Packing up, shipping out

As the overwhelming stress of finals comes to a relieving halt, residence hall students are facing the lingering anxiety that comes with moving nine months worth of belongings to a summer habitat. The venture home for some includes traveling across the country, flying overseas and preparing for internships and studies abroad. But one thing is for sure -- students are struggling with packing, transporting and relocating. \nFreshman Inga Radel is consumed with gathering her Bloomington possessions and flying them home to Germany. \n"I am going to try to take most of my things on the plane with me, but I will probably have to throw away some of the larger items that I bought here, such as my comforter and dishes, since they are so difficult to pack and ship," Radel said. \nHowever, students are not the only ones struggling with the end of semester crunch. The Residence Halls Association is also experiencing its busiest time of year. \nResidence Operations and the Resident Assistants are responsible for evacuating the residents by 10 a.m. Saturday and checking rooms for damages, extra or missing furniture and any changes that have been made to the rooms for which residents may be charged. \n"RAs touch base with residents before moveout day to schedule a time to check the room for damages and extra belongings to ensure that rooms are in the same shape they were when they moved in," Director of Residential Operations, Bob Weith, said. \nThis becomes more of a problem as few occupants remain in the residence halls. \n"When you are the last ones out, there is the temptation to avoid the check-out procedure," he said. "But it is imperative to go through all the procedures to avoid extra fees later." \nOn the designated move out day, the RAs have a rigid schedule to follow. \n"All RAs have a 7 a.m. meeting with the entire staff and supervisors to go over closing procedures, then we have to wake up the people on the floors to get everyone moving in order to have everyone out by 10 a.m. so we can begin moving our stuff out," Resident Assistant, Meredith Crain, said.\nIn addition to the RAs designated floor, some RAs are taking on additional floor duties. \n"This year we are also taking on additional floors for graduating seniors so they don't have to worry about clearing out their floors during graduation and can spend time with their families instead," Crain said. \nCheck-out procedures include clearing out all belongings and checking for any damages, missing furniture or unsafe conditions in the rooms. As students make trips from dorms to cars, Weith advises students to not ignore normal safety procedures. \n"While students are moving and taking trips, they tend to leave doors unlocked, which is an easy target for a thief, so students should lock their doors while moving," he said. \n"Once the room is cleaned out, residents should go to the front desk to return keys and fill out forwarding information so they can continue receiving any mail that may be sent to their residence halls," Weith said.\nIn order to ease the stress of move out, residents should schedule a check-out time with a designated RA, clear out all belongings and return their room key. In addition, students are encouraged to fill out mail forwarding information in order to limit extra fines, phone calls from Residence Operations and extra work for RAs and RHA. \n"We have nothing but respect for our RAs, and residents should show respect as well by following the procedures and avoid trashing the floors during move out," Weith said.