Welcome to Boston. The city where it can be 61 degrees and pouring one day and 80 degrees and sunny the next. Between your light fall jacket, heavy winter coat, t-shirts, sweatshirts, raincoat, sweaters (the list goes on, and on, and on), you need a lot of different garments to survive out here in New England. One thing I’ve been trying to figure out for the past three years is how to pack for school.
As a notorious overpacker, I’ll be honest, I still haven’t mastered it yet. However, this year, I made a conscious effort to pack only what I needed and leave behind the unnecessary things. Here are some of my tips and tricks for packing to live in Boston weather:
Bring shorts, but not too many.
Like I mentioned in the title of this article, it’s still hot out. But, the truth is, no one will notice if you’ve been wearing the same three pairs of shorts for the last four weeks (as long as you wash them). Just pack a few pairs of shorts, because unfortunately this weather is not lasting long.
T-shirts are your best friend.
Probably right now, you are sweating through two t-shirts a day as you walk to class like the rest of BU students. That’s fine because you need a lot of them. If there is one thing to overpack, it’s your t-shirts. Even after the weather cools down, classrooms turn up the heaters and it can get very hot inside (#layer).
Your parents can mail you things.
Also, if you just really feel like you don’t have enough summer clothes for now, have your parents mail you stuff. This is how I survived my first two years. And then, I mail back the clothes once I’m done wearing them.
I hope you like jackets.
You need a lot of jackets. And, you’ll accumulate overtime (especially if you’re from a warm weather state, like me, and never have lived in the cold before). I like to bring a light jacket (like a jean jacket) to wear during the first month of school, a raincoat, a light down jacket for the fall, and of course, the heavy duty winter coat that you could survive in Antarctica with if you needed to. (Tip: Get your Antarctica-level coat during Black Friday over Thanksgiving! You won’t need it until December, usually.)
Buy storage zip pouches.
Your dorms have little to no closet and drawer space, so having clothes for every season is hard to fit. If you decide not to bring home clothes over break, put your summer clothes in a storage bin or zip-pouch thing (they sell them at Bed, Bath, & Beyond) and store it under your bed. This way you have room for all the important stuff — those bulky sweaters.
Although the fall weather and soon winter weather is fast approaching, enjoy this beautiful weather while you can and get some Vitamin D. Feel free to email me at lindseyr@bu.edu with any questions 🙂
