Leilee Naderi is a business administration sophomore and opinion columnist for Mustang News. The views expressed do not necessarily reflect those of Mustang News.
If you are like me, you probably looked at your housing portal no longer than five minutes throughout the entire summer.
“Dorm name? Check. Room number? Check. Roommate? Check.”
That’s it. You had only compiled what was deemed as the “essentials” for move-in day, but you are certainly lacking.
Come move-in day, you and your parents will try driving on to campus with every ounce of your being stacked like Tetris in the back of your jeep. Notice how I said try; there will be many confused families merging in and out existing and non-existing lanes of traffic.
Since you had only looked at the housing assignment to mentally record your dorm name and stalk your roommate online, you missed a few things. It turns out you will mistake where you are living.
You will confidently tell your parents to follow the other color arrow because you think you’re right. Your mother, fatigued by the heat wave that decides to hit San Luis Obispo the moment you move in, will get out of the car and walk over to the information booth.
Five minutes later she will hand your dumb ass the room keys to your dorm.
Fifty minutes later all your belongings will be huddled in the corner of your empty dorm, and you will re-enter the room to find your mom totally silent crying her eyes out. Meanwhile, the first thing on your dad’s agenda will be to nap on the dorm bed, which you of course will supplement with a thick mattress topper — 3 inches to be precise. That’s a lot of height to fling yourself on to.
“It’s okay if you change your mind and want to just come live at home with me,” your mom says.
You will laugh and keep hanging up posters.
Hours go by, and the small cube of a room will gain some character. Travis Scott’s “Astroworld” plays quietly in the background, and your parents will roll their eyes to “this trash rap music.” You can’t wait to tell your kids, “Wow, when I started college, it was right when the Astroworld album came out.”
The sun set and dinner reservations will be made. Novo Lounge, Flourhouse, or really any fancy dinner downtown — you name it, your parents probably made the reservation.
You will venture warm and well-lit downtown San Luis Obispo and be greeted by an unruly amount of people who look just like you. By this, I mean entire families wearing Cal Poly t-shirts, mothers holding their kid’s arm super tightly and not letting go, and fathers walking a bit off to the side trying to hold their composures.
After a wonderful night sitting outside under the stars, you will thank your parents for dinner and good company. The tears from earlier will be dried, and you see your parents cherishing every last moment at the dinner table. Naturally, right when they drop you back at the dorms, you will walk to a frat party.
Whether it be your first frat party, first night sleeping in your foreign plot of dorm-land, or first night bonding with floormates, Cal Poly welcomes you.