Parking problems made first week difficult for freshmen

As orientation weekend began on August 20th, the incoming freshman began to realize their anxiety about the upcoming year.

These things included the challenges of getting a mini fridge up to the third floor of their dorm, along with the most impossible task of parking on the OU campus.

The spaces in front of the dorms quickly filled up and, in a desperate attempt to save themselves extra work, they began to park on Mulberry street.

After the very first exciting day

of orientation, and the very first sleep in their new dorms, many of the freshman awoke ready to...well lets face it, they just awoke.

As the freshmen began their second day of orientation, they were informed that parking on Mulberry was prohibited without a city-issued parking permit, and anyone parked there would be issued a ticket.

As soon as they were free to go all of the freshman who were parked on Mulberry went to their cars to find a slip of paper waiting for them under their windshield wipers.

Although the ticket is only twenty-five dollars, what college student wants to pay that, especially if it could have been avoided?

The OU staff did everything they could to make orientation as easy as possible, however; if they had sent out a warning in advance to the student drivers of the incoming OU freshman, it would have been very helpful.

The staff could have sent out e-mails, made calls or even put up signs to tell the freshman about the parking issue.

The parking was crazy on the OU campus. It's understandable that the staff was more involved in orientation, and making it comfortable for all incoming students, than coordinating the parking of individual students.

However, orientation weekend was the perfect way to transition new students in, even if the parking wasn't.