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How to Survive Finals and Moving Out

This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at BC chapter.

As a freshman last year, I was thoroughly relieved to hear about the magical Piece by Piece Moving Company that stores all of your things over the summer until you return to campus in the fall.  It was the perfect solution to my mother’s many phone calls about what I was going to do with all of my stuff, “You are NOT bringing your entire room home to Tampa.”

With this resolve, I buckled down and attempted to get through finals unscathed.  I was so unbelievably focused on finishing strong in my classes that I completely forgot about the six large boxes sitting in my room in Fenwick waiting to be packed.  The day of my last exam came and went, and all of a sudden it was 9pm and I was sitting at Applebee’s (I still have no idea why) when I came to the realization that the movers were coming to pick up my things in less than twelve hours.  Needless to say, I booked it out of the restaurant to head back to campus to begin one of the longest nights of my life.

I can’t even begin to list the amount of things I did wrong that night.  Starting laundry at 2am, letting too many people borrow my packing tape, and deciding to catch up on a few episodes of Gossip Girl are just a few examples.  So you don’t end up like me, here are a few tips on how to survive finals and moving out!  

  1. Use packing as a study break. Honestly, it is never too early to start preparing for the move.  Think of how many things you have piled up in your room that you wouldn’t miss if you put them in boxes.  If you happen to be studying in your room, packing is a great way to productively procrastinate.
  2. Don’t procrastinate. Yes, this may be feel obvious to some, but speaking as a champion procrastinator, it really will not serve you well to procrastinate packing or studying. 
  3. Do all laundry well in advance. Honestly, one of the worst decisions I have ever made was to stay up the entire night before flying home for the sole purpose of finishing laundry.  Try to do all of your laundry (specifically linens and other clothes you will be storing) the week of your move out date so you can have everything ready to pack away without worrying about packing dirty clothes (yuck).
  4. Get a donation pile started. There were so many things last year that I realized I didn’t need as I was starting to pack, and the process would have been made so much easier if I would have started a donation pile early on.  Most of the dorms on campus have an area that you can put all of your donation items on move-out day, so take advantage of it!
  5. And above all…keep calm! Trust me, it will all work out. If you and your roommates are moving out at the same time, just remember to try and respect their space, offer help when needed, and attempt to minimize stress as much as possible.

 

Good luck!

 

Photo Source:

http://www.piecebypiecestorage.com/

I am a Political Science major and Women's and Gender Studies minor at Boston College. I am an RA on campus and am involved in the Student Admissions Program. Since I am from Florida, I can legitimately say that I love long walks on the beach. I also love getting lost in a world fabricated by a novel, there is honestly nothing better. 
Caitlin is currently a student at Boston College studying English and Pre-Law.  At BC, she is a member of the Boston College Irish Dance Club, on the Honors Program Student Executive Board's Community Service Committee, and interns and writes for the fashion and culture blog Rusted Revolution.  She has been wriring for Her Campus BC since Jaunary 2011 and is serving as BC's Campus Correspondent for the 2012-2013 school year.  Outside of school, she is a competitive Irish dancer, and has been dancing for 18 years. During her high school career, she completed an engineering project at Case Western Reserve University that made her one of 40 Intel Science Talent Search Finalists in 2009.   In addition to all of this, Caitlin loves reading, yoga, running, shopping, spending time with friends and family, and traveling.