<p>I have several questions:
- Are students allowed to stay in the dorms during labor day, midterm recess or spring recess?
- Is it possible to ship a bicycle by mail and keep it in summer storage?
Thanks!</p>
<p>Yes, you can stay in the dorms during the above breaks. You can’t stay over winter break, however (or at least not if you want food and heating).</p>
<p>I doubt you can ship your bike. I’m sure you could store it somewhere over the summer, but you can’t ship it and expect someone else to store it for you.</p>
<p>you can stay here during all breaks except summer break. you can stay in during winter break and i know some people that did it but they didnt have heating but it was not that cold since we are in houston. you can get food in the village or something.</p>
<p>I had to ship my son his bike because he needed a special bike rack for his car and none were locally available and he had to leave.</p>
<p>How you ship a bike depends on whether you have the know how and tools to reassemble it. My son and I had neither. I took it to a local bike shop. They took it apart, packed it in an empty bike box and shipped it to a local bike store in Houston – all for a fee. I used West End Bikes – another might be closer – I found it on the internet. They reassembled it, for a fee, and voila, my son had his bike. If I had the tools and know how, my local bike shop was going to give me the box for free. My bike shop made it sound like this is pretty common – people will ship their bikes for vacations and so on. They always kept a few empty boxes around just for this reason. So you can have it shipped to your college address and put it back together yourself if you know how.</p>
<p>I know that Brown College has summer storage available for Brown residents-- BUT – the College Coordinator, who has been there a long time, said that it has been known to flood. You might make a friend who is local who will store it for you. If not, consider renting a small storage unit for the summer. My son put his furniture in storage between his junior and senior years.</p>
<p>Thanks! We are trying to avoid driving our daughter’s stuff to Rice from Cleveland and hoping that we can mail or buy there.
It seems like the campus is pretty big and the bike would be handy there.</p>
<p>Bikes can be useful - but not necessary. I would suggest that your daughter wait until she gets to Rice, then go to the little bike shop in Rice village, or go on craigslist and buy a clunker bike. You can get a clunker for less than shipping your bike and reassembling it. The land is flat, so you don’t need a great bike, and bike theft is a problem on campus so you cheapy bike is a good idea. (Other crime is low, but they had a lot of bike theft a couple of years ago.) JMHO!!! :)</p>
<p>You don’t need a bike at Rice unless you want a nice one to ride in Beer Bike. The campus is not that big and completely walkable. Having a bike might be a bother in the rain, too. At least if you are walking you can use an umbrella.</p>
<p>I’d agree with Ricegal, unless you just like cycling or want to use it to get other places in Houston (though Houston isn’t the most bike-friendly city) having a bike isn’t that useful on campus. For most trips across campus, it’s faster to just walk than to unlock your bike, navigate across campus (during peak pedestrian traffic times when a large number of classes start/end, you’re limited to about walking speed) and find somewhere to lock your bike.</p>
<p>I agree about not needing a bike. D took her bike last fall and used it 2 times, a friend used it 1 time. Between the sun, rain, etc. bike needed new handle bar covers and a new seat when it came home in May. She’s leaving it here this coming fall semester. She says it took so long to park and lock up that it was just easier to walk across campus.</p>
<p>I’m pro-bike, even for just the Rice campus. When I got one midway through the spring semester, I was riding it everywhere. For example, it takes maybe 8 minutes to walk from the North colleges to Fondren. Biking? 3 minutes or less, and it’s fun/good exercise! Yeah, it’s mildly inconvenient to have to keep locking and unlocking your bike (buy a junky bike, but still lock it, since negligence often contributes to the stolen bike figures around campus), but I’d take it over walking any day (except when there’s a torrential downpour). Also, the Rice campus is very bike-friendly, with racks/appropriately placed poles practically everywhere you’d need one.</p>
<p>But yeah, no need to get a bike until you arrive - and don’t bring your expensive mountain bike from home - just buy a cheap one here. As far as summer storage goes, you can leave your bike at the residential college open for the summer (which, this summer, is Brown). Everyone else had to remove their bikes from their colleges before housing and dining came around to clear out (and toss) anything left.</p>