<p>Oldfort, you do know that your daughter and mine are on the same campus, don't you? And it's a campus that is not exactly known for such conservative lifestyles. </p>
<p>I guess it takes all kinds to make a diverse university environment -- including the kind of kid we seem to have produced.</p>
<p>Marian - yes, I do. My daughter is very conservative with her personal life, which always come as a surprise to some people.</p>
<p>D is adjusting very well - thanks! Loving her voice teacher and her classes overall. First big Honors paper in World Religion - worry - got an A+ and the comment "flawless prose". First test - same class- 105 - even though as she told me - "MOm I totally BS"d the essay question!". SHe is a wonderful writer (despite the negative comments in Senior year from the AP English teacher). A suitemate switch this week - better fit with another music major - and seems to be doing fine!</p>
<p>Phew!</p>
<p>DS is doing very well. Gets along with his roommate, although they hang out with different crowds - roomie is an athlete and thus not around a lot anyway. Has made friends on his floor and from a class. I'd like him to get more involved with 1 or 2 EC's, but he's happy. He said the first week he wondered if it would have been easier to make friends if he'd gone to his 2nd choice school, but has since decided he's glad he's where he is. Grades seem to be good - did well on Calc quiz and an A on his first paper. For a while he said it really wasn't much more work than high school, but now I think he's beginning to change his mind. He's coming home next weekend for fall break, should be interesting as life here has revolved around his little sister since he left. I'm wondering if there will be some sibling rivalry although they have always gotten along pretty well.</p>
<p>Mine's struggling. (UWisc-Madison.) First couple of weeks he was overwhelmed by the huge campus and lonely at barely knowing a soul. He solved that by pledging a frat, which "shrunk the campus" for him, but now the frat stuff has him so busy that he's worried and uptight about his classes. I think it will balance out eventually but I worry a lot.</p>
<p>I also just returned from parent weekend. Good to be there, absorbing nuance of the situation, lounging in her dorm a bit. Living on the ground floor, near the exit, everyone stops by her triple to say hi, say goodnight, laugh a bit. Met lots of kids just being in the room. I brought cake, to break the ice a bit. My D is busy, on the tennis team, so has practice and matches, and playing in orchestra and quartet. She feels she's frequently rushing off, while roomies lounge. She's happy with her involvement, as well as her life, friends, and classes. For a shy kid, who hardly spoke up for herself for years, life couldn't be better.</p>
<p>The hours are nuts. I don't hear how late, as she knows it would just distress me. She's right. She does say she goes to the library when serious work needs to be done, as the room is not conducive to study.</p>
<p>only think "bothering" my D is that she ran out of hotchoclate packets, as eveeryone hangs out in her room!!</p>
<p>but she is very good about studying, and she bought herself some BIG earphone headset thing to block out noise and if she is listening to music, it doesn't disturb roommate, yoou know that buzzing sound</p>
<p>she loves loves loves everything and now is ready for me to ship her fall clothes..</p>
<p>being busy is the best</p>
<p>she isn't partying much either, she finds going into manhattan, eating dinner, exploring wth new friends is so much better than drinking all night and then sleeping all day</p>
<p>she finds when she and her friends come back from their adventures, some dormmates are JUST getting up at 4pm, having lost the whole day, she thinks that is just silly, when you have this whole amazing world to explore</p>
<p>H and I just returned from a conference that was at S's college, giving us a nice reason to be able to see S and hang out with him a bit.</p>
<p>S seems very happy with his college, a second tier LAC that was his first choice, and seems to be rising to his academic potential after going through high school with a sub 3.0 unweighted while having scores in the 99th percentile. He is by choice taking a heavy courseload, and has proudly told me that he is getting excellent grades. During our visit, S said that he plans to be the exception to the rule that says that h.s. gpa is the best predictor of college gpa.</p>
<p>He is participating in some service and leadership-related ECs, including one that requires him to out before 7:30 Saturday mornings, and also has been taking advantage of guest lectures, films and other events on campus. He has been doing this -- on his own, not because of extra credit. Hard to believe that he is a guy who at home had to almost be pushed out of the house to do things like go to movies and hang out with friends. </p>
<p>Before he started college, both of us had had concerns about his roommates who -- due to their Facebook pages -- clearly were partiers, something S is not. One never moved in, and a replacement moved in instead. It ends up that the remaining original roommate gets along fine with S. The other roommate, however leaves smelly, wet clothes piled in a heap on the floor. S had to buy air freshner and use it frequently. S won't confront the roommate about the clothes problem because he says that at least the roommate doesn't do things like bring liquor into the room.</p>
<p>When S was at home, he had so many clothes on his floor that it was difficult to walk in his room. Now, however, he has become much neater. Interesting how college can change a person. :)</p>
<p>S has had some random nice things happen including winning a prize worth more than $100 in a campus drawing.</p>
<p>weenie -
[quote]
trying out for a play this week so <strong><em>keep your fingers crossed please.</em></strong> I think it will be his ticket to a social life if he can get a part!
[/quote]
</p>
<p>I love hearing this! Good luck to him. And if it's mostly for the social opportunities, it's just as good to work on the crew (sets, costumes, lighting,
assist the stage manager...). Theater is an ensemble activity, so even if he doesn't get the part this time, he can still make friends with the cast and have a lot of fun. They always need more volunteers, just ask the director for a spot on the crew with lots of rehearsal time.</p>
<p>p3t: Thanks! He brought his stage crew clothes (paint - lots of paint) to school, so I'm hoping that he'll do that if he doesn't get a part. He has been going to the drama club (or whatever it's called) meetings, so hopefully someone will notice him sitting there and give him something to do. :) LOL.</p>
<p>My D had a bit of a rocky road during a very long orientation, but is now very happy. In her own words when she called Saturday, "I'm fantastic!" She LOVES her classes and how accessible her professors and instructors are. In her Humanities core class she expressed a little concern because she was unfamiliar with how to "respond" to art, but then she said, "But Mom, just look at how much I'm going to learn". She has jumped into ECs and will modify her participation as coursework dictates. As many others counseled me, sometimes they just have to find their level. She now has friends, plenty to do at night and on weekends and loves her classes. What more could a parent want. But this parent knows to take every day as it comes. We're just thrilled that this has been a great week and next week will take care of itself.</p>
<p>Weenie, our tour guide at your son's school was into drama. She was very enthusiastic about it. It sounded like a nice bunch of kids.</p>
<p>Thanks mathmom. I'm hopeful! :)</p>
<p>A note for those kids who are not doing as well. As parents please encourage them to use their opportunities. My upperclassmen son is a mentor to a group of freshmen. Last week he emailed them to say that he didn't want the "class" they take on freshmen experience to just be a responsibility. Told them to call him, IM, email anytime. Not one has done so. For those that are struggling, upperclassmen can be a great resource. Plus he found last year that when he made friends with upperclassmen they were kind of past the whole party scene.</p>
<p>My D is doing very well also - I've been extremely proud of how she has been managing her time - a well-balanced plate of studying, sleeping and fun. She insists on getting at least 7 hours of sleep a night and since she has 4
8 oclocks that means she tries to hit the sack 11ish. Classes are definitely a lot of work, but again, she has carved a study routine that works and still allows for some fun - a zumba class, a couple of organizations and hanging out. Roomate situation is good - roomate is gone alot, so D gets a good bit of quiet time in the evening and her room also seems to be one of the hangout places.</p>
<p>I've been especially happy and at peace because when I have taken her back to school twice from visits (she's only 70 minutes away), within 5-10 minutes at least half a dozen people stop by the room to greet her back and check in - it's GREAT to see her loved by her new dorm family! She is at a small college, small dorm - all a good fit for her.</p>
<p>There was one setback this weekend, not so much for her, but for her dorm family. One guy and girl on the floor were in a terrible accident when they went out for a ride - it appears to be just a stupid, unavoidable move they made - the truck was totaled (they went off a railroad track, through a cornfield and hit a house!) , the guy just got a few bumps and bruises but the girl is having lots of issues and yesterday was taken by helicopter from the local hospital to a medical center nearer her home - please pray for her!!!</p>
<p>This was a big wake up call to the dorm floor - also goes to show how much they have all bonded in a month to be so upset and invested in each other.</p>
<p>"trying out for a play this week so <strong><em>keep your fingers crossed please.</em></strong> I think it will be his ticket to a social life if he can get a part! "</p>
<p>Even if he can't get a part, it can still be the ticket to a social life if he dives in and volunteers with the play. There will be plenty of behind the scenes opportunities. I met a freshman at S's college Sat. who had tried out for,but didn't get a role in the play that's running. However, she is helping with props, and met lots of people by doing that.</p>
<p>Pass the word on to students who haven't yet found a group to hang out with that volunteering for any job that's going unfilled in an organization -- no matter how humble that job is -- will help them meet people.</p>
<p>D is enjoying a life of leisure, compared to her sr. year of high school. She took a relatively light courseload (she's got about 58 hrs of AP credit, so she's got some leeway of time before her double major and minor kick into high gear). Like high school, she's finishing assignments the day they're assigned--she doesn't like having things hanging over her head. (why, oh why, didn't her younger sister get some of that attitude??!!) She has a real strange dude for an honors seminar (someone above mentioned Ferris Bueller....she said this guy sounds exactly like the teacher in that movie..."Bueller....Bueller.....Bueller"). And, unlike high school, having a grade of 90, 91, or 92 is an A (I reminded her of that--she had really forgotten what it was like!!!)</p>
<p>She's mastered the transportation needs to get into DC (from College Park, MD), and usually is there on one or both days of the weekend---she's LOVING that. Her friends at Georgetown complain that she's got much easier access to the DC metro than they do. She has a research paper she's working on, and gets extra credit if she does some of the research at the Library of Congress. How cool is that?</p>
<p>She's been providing homework help for younger sis in Physics, German, and Stats....and apparently is the roving tutor in her dorm. I told her to really, really appreciate how easy this semester is for her---she's mapped out the remaining semesters she has ahead of her....there's no question that it's not going to stay this easy.</p>
<p>Only tough times she's having is trying to move on from high school bf---he's in Pittsburgh, and by mutual agreement, they always planned to not stay romantically involved while they are so far away from each other. She's having a much tougher time than she expected there. He was her best friend throughout high school before they started dating last year--so they still IM and email each other every day, and surprisingly, they started writing letters (like, real letters) to each other this summer when she was in Germany...she said they've resumed their letter writing.</p>
<p>Crazy hours--you bet. She's not into the drinking scene, but has a big group of friends that she hangs out with (and is usually found in the wee hours playing cards in the dorm lounge with guys from her floor).</p>
<p>A postcard she sent us from Chinatown in D.C. last week said, "I love you guys and miss you, but I am infinitely glad that this is where I chose to go. I love it here." What more could you hope for?</p>
<p>We also just returned from Parent's Weekend. She looked great, even though she was recovering from a cold. Her "nest" is very comfortable. Little sis, who is a HS senior stayed in the dorm with her and went to classes on Friday. She had fun going to all the parties and hanging out with big sis' friends. </p>
<p>D1 seems to be doing well in her classes. They are challenging and she has a lot of work. But she has a good balance with a dance class and a social life. She says she's the happiest she's ever been and that she loves her school...she now calls it her home (already!!!) Now I'm worried she'll be bored when she comes back (to her REAL home) for break soon.</p>
<p>THis is new: although he's making friends, some of whom live nearby, he asked us to fly him up from SoCal to San Francisco to spend Thanksgiving with relatives he's never met before. I guess he wants that family feeling, knowing he can't come all the way home then. These cousins are young-at-heart, with college age kids themselves, so I'm sure it will go fine. WOrth the ticket to us.</p>
<p>That is normally an inexpensive flight, although the prices are probably higher than normal at Thanksgiving.</p>