Unpacking back to school necessities (and absurdities)
Whether you’re a freshman feeling not-so-fresh right out of Orientation Week or a fifth-year senior desperately trying to graduate this semester, there’s no doubt: In your packing frenzy, you have forgotten something. Whether that is all your socks (urgent) or simply packing your collection of emotional support Pokémon cards (to be honest, also pretty urgent), you may be wishing for a helpful guide on how to prepare for your first weeks back to school. What to buy, what to do, what to wear: find your answers here.
Stock up on shaving cream
Bakerites, our resources say that as many cans as possible is the ideal amount. Better to be a benevolent provider than a supplicant at the feet of the Shaving Cream Gods.
Break out your colored pens
A planner. Oh, you use Notion? You just look at Canvas and remember? Stay hinged; live in the undigitized past. A real-life paper planner is your friend — or your enemy, if you hate doing homework. A good planner can contain multitudes.
Maximize deodorant use
Take some laps around the inner loop to find an optimized walking speed. The goal: where you can leave as late as possible without having to dry out sweat stains in the bathroom before class.
Start swiping
Break in your Tetra by visiting all of the cafes and eateries on campus. Pick your favorite, then prepare to run out of Tetra by September and be sadly estranged.
Curse campus construction
Size up the current construction against your class schedule. Will you be detouring around the unsurprisingly still-closed quad four times a day? Always an important factor to consider in your daily planning.
Fight Duo demons
Practice clicking into Google Forms and entering your information — perhaps even battling Duo verification — at turbo speed in order to survive the bloodbath of public party ticket drops.
Get your “Fixer Upper” on
Save the prowling of Facebook Marketplace for a fridge, chair or linens (yikes) for a few weeks in, when you can think more rationally about the necessity (and hazmat danger) of secondhand nesting supplies.
Strip down your wardrobe
As for what to wear: as little as possible, while heat in the hundreds is still looming.
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