Move In Day at Ohio State

Diane and I are now officially "empty nesters". Justin was delivered to Ohio State on the 17th. I thought I would immediately make a diary entry when we got back from the trip but I haven’t.

We drove down on Sat. afternoon and got a hotel room so we could start the process early. You can imagine a university with 50,000 students and what move-in day looks like. I was actually quite impressed with most of the process. All the roads in the area were blocked off and traffic patterns were optimized with police at every intersection. I got to his dormatory from the starting point in just a few short minutes. At the dorm I pulled up and they unloaded the car in less than 5 minutes into three large industrial laundry type containers with wheels. Then I went down the street (100 yards) to the parking garage. When I got back the goods were just getting to his 3rd floor room. – Very efficient! One of my pet peeves is waste (more specifically, waste that has a negative impact on me!) 

That was the good part of the process. The first phase of the process was not quite as well thought out. The first step for everyone moving in is to report to the Schottenstein center. The traffic was backed up for a couple of miles – all the way down the highway – by the time we got there at 8:20am.  After 45 minutes at a snails pace we reached the center where the only value-added task was to pick up a room key!!!!!!!   Now, let me think, where is the best place to pick up a room key????  Perhaps AT THE ROOM!!!!!  They did also give us a large colored sign to hang from the mirror to help the traffic people direct us efficiently.  I would have mailed out these tags then told everyone to "drive by" the Schottenstein center to get into the traffic flow.  Oh, well.  We made it through.

He’s in one of the old dorms, Baker Hall.  No A/C but I’m sure he’ll survive. His roomate was not there when we left so we don’t know much about him but Justin thinks he’s fine. – He gets along with almost anyone so I don’t anticipate any problems.  His girlfriend, Nichole, had the opposite problem. Her roomate came from S. Korea and had 2 other people in the room with her. (supposed to be just the 2 of them).  With all the extra stuff all spread out there was almost no room for her to get in. She freaked out and so did her mother. They finally got things straightened and the 2 of them seem to get along fine now.

Anyway, it was an exciting day for Diane and me.  You work toward these milestones all your life. I think we’ve done well raising Justin for the most part. I’m really proud of the young man he has become. I have no doubt that he will enjoy college life and do well.   –   The adventure begins.   – Next chapter – The Empty Nest – stay tuned.