It’s finals week. More specifically, it’s spring semester finals week, which means on top of research papers, term projects and exams, students are tasked with packing up the entirety of their dorm room. This amplifies the stress they undergo during these last days before the sweet and sunny summertime. For everyone who is on the struggle bus, we’ve enlisted a little help from our friends to get you though. Here are the eight stages of packing up your dorm room.
1. Ambition
Maybe you wanted a study break, or maybe you have run out of Netflix shows to watch. For one reason or another, you decided to embark on this great adventure and you are up for the challenge. Storage unit, here we come!
2. Sentimentality
As you start to go through your room, you find cute little things from throughout the year. Ticket stubs from the concert at the Rave? Check. Foam fingers from National Marquette Day? Check. Photos with your best friends from the photo booth at Snowball? Check. You’ve found each and every memory you’ve made and you are vividly reliving them.
3. Overwhelmed via Hurricane
Eventually, you begin to realize that the moving guys or your parents will be coming within a day or so. You are in a time crunch and as you look around your room, you come to realize it is a complete and total disaster. Your furniture is de-lofted and every item both you and your roommate own is in the middle of the floor. You can’t even find your laptop charger and you have a paper due tomorrow. You are literally drowning.
4. Procrastination
Amidst all of the panic, you finally come to your senses and realize that packing never killed anyone. You finally find your laptop charger and realize that Netflix has all of the new May uploads already! Movie night, anyone? If you go an extreme route, you find this is an excellent point in time to clean out your mini fridge- aka eat the three tubs of Ben & Jerry’s you forgot about.
5. Regret
You’ve run out of Ben & Jerry’s and you are left sitting in your messy room. Why did you decide to start packing a day early? Why did you bring so many shoes to college? Why haven’t you sold your textbooks back yet? Why are you still here? Why did you even come to college in the first place? This is horrid.
6. Need for Assistance
You pull yourself together and take a deep breathe. You can do this. Maybe your friends can help. If you have upperclassmen friends who have done this before they’ll be your go-to. You can totally get through this together! There is just one catch- they either studying, packing their own rooms or they have left campus. Well it was worth a shot.
7. Frenzy
Oh shoot. Your check out time with your RA is in exactly an hour. You have one hour to pack up, get everything out and deep clean your room. Heaven help whoever tries to talk to you.
8. Bittersweet Satisfaction
You did it! Your belongings are all packed and safely stowed away. You managed to be on time for your checkout appointment. Your dorm room has never looked emptier. Except, it is not your room anymore. You look back at an empty box with white walls and a blue mattress and reminisce on your year. It has definitely been a year to remember, but you can leave knowing there are more to come.
Good luck and happy summer, collegites!