<p>Hi Osufunguy-
Can you give some of us novices an idea of what Family Weekend involves? Is it worth going down there for it, or should we stay as far away as possible from the crowds and visit some other time? Do students who don’t have any family there feel left out and a little neglected? Also, are there any particular activities going on that would be fun or enlightening for us to experience? Thanks for your continued advice!</p>
<p>Haha, this isn't probably the answer you want to hear...but I actually have no idea what Family Weekend is all about...</p>
<p>I always spent my summers in Columbus and typically, with all the activities I was doing, I used Family Weekend to go back home, because I knew I probably wouldn't be able to head home again until Thanksgiving. So basically my Family Weekend was always the opposite (but then again, I was always prone to leaving campus when there was an influx of people...for instance, I was never on campus for Move-In Day).</p>
<p>Maybe someone else has some advice on Family Weekend?</p>
<p>This is the best advice I can give you : <a href="http://parent.osu.edu/family.asp%5B/url%5D">http://parent.osu.edu/family.asp</a></p>
<p>Although I'm sure that OSU will organize a nice weekend, the events look a little goofy and the crowds are probably going to be thick. We will probably stay away that weekend and visit another time.</p>
<p>thats the feeling I had also. I don't relish the thought of fighting traffic, parking, finding places to eat, etc when a visit at some other time would be less hectic and more productive. However, I would hate to get a call Sunday evening saying that she feels like an orphan because we were the ONLY parents who didn't show up. We will try to get a feeling as to whether or not she really wants us to be there--Anyone else thinking about going?</p>
<p>Now that the first couple weeks are done and he has settled in to campus life, I don't think my son is very interested in seeing us until Thanksgiving. We will have to see if he can work us in to his schedule. :)</p>
<p>I agree with the comments about the events. There really weren't any that my son or family had any real interest to attend. We're only a half hour away, so visitation at other times really isn't an issue.</p>
<p>We're flying in Friday evening. The way I view it: During that weekend, she won't be the only one with "embarrassing" family members hanging around. We're not doing any of the official events on Friday due to our late arrival. On Saturday we are taking the 1.5 hour stadium tour and going to the tailgate party that night. I may take D shopping for warm clothes (if winter ever arrives). On Sunday, it's brunch and we'll fly home that evening. </p>
<p>D's younger siblings S15 and D12 have never been to Columbus so they are interested to see the place they've had to hear about so frequently. I've had my hotel reservations for many months. I'm sure everything will be crowded but hopefully as well run as all the other OSU events. They certainly impressed us every time.</p>
<p>Your D's siblings should definitely come up for Sibs Weekend...heck, even if it isn't on Sibs Weekend.</p>
<p>I graduated and I still have my 17 year-old brother come up at least one weekend a year just to hang out with me...</p>
<p>We're going to make the 6 hour drive to attend the family weekend...not so much to attend the programming, but to see how our son has acclimated to his new surroundings and experience it as he is now. We expect it is a far cry from the "panicked, tense" look on his face the day he moved in.</p>
<p>Wife, 14yr old D and I are flying in on Friday the 26th also. My son said some of his friends' families will be in town. SW PA office and they had 200 families registered to date, and normally have 500-600 attending. </p>
<p>I feel the same as MaryTN.</p>
<p>I think it's great that you guys are going in for Family Weekend. We are only two hours away, so getting there on any particular weekend isn't too complex. If we were traveling further I'm sure we would take advantage of the Family Weekend opportunity as well. I hope you all have a great time and that your kids are doing well.</p>
<p>We just arrived home from Family Weekend. I'll post more tomorrow but the big news is that President Gee is strongly in favor of switching to semesters. He also wants to see an additional 6-10,000 on campus housing spaces built.</p>
<p>Looking forward to your post, Mary.</p>
<p>Can't wait to hear what you have to say, MaryTN. I've been thinking of you this weekend and hope things went well!</p>
<p>My first round of thoughts:</p>
<p>We didn't do any of the Friday evening activities.</p>
<p>Registration at the Fawcett Center on Saturday was smooth and well-organized as is usual for OSU. The only thing about the activities that got annoying is that everything said you needed to arrive 15 minutes early. If they had said, "Please arrive promptly. Tours depart at the stated time," I could have understood. But we showed up at 12:33 for our 12:45 tour and were told scoldingly it had already left. Don't they realize that it's the first time navigating the campus for many of the people? It's hard to judge how long parking and walking will take. Would it kill them to start the 12:45 tour at 12:46 instead of 12:30? And of course, the 12:30 tour left at 12:15. Weird and oddly annoying.</p>
<p>The stadium tour wasn't worth the two hours it took. The fancy viewing boxes looked nice but every stadium has those. Walking on the field was forbidden but we were allowed to touch it with our fingers. The cynic in me wondered how 175 pound people in tennis shoes walking were going to hurt the field compared to 300 pound men in cleats running, twisting, and turning.</p>
<p>There were many other tours and activities but we only did two more.</p>
<p>The tailgate party at St. John's arena was the first time I've ever seen the OSU organizational machine break down. The starting time was 6:00pm (please arrive 15 minutes early). The cheerleaders and Brutus were scheduled for 7:15pm and the game started at 8:00pm. Seriously, the doors opened 2 hours 15 minutes before game time and there was nothing to do except eat the buffet food. We arrived just before 6 and there was no seating left at the round tables that had been set up! We (and everyone who arrived after we did) had to sit in rows of folding chairs or in the bleachers. There was plenty of open floor space. It is mysterious why they didn't have more tables set up. It was an RSVP -- tickets only-- event so they knew the total ahead of time. At 7:15 the cheerleaders and Brutus led 3 cheers and then we had a game of "Name that OSU song" played by 3 audience members who didn't know most of the songs. Seating got so tight that a family actually took one of our chairs even after my husband told them the seats were "taken" by family members in the bathroom! They should have opened the doors at 7:15 and had enough tables. We left at halftime after determing the team would be fine without us. :-)</p>
<p>The Sunday morning brunch had many tables set up with unfilled spaces which was odd because it was an extra cost and the tailgating had been free. The new (and former) President Gee is hot to shake things up. I wonder if the trustees knew what he wants to do when they hired him! It's going to be an exciting place for years to come. He also said he loves helicopter parents. He spoke a bit about the 150 hours/week the students are not in class. I think he wants the university to be a bigger part of those hours which may be why he's pushing for so many new dorm spaces. The program listed him as speaking and taking questions for an hour but he stopped after 30 minutes. The questions that were asked were very good and I wish he had spent more time doing that. I'll ask my family tonight if they can remember what the rest of the questions were.</p>
<p>D is doing well... although not sleeping enough in my mom-opinion. <grin> We went shopping at Easton Mall for clothes and at Kroger for snacks and soup. It's hard to believe she'll be home for Thanksgiving in 23 days and that they have less than 2 weeks between then and winter break!</grin></p>