Oregon State University freshmen started moving into their dorms on Sunday, and they’re prepared to start their college experience after a lengthy move-in process.

The 4,600 students living on campus this year were required to take COVID-19 tests at Reser Stadium, which added to the usual move-in procedure and kept students waiting in line for hours.

Kahlan Fleiger-Holmes, an OSU freshman who moved into West Hall, said she had to wait two and a half hours to take her COVID-19 test. After that, she said the rest of moving in felt like a breeze. In-person interaction is important to Fleiger-Holmes and well worth the long wait in line for her test.

Fleiger-Holmes had moved into her dorm a few hours before and was just starting to settle in.

“I don’t know where anything is, but everything’s in here,” she said.

Fleiger-Holmes said she is excited to get adjusted to college so she can join clubs at OSU, like the rocketry club and running club on campus, in order to get to know some more people.

“I’m really excited to join a bunch of clubs and extracurricular activities,” Fleiger-Holmes said. “I feel like it’s been kind of surreal like it really hasn’t set in that I’m gonna be living in college for the next four years.”

For Alexander Nutt, a freshman in computer science, moving on campus is also an opportunity to make friends. Nutt comes from Ontario, a small town in eastern Oregon, and said this new college atmosphere is a welcome change for him. Nutt is interested in meeting new people for the first time in a while.

“Well we considered doing a tour, but colleges closed and by the time it opened we had already decided,” Nutt said. “I’m the only person here other than one other person from my town who’s a freshman at OSU.”

Nutt looks forward to meeting people in class and on campus who are interested in the same things he is. He said he’s getting along well with his roommate, who he met for the first time when he reached out to them through OSU’s roommate-matching service.

Emma Legault, a freshman in ecological engineering, showed up early to check-in at 8 a.m. and had to wait almost two hours for a COVID-19 test.

Legault isn’t worried about COVID-19 on campus, but she’s glad that OSU is able to track cases.

Legault got her negative COVID-19 test results on Sunday when she logged on to her student portal. If they were positive, she would have had to quarantine with her roommate instead of going down to the floor meeting led by her Resident Assistant.

For now, Legault is enthusiastic about meeting new people on campus as she starts her college experience. She was most excited to go to her dorm’s root beer float social the night she moved in. 

“I’m pretty glad I’m here,” Legault said. “Homesickness will probably kick in, in a couple of weeks or something—or an hour.”