Headphones! For listening to music on your computer/ipod/whatever and for the audio-out jack on your tv. And they have the added benefit of setting precedent for if/when your roommate tries to be inconsiderate by blaring a Real World marathon while you're trying to study.

Keep easy-to-make-in-a-dorm-room food on hand. I used to stock up on the single-serving just-add-water microwaveable oatmeal and Easy Mac things. There will be times when you're hungry for a snack but the thought of dragging yourself to the stupid dining hall makes you want to hit someone, trust me.

Keep your door open the first few days (unless you're changing or something, obviously). This was hard for me at first because I tend to be kind of a hermit, but it really helps to meet hall mates/suite mates as they pass by, build a rapport with them, hear about activities and stuff that's going on, etc. And there's really only a several-day window after which the getting-to-know-you phase ends and you just become "that girl at the end of the hall."

Be open to the possibility of homesickness and be gentle with yourself if and when you get it. I was SO ready to be out of my parents' house when I went to college, and SO psyched to live "on my own" in a dorm, that I never thought I'd get the slightest bit homesick. But I did, and telling myself that it was silly and immature just made it worse. So just remember that it's ok to call your mom regularly and plan a weekend home, etc. Try not to go home TOO often, though, or the transition will just be harder.

Note the location of the nearest Wal-Mart or Target on your way to your building for move-in. Because inevitably you will have forgotten something, and it's always better to go pick it up while you still have your parents (and your parents' car and your parents' wallet) there with you.

Finally, and perhaps most crucially, DO NOT DRINK THE PURPLE JESUS. People always say this to incoming freshmen and they never listen! If it's in a plastic-lined garbage bin or a giant cooler, if it involves some combination of liquor and kool-aid, if it's being served in big plastic cups, and if it's the drink of choice at a frat party, undergrad house party, or similarly ill-advised underage location, no good will come of drinking it. Your morning will be filled with sugary vomit and regret. Along the same lines, beware the jello shot. That shit has a delayed reaction because of its solid form, so one minute you'll be all, "hey nice to meet you, what's your major?" and the next minute you'll be telling someone that you're "not as think as they drunk you are." Trust.

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