Ah...college

Another semester is closely approaching with freshmen moving in this weekend. My assistant director's son will be one of the many freshmen moving to Hamilton.  This is her first kid in college and she is going through the shopping list trying to think what he needs to survive on the hill.  I was trying to remember what I brought to Ithaca with me that fall semester many years ago.  I remember coming to campus with a packed Ford Explorer but leaving at the end of the year with a packed twelve-passenger van.  Somewhere between fall and spring semester, I brought or bought a lot of stuff.

So the question remains, what does one need to bring with them to college?  Well how about a cordless phone?  Nope.  These are the days of cell phones.  Students will no longer have to worry about if their cordless phone still worked if you take it with you to the next room or down the hall.  If you were one of those people that didn't have a cordless phone, you were running up and down the hall every time a phone rang because you thought it was yours.  How about a tv? Well duh, that is an absolute yes, especially here at Hamilton.  Each room has cable.  I remember how there were only one or two people who had cable on my floor and they became your best friend because of it.  In fact, one of my favorite memories of college was running down the hall to my friend Kristin's room for Dawson's Creek or next door to Kim's for Party of Five.  Those were great bonding moments where everything stopped for an hour so that we can watch tv together.  Now, I'm not sure if college kids have that sense of a tv community, since they can watch whatever they want in their own room, or stream it online. 

Oh how college has changed since I graduated in 2003.  Either way, regardless of what they bring or don't bring to the hill I'm excited for another semester with my students.  For my friends in the world of academia, I hope your fall goes well and remember it's only thirteen weeks until Thanksgiving break and sixteen weekend until winter break.