Residence halls opened Thursday to let ISU students return to their rooms before second-semester classes, and some residents said moving back in was considerably easier than the first time around.

Many residents said second semester’s crowd was tamer than first semester’s because students were more patient instead of bombarding the campus on one day.

Ally Arends, junior in advertising and management information systems, arrived on campus a week ahead of most students because of resident assistant training. The new Willow RA said she had no trouble moving in because of the lack of people.

“It was kind of spooky because there were hardly any people here for a while,” Arends said.

When the doors were unlocked Thursday, she said it had been busy because many parents were on hand to help their family members move. Arends said the custodians also helped a great deal by holding elevator doors open.

Arends said she hasn’t heard many complaints from residents about moving. She said the main concern from the students was that the rooms were too hot because the heat had been turned on high to keep the water pipes from freezing during the break.

Overall, though, Arends said most were just glad to be back in the dorms.

“The difference between first and second semester moving-in weekends was that first semester, everyone’s parents were there and emotional, but this time everyone is happy to be back with their friends,” she said.

Allison Haug, freshman in exercise and sport science, had help from her older sister Jenny to move back in. Haug moved to a different room this semester and found that the moving process was easier.

“This time, I had more of my stuff unpacked since I just had to move two floors up, plus I knew this time where I was going to put everything,” Haug said.

Jenny Haug said the only problem the two encountered was limited car space.

“This semester we had a smaller car compared to last August, and it was quite packed,” she said. “But this time it only took two trips to the car and back because we had help from the girls on Allison’s new floor.”

Chris Ebert, freshman in biochemistry, and Amanda McInerney, freshman in art and design, helped each other move in this semester. Ebert said he only had to take one trip compared to McInerney’s five trips.

Ebert said when he moved in last semester, it was difficult because there was only one elevator available in Maple Hall due to construction. This time he had no problem transferring his items from his car to his dorm room.

McInerney also agreed elevators were helpful in making the trips less tedious.

“It was a lot better this time because last semester I lived in Helser, and there’s no elevators. I was constantly bumping into people in the stairwell,” she said.