<p>I've been busy and haven't been at this site for a long time. Perhaps you oldtimers, and YOU know who you are, could let us know how the past year or two has been for your college student.I'm sure all the new (dah, knew) folks would appreicate hearing what actually DOES happen after the youngins leave the nest.</p>
<p>I stumbled into this site 2 years ago and found it enourmously helpful. Child #3 has since finished his first year at a large University . He has learned scholasticly that he doesn't like computer programming all that much and so has changed majors from Computer Engineering to Technology Information. He has acquired a job in his new field this summer. The college is wonderful for him and has enjoyed all the athletics, parties and crowds. He has learned rooming in a quad is not the way to go and that space in college dorms is limited and they will take your request for a quad with friends as an opportunity to jam as many kids in as few rooms as possible. So next year the move is off campus to an apartment and we will have that to contend with next Fall.
Child #4 is going to a smaller private college in the Fall 06 and will be on the varsity tennis team. It was an exciting Spring to finally receive the news he was in. He looks forward to the total experience of a core curiculum and playing a Division One sport.
Child #2 is taking a few post grad. classes at a large Southern University now. She is a stay at home mom of a 1 year old. They moved to a smaller town due to hus.'s job and have a house now. Situation is as it was.....I miss her DEARLY and REGRET EVERYDAY we allowed her to run off to the college of her choice a thousand miles from our home where she met the hometown boy of her dreams and never came home. But yes, we can go visit but it isn't like calling her up for lunch or being there to babysit my grandchild while she runs errands. My advice to parents remains the same: Beware sending your daughters FAR away to college because you may just lose them for good!
Child#1 who dropped out college is sucessfully working in a large West Coast city and pretty much enjoying the expereince.We miss him too and have plans to visit soon. But this is an okay situation for us as this son was hit with wanderlust at 19 and this is the only way he would be happy, now anyway!</p>
<p>So that is where we stand, please bring us up to date on your college and grad students!</p>
<p>D # 1 is now a Junior at Cornell in the School of Industrial Labor Relations. I am always amused as how things work out. Cornell was probably the last school she decided to apply to as she really didn't like the campus the first time she saw it. She felt it was a bit too big and spread out. In comparison, she liked Univ. of Rochester and I sort of assumed that would be the school she would ultimately attend.<br>
As NYS residents, tuition at Cornell is somewhat reasonable for certain programs. We made our d visit Cornell a second time to see if her opinion changed. We were not going to force her to apply, but we did make her visit the school a second time. Luckily, her second visit was a bit more satisfying and she decided to apply to the ILR program. It was only after the acceptance letter and 3rd campus visit that she "fell in love" with the campus.
D is still in ILR- It's really a pretty flexible program if you like history-economics and the social sciences. She'll be living in an apartment in "Collegetown" and then will do a semester in Florence next spring. I am already planning our trip to visit her. A vacation to Rome-Florence and Venice sounds good to me.<br>
D has been able to work in an Employment Law Firm doing legal research on her winter break as well as working there now for a few weeks. She'll be leaving at end of month to be a camp counselor in the Berkshires. She wants one more summer to be a kid. Next summer she plans on studying for the LSAT's. The people at the Law Firm are respecting (and seem to be a bit envious) her decision to go back to camp. I think all us middle age folks are realizing that we are putting are kids in too competitive an environment and we should all hold on to our "childhood" experiences a bit longer. So this summer is working out perfectly. As there is constant paralegal or research projects to do at the Law firm, she can work there for a few weeks at a time and then go on with her life which I think that will eventually include Law School.
D # 2 will be starting SUNY-Cortland this August. As both schools are very close to one another I have a feeling we'll be visiting them and the Wine Country in the Finger Lake district of NYS occassionally. (Ssshhh! That's a secret) If they don't want us to visit, we'll just do the wine country tour.</p>
<p>D will be a sophomore at Amherst - loved it, but hated all the work - too many papers! Didn't like her roommate - but then, only 2 other girls did. Roommate will be alone in a 2-room double next year because no one wanted to live with her! D and numerous friends all got together and applied to theme housing, and 6 of them will be in the same house. It's kind of off campus, and I thought it would be more of a hike, but D is happy - no more hills! And my "I hate to cook" kid now wants to learn this summer, because the house has a kitchen and she wants a Foreman grill. She is already planning summer internships, Study Abroad and grad school. (I know - I warned her: MORE papers!) All in all, a great experience, and she can't wait to go back. And yes, D is over 1000 miles from home, but I knew she had no plans to return when she went. She has wanted for years to live in DC or NYC. Oh, well...great for her, sad for Mom.</p>
<p>I know both these schools and can relate. Wow, Texas to Amherst?!
Also, my son works in the labor relations industry. About D moving so far, like you I am very happy for my daughter. I think we will become accommodated to the situation, but it may take some time.</p>
<p>Last year the only S left the warm and sunny TX for a very cold place in NE. He did quite well. He is quite allergic and has asthma. The fall and winter were much better than TX. The spring was miserable. He did not get the normal TX spring time symptons. First he had sore throat - the parents here helped, then the spring time pollens of NE affected his eyes. He had constant red-eyes. The university doctors also gave us a scare - first they told him he had eye infection and later said he might have to go to an opthamologist. All this was happening as the finals were approaching and major writing assignments were due. Fortunately, my wife has a cousin who is a GP and told us that this year was the worst in NJ for red eyes. Almost, the entire population of NJ had red eyes. He suggested baseball cap, sunglasses and frequent eye washing. It seemed to help and we survived.</p>
<p>Now in the next few days he will be off the NW US for 11 weeks. Will come home for a week and back to school.</p>
<p>D has come home from her first year at Princeton two weeks ago. I can only say that she is, in the words of my British friends, over the moon. She got lucky with a single in a new dorm, made an absolute best friend in her next door neighbor, due to her allergies (hi Simba) got a medical accomodation to stay in said dorm with a single next year because the dorm also has air conditioning. And said best friend will also be there.</p>
<p>In addition to said best friend, D has wound up with a crew of 8-9 friends, half boys half girls, who travel and socialize as a pack. They have wild fun is all I can say.</p>
<p>She's also writing for the newspaper and has gotten right into the thick of some controversial issues. Loves it.</p>
<p>As for academics, first semester wasn't her usual record but second semester she did amazingly well. (She will kill me if I give actual GPA:)). Looks like she will keep on track to major in either molbio, evolutionary bio, or psychology, with a certificate in neuroscience. She took a religion course this semester on the historical realities of Jesus and the disciples with a 2 world famous professors, one as the lecturer and one as the preceptor. Enjoyed it more than any single academic experience of her life.</p>
<p>Also has discovered she's cute. A big plus when you were the tall red-head who got straight As and didn't drink in high school:). Oooh, now she will probably kill me anyway....</p>
<p>Honestly school makes her so happy. In case anyone now hates me, don't. I promise that there are compensatory sorrows, but nothing to discuss here, and nothing to do with college or D, luckily.</p>
<p>Nice to hear from you Simba. I didn't know you lived in TX! Yes, allergies in the N.E. can be troublesome, tree pollen in the Spring and grasses and weeds in the Fall. (my son suffers in the Fall) There is something called Pink Eye or Conjunctivitis and it is contageous and can become serious if not treated. It is not an allergy but an infection. With treatment clears up almost immediately. Sorry to hear your son suffers so with the allergies.</p>
<p>I've always lived in New York and also suffer from spring allergies. Tree and Grass pollen affect the NE from April through June. Then we have hay fever (ragweed) from late August to October. My dad had that. The newer presciption drugs are great as they do not make you sleepy. I use allegra and it does the trick for me. It's funny, I did not have allergies until college. It took me about 3 seasons until I realized it was an allergy and not a cold every April.</p>
<p>The allergies in NJ this spring were AWFUL!!!!</p>
<p>Son came home from college with red eyes, hacking dry cough, stuffed nose and assurance that it's 'just a cold, mom'.</p>
<p>I forced him to go to Dr. He returned with diagnosis of allergy and asthma triggered by allergy. A bunch of inhalers, nose sprays and allegra and he's wonderfully better. </p>
<p>The one and only son just finished his third year at USC, and, I might add, made Dean's list. He had a great internship last semester at Participant Productions (<a href="http://www.participantproductions.com/);%5B/url%5D">http://www.participantproductions.com/);</a> think Syriana, An Inconvenient Truth, and the upcoming Fast Food Nation. He read ("covered" in Hollywood lingo) scripts. As I have said elsewhere, if all those adults who have labored over their beloved scripts for years only knew that a bunch of 21 year old unpaid interns were reading them.... This summer he is remaining in LA to work as a counselor for the New York Film Academys Los Angeles summer camp. Lots of money, which after some discussion he agreed should go towards his tuition, free room and board, and a cell phone. </p>
<p>Next year is graduation and I hope that he'll be employed; most importantly I hope that he'll have a job that has medical coverage.</p>
<p>BTW, one reason why he doesn't run back to the DC-area is because of his allergies. They do not seem to be as bad in LA.</p>
<p>Oh yes, he has enough supply of allegra, benadrill, inhaler, nebulizer and epi-pen. It is jsut that we didn't know. For next spring we know what to expect and will take those preventive measures.</p>
<p>My D graduated from Reed- still in Portland- not ready for grad school- working this summer @ Reed - helping to update computer guides- and I assume will be looking for some sort of more permanent work while she decides what she wants to do when she grows up.</p>
<p>Sorry to go off track but Son can't take the allergy drugs as they make him too drowsy for tennis.Does anyone know an effective allergy drug that has no side affects?</p>
<p>My older son graduated from Stanford a year ago and has been trying to get into some program to get back to Japan. (He was a Japanese major and spent his junior year in Kyoto.) This past year was a bit of a struggle for all of us, as he was living at home, but wanting to be in Japan and going through what seemed like a period of depression. </p>
<p>Finally, what seems like an amazing opportunity came to him quite unexpectedly. This is his first week in a little town called Obuse, near Nagano. He has a summer internship doing all sorts of things for a cultural center associated with a traditional sake brewery and a restaurant. His first day there they had him make a TV commercial for a marathon the company is sponsering. If summer goes well, he may be staying a year or so at the job. He does plan to return to grad school in Japanese after that.</p>
<p>Son #2 finished his first year at Indiana University and is loving the opportunity to immerse himself in music. He knows he has a long way to go (The trumpet teacher told a friend of his that he was the "worst freshman trumpet player" there when he started.), but he is working very hard and improving dramatically. He will be taking part in two summer music programs and working as an RA in a dorm next year. His goal is to someday play in a symphony. He is very happy that he chose IU.</p>
<p>I think Zurtec is ok. I do not think it makes you drowsy. I think Zurtec is newer to the market than allegra. I think benadryll is an anti-histamine and will make you drowsy. I am also beginning to believe that the allergy in itself can make you feel drowsy. There were many times when I did not take any medication, I would have that very heavy drowsy feel (same type I got when I was pregnant). I started feeling more "perky" after the pill as it alleviated my symptoms. Hope this info is helpful. Just stay away from the OTC anti-histamines as that used to get me the most drowsy.</p>
<p>Misery loves company!! DS also had AWFUL springtime allergies this year in Boston. The medication he was taking (that worked), Histex, was discontinued by the manufacturer. He is now taking Allegra. BUT he had such awful allergies this year that we actually made an appointment with an allergist. DS will be a senior at Boston University. He continues to love Boston for all it has to offer music students. He is quite happy that he chose BU for his undergrad music studies, and feels he is getting a terrific music education there. He did a term at the Royal College of Music in the fall and loved that as well. This summer he will do a masterclass in trumpet at Northwestern, and work here at home teaching trumpet lessons, and waiting tables. He's researching grad school programs and has already scheduled several private lessons with teachers in those programs. He'll return to Boston at the end of August where he will continue his studies, prepare for auditions, play auditions, and work for the BSO ushering at Symphony Hall.</p>