Written by: Casey Lindbloom
When it comes to college, there are many daunting tasks for new students. Whether it be signing up for scholarships, creating the perfect class schedule, picking a dorm room, or getting books together for class, there is a lot that new students have to do and figure out. One of these tasks is more nerve racking, exciting, scary and important than any other. That task is move-in day. The day where a student says goodbye to their old way of life and looks forward to the changes to come, either with open arms or butterflies in their stomach. For me, it was the latter.
Saturday, August 15, is a day that I will never forget. My alarm sang its wonderfully painful tune at 6:30 a.m., definitely not a welcomed time considering how late I was out with friends. I groggily got up and went through my normal routine, not realizing how long it would be before I had a chance for that routine again. At around 7:30 a.m., my caravan of three cars left for the University of Arkansas. Why three cars, you may ask? Well, my mom likes to be prepared. Very prepared. She started packing away stuff for college back in April, so needless to say, we had enough to fill two cars and overflow into a third. Even driving down the highway with cars full of college supplies, the realization that I was moving out never sank in.
Two hours and a McDonald’s stop later, we arrive at the University. That atmosphere is
just what I expected from all of the movies. Loud music, people in matching shirts running
around, and a ton of mini fridges. One thing that I wasn’t expecting was how busy it was.
Coming from a small town with a population less than an eighth of the population of the U of A, it was definitely a shock seeing the parking lots and roads congested with incoming students. Despite all the chaos, we managed to find the right parking lot on the second try, and I was able to start moving in.
Once all of my items were moved into Hotz Honors Hall and set up just the way I wanted
it, the realization that I was in college hit. I don’t mean a “soft hit from a young, playful cousin” either. I mean a “Walmart cart with a mini fridge and microwave in it rolling down and hill and plowing into me” kind of hit. I just kept thinking to myself that I was in college. That this is it. This is everything that I have been preparing for. The thought was absolutely terrifying at first, but once I started to think of it as simply a new change, I started to get less terrified and more excited for the things to come.
