When Starting College, It’s Never Too Late for Creature Comforts

Leaving my beach area home for the first time in my life in mid September, I remember feeling nervous. I was off to college. Sure, it was only about 50 miles away and not even considered inland, but how different could east L.A. really be? I heard it could be hot, but how hot could it really be? It’s still September, and after all it was Southern California, surely there could not be that much of a difference. Well, when the weather reaches of 100 degrees in September, it is a huge difference.

Entering the dorm area with your first load of stuff, making introductions and desperately trying to look cool with your parents in tow, the first impression I remember is the sweat. Everyone was sweating. Sure, moving could be exhausting and nerve racking. But this sweat was the worst kind, it was the combination of heavy lifting, heat and nerves. And the worst thing about it was there was no air conditioning, no central air in the dorms. Upon realizing this, parents left and right were making mad dashes to the hardware store, buying whatever fan was left, hoping and praying that this would help their new students from the heat. Because gosh darn it, their babies are grown up but they still deserve some relief.

Now I was in a triple, so that meant three beds, three people and three times the body heat. The first night I don’t remember feeling cool enough to fall asleep until way after midnight. Granted nerves might have had a small part but these three thrift door fans just weren’t doing it for me. All I felt was warm air blowing over my face while the ambient sounds of college kept me up. I couldn’t decide whether it was the three thrift store fans running at their only setting of loud, or the incredibly loud snores of my room mates exhausted after weeks worth of drama, packed into one day but my room was loud.

The next day, was worse, we had this great little thing called convocation. Now, that is supposed to be a form of welcoming to the school. We had a speaker, signed some stuff, and shook some hands as we marched from one non air-conditioned auditorium to another. Two and half hours shouldn’t have been that bad but we were decked in formal, long black cloth robes that caused two kids to suffer from heat exhaustion and pass out. It was that hot, but a great photo op for the parents.

By the third day of orientation the parents had gone. Three days were left before school started, there was registration, writing and arithmetic placement tests, ice cream socials (not kidding) and dances. Plenty of, getting to know you/memorizing name games that I felt no love for as I wanted to make friends on my own. The question of how do I meet people on my own, where people might want to know my name for the added value of my conversation and not the simplicity of how my name is remember and my favorite fast food joint was on everyone’s mind

So, in groups of four and five, young students huddle in dorm room debating this dilemma. Do they join a fraternity or sorority to solve this problem? Venture out to some parties or try to purchase alcohol to show they are cool? What to do? Well, I quickly learned the best way to make friends, through a now friend of mine (see it worked for him.) While wandering around the dorms trying to figure this out I noticed loads of freshman walking in and leaving this room with a big smile on their face. All I know is that I liked to smile and after much debate decided to knock. Now I had no idea what was behind that door; it could have been a wild party, some illicit substances or a talking gorilla. I had no ideas who room it was or if I have even met them before, so the apprehension was killing me. After knocking, I heard a “Come on in friend.” So apparently this guy was from the Wild West in 1849 or an extremely jovial person. I figured I was ok with either as I opened the door and quickly discovered the key to popularity when entering college dorm life.

He had an air conditioner. Quiet, cool and awesome. That was it. That was the key to friends when entering school, the key to comfort, the key to good grades, crisp and cool air. Now I know, I should be lucky to have a fan. And I should be lucky that it was not hotter. (In later years it got to over 106 in this area of Los Angeles.) But gosh did I want one. So in the spirit of learning from the past and going back to school I offer three great back to school air conditioners, that will certainly help over the next years of school and after and that personally I wish I had.

The NewAir ACP-1300H Portable Air Conditioner is a pint-sized powerhouse that has the ability to both cool and heat in one compact, convenient unit. There is no need for emptying water buckets, doubles as a space heater, fan, dehumidifier and has air purification, the latter is a great benefit especially close quarter roommates.

The NewAir ACP-1400E Portable Air Conditioner has evaporative technology. What’s that you say? Other, older air conditioners used a collection tank to hold condensation - which meant that the tank had to be manually emptied on a regular basis. With a new, high efficiency internal design and auto-evaporative technology, the condensation is utilized then directed out through the exhaust hose, it is very quiet and has great stylish shape.

A stainless steal casting shell a quiet powerful motor for cooling pressure. At only 51 decibels, the Fujitronic FA-9000 is below normal conversational sounds. Plus a remote control makes sure you won’t have to get up to change the settings. It's compact, it's clean, it's quiet, comfortable.