Stuff you need for college (Part 1)

It's that ever so fun time of year when a new crop of students is entering college. I remember that panicked excited anxiety that comes with getting ready for a new environment.

Specifically, looking around my room and going, "How the hell is this all going to fit into one car?"

But fear not, my little freshman. For here I am, the all-knowledgeable sophomore, prepared to give help you through your trying time.

First off, all colleges are different. Likely, even the dorms between colleges are different, so try and get familiar with the one you have been placed in. I, for example, have been blessed with an abnormal amount of cabinet space in my dorm room, enabling storage of many items that would otherwise have to be piled on top of each other in the center of the floor. The tradeoff for this fortuitous closet space is that my room is an odd-shaped skinny rectangle in which you can't loft both beds. Keep these quirks of your room in mind.

So, let's examine what you will need, starting with the big stuff.


Appliances

- Fridge - One with a freezer is nice so you don't have to run to the opposite side of the building for ice when your knuckle swells to the size of a ping pong ball after slamming it into the wall. (No, no, I don't speak from experience at all on this one). 
- TV - You don't necessarily need a TV, but it's a good thing if you want to watch your football team's away games in a place that's not the dorm lounge with obnoxious people shooting NERF darts at each other. You also don't need an uber-special flat panel. My 9" free CRT TV worked perfectly fine and allows space for more important things.
- Laptop - Remember to bring all your CDs and manuals and junk that came with the computer. Extremely useful if you're a moron who doesn't use firewall and gets a virus that makes you need to reformat your computer, or a non-moron who wants to upgrade your OS in the middle of the semester. (Guess which one I am! - Hint: it's the non-moron).
- Microwave - If you're not blessed with the best dining halls in the history of mankind like I am, you will likely get hungry. Also, they are good for making impromptu caramel apples.
- Fan - I live in a dorm where the temperature never went below 75 degrees. In the winter. Fans are necessary if you don't have air conditioning - I knew people who had stocked their room with five separate fans and still felt their room was hot. Of course, they might have been pansies, but that's another story entirely.
- Chargers - Yeah, I don't think your cell phone will last more than a week without this. 
- Alarm clock - Waking up and going to class is generally necessary for not getting on academic probation.
- Duct tape - A handy sort of thing to have.

LEAVE AT HOME:
- Vacuum - Now this likely sounds interesting and probably implies that I have no hygiene at all. Nevertheless, I have yet to find a dorm vacuum that functions as a proper vacuum. Most vacuums in dorms are mini versions that refuse to pick up anything but the slightest crumb (and even then, they mostly fail). In other words, you'll likely have the same amount of hair on your carpet at the end of the year if you bring one versus if you leave it at home. Unless you bring a full-sized, mega-power vacuum, and then, good luck fitting it some place in your room.

For part 2 of this series (Clothes) click here.