How did it go? Hopefully everything went smoothly!
Thanks for asking!
DD move-in went pretty smoothly. We arrived at the San Jose airport very early on Tuesday. When we deplaned, we realized two other new Frosh from Dallas and their families had been on the plane with us. The kids introduced the families to each other and we had a great time visiting as we waited for the mounds of luggage these three kids had. With just two of us, and me limited to what I could carry due to recent back surgery, it was almost comical as DD and I got all of her bags to fit on the luggage cart and headed off to get the rental car. Let me say--Samsonite Tote A Tons worked sooooo well and held a ton. So grateful to whoever recommended those. Target, Walmart and Bed Bath and Beyond pickup stops were very close to one another in the Mountainview area, so we were able to knock off all the pickups pretty quickly. I had rented a Hyundai Sante Fe, and with luggage and purchases, it was FULL to the brim. The hotel we stayed at had some covered parking on the first floor that was enclosed on three sides, so I was able to back in and feel decently secure and not feel we needed to unload everything overnight. We stoped at Trader Joe's and got a few of our favorites and had a picnic dinner in our room and got to bed early in anticipation of the next day. My daughter, who is not a morning person, was so excited on move in morning that we were on campus and in line for checkin very early. There was great signage regarding specifically where to drive and where to park for each hall and we were able to park on the street right behind her dorm. Her dorm staff was cheering and so welcoming as each new student stepped up to checkin. She is in Otero, and its Orientation theme this year was The Last Oterobender, a knockoff of the The Last Airbender, and her floor is the Fire Nation--my DD loved it, having been a huge Avatar The Last Airbender fan when she was younger. Before we arrived, all we knew was the name of her dorm. Her top two choices on her housing application were an all freshman dorm and a floor with a women's restroom. When we got her room number and went up to her room, we learned she was on a coed floor with a women's bathroom--yay--and then discovered that she was in a huge corner room. It was set up completely different than what we were expecting, so it threw her off for a minute as she needed to reconfigure how she would decorate, but she ended up being very happy with it. About an hour into our putting everything away, her roommate arrived. Absolutely lovely young woman, lovely parents, sweet younger brother that is a huge Stanford fan and so proud of his big sis, and bonus--they live in the Bay Area so can get to our girls quickly if there is a problem. I am so glad for the extra room in their room, as we were able to all work pretty efficiently to get both girls things put away even with all of us in the room. After seven hours of unpacking and decorating, all she had left to do was organize her makeup and her desk, and we headed off to the dorm lounge to go as a group the the Opening Convocation on the Main Quad in front of Memorial Church. The Convocation was very well done and inspirational. We then were herded back to the dorm for a dorm meeting. They have two Resident Fellows (adults who live in an attached apartment--like dorm parents), four RAs, a Resident computer guru to help with all things computer related, a Resident Health person whose job is to make sure residents have someone to go to for help in navigating mental and physical health concerns, and Resident Academic Advisor--all for 80ish freshman residents. I came away from the meeting feeling very comforted that the dorm staff would be a positive part of my DD Stanford experience and they would work hard to make all feel included. I have already seen how many activities they do together as a group, and dorm pride is big at Stanford. After the meeting, we went out on the porch and our new Frosh were led through some dorm related cheers, and then were told to say goodbye to your parents/parents please leave/Otero is going to dinner/Orientation starts now/don't come back parents. Lol. It was a fun, exhausting day.
