Friday: August 18, 2006....Move-In.
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"College is a refuge from hasty judgment." ~ Robert Frost (American poet, 1874-1963)Friday, August 18th, Nyssa moved into the brand new Jamestown South dorm. As a first time resident assistant, she had to arrive nine days before the regular students. That first week was filled with meetings, room checks, hours of planning and putting together informational bulletin boards. (Whew! Thank goodness she did the nametags for the doors before leaving home!) Needless to say, construction was still in progress even as we toted her stuff up the elevator to the top floor attic.... er, "penthouse." Scaffolding was still in place, furniture still being moved in, work on the phone system, re-cycling cans being placed and last minute glitches in air conditioning, cable and other things were being worked on. I think that every time we called the elevator we met up with a worker, whether we were on the way up or back down.
Nyssa has a single, all the resident assistants do. She shares a suite bath with two other girls. Each room in this dorm is a little different. Hers has a dormer window making a lovely reading nook and slanted ceilings. The pictures above are from her "move-in" day. The room is equipped with a bed, desk with attached bookshelf, chest of drawers and chair. For some reason, all the single rooms have beds with attachments for a loft. At this point we had disassembled the loft and moved the bed from the back wall to its position and switched the desk to the wall just left of the bathroom door. We had the rug down on the floor and the clothes hung in the closet. She had meetings, so this is basically the way I left it. For a full week she was the only person on the top floor.
Of course there were things we left at home that she wanted. So, on August 25th I made a second trip up to Williamsburg. The progress on the construction was amazing! The sod was looking good, trees were planted, scaffolding down, most of the workmen had departed, the kitchen had acquired a microwave and the rooms were ready for check-in. I went up the elevator, turned the corner, walked down the hall to her room and...... Her room looked exactly like I left it the week before! Actually, it looked worse with craft paper, colored corrugated cardboard, printouts, and other craft supplies on the bed and floor and chest. She had taken the loft frame apart and had it behind her bed and clothes from one suitcase were in the chest but that's it.
So, I nagged and ranted and raved and she countered by taking a shower. (Showering is her response to stress) I was told to make three more door tags, which I did. Then I cleared out the few things I knew I should bring back here for storage. She decided on a different arrangement of the furniture (third configuration), so we switched the desk and chest of drawers. While she worked on bulletin boards, I organized the closet, put away cleaning supplies, laundry supplies and a few remaining clothes. I needed a break so we made a run to Target and got supper (not at Target). We hung the curtains, put a new comforter on the bed and put plastic bins on the shelves she already had in the bathroom for linens and supplies. She also purchased a small futon.
Of course the futon came in pieces and required assembly. So, knowing how much was going on and the bulletin boards still in the process of being put up, I knew who would have to put it together. I did a really good job. Only one set of pre-drilled holes was misaligned and that was at the very end... Thank goodness! After I had finished and positioned and had everything that I could in place, I vacuumed. This is what we ended up with below. It was the best I could do with what we had. Still, this is probably as neat as it will be the entire year.
August 25th: After a hard days work. (That is Nyssa in the hall still working on the bulletin board construction.)
It really is amazing what a difference a Mom day makes!! Welcome to Jamestown South!
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