Dear SOS,
Between finals and the general end-of-semester madness, I'm really starting to get some Jumbo jitters about having to pack, especially because I don't live within driving distance of Tufts. Can you give me some pointers?
Sincerely,
Neurotic Nomad
Dear Neurotic Nomad,
As a resident of a state on the polar opposite side of the country, I've always been extremely envious of the students who live anywhere along the Eastern seaboard. Not only do the local students (I consider North Carolinians "local") NOT have to schlep their lives' contents through the U.S. Postal Service on a seemingly regular basis, but they also seem to get free meals/the comfort of home WHENEVER they please. The closest I've gotten to that is videochatting with the fam, only to find that while I've been gone, my room has been transformed into a storage unit for my mother's photographs of bald plastic dolls, my 17-year-old brother's DJ turntables and a strobe light collection.
When I got angry about the situation, my father retorted with: "Char, what are you complaining about? Your room has been transformed into a hip art gallery-turned-rave —
that sounds like your dream bedroom!" Yes dad, I will just love waking up every morning feeling like I've passed out from an ecstasy binge in some idiosyncratic arts house.
Tangents aside, I have a couple of pointers for your packing problems. In the future, try to phase out articles of warm-weather clothing as soon as it's gotten too cold for those president's lawn "study" sessions. I'd suggest either shipping home a BRO-a-licious box of all your cargo shorts and rainbow sandals or handing over all your CALI-rific clothes to mom or pop during Thanksgiving. That way, when packing crunch time occurs, you won't have to take up space with all of those summer-tinged clothes you clung onto, in hopes of some rando bout of global warming-induced 75 degree weather.
Even if you didn't have a chance to edit your wardrobe throughout the semester, I'd still suggest shipping a box of things home for the holidays — airline baggage regulations have gotten so whacked out in recent years that I wouldn't risk bringing extra belongings.
In terms of actually packing, you should live by two basic principles: Start early and stay sober. The "start early" principle may sound trite, but it is extremely necessary. And the "stay sober" principle? Well, I just wouldn't want you to arrive home only to find your bag filled solely with themed party attire. There are VERY few places where you can wear a full-blown "Call on Me" outfit in public. Luckily for me, my hometown is one of them … I guess living in the American Apparel capital of the world has a few perks.
Let me share a touching example with you that will hopefully synthesize these two concepts: At the end of freshman year, a friend of mine put her packing off until the night before her departure. Granted, this was the end of the school year, so the situation was slightly more calamitous. Anyway, said friend then decided to start drinking and just see what happened — BAD. IDEA. The events to ensue involved a) plenty of heavy imbibing at some alcoholically over-zealous frat and of course b) NOT packing. The next morning, when she awoke at 8:15 a.m. — 45 minutes before her 9:00 a.m. flight — she realized she had no time to pack, let alone think … which is probably why I found 14 makeshift storage boxes fashioned out of abandoned fruit crates from Dewick lying outside my door with a note: "PLZ MAKE SURE THESE BOXES GET BACK TO MY HOUSE! LOVE, SAID FRIEND." Alright, maybe I'm a little bitter, but PLZ, for the sake of your friends' sanity, start early — and stay sober.
--
Charlotte Steinway is a junior majoring in sociology. She can be reached at Charlotte.Steinway@tufts.edu.
