So this is life...

Anonymous asked: okay so my parents want to go abroad this summer...before i go off to college. to visit family and what not. since air fare is so expensive most probably i'd be staying for the majority of my vacation abroad... i probably wouldn't get back until the middle of august. so my question is how long do you need to pack your stuff and move into dorms specifically for UC colleges? i mean is there a special freshmen orientation thing that happens before college starts where you gotta move in a few weeks before? what do you say?

dude, i was totally in the same position you’re in right now.  my last summer before college, my parents decided we should spend 2 months abroad, and i only got back less than 3 weeks before i had to move in.  So I’ll tell you what I did.  Yes, there are orientation days you need to go to, but it’s not like you have to move in during orientation and stay there cuz they’re spread out throughout the summer (at least, that’s how it was like for berkeley and i’m pretty sure the other UCs).  They offer you a bunch of orientation dates, and you register for the one that is most convenient for you after you’ve registered to enroll in the college.  For me, I chose the earliest date I was able to choose so I could get my orientation over with before I left for vacation.  You can do it either before or after if there are dates available, but I HIGHLY recommend you do your orientation the soonest you can because orientation is where you sign up for half your classes, so your chances of getting the classes you want are higher if you pick an earlier orientation date.  In short, you get to choose your orientation date (but do so soon after you register cuz spots fill up) and you don’t move in then.  So you can choose whether you want to have orientation before you leave or after you get back, but i suggest doing it beforehand for the sake of getting the classes you want.  And if you can’t find a date before you’re planning on leaving, talk to your parents to see you if you can push back your departure date.  I checked the orientation dates before we booked our flight, so my parents pushed back the date we left so i could get an earlier orientation date.  So talk it over with them.

As for how long it takes to pack and move in, like i said, i only had 3 weeks between when I got back and when I had to move in, and it only took me a week to get everything together and a day to move it all in.  But I was brainstorming all the stuff I’d need to take with me long beforehand and started a list that I kept adding stuff to when i thought of it all through summer.  So just so packing up isn’t super stressful for you and so you don’t have to worry about forgetting anything, I say start a list of things you need beforehand.  That way the whole process of packing up doesn’t take as long and you can spend a couple of days going to get the stuff you need and the next couple packing them up to get ready for move-in day.  So don’t worry.  It’s not a short process, but it doesn’t take so much time that you won’t have time to pack before you have to leave.