<p>what? the course forum is a website, you don’t download it? what did you download?</p>
<p>ah, I got it now. It was actually thecourseforum.com not courseforum.com, which is where the link took me.</p>
<p>Haha not my WHOLE life…but close 
I wanted to be prepared. If I ever get a day off from work, I’m planning on redoing it for this year since I know what I truly used and what can be left at home. Of course, getting a day off from work is soo much easier said than done!</p>
<p>That list is buck.</p>
<p>:)</p>
<p>Okay, so some discussion on fridges and whatnot. I actually got two messages about this, so here’s my 2 cents.</p>
<p>Buy one. Even if you don’t think you’ll use it after 1st year, you will. 2nd year and onwards, there’s a good chance you’ll have a refrigerator in your apartment (whether you live on grounds or off.) But, it’s always nice to have one in your room in case your fridge gets full or you don’t want everyone drinking your milk. If you find yourself living somewhere with a communal fridge (like Brown or IRC) it’s still a good idea to have your own fridge; as hazel said, people dump stuff and then forget about it and it rots. Consequently your food tastes gnarly. And, you don’t have to worry about your food being crushed. </p>
<p>Another thing about fridges. Housing doesn’t come through with a tape measure to see if your fridge is too big; they eye it and if it looks good, then no prob. Also, 5 cubic feet (which is the max), is BIG. We’re not talking about the little square cube fridge.</p>
<p><a href=“http://coolers.ca/catalog/images/5cuft.JPG[/url]”>http://coolers.ca/catalog/images/5cuft.JPG</a>
That’s 5 cubic feet.</p>
![http://coolers.ca/catalog/images/5cuft.JPG[/url]](http://coolers.ca/catalog/images/5cuft.JPG%5B/url%5D){kind=link}
<p>I’m not sure where you could get one cheap; my roommate brought our fridge and microwave (and TV) because her older sister had just graduated. One of my hallmates actually got their fridge for like $20 from a graduating 4th year. If you look around, you may be able to get a great used one for pretty cheap. </p>
<p>If you still don’t want to get the fridge, then see if your roommate wants to get it, and you can get the microwave, mirror, and rug. Something like that. Make it even. In my case, I brought everything else we shared for our room, since my roommate brought the bigger things.</p>
<p>But, do NOT rent one. That’s pretty much the advice of everyone here.</p>
<p>Something else I wanted to add to list of things to bring.</p>
<p>Rugs
5x7 works great. And get some carpet padding. Your rug will be soft and feel a little more like carpet than a rug on linoleum. If you don’t get carpet padding, get a rug pad so your rug doesn’t slip and cause you to take a tumble. I don’t know if anyone else had this problem, but my rug STANK so bad for the first 2 weeks or so. Not sure why, but it is a possibility. Go for a darker color (like navy). Light colors show stains. And don’t invest a whole lot of money in your rug. $30 or less is best; you won’t feel so bad about spilling crap on your rug during the year and you’ll be more willing to part with it at the end of the year. Everyone I knew chucked their rug at the end of the year. Walmart, Lowe’s, Home Depot, the Bookstore, people on the street in cville…cheap rugs are sold almost everywhere. True fact: Bloomingdale’s does not sell cheap rugs. Even during it’s tent event. Trust me; I checked last year…</p>
<p>Another good investment is a little welcome mat; I bought 2 charcoal grey one for $2 each at the Home Depot and left one inside our room right in front of the door. Whenever it rained/snowed/inclement weathered outside, people felt the need to take a step inside our room and declare it was raining/snowing/inclement weathering while being sopping wet. 
It was nice having our room be the first stop for everyone, but our rug was getting really dirty, really fast. So, I got that little welcome mat where people could declare the weather without a problem. And, after the rain, it was a great place to put our rain boots. I put the second one in a corner so our shower caddies could dry without making a puddle of water.</p>
<p>Oh! I forgot about this.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Just to let everyone know, I wore CLEAN clothes. I easily went a month without laundry with the amount of clothing I have. Actually, this summer will be a good test to see exactly how long I can last. I haven’t done my laundry since coming home. 
I can see canuck cringing LOL. (However, my clothes have taken over the left side of my room.) But change your bedding every two weeks (or one, whichever one you prefer); I changed mine every two weeks because that’s how often our cleaning people change ours. I washed my sheets at UVa, because they take up too much space to take home all the time. Freshly laundered sheets do wonders for your soul. :)</p>
<p>Okay so I totally appreciate all the info on here sooo much! With the lists and everything. Would anyone mind elaborating on the shower issue? I’m not so sure how it’ll work out having to take a shower without as much privacy…how exactly does that work out? I am definitely not looking forward to the entire bathroom situation…</p>
<p>And the UVA site said that orientation dates don’t impact your chances of getting into classes…is that true? My orientation is Jult 16-17 so it’s pretty late. Does that mean my chances of getting the classes I want are that much lower?</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>Recently posted: <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-virginia/738379-orientation-advice-possibly-off-topic.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-virginia/738379-orientation-advice-possibly-off-topic.html</a> (read the replies – from Dean J!)</p>
<p>Bathroom situation: I suppose I got over this because I went to summer camp (though I know people who went through much worse, anyone heard of camp Harlam and its communal showers??!?!). I also have only had to share my bathroom with 3 other people at college because I live in Brown, but at camp it was 10 kids and 2 counselors to 1 shower. We actually scheduled when people liked taking showers and kept to the schedule (I went to arts camp, and did sculpture and other messy things before lunch, so I liked to shower after that and got to sleep in). I actually still take afternoon showers at college, because no one else is in there at that time. My roommate takes night showers. In any case, the showers at UVA have curtains so it’s not like anyone can see you, just hang your towel right by the shower so you can pull it through the curtain with no one seeing when you’re done and no one is going to be looking at you anyways. I like to sing (in the shower), and don’t do it at school as much as at home (I’ve only ever sung in the shower a few times at school actually), but funnily enough whoever is around when I am showering and singing tells me I should do it more often, lol! (I’m in 2 singing groups in CVille). So really no one cares what you do, just be confident in yourself and be clean, lol. Just get yourself a good shower caddy and shower flip flops and you’ll be good to go (you could also get a robe if walking around your hall in just a towel is not your thing). At least you’re not on the Lawn, where you have to go OUTSIDE in that touristy area to get to the bathrooms to shower!</p>
<p>
You’ll be fine. See the orientation thread and the blog.</p>
<p>Our orientation experience take away was that the earlier in the day you were scheduled to register the more classes you had to pick from.</p>
<p>Wait db…why would you end up walking around the hall in a towel? Can’t you just change in the shower?</p>
<p>Will we need extra shelves in Bonnycastle? How many drawers do we get there because we don’t have captain’s beds? And are the bed sizes the same as the bed sizes of other old dorms?</p>
<p>the shower (walls, floor) is all wet after you shower, i’m not sure you’d want to change IN it, you’d proly just want to change in your own room?</p>
<p>if your captain’s bed doesn’t have drawers i’m not sure there ARE any, you proly have to bring plastic storage containers like new dorms to put underneath.
you should proly just plan a trip to target with your parents once you get to the dorm and assess the situation yourself?</p>
<p>I lived in alderman my first year. We had 2 showers for 11 girls, but everyone took showers at different times. We had an unofficial system, so it was pretty great. I usually just went back and changed in my room…so I didn’t really have an issue with privacy. It might seem less private in old dorms (they have a lot more showers since it’s for the whole hall)…but it’s not anything you need to worry about.</p>
<p>Where would we change in our rooms? What about roommates? You can’t just change in your rooms, especially since the room is like one box without any other personal space…right?</p>
<p>And in Bonnycastle we have bunkable beds without the drawers but I heard there were some built into the closet. Is that true?</p>
<p>You could get a screen to change behind if you’re really concerned, but your roommate will probably either be asleep, not in the room (earlier class or showering after you), or at her computer not looking at you, so just turn towards the wall or something. At camp, we got really good at maneuvers like changing into a new bra without showing anything, especially things like bathing suits, since a bunk was similar except 10 girls not just 2, and we’d all be in there at the same time. You could also change in a toilet stall since that has a door (I have done that a few times).</p>
<p>I thought guys were more uncomfortable about changing in each other’s presence than girls… eventually changing stopped becoming a big deal. Trust me, after having to carry your roommate back to his bed and clean him up (alcohol…), you won’t fret about changing anymore. :p</p>
<p>Yes, you wear a towel between your shower and room, this is normal. </p>
<p>Yes, you get dressed in your room, with your roommate, alone, or with whoever else may be there, you’ve got the same parts. </p>
<p>If you’re uncomfortable with it now, you’ll get used to it. Streak the lawn a couple times and you’ll stop caring.</p>
<p>lolz okay sorry this got sort of awkward lolz</p>
<p>Anyone know about the specific bedding/storage for Bonnycastle?</p>
<p>LOL it’s okay. I feel like almost all first years have this fear coming in (showering, dressing, going to the bathroom, etc. in front of others). You’ll get over it. </p>
<p>And the reason hazel presented is exactly why you walk back to your room in a towel/robe. The shower is sopping wet and it isn’t big enough for you to change in without getting your clothes wet. </p>
<p>All this bathroom talk brings up another point:
Treat your housekeeper kindly and show them some respect. They are the keepers of your toilet paper and washers of the showers. Girls especially. Everyone’s cycles start to match up to those who take birth control in your hall (or suite), so almost all of you will be experiencing your “lady time” within a week of each other. So, if your housekeeper decides to not take the trash out, you can imagine how inconvenient it gets with 30 girls using the bathroom regularly. Some things that ticked my housekeeper off: people throwing food into the bathroom trash can instead of their own; it attracted ants. People leaving their dishes/toothbrushes/towels on the sink. They clean the sinks with powerful bleach so if they come across your toothbrush, they’ll throw it out because they don’t want the chance of you sticking a chemically laden toothbrush in your mouth. Not picking up after yourself, etc. Some common courtesy is all they ask.</p>
<p>Hey, just a few questions…</p>
<p>1) Can anyone tell me about the beds in Mary Munford? Are they captain’s bed like the ones in Hereford, or is there space underneath them? Also, how long are they? I was buying sheets today and the salesman said dorm beds are universally longer than regular beds, so I figured I should ask before I buy the sheets.</p>
<p>2) Would it be wise to bring a dust buster or something similar with me?</p>
<p>3) Re: laundry, someone mentioned that the washers are dirty. Is that an issue in Mary Munford? Do I need to bring my own detergent? Is there anything really important I should know about laundry that hasn’t been mentioned previously?</p>
<p>4) During orientation, the showers were absolutely frigid. Is this the case year-round? It made me a little nervous. :P</p>
<p>Thank you all so much! This thread has been incredibly helpful. :)</p>
<p>Hey, an IRCer!</p>
<p>I’ve washed my laundry in Munford when the Gwathmey washers were full. No it’s not that the washers are dirty, they just don’t do a complete job sometimes, especially with bigger loads, and you don’t want to shell out another 1.50 to clean your clothes twice…</p>
<p>The IRC beds are captain-style beds, at least from Gwathmey and IIRC Munford. </p>
<p>Munford girls have larger rooms and larger beds than Gwathmey boys. </p>
<p>Munford is newer than Gwathmey… for Gwathmey I never had an issue with hot water. Except when people flushed the toilet and the ancient plumbing would threaten to scald me. I don’t think the Munford girls have this problem.</p>
<p>There is a lot of random housekeeping equipment in the storerooms … I wouldn’t be surprised to find a dustbuster among them. We had like 2 vacuum cleaners on 3rd floor Gwathmey.</p>
<p>galoisien: Would you recommend buying extra large twin bed sheets, then? The guy at the store said regulars wouldn’t fit on dorm beds.</p>
<p>Thanks for answering my other questions! :)</p>