Back to School Shopping: McMahon Hall Style

Stock Up on Essentials Specific to Suite Life in FCLC’s Dorms

By GABRIELLE LINZER
June 3, 2011

Published: August 28, 2008

In high school, your big back-to-school shopping adventure probably centered around Staples, where you would stock up on notebooks and beg your mom to shell out a few extra bucks for a set of colored Sharpies and comfort grip ballpoint pens. But now that you’re McMahon Hall-bound, a new shopping routine is in order.
When you embark on your various shopping exploits, you’ll be pummeled with suggestions on what you absolutely need to buy for your dorm room. Although some of these ideas are valid, McMahon Hall is not your average residence hall. Here, we run down some McMahon essentials, as well as those items you can walk right past.
Foam Mattress Topper:Need It!
Your mattress may appear comfortable, but don’t be fooled. Unless you enjoy an enduring bouncing sensation and wires sticking into your back, you’ll want all of the padding you can get.

New Dishware:

Skip It!
With all of the great styles the stores are showing, it will be hard to pass this one up, but keep in mind that you’ll be sharing a kitchen with up to six other people. Within the first weeks of school, plates and mugs will begin crashing to the floor, leaving a scant collection of dishware by the end of the semester. Avoid a foreseeable argument by using your parents’ old dishware.

Bookcase:

Skip It!
Unless you have a single, there is no room for any furniture other than the stylish pieces that ResLife provides. You might have to use your heating unit as a book shelf/ night stand combo, but it’s better than being unable to move comfortably around your room.

Sewing Kit:

Need It!
A sewing kit may seem like overkill, but you’ll be thankful for the handy tools within reach when your favorite shirt rips. Your mom is miles away, and you don’t have the cash to enlist the help of a tailor.

Shower Caddy:

Skip It!
One of the perks of McMahon Hall is that you won’t be sharing a bathroom with more than four people. There’s no need to haul a huge plastic caddy a few feet from your room. Assuming that one of your suitemates isn’t a shampoo junkie and fills the bathroom with bottles of every new concoction on the market, you’ll have a place to leave your bath products.

Air Mattress:

Need It!
If you’ve got friends from home or siblings who want to spend the night, you won’t want to subject them to the glorified wooden slab that is the common room couch. Squeezing two people into your bed usually won’t work either, unless both people are abnormally thin and like being crammed into tight spaces. An air mattress only takes moments to inflate and will encourage the people you like to visit more often.