Where Life is Unbranded...Welcome to Maverick Country

So goes the latest advertisement for UTA.

The time has come. Josh is off to college. And loving it.

So far...well, he's only been there just shy of a week. We packed his car (with a bit of overflow in mine) on Thursday morning and made the three-hour trek to the monsterplex. We arrived right around lunchtime but he wanted to get settled first. So he checked in at his residence hall, got his keys and the necessary paperwork then we were off to locate his home away from home for his first collegiate year. How exciting!

He's on the first floor so no waiting for elevators or climbing steps. Whew! Now to unload the car in 100+ degrees of full-fledged Texas heat. Ugh! However, there were tons of volunteers on hand to help and dollies/push carts to sign out for use. We flagged down one of the handful of golf-cart drivers and headed to the parking lot. We were able to get all his gear loaded on the cart and dolly the first time around, so now it was just a matter of unloading it then getting it all into his room. And I thought girls packed a lot!

Three hours later, he was all unpacked. J has two roommates and they all have private bedrooms in their "suite," sharing the living room/kitchenette area, the vanity area (2 sinks and mirrors), the restroom and the separate shower. Here are the first pictures of dorm life, they're not very big but it'll give you an idea anyway.

Each residence hall is divided into sections or "houses" and Joshua is assigned to Hawkins House. Each RA (Resident Assistant on staff) is responsible for decorating with welcome signs, name tags, etc. Here are the three name tags on their outer door.

Here's a shot of the living room and kitchenette, this is what you see when you first walk in. You're standing in the living room and the kitchenette is to your right. Ahh....mini-fridge, coffee maker, sandwich maker and a microwave, the appliances of fine dorm food everywhere. Got Ramen? (That's like pot noodle for you UK folks.)


W's room, left of the living room...and T's room, next to J's.


The sinks, just behind the kitchenette...and you can see the "water closet" to the left.


This is the hallway, to the right of the living room, leading to J's room next to the wall mirror and T's room just beyond that. The room at the end of the hall is where the shower and towel racks are.


This shot of J's closet, was taken standing by the window. The pantry/bookcase/linen closet is right inside his doorway, taken from the hall facing towards W's room and the living room.


And here's J settling in...already logged onto Facebook. Priorities.


I apologize for the poor photo quality. I committed the cardinal sin of bloggers and forgot to bring my camera. These photos were taken on J's new camera, but then loaded to FB, where I then "lifted" them and saved them to our home computer. I'm sure there was an easier way, but this was the quickest option I had at the time. Anyway, you get the gist, yeah?