Chaos, crowds and temperatures that soared above 100 degrees greeted students for the first day of the semester.

Students approaching the campus in their cars on Nordhoff Street waited more than 10 minutes to turn onto Darby Avenue. Though the parking lots were visible, cars were parked everywhere, with heat shimmering off the pavement, drivers still waited and hunted for cars that were leaving. Anyone walking to their car was stalked like a helpless beast.

The frustration of each student trying to find parking was evident. Students could be seen looking at their stereo clock every 30 seconds while voicing their frustrations to others over their cell phones.

From a distance, a student walking to his parked car brought great relief to another student waiting for a spot. The student parked the car and rushed toward the parking pass machine. As the student saw the machine, she said, “Of course. What a day.”

The machine had a piece of notebook paper taped to it that said, “Out of Order.” The first day of school is known to be a busy day for Parking Services, which is why extra officers are on duty to help control the flow of traffic.

The cruel and unpleasant truth was that the earlier students get to campus, the easier it is to find a spot in any lot.

“I got to school at 8:30 a.m. and had no trouble finding a parking spot,” said junior business major Marilu Vargas. “I just parked in the fourth flour of the structure.”

Carolina Ter-Mirzoyan, junior business major, had no complaints about the parking, but did mention that the lots and the campus did seem more crowded than usual.

Other students were not as lucky, and struggled to get a spot quickly.

“I got here at 10:30, and it took about an hour (to find a parking spot),” said Gerison Magana, junior psychology major.

Magana had gone to the G4 parking lot for a spot and waited for a while, but found no spots, he said. He then moved onto the B6 lot and found an open spot.

The B3 structure had some changes done over the summer, such as repainting the parking spaces in order to improve the traffic flow. The new directions were not difficult to follow, said Stephen Sulzberger.

“I noticed (the paint job),” said Sulzberger, a junior philosophy major. “I just kept following the signs. It was no big deal.”

Sulzberger had no trouble with traffic or finding a space, but did express concern over the flow of traffic when he would finish school in the afternoon.

“I’m waiting to see how traffic is later on,” he said.

The first couple of weeks of school are always tough because it is the beginning of the semester and students are trying to get into classes, said Sulzberger.