<p>We dropped our son off this morning and noticed right away the differences from last year. O.K. first, I wasn't crying and he and DH weren't hoping it wouldn't turn into full scale sobbing until I got out of his dorm. Second, it all seemed familiar and somehow "right" and not alien and confusing. I can't say DS is any less clueless about what he needs to do, but at least he seemed confident that he would figure it out. I wasn't looking at faces and wondering which were the potetial ax murderers and which would be his friends. It was fun to watch the kids greet each other and discuss their new dorm locations. It was also interesting to note that the returning students seemed to bring less stuff than they did last year. Most noticiable, however, was that there was not even an attempt to hide how anxious they were to have their parents LEAVE. We'll be lucky if DS even deigns to see us before we fly home tomorrow. And though I wouldn't have believed it at this time last year, even that makes me feel good about the drop off.</p>
<p>My son flew back to school alone as a sophomore and got his stuff out of storage himself, with the help of a friend with a car. Initially, I was sad I wasnt there to help, but later I was glad I didn't have to do all of that lugging and unpacking. I was glad to leave it to the kids at that point!</p>
<p>Son is driving up by self in his little car. We will bring up the fridge and other stuff he decides he needs 2 days later. (We are about an hr away). I am not going to miss going to Home Depot and buying 8 cinder blocks. I am also not going to miss hauling 5 of those blocks up 3 flights of stairs on one of the hottest days of the year. By the time I got back from Home Depot on move-in day, son had to leave for a freshman orientation.</p>
<p>my S, who is a sophomore, has been away all summer working in the Sierras. He comes back Sunday night (likely after midnight) and his first class is Monday 9am. He won't be living at home, but he is only about 15 minutes away. I'm really looking forward to the start of school, as I'll see more of him than I have all summer</p>
<p>Same experience as lalady, we had so little unpacking to do because son wanted us to leave and said he'd do everything. He sounded confident. He even bought his car, and I don't know where he'll park; my husband was grumpy about that and I said 'let him figure it out'. It was so little stress this time and it felt right...</p>
<p>We're about 90 minutes away..and he didn't need the fridge.</p>
<p>The first year we wanted to move my daughter in, but couldn't. The second and third years, she figured out who she was catching a ride with in the middle of August. Mind you, she goes to college 16 hours away, so logistics are kind of critical. She still not sure just which day she's leaving on .... Her friend that's driving lives in CT, which is considered close, because it's on the east coat! She's a late starter, btw, and has her first class Sept. 12. As a junior, she and her friend will squeeze everything they need in one car.</p>
<p>We arrived at his dorm at 1:30 and by 2:15 he was ready for us to leave. We provided the moving and unloading service and that was all that was necessary. He was comfortable being back at school.....his roommate was already there and he had messages from friends on his door. He did call about an hour later though wondering where something was that he knew he packed but couldn't find. Still can't do totally without Mom I guess.</p>
<p>Here is my experience....I drove my guy down Wed.....1 small fridge, 1 home theater system (no TV), clothing, bedding, shoes, few sports items, computer, printer etc.....4 hr drive...we got to Yale....the streets around the residential colleges are a zoo.....plan was to drop him off to get keys... he did that and ran up to the room.....while I circled the block, a good 10 minute effort to go not even 1/2 mile......two roomates were in the room and came down and I pulled into the commercial vehicle unloading spot.....we dumped it all onto the sidewalk.....and I stayed with the car and the sidewalk collection while they ran up the first pass... one of the roomies had a trolley with cables (extremely helpful)...it took 3 runs total with 3 guys to get it all up 3 flights of stairs... and then I found a real parking spot, put 2 hrs into the meter and went up to assist. The guys moved furniture, hung everything up.... raised the bed some (not a true loft, just room for some bins/drawers underneath) and emptied most all suitcases etc....another roomate showed up with the results of a Costco run....this time, the 3 guys ran down to help him bring up 120 bottles of water, 96 of soda, 48 of gatorade... everyone was hot and tired.....wish I had seen the one post about putting your fan into the car last, so it is the first out and plugged in before we left for school.....finally we got the empty suitcases down to my car and I said goodnite...went to the hotel and checked in. Lots of tennis stars in town for the Pilot Pen tournament....I got one picture of one famous player... no pictures of son or friends or dorm room etc.....hubby not very happy with my camera efforts.....agree that I failed that assignment big time. the funny thing about seeing celebrities is that on first glance you think "oh I know that person, what's their name?" and you are thinking they are a friend of yours....then you realize that you don't really know them, you just recognize them... saw patrick mcenroe, todd martin, brad gilbert....must get tickets for next year's trip......</p>
<p>I then went to Ikea for the evening. Talk about a tiring experience.... so much to see, such a long hike thru all the iterations......took notes.... took the guys for breakfast next am, reviewed the notes, hit up Ikea for real this time....got a few items....reminded him of the 1 or 2 toiletries we had forgotten....back to the dorm, unloaded again from an illegal spot in the midst of a huge traffic jam.....said goodbye on the street and headed home. </p>
<p>Impressions vs last year? It is soo much more relaxing to know the roomates that have custody of your kid.....it was fun to see the kids after a great summer....it is easier when you have a list of restaurants you want to revisit.... it is nice to not feel compelled to buy EVERYONE a sweatshirt.....I wasn't concerned about the 400 drink cups he bought at Sam's Club the week before we left....you know the roomates enough to ask them to watch out for one another....don't let anyone do the binge drinking to an extreme....and they say OK, we do..... one of the guys commented at breakfast that before college, at home, he always thought his mom was a bit crazy....but after he got to Yale, he realized his mom was like all the other moms...(that comment deserves a customized smiley, but I have not mastered that editing feature).. last year my guy was definitely looking to have us leave which I found hurtful...I still wanted to dispense advice.....I knew from his soph and junior hs summer programs that he found it really easy to say goodbye, but they were short duration partings, 3- 4 weeks, yet it was still a jolt to me that he was gone in spirit before we had departed... this year, I knew immediately when it was time for me to leave on day 1...and frankly I was ready to get back to my own life on day 2....not really looking forward to the 4 hr ride home, but the ride was easy cause I had no worries about my son as he starts sophmore year. His summer job was a true 9-5 office job, spreadsheet jockey for insurance company, and I think he enters sophmore year at school with a greater appreciation for the cost of his education.....cause he knows how hard it is to make big bucks. </p>
<p>One hs friend worked at a summer resort.....and one of his resort co-workers, also a rising soph at a school in Maine, was killed in a car accident going to work one morning.....so that serves as a big head's up about choices and ramifications from choices.....</p>
<p>overall, sophmore year drop off was a great break from my own job... and my only regret is that I wasn't the one being dropped off!! (ps, I apologize for the length of my posts... they don't seem so long in the little quick reply boxes, but whenever I have submitted them, they do run on.... oh well, tough to edit the goodbye stories!)</p>
<p>My husband took our daughter back to NYC to begin her junior year. She was allowed to move in early because she is helping with orientation. There were no parking problems as so few students were arriving. My husband left the car in front of the dorm, went to his firm's NY office and put in some work hours. The D and her friends unpacked the car. She and her Dad met at 5:00 for a run and soon afterward he headed back to Philly. We were eating take out Chinese before 9:00 PM. Quite a change from freshman year.</p>
<p>Our d has been home from Asia for less than 1 month and leaves to fly back to school in one week. She has made arrangments to get picked up at the airport and she is planning on taking back with her less than she brought home. (We will see, she has yet to pack anything.) Most of her stuff was left in the attic of her dorm so she will have alot of moving stuff to her room. I hope she gets friends to help but since she is flying back by herself, it won't be us.
Ellen</p>
<p>Dropped off sophomore D yesterday. Two cars (hers - basically empty, and the van-loaded, but only half as full as last year). Three hour drive turned into 4 by road construction. Entered the room to find all the furniture just packed into the room. Two huge wardrobes (instead of closets), 2 beds that had to be flipped and raised to accomodate the dressers that had to go underneath) two desks and chairs. Took about 30 minutes to decide on a floor plan that worked, after that unloading was a snap. The dorm is only two years old, so all is nice and new. She's living in a quad with 3 good friends from last year, so the new roommate anxiety from last year wasn't there. The girls were so anxious to start decorating their room! This is my 3rd child to go off to college, and I must say that it gets easier every year. But this is my only daughter, and I feel lilke she's matured so much in the past year. She spent the first 2 weeks of summer vacation in India volunteering with Habitat for Humanity, then came back for a 10 week internship in CT (we live in NJ so I did get to see her some weekends). She had her own apartment for the summer and adjusted quite well to life on her own. I really enjoyed spending the last 2 weeks with her, doing things like shopping in NYC before taking her back to college!</p>
<p>Our sophomore son just pulled out of our driveway for his solo return to campus only 75 minutes away. His car was STUFFED.
It's a new (used) car he's had only a few months.....a nerdy station wagon that is at least a cool deep blue color.</p>
<p>He's a practical kid. With a tuba, electric basses, amps, clothes, microwave, computer, it was a tight squeeze.
The station wagon saved him from his weepy Mom accompanying him with her even nerdier minivan!
I did offer to come help.....he said he had friends lined up on the other end.
I miss the young man already.....dragging all that stuff upstairs I will not!</p>
<p>Because our DS has moved into an off campus apartment, he has been back and forth a few times moving things up, painting his bedroom, building a loft and helping paint and prep the apartment. We did the final move today because he will not have his car first semester(a long story) and DW was interested in seeing his "new" digs. He evidently got several others into the loft thing because several were in building mode this afternoon.</p>
<p>Our stay was rather short-met about 5 of his new apt mates, helped in lag bolting his loft to one wall and off we went. We will be going up parents weekend in October where they are planning to host a BBQ dinner for all the parents who come-DS is planning to do an upstate NY treat called speidies-marinated chicken/pork on a slice of italian bread.</p>
<p>No tears or anxieties this time. A far more fulfilling experience knowing that he is turning into quite an independent young man. However the return home was somewnat bittersweet, given the possibility that he wants to intern or work at hte university next summer and this may have been his last summer spent at home.</p>