<p>@happykidsmom - so much appreciated your idea to check out the Orientation Welcoming Committe FB site. Did not know about that one and found several shots of my son smiling and having a good time, which is what I hoped to see. No luck seeing him go through the gates but oh well. Haven’t heard a word from him since he started there but that’s to be expected I guess. I know they’re busy and my kid signed up for 5 classes, in spite of advice to take it easy. Thanks again! I so much appreciate this site as I referred to it very often through the application process.</p>
<p>I understand, @brownmom1 . I find that if I text my son, he texts me back eventually. Sometimes, the next day. But, yes, I think that if your son isn’t happy, you’ll hear from him. Otherwise, all is well. My son did a similar thing freshman year–piled up way too many hard STEM classes. He has no regrets, though. He loved his classes and professors! This semester, he’s only taking three STEM classes–but also a 5-day-per-week Chinese language class. So, yes, one of the beauties of Brown is that they get to take any of the classes that they want to take, whenever they want to take them. Somehow, they figure out how to juggle their classes and studying and extra-curricular activities. Good practice for The Real World! 
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<p>Also search YouTube because someone may have posted their video. I watched a full length procession through the gates for my son’s class year and found him walking through & downloaded/saved it for him. </p>
<p>@happykidsmom, your son sounds identical to mine. Good to hear he had no regrets and did fine with the large number of STEM classes the first semester. I do think they are just so excited about taking whatever they want, finally. @RenaissanceMom, yes, I will do that. I hope someone does post a video on youtube - it would be a lot of fun watching them all go through the gates together.</p>
<p>Great info on the Brown site and facebook site, found my son on both (how cool to find your kid’s picture on official brown.edu web site, certainly sth to brag about…). Remember to download your kid’s pictures from the sites (mouse-over the photo, right-click, …) before they disappear.</p>
<p>Been getting “don’t bother me, I’m busy…” attitude from my son, and thought because of his busy class schedule, until I accidentally looked at our cell phone usage plan & saw tons of texting from his phone, now I realize he must be busy texting his old friends (attending other colleges) & probably new ones.</p>
<p>What a great idea. Now know my son is alive and well and has friends all over the country, apparently.</p>
<p>@brownmom1, you actually reminds me to look at each texting detail. Just remember some kids are from far like CA or TX which are their cell # origin (their parents plan) but they are in fact at Brown campus.</p>
<p>@Andorvw. Yes, that is what I meant, actually, by him “having friends all over the country” - I meant to say FROM all over the country" meaning new friends on campus. My husband and I had fun scrolling through all the area codes. We are very far away, so it is reassuring to see he’s making new friends and we won’t take it personally that he would rather connect with them than us! What a great experience for him to be on the campus at Brown.</p>
<p>Thanks to happykidsmom for the tip about the FB page, I found a picture of my son going through the gates! BTW regarding phone calls: he has called me a few times but texting and skype is better when he is in his dorm room (E. Andrews) because cell service is terrible in there!</p>
<p>Two questions:</p>
<p>How is parents weekend?</p>
<p>Xmas break seems long, a whole month. What do you’re kids typically do during that time?</p>
<p>I haven’t gone to Family Weekend, but our neighbors’ son just graduated, and they went every year. They said it was great. They loved all of the symposiums, and meeting other parents, and being on campus in the fall. They said that I HAVE to go at some point. So, maybe next year.</p>
<p>As for Christmas, DS came home from Providence sick with a terrible flu that he passed to us, which knocked us all out at various times until after Christmas. Then, things got busy because we live in a popular winter vacation area and DS had several friends from Brown who were in the area with their families and came to visit. DS also spent time with high school friends, as most of his closest friends are also at East Coast schools with a similar break schedule. He runs a charity and did some of the work for that. And, he really enjoyed having a TV with Netflix in his bedroom here so that he could catch up on all that he missed while he was at school, since he tries not to watch much during school. </p>
<p>When he went back to school, I wasn’t ready, but he was chomping at the bit to get back. His group of friends planned in advance to get back to campus early to spend time together before classes started again, so he went back 4-5 days before classes started back. To me, that month didn’t seem anywhere near long enough. YMMV. ;)</p>
<p>So I just posted a new thread trying to find a video of the 2018 class going through the Van Wickle Gates, just in case. Also @PinchyBoo 67 - that’s so funny. My son is in E. Andrews too. Finally did hear from him, by the way.</p>