Can you picture your dorm room? I’m sure you can. It was your ‘home-away-from-home’ for four years. Your living room, bedroom and breakfast nook all rolled into one.
It was most likely your first experience with interior design, with decorating on the cheap. I picture the carpet squares my roomie and I duct taped together to make a floor covering, the loft, stuffed animals, a bottle repurposed as a vase, milk crates stacked into makeshift shelving…
It’s that point in the summer where the cicadas’ songs mark six weeks until frost, and new students and their parents make multiple trips to town buying supplies and starting a pile of “stuff to take to Bluffton.”
Current students were surveyed on video sharing their thoughts of items new students should remember to bring – and in some cases what they should leave at home. It was interesting to me that some things just never change. Students were still encouraged to bring an umbrella, games, a fan, crates…
Was there some special thing you brought to college that always made you smile and be reminded of the people who loved and supported you ‘back home?’
I can think of two. First was a huge mug filled with quarters from my Grandpa. That was back in the day when Bluffton students needed quarters for laundry and of course the vending machines. What a wonderful gift to stay connected. The second was cheap 5x5 pictures of Mickey and Minnie Mouse. Yes, an odd gift given by the guys I worked with, but they were bright sunny yellow, a reminder of good times and good friends. Those pictures had a place of honor in my vanity all the years I lived on campus.
It won’t be long now until students start moving onto campus and making their 11'x14' area their own. My advice - for what it’s worth - along with a computer, bedding, towels, clothes, be sure to pack something that makes your place a Bluffton truly your very own home-away-from-home.
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