FAYETTEVILLE -- The parking lot at Adohi Hall was full of Texas tags and music majors.
Students and parents dollied carts of clothing, couches, refrigerators -- and musical instruments -- toward the dormitory.
Thursday was the first day that residence halls at the University of Arkansas were open for students to move in.
Adohi Hall, which opened in 2019, is the UA's newest residence hall. It was designed with creative spaces in mind. Adohi Hall has seven sound-isolating practice rooms.
"I love this dorm. I'm really excited about it," said Aidan Bing, a music performance and music education major from Fort Worth.
Bing plays the trumpet.
"I think this dorm is the best for a music kid," he said. "It's got a professional recording studio as well, so if I want to send in audition tapes, I've got the equipment to do it."
Adohi Hall is on Stadium Drive, between West Clinton Drive and Nolan Richardson Drive.
It will be a hike up the hill to classes though.
"I'm going to minor in calves," Bing said.
Ren Erolin, another freshman music major from Fort Worth who was moving in Thursday morning, said Adohi Hall was the reason she chose the university.
"All the creative stuff in there, I'm super excited," said Erolin, who plays flute.
Classes for the fall semester begin Aug. 23.
First-year students arrive before classes to get acclimated, said Christopher Spencer, a UA spokesman.
They also participate in A-Week activities, which are "designed to aid incoming first-year students in their transition from high school to college by providing programming focused on student success in and outside of the classroom," according to aweek.uark.edu.
Spencer said about 1,000 students were expected to arrive on campus Thursday.
Chyann Rhodes, a freshman pre-med major from Rockwall, Texas, said she chose the UA over schools in Texas.
"I was offered a really good scholarship, and it's also back home," she said.
Rhodes grew up in Hope.
She and her parents, Ashley and Samuel Jones, left Texas at 2:30 a.m. Thursday for the drive to Fayetteville. It was midmorning Thursday, and they still hadn't had breakfast.
Sam Jones said loading his daughter's things into a large rolling cart to move them from the pickup to the residence hall was like playing the video game Tetris.
"Trying to make a lot fit in a small space," he said.
Jordan Gerling, a freshman architecture major from Honey Grove, Texas, said he was happy to be moving to a larger city.
"I've lived in the same small town of about 2,000 people all my life," he said. "I'm excited for something new and a little bit on a bigger scale."
Gerling's father restores old buildings, and his mother is an interior designer.
Jason Martinez of Jonesboro was also moving into Adohi Hall on Thursday. He got a scholarship to play in the Razorback Marching Band.
He plays tuba and bass guitar. He will be majoring in business administration, said his father, Hector Martinez.
"Most of the students here are like art students and stuff, so it's a really good environment and everything," Jason Martinez said of the residence hall.
Jessica Johnson, a freshman biomedical engineering major from Tulsa, said she chose UA because she liked the energy. She also visited Oklahoma State University in Stillwater.
"I found it more welcoming here," she said.
UA has been attracting out-of-state students -- particularly from Texas -- for several years.
More UA students are from Texas than any other state besides Arkansas.
Texans accounted for 6,300 of UA's 27,562 students last year. That's up from 2,444 in 2010.
UA students from Texas and eight other states can qualify for the New Arkansan Non-Resident Tuition Award Scholarship for Surrounding States.
The scholarship covers 70% to 90% of the difference between out-of-state tuition and in-state tuition for students with the appropriate grade point averages in high schools or colleges they are transferring from. Details can be found at scholarships.uark.edu/nrta.
The scholarships are available to people from Georgia, Illinois, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Texas.
UA students from all other states can qualify for the Extended States New Arkansan Non-Resident Tuition Award. For students from those states, the scholarships cover from 50% to 80% of tuition, based on grade point average.
