them in time for winter and at good prices.</p>