<p>I'll be curious to hear from everyone about how the first week of classes goes, and general thoughts on the people on the dorm floors (or apartment mates). Hopefully some of the new terps will come back and tell us, as well as stories filtered through mom (or dad)....</p>
<p>Well i am in a triple for this semester and its been pretty difficult so far. I like to go to bed around 11 to wake up for my 8 am classes. One of the other guys doesn’t start until 12 so he goes to bed around 12:30. The other boy has to wake up at 4 am to eat because he fasts during the day for religious reasons. </p>
<p>Point being, I am not getting nearly enough sleep. Is there any way to get out of this situation.</p>
<p>The going to bed times (and whether the roommates are sober or drunk—i.e. quiet or not) is probably one of the biggest challenges. If you can reach a compromise (how about 11:30), maybe the roommate who goes to bed later can take his stuff (computer, cell phone, socializing) to the lounge, and have a nightlight so he can come in and go to bed and be quieter. For the other one who has to get up at 4…if he can have his food together so that he can leave the room to eat, maybe that will help some.</p>
<p>In lots of ways, you have to just try to be courteous and tolerant. With 3 people in the room, it’s not easy. Frankly, you’ll find that there are some roommate from hell stories out there…your situation should be able to be worked out, if everyone agrees to extend a bit of common courtesy. D1 was in triples her freshman year and again last year (in an apartment). She gritted her teeth a lot, learned how to sleep with a pillow on her head, and is thrilled to have a single this year (although it’s about the same size as a small closet).</p>
<p>I agree with Astro on all points. The fasting ends on September 21st, so just a few weeks more for that. I’m sure you’ll get into a routine before too long. Hang in there!</p>
<p>I do not like not getting to eat until 2. My coed apartment (in Commons) is soo much nicer and cleaner than my apartment last semester, and it is nice to FINALLY live with a friend during the school year.</p>
<p>My brain is going to be so confused this semester. I’m taking French, Spanish Linguistics, Tagalog (Filipino), English Grammar, and an Intro Linguistics course. 5 classes, 4 languages. Other than that, I plan on enjoying this year. A lot.</p>
<p>Wow…good luck thinking in the right language at the appropriate times! last year D went from AP Spanish VI to German 3 to English everyday. She didn’t always keep them straight, but the teachers all knew what she was doing and generally kept a sense of humor about them. Of course, that was high school…</p>
<p>Well, we all made it through the first couple of days’ crises…D2 decided to bail on Calculus. She’ll either take it next semester, or come home and take it at the local cc in the summer. She’s not a math person, and had pretty much convinced herself she would hate it…I, of course, had suggested that she not take it first semester, but apparently her advisor at orientation convinced her. Moral of the story…always listen to mom! Of course she wanted to talk to me about it because her math/science geek sister thought she was just being a wimp, and I’ve got a feeling H would have tried to give her math-pep talks. I reminded D1 that her first semester, she only had 12 hours (and no math yet!) and was BORED, after she’d given her sister the “Buck up, you’re in college” speech last night, HA!</p>
<p>So, after an evening of teeth-gnashing and visiting the advisor for the 2nd major she wants to add (Spanish), she successfully got off the waitlist for Spanish 301, dropped Calculus, added an Art History class (that takes care of HA and D CORE requirements), and changed a discussion section, she seems to have arrived at something that will work.</p>
<p>Her dorm is a bit strange…Reslife didn’t get the message that the girl they’d assigned to be her roommate was NOT coming to Maryland, so she moved in without a roomie. On the surface, this sounds awesome, but it was (is) kind of lonely for the first few days until she gets to know other people. This one is the “social” daughter…she’s always involved in a billion things, and always had a broad circle of friends, so I had no real concerns about her meeting people. Her dorm floor was surprisingly non-social…everyone was hanging out elsewhere, with friends from high school…or the people on the floor had their doors closed. It was really quite strange, actually. Things are picking up now, though, as we all expected, and I think she’s on strong footing. She is anxious to meet some non-drinking people though. Those were few and far between on the first weekend on campus!</p>
<p>D1, of course, is busy with insanely difficult-sounding astro and physics classes. She’s back in the Language house, and is excited about the people in her language cluster. It’s hard to believe that she’s a junior!</p>
<p>Our s is really enjoying being back. He’s excited about his classes, re-connecting with friends and he loves his single room. This sophomore year is a big one for him. He’s taking 18 credits this semester, tutoring in the math dept, and writing a screenplay for his keystone project in Honors Humanities. I’m hoping for the best. Next year he’ll be in Japan for the first semester and likely in India for the second on a NOLS adventure.</p>
<p>Wow, Max!!! That’s awesome! Sounds like you’ve got a great kid! (what’s NOLS??)</p>
<p>NOLS is the National Outdoor Leadership School (or Outward Bound on steroids). Kids can earn 16 credits or so for successfully completing a course. He doesn’t really need the credits since he entered with 58 as a freshman (he has a friend in Honor Humanities that entered with 61).</p>
<p>The Japan trip is an intensive language and culture experience. He’ll be living with a host family and also studying economics there.</p>
<p>Our S is loving UMCP. It’s been a great choice for him so far.</p>
<p>edit: <a href=“http://www.nols.edu/[/url]”>http://www.nols.edu/</a></p>
<p>Astro, your D2’s situation sounds like my S’s situation. He has a roommate but the kid is never there. I think the fact that all the kids have their own connectivity (internet, TVs, cell phones) means they are much more isolated in their dorms than we were when I was in college. He’s also a non-drinker. It will be interesting to see how next weekend goes, with an away football game on TV and a long weekend.</p>
<p>DS is settling in and has established a routine. He’s up by 7:00 a.m., has a protein shake (with that handy little blender I got him) runs his 3 or 4 miles, then works out at the gym. He then has breakfast, showers, and is off to classes. He only has one early class day, I think so this routine is working out well. </p>
<p>He gets along well with his roommate and they have a lot in common. They have a cleaning schedule in place already, alternating weeks. That is probably a good thing since they have their own bathroom. </p>
<p>I asked him what he liked most about college and his answer was the complete and total freedom to make choices. The funny thing is that he is back in his dorm hours earlier than his curfew at home. :)</p>
<p>He likes his classes and is glad that although he qualified for Calculus III, that he went back to Calculus I. He has friends who didn’t and are stressing already about the pace of the class. There are enough reasons to stress without adding to it the first semester.</p>
<p>He has done two loads of laundry already and sounds really relaxed and happy. He loves Maryland! One thing he is not used to is the cold. He runs early in the morning and cannot believe how cold the mornings are already (to him). I cannot imagine what he will think of the cold in October, November and beyond!!</p>
<p>wow, laundry already?! I’m terribly impressed, Jewel!!! I’m thinking D will be waiting as long as she possibly can before heading down to do laundry. btw, some dorms on campus still are quarter-driven. It will be convenient when they get them all switched over.</p>
<p>I was impressed too! Although I will say that I stopped doing his laundry six months ago intentionally. I thought it would be good practice. I would still fold and hang here and there, but I guess it paid off for him. I sent him quarters, but he said there is a change machine in the basement. He’s having to do more laundry because he works out in the mornings and plays soccer in the evenings, so he changes a good three to four times a day! Now he knows how I used to feel!!!</p>
<p>Jewel, I’m sure that everyone around him is glad that he changes clothes 3-4 times a day!!! In college, H roomed with a rugby player…just for one semester, thankfully (this guy gave rugby players a bad name!!). That guy was just disgusting!</p>
<p>Anyway, back to topic, Just talked to D2…she’s really enjoying her classes; Wednesdays are her “full” days…she’s just realizing how easy tomorrow will be (no lab yet), just one class at noon! She’s particularly excited about a couple of her classes (talking a million miles an hour as she tells me), and the others are fine, just not great. She was telling me that earlier in the evening, she was at her desk, trying to do some reading, and was interrupted by kids skateboarding down the hall!!! Her heart wasn’t into the reading anyway, so she watched, a safe distance away from the race course!</p>
<p>She’s already talking about having been to the rec center for volleyball and the climbing wall, excited about the fitness classes (although doesn’t want to stand in line to get her ID entered for the first time)…is planning an outing to Georgetown this weekend to go to a museum for a class assignment, and is organizing a group of people from her floor to go to one or more of the Smithsonian museums on Sunday or Monday. THIS was the kid I expected!!! As I mentioned before, her first weekend after moving in was just bizarre, but now she seems on a roll.</p>
<p>Ha, I also called D1 earlier to make sure I was reading the package correctly for a packet of German salad dressing. (for the record, if the recipe says “3 EL wasser” that’s 3 tablespoons of water. who knew!!!) She’s also happy with her schedule, and her mixture of German literature with all the astro and physics classes looks like it will be good. D2 is going to “spring” for lunch for her on Friday (love that dorm food plan!!) I assume she’ll take her to Adele’s instead of the Diner! Since younger D doesn’t do breakfast, and has missed a few dinners already (they are closing earlier this week…starting next week they’ll be open longer, which suits her lifestyle better)…I’d rather her feed her sister (who is an apt) than miscellaneous guys who’ve used up their food $$ before focus dates!!! (Ha, sister also put in an order for a whole pie if she has any leftover points for the first focus date!!)</p>
<p>Good stuff. But the house is still too quiet.</p>
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<p>Hey, I can point you in the direction of a miscellaneous guy who will likely use up all his points…</p>
<p>Although he’s been eating breakfast in his room, too.</p>
<p>Oh gee, I guess that was pretty crappy grammar! It was ok until I saw it highlighted!!! “I’d rather SHE feed her sister…”</p>
<p>Ha, I’ll keep your son in mind.</p>
<p>Astro, DS is taking German too and that is his favorite class, his least favorite is music appreciation, he needed to take one music course for grad reqs. I laughed at that because he is like his father a very wide spectrum, anywhere from classical to alt rock, unlike me who only has country and 60/70 channels on my pre-set.</p>
<p>What can I say and where do I begin?? D is still totally fixated on the boy back home 3,000 miles away. She sobbed for 24 hours from the night before we left for MD until move-in in Thursday. They skype every night for an hour or more and text during the day. NOT GOOD! He booked a flight out there already to see her in 2 weeks :/</p>
<p>On the positive side, she really likes all her classes and has become involved with Gymkana (I’d never heard of it before) and has found her nitch as she was a gymnast for 11 years. She told me that she is not procrastinating with her school work and staying on top of everything, which I never doubted she would do even for a minute.</p>
<p>And me? I pretty much have a cry every other day or so when I realize how far away she is. I honestly don’t like this empty nesting. Anyone remember the thread that discussed this? I think I need it.</p>
<p>Don’t worry you will feel differently when she comes home for the holidays and you are picking up wet towels off the floor!</p>
<p>It is hard, we have all been there, just start finding a way to divert your mind…i.e. do what I am doing this yr…we have a circular driveway and it always reminds me of UMD with the big M, so this yr I am planting Mums in the shape of our initial…makes me feel close to him and my yard prettier…it is all about playing mind games on yourself to get pass those first few weeks.</p>