What you brought, what you forgot: Reassess your college dorm needs

All across the state, dorm rooms have been decorated and college has started. Just about now, freshmen are figuring out what they forgot and what they brought along that they really don't need.

Not to worry. Adjustments can be made. Thanksgiving is a good time to drop off a few unwanted items and gather up vital things to take back with you.

Incidentally, it doesn't hurt to start cleaning out and taking stuff home before the end of spring semester, says Lindsay Pace, who is currently a junior at Southern Utah University in Cedar City. In her freshman year, she says, "I brought a lot of stuff. Everything I owned multiplied and by the time I had to move back home. ..." Well, her parents had to bring a van as well as a car.

Mike Baumker, a junior at the University of Utah who is from California, says his most necessary item was his computer. Throughout his freshman year, he recalls, if he was in his room, the computer was on. He used it to watch TV, send instant messages to friends back home — and also to write papers and do research on the Internet.

If there was something he didn't use, Baumker says, it was the earplugs and eyeshades he foolishly thought would enable him to sleep whenever he wished. He quickly learned it was impossible to sleep if his roommate was awake.

Anna Cole, now a senior at SUU, lived in an apartment at Snow College when she was a freshman. Cole says, "I'm really glad I brought a knife, fork, spoon, plate and a bowl." She didn't need ice-cube trays and pots and pans, however. Her roommates had plenty of those.

And don't even think about bringing an ironing board, says BYU senior Noelle Nicolai. Every BYU dorm has ironing boards — and also cleaning supplies, she was surprised to learn.

Nicolai says her most vital possession her freshman year was a warm winter coat. The New York native was used to cold winters, but she was not used to being outside constantly. "At college you are walking around. You don't have a car." And speaking of cars, she says, "That's the one thing I wish I had brought."

University of Utah graduate student Dylan McDonnell says, "Honestly, in the dorm I was really happy to have my own blanket." The U. provides telephones, great computer labs, many necessities. But for freshman homesickness there is no cure better than wrapping up in the purple-and-white blanket you brought along from your boyhood bed.