<p>At bed bath you can order your stuff and have it available to pick up at the local store when you arrive. They have quite a business in this, in fact. And yes you will all be there picking up your stuff at the same time. :p</p>
<p>You can also order online at Target, Walmart, etc. and arrange for in-store pick up :D.</p>
<p>We’re doing the opposite move and D will have to decide which of her coats/sweaters she will need in So California!</p>
<p>SalveMater ~ I opened a mailbox account (for a short while) at the UPS store near my D’s campus. Shipped everything there ahead of our traveling. And sent some online purchases there too. We checked with them re:timing and I think for us it worked to ship about 1 week ahead. UPS came to our home to pick up the boxes. Added bonus I thought was -not much last minute packing -D had to get organized ahead of time. I wanted to manage the volume of stuff 'cause I was concerned she’d want to take too much. This worked for us ~ I bought largest-size plastic drawers from BB&B. They stack-can stack about 8 tall. Told D I thought this was about the right volume for her clothes -less shoes, bedding, and a few other things. Let her decide how she wanted to allot the space. She packed the drawers organizing them as she liked. She took more of some things, less of others than I would have thought-not important. I was surprised- that she used her allotted space to pack a lot of stuffed animals and costumes (planning for parties, I guess). Anyway, each drawer fit in a box. When we arrived at campus, we broke-down the boxes, carried in the drawers (each not too heavy) stacked them, and were mostly done.</p>
<p>snugapug, brilliant org! Getting a UPS account? Not thought of that, it could work!</p>
<p>Oh how exciting…from the football house thread I wondered if your student was going to ND. Now I see it’s SMC 
S1 went to ND; D plans to attend SMC–just got back from the Spring visit day where it was 39 and not a bloom in sight :(</p>
<p>She won’t freeze, I promise! (not until Jan at least and she’ll know what to buy by then!) The first 2-3 weeks she will sweat to death and melt in the humidity–it will only be a few weeks, then it’ll turn fall and be lovely and the sun will glisten off the dome onto the beautiful trees. Oct. is mostly nice, Nov some warmish and some dreary/cold, Dec-not too bad, some snow. Jan and Feb–prob why people in Indiana drink :(, March-April-windy. No one moves to Indiana for the weather…ever.</p>
<p>Mall and most else found in suburbia (BBB, Target, Walmart, etc) are within 10 minutes. Yes, lots of you will be there on move-in weekend. Never fear, S. Bend lives on the $$ inflow from ND & SMC parents. ND orchestrates move in like well-oiled precision machinery. Imagine SMC does the same and it’s 20% of the size.</p>
<p>Boots, layers and mittens. The lake effect snow is amazing and beautiful. We live only an hour away and S still called about it. They do a great job removing it. Snow doesn’t kill you; it’s the wind and it’s biting and nasty.</p>
<p>PM if there’s anything else specific where I may be of assistance.</p>
<p>Tx seniorstress! I feel ya. Lots of great info. Lucky you, you’re only an hour away. I’m more concerned about the mad rush at the airports, stores and hotels :P</p>
<p>S Bend airport is so small, it will be fine. With horrendous traffic one could still get in/out quickly. If you are driving from O’Hare or Midway–the interstates are pretty good and once you cross the Indiana line, you will fly. 80/90 exits half a block from SMC and a block from ND.</p>
<p>I may be an hour away but it was my first kid–I wanted S (and us) to have the whole experience–except for football games, we often spent the night. Hotels (and I’m talking mid-range Marriott type) will treat you just fine. </p>
<p>Stores are especially set up for move-in and fall weekends. Football weekends–yes, South Bend is massive congestion–(but probably not to people from large urban areas). I highly recommend paying the $20 to park in the Holy Cross lot due south of SMC. <5 minutes and on campus. Again, S Bend/ND/Indiana State Police are <em>very</em> used to dealing with football weekends and they are extremely well orchestrated. I wasn’t sure if you meant move-in or football, but I think football goes well, all things considered, and move-in is well planned too.</p>
<p>Much as parents are saying winter doesn’t get really cold until December, your D, being from California, will be cold much earlier than the rest of us midwesterners. She will want a fleece jacket (probably North Face or Columbia) and some short Ugg boots by the end of September.</p>
<p>Once she sees what others are wearing, you can ship her what she decides she wants. She can start with a SMC hoodie from the campus store.</p>
<p>But don’t make the mistake my brother did, buying his winter jacket in November, and then discovering in January that it wasn’t nearly warm enough.</p>
<p>(still gotta give the recommendation to NOT run out and buy Uggs - maybe buy them later if that is what she wants, but they are expensive, and depending on the crowd she runs with, Uggs may or may not be a boot of choice - I have two D’s and neither have ever had a wish for a pair of Uggs - nor do most of their friends were them - so I just recommend holding off)</p>
<p>WAIT.</p>
<p>I moved from SoCal (Long Beach) to the Midwest (Indiana) this summer. I took a decent pair of boots and a decent peacoat with me. Everything else (snowboots, etc.) I bought when the season came and I needed them. I also have a good family friend here in Indiana who helped me decide what to buy.</p>
<p>OP, if you have questions about my transition or journey out to the Midwest, feel free to shoot me a PM. It was an interesting journey but my parents and I got it done :)</p>
<p>One thing I did learn this Winter…there is NO such thing as a “cute” pair of snow boots. They are functional, not fashionable.</p>
<p>My DD is attending college in Western PA and is extremely frugal. She bought a couple Northface jackets on ebay and had them shipped. She also bought a Land’s End online in July for only $30 and it has worked out perfectly for the really cold days. She chose what she wanted so she liked them. She has an outlet mall right near her but she doesn’t like to shop too much so she liked buying the stuff online. She did get a couple pair of rainboots at the mall.</p>
<p>lamm66 makes a good point about frugal college students. My kids are extremely frugal and my daughter especially loves the challenge of finding the best deal for just what she wants. If the OP’s daughter is like that, then there really is zero reason to buy anything ahead of time. </p>
<p>My daughter went to college in the midwest and told me the funniest thing was how on the first cold day of the season the kids from the Southern states would whip out their parkas, only to revert back to their hoodies the next day.</p>
<p>There is a real style on each campus and I wouldn’t second guess it from afar. My son, in college in Northern VT., really wanted a pea coat - something that not many people wore at his HS. Because I like to shop and he didn’t, I searched through several store over a few week period, texting him pictures of various coats until we found a deal on a coat he liked. The very warm Eddie Bauer jacket, that I felt compelled to buy ("it’s so warm!!) is used only occasionally.</p>
<p>Thanks all, this has been enlightening. I hope I’m not coming off as a whiny Californian but I’m pretty anxious about all of this. In that my D is a sun and ocean worshiper and spends spring to summer at sunplay activities, including Polynesian dancing barefoot; and really enjoys hanging out with all of friends here, and has none in Indiana, my anxiety level rises by the day. So while I can’t do anything about the other stuff, I’m going to hyperfocus on stuff i can control haha</p>
<p>I left Hawaii with a pair of shoes and a wind breaker for college in Iowa. Everything I needed was there, except my comfort foods.</p>
<p>Please remind her that you lose something like 40% of body heat through your head, so get her a cute wool hat (NorthFace has many) and make sure she wears it. At least one jacket she owns should cover the butt, whether it’s down or wool. Do not assume that she will only need one jacket! Also, SmartWool socks save my life in the winter. Kind of agree that Uggs are on the wane fashion-wise but there is a lot about winter that has little to do with fashion, and I still see tons of girls wearing them in my midwestern college town.</p>
<p>Your D will be fine SalveMater. We are very near the beach in So. Cal. and my D is graduating next week from Penn State. She didn’t know anyone when she left here and is now dreading leaving her adopted home and her friends in graduation. She bought all of her warm clothes there with the help of friends. She didn’t have much trouble adjusting to the cold-probably more of a problem adjusting to humidity. I had to laugh when during her 1st winter there, she called to tell me how cold it was- I think it was around 50- and her friends were making fun of her for wearing a heavy jacket, gloves, a scarf, etc. She is a veteran now and does a lot of layering as often buildings are very warm, and weather will sometimes change drastically over the course of the day. Your D will probably be a bit homesick at first but that will wear off soon. I recommend waiting for her to call you rather than calling her at first. If she doesn’t call it means she is happy. She will have a great time!</p>
<p>Like like like all the advice. I think my gf who went to U of Mich said it was the third pair of socks that finally did the trick! I’m glad I can vent my anxiety with y’all and keep a face with her. Everyone here thinks we’re crazy for letting her go that far, so discouraging…</p>
<p>Salve…I’ve been there. Our Bay Area D went to ND. Received MANY comments about that wisdom of “letting” her go so. far. away. sigh. (and weirdly, these comments were not directed to kids that went to Boston/NYC/DC!). Did I wish she was closer? Of course.<br>
Absolutely No Regrets - her or us. Four years goes sooooo fast.</p>
<p>She did whimper a bit about the cold that first winter. Didn’t hear about it after that.
She rather enjoyed the shopping for “four seasons”…and the cute rain boots, hats, scarfs, mittens, etc. The 10 pairs of flip flops that went to school that first August? Most came home at Thanksgiving ;)</p>