Sunday was move-in day at Kansas University’s residence halls as several thousand students poured into Lawrence, bringing traffic congestion to Daisy Hill, the city’s main streets and the aisles of many stores.

Students have until Thursday to move into their rooms; when all have checked in there should be 3,600 of them, said Diana Robertson, associate director of Student Housing.

“We’re full,” she said.

Erica Rowe, a freshman from Kansas City, Mo., was moving into Lewis Hall with the help of her parents, Stephen and Natalie Rowe. Erica admitted being a little nervous on the ride to Lawrence about going away to college and leaving her parents for the first time.

“Now that I’m here I feel a lot better,” she said. “Everybody has really welcomed me. I’m moving in with my best friend, so that helps.”

“They’ll be fine,” Natalie Rowe said. “She’s not that far away, so we can get to her and she can get to us. She’s ready for this.”

Erica Rowe wants to major in microbiology and become a pediatrician.

“I’m going to be here awhile,” she said.

A short distance away Phil and Deb Duesing were waiting outside Templin Hall while their freshman son, John Duesing, checked into his room. Then they would unload their son’s personal belongings. They left their home in Garden City during the morning for the drive to Lawrence, which took a little more than five hours.

Ashley Pate, a Kansas University sophomore from Tucson, Ariz., left, and her mother, Traci Pate, unload items in a parking lot on Daisy Hill. Sunday was move-in day for all residence halls on the KU campus.

“We didn’t mess around,” Phil Duesing said.

The Duesings said their son was both nervous and excited about starting college.

Move-ins were going more smoothly than in past years, thanks partly to the pleasant weather, Robertson said. Afternoon temperatures were around 80 degrees, while past years have seen moving days with temperatures well into the 90s.

“Everybody didn’t feel like they had to get here by 10 o’clock in the morning to move in,” Robertson said.

Move-in day also sends students to stores to stock up on groceries and other items they think will improve their living arrangements. KU students Ahmad Al-Gibaly, Lawrence freshman, and Nick Altieri, Lawrence sophomore, along with a friend and third roommate, Chris Hoffman, spent time buying essentials at SuperTarget, 3201 Iowa. They purchased clothes hangers, trash cans and drinks to stock the four-bedroom apartment they will share with a fourth roommate who was at work as a cook in a local restaurant.

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“He’s practicing for us,” Al-Gibaly said with a laugh.

The roommates, all Free State High School graduates, were headed to Best Buy, 2020 W. 31st St., to shop for a television.

Streets and parking lots near the Daisy Hill residence halls are jammed with vehicles as students return for the fall semester. KU's residence halls are filled to capacity with 3,600 students.

Students also flocked to Wal-Mart, 3300 Iowa. The store usually has its second best sales day of the year when the students move back to town, behind the day after Thanksgiving, said a store manager named Keith, who said he couldn’t reveal his last name. Many of the student purchases included televisions, furniture and bookshelves, he said.

Outside Lewis Hall, Drew Marting, a senior from Lenexa, was passing out fliers to students inviting them to consider becoming a member of his Phi Kappa Tau fraternity. Marting, along with a couple of other fraternity members, also was assisting students moving into Lewis. He recalled living in McCollum Hall as a freshman.

“I enjoyed my time there, but I don’t miss it,” he said.