Moving-out blues

Aaron Goldsmith looks tired. This week, the culmination of an entire semester's worth of learning came crashing down on the sophomore's head, compounded by the details that only the end of the academic year brings. \nHe knows he has to study for finals. He knows he has to find time to say goodbye to some of his friends. He knows he has to eat and sleep somewhere in between. And to top it off, he knows he has to take down his posters, box up his belongings, and be out of his dorm by 10 a.m. sharp Saturday. \nMoving out, he says, is a giant pain in the butt. \n"I wish I would have started sooner," Goldsmith said. "I've got to get on the ball. I come home and look at the boxes -- it's always in the back of my mind that I have to do this eventually."\nThe Texas native rubs his weary eyes and heaves a sigh, looking around the one-room living space he's inhabited for nearly nine months.\nSince IU's dorms house so many students -- 23,817, or 61 percent of the total campus population, as of the fall semester 2002-2003, according to the University Budget Office -- it can be daunting to fight the traffic and carry box upon box down so many stairs or cram into elevators with other students just to make it out by the deadline. \nEmigrating from the dorms comes with more baggage than just suitcases and boxes. Goldsmith said he knows that leaving behind this stepping stone between parental dependence and living on his own means leaving behind more conveniences than he cares to list. \nHe will remain in Bloomington this summer, taking up residence in his first apartment, and although he said he will miss having borrowed furniture and a trash can right down the hall, no monthly rent and an immediate bond with his neighbors, he feels the time is right.\n"I think being in the dorms for one or two years is enough," Goldsmith said, his eyes bright with anticipation. "I have tons of memories from living there for two years, but it's time to make new ones." \nFor some, those very memories, past and future, are the tides that control the alternating excitement and sadness that summer break -- and moving out -- inevitably bring. \nJunior Wendy Hoffman has been organizing and packing her things alone this week as she prepares to head home to Knoxville, Tenn., for part of the summer. Because her family lives so far away, Hoffman elected to rent furniture for her room in the house she shares with one roommate for the year. The company she rents from delivers and removes the pieces, sparing her the added pressure of juggling beds and desks and dressers at the same time as her finals. \nHowever, Hoffman must now decide what personal things to take with her. She's leaving her picture frames behind.\n"It's sad to leave my friends -- I've only got one more year here," she said. \nHaving spent last summer in Bloomington with those friends, though, Hoffman said she is excited to face the possibility of an internship. She applied for two, one in California and one in the Washington, D.C., area, and said she hopes to gain experience in the realm of social service. \nThe fatigue of finals has done nothing to diminish the eagerness in Hoffman's voice when she speaks of the coming months.\n"I'm happy to have a change of scenery," she said. "I want to do something different every summer I'm at IU." \nJunior Emily Gilmore, on the other hand, said she knows she's soon to be four hours away from some of the best friends she has. Gilmore packed up early, happy to be finished with classes and responsibilities. But when she tried to say goodbye to her best friend, she was given a photo of her friend, her friend's boyfriend, and the three children between them. \n"I lost it," Gilmore said, still touched by the event. "I hope to come back at least once or twice this summer to visit." \nHer first order of business, however, was carting everything she owns down from her sixth-floor dorm room to her waiting car. Gilmore said moving out was strenuous physical labor, as well as an emotional drain, but to be done was an amazing feeling. \nResidential Programs and Services contributes as much as possible to ease the stress of students' actual move. Bob Weith, director of Residential Operations, said that while move-in in the fall is three to four times as hectic as the end-of-year-closing, there are still many ways to assist in the spring.\n"All the residence centers have a lot of carts available," Weith said, adding that parking tickets are usually restrained during the exodus. "(And) we can provide physical help if somebody has something massive to move."\nAs this year's seniors march on to the rest of their lives, many underclassmen are struggling to eke out a solid G.P.A. and hold on to their sanity. The tired, the weary, the overstudied and the underslept agree: the last slam of the trunk and turn of the key in the lock bring an unequivocal pleasure -- relief.