<p>Wow, thanks for all the footwear advice!! I think S will play it by ear and if he wants something like hiking or Timberland boots when it snows then he can get them then. I see LL Bean has several styles in extra wide. </p>
<p>Good luck to all the new freshmen and their families who are embarking on their college adventures.</p>
<p>Regarding winter boots, be sure to get ones that have a good tread to deal with the ice, which is inevitable where lots of folks are walking all the time. The “duck boots” with a soft sole are not good, trust me!</p>
<p>I ordered my D a pair of “Stabilicers” from Bean. They’re more or less cleats that attach to any shoes with streachable rubber. I’ve had a set myself for the past few years and they make a huge difference after an ice storm.</p>
<p>You can check 'em out here - [Stabilicers</a> Lite: Accessories at L.L.Bean](<a href=“Adults' Stabilicers Walk Traction Device”>Adults' Stabilicers Walk Traction Device) - if you’re interested.</p>
<p>don - those things are amazing. I have the version from Eddie Bauer -at least I had them until I gave them to my daughter.</p>
<p>It has been 4 years since we went through the excitement of moving E to the college dorms. We took so much stuff that we have to get a roof rack for the SUV. A lot of it came back with us. More came back at breaks and at the end of the year. I can echo some of the advice already given. Bring the essentials and leave the extras at home. You are also likely to find that kids change their clothing choices and lots of the old stuff will become obsolete.</p>
<p>Seeing the kids going from the dorm to classes at Eastman several times a week, I can pretty well attest that no one is going to wear heavy boots-or those ice cleats ( I have 'em too, but no one under the age of 40 would even consider such things- Sorry Don!!). A heavy storm may produce a few girls in Uggs, but, for the most part, the guys wear sneakers all year around and the girls make do with their ballet flats. My D’s dorm is very close to the classroom building, but we bought her a new pair of Uggs-hoping that she’ll wear them, leave them in her locker and then put on her flats!</p>
<p>You never know MezzoMama - my D would rather be seen in the cleats than the Uggs!</p>
<p>You only need the cleats when it’s icy. They just easily clip on when you actually need them and come off when you’re indoors. I fell on ice and broke my arm a couple of years ago so I guess I worry about it more than many.</p>
<p>We had a chance to see Rochester’s snow removal team in action when The Kid auditioned in January and I’m not real concerned about deep snow staying around for long.</p>
<p>Up here in Boston, where cold New England winters meet densely populated 400-year-old major metropolitan city with questionable drainage infrasctrure, the at first serenely white pacifying snow storms turn into disgusting vomit-inducing murky slushiness in a blink of an eye. I promise you boots (both Uggs and rubber rain shoes) are common attire up here, especially with NEC being at the center of a very expensive real estate market and with many off-campus students living a commute away.</p>
<p>Thanks for THAT mental picture, CompGrad! ;)</p>
<p>Sadly, CompGrad’s description is pretty accurate! My favorite is when the slush turns into huge icy puddles at curbside. Practicality before fashion is my by-word. However, the distance between the Eastman dorm and the classroom buildings is not very far, so I can easily imagine getting away with less than weather-sturdy footware.</p>
<p>Hehe. ;)</p>
<p>I don’t know first-hand how Rochester winters are. If it stays at all times under freezing - then you should be worrying more about ice than slush. They’re not as yucky, but sure can be very dangerous.</p>
<p>In New England - the weather fluctuates very quickly. (The old saying - “if you don’t like the weather in New England, wait 5 minutes!” - is very true.) Therefore it can be 10 degrees and sunny at 10 AM, then all of sudden up to 40 degrees but ferociously windy at 2PM, and then back down to 20 degrees and dry again in another hour. Therefore, perfect weather conductive to slush. So…over in Rochester I suspect the weather won’t fluctuate with in one day so much - so a wet day will be a wet day, a snowy day will be a snowy day, and an icy street day will be an icy street day.</p>
<p>So my advice is - if you’re sending a kid out to a northern state, investigate not only the simple average temperature and precipitation stats of the area - but check for nuances like this. Slush, ice, dry cold, wet cold, wind, etc etc, all require different forms of combat!</p>
<p>:D</p>
<p>Yep, the NE coast is a mishmosh. The whole I-95 corridor is often a mix of snow in Philly, rain or sleeze (local for slush, freezing rain, unidentifiable mix) in NYC and CT, then back to snow in Providence/Boston. </p>
<p>Wait 10 minutes, and it’ll change.</p>
<p>Hmmm…flip flops or sandals for San Francisco ;)</p>
<p>And Opera-Mom - rainboots, too, (or at least closed shoes) if, hopefully our drought ends this fall!</p>
<p>yes, yes Spiritmanager…she took those too…orientation started last Tuesday…my other child left for college this afternoon…I’m currently on a room purging mission :)</p>
<p>Best wishes to you all as you send your daughters and sons off to school! We are still packing for the trip next week to Juilliard. I am thrilled, proud, scared, happy, excited and sad all rolled into one. Our DD is our only…</p>
<p>Talk about empty nest syndrome…</p>
<p>Best to you all!</p>
<p>Rochester is the same as Boston- what looks pretty and fluffy as it comes down, looks revolting after a few days! The lovely white stuff becomes encrusted with black from exhaust fumes, grey from the salt used for melting, and yellow from the dogs (at least one can hope it’s from dogs- oops, sorry, I’ll stand in the corner when I’m finished writing this)! Don, I have a pair of those ice cleat things and you can bet I’ll be using them this winter, since, with a serious knee and back injury, a fall isn’t advisable for me. But, please, remember that schools are on their best behavior during audition sessions, so the same conditions may not exist during other times. Rochester knows how to deal with snow-they load it into trucks and dump it off of the bridge into the Genesee River- but with city/county budget cuts, not all of the streets get plowed as soon as they used to .The City does have sidewalk plows, but they only do one side of the street and that alternates every year, and businesses downtown are responsible for keeping the region in front of their shops clear. One gets used to it and it’s actually funny to hear of places like Baltimore which close down with the threat of a big storm while we muddle along in the 10" which fall from “squalls”!
opera-mom, did you send her with rain boots? There are so many cute patterns and colors now. D settled on a pink, plaid pair (of course) and has kindly left her old, red ones behind, so that I can remember her while tromping through puddles walking the dogs!
EW’smom- I know what you’re feeling. My youngest is going to be living with his father because the school is reknown for the sports he excells in so I am sitting here alone, listening to the animals sleep.I managed not to “lose it” when I left her at her dorm, but that didn’t guarantee no floods of tears later on. This nest is so empty that if I stop to think about it, I’ll cry again, and, unlike The Marschallin, I don’t look good afterwards…</p>
<p>MM, I grew up in Southern Michigan and I still have a tendency to think of cities in New York as Eastern cities. Rochester, though, is very much a Great Lakes-style place. It reminds me more of Toledo than any place in the East.</p>
<p>I know that climate well and I’ve already warned The Kid to not be too surprised when weeks pass in the winter without her seeing the sun.</p>
<p>I like to tell people that she auditioned at Eastman in January, but decided to go there anyway.</p>
<p>Son attended Eastman for 4 years. He said the school did a very good job of keeping the sidewalks clear all season. It is not just an auditon week thing.</p>