As a Resident Advisor, I just experienced freshmen move-in day from a completely different perspective than I did last year as a freshman. I didn’t realize how different it was from “behind the scenes” compared to the viewpoint of someone who was actually moving in. Both experiences were fun and exciting, but it was definitely a lot more work being a Resident Advisor during it.

When I was a freshman, I thought move-in day was such a life changing day. I was packed up and ready to be on my own. I packed way too much stuff for the small space I had, but I of course thought everything was super necessary.

I tried to be at the school for as close to 9 AM as I could possibly get because I wanted to start college right away. I didn’t care if I had to get up “early” because I was ready for it all to begin. It was going to be awesome.

Freshman me thought the whole process was super easy. The car was unpacked in no time, my stuff was at my door, and getting my ID and key was extremely quick. It was no big deal.

In the moment, I thought we were going to have more free time, and I was disappointed with how booked my schedule was. However, a lot of the activities I did ended up helping me get to know people from my floor and get to know my way around campus. It’s almost like that’s the point of New Student Orientation, ha ha.

Anyways, this year was completely different. I woke up at 6 AM, and I was super excited since I originally thought I would have to get up at 5 AM. We were outside at 7:15 AM while preparing for the arrival of the Class of 2020.

Personally, I was given the job of “runner,” which meant that I went up and down stairs all day in order to bring people to their rooms. The job was warm and tiring, but it was also fun getting to meet some of my residents right away.

We ran our stations for 4-5 hours and saw students get excited when they met their roommates for the first time. Then, I saw a variety of parents, which varied from parents who were more than willing to let their kids go have fun to parents that wanted to unpack everything with their kids in order to spend extra time with them.

Additionally, I noticed that pretty much every student packed too much stuff, which had to be moved by all of the Greek organizations. This process seemed easy and quick to the families, but I watched how exhausted these members got throughout the day. The brothers and sisters worked hard all day.

Overall, the day was incredibly busy and followed by a barbeque and a floor meeting. Even though it was exhausting at times, I had so much fun, and I get to continue going to other New Student Orientation events this week. I loved getting to meet my residents and I can’t wait to have an amazing year with the Class of 2020!