<p>Hi everyone - welcome back Pepper03! I hope everyone is enjoying their vacations!</p>
<p>DD1 and I went to a shopping area that had a BBB, Target, and TJX/Home Goods next to each other - we spent about 3 hours shopping and picked up everything she will need. Easy peasy. The best prices on towels were at HomeGoods - in BBB it as $16.99 for a thin bath sheet, at TJX it was 7.99 for a plush DKNY bath sheet. BBB has all the dorm gadgets like a bedside caddy that hangs off your bed that can hold tissues, books, etc…target has the best prices and selection on lighting, iron, etc…</p>
<p>I am happy to say that DD1 has turned the corner in terms of her ambivalance about leaving home, she is now 100% on board and cannot wait to start her new life! She is having a great summer but sheis ready and excited to move on.</p>
<p>DD2 will be home from saving the turtles at the end of the week…we miss her tons…she is having a mixed experience this time. We have had lots of contact via Facebook, wifi is reasily available even on the beach in Costa Rica and she uses her iPod to chat. The weather there has been mixed - a couple of days with torrential down pours and severe thunder and lightening…so she has had more downtime than expected. I told her to enjoy it while she can because she starts test prep next week and we will kick off her college process for real when she retuyrns. I can’t believe I have to do this all over again so soon…</p>
<p>arisamp - After many years of different plans and carriers, our family and my business plans are with Verizon. They seem to be the biggest and best carrier in the northern Ohio / Cleveland area and have numerous plans including some with unlimited texting. I won’t even try to talk about phones as they seem to change the models with new introducions every week or so!</p>
<p>arisamp - We just got Verizon and we really like it. My DS and I have smartphones (DH has Sprint walky/talky phone at work). DS did not have internet or data on his old phone but now loves it. He can get his email (which he hates to check on the computer) and read news articles online…get directions…online banking. We got him the smartphone for school as they use a lot of tech at the school to reserve study rooms, see if washer/dryer is available, e-mail, etc. It has so many features that he has only begun to explore the possibilities. </p>
<p>PS Once he got a smartphone, I got one. When I flew to Penn in April and their was a travel issue, I sure could have used it as I don’t like to travel with my laptop.</p>
<p>arisamp - we have Droids with Verizon, the service has been excellent up and down the eastern seaboard. I can’t even tell you how helpful it is having a smartphone while traveling, it has helped us with missed flights, cancelling hotel rooms, etc…while in NOLA we checked out of a really bad hotel and found a new hotel for less money standing on the street with out luggage waiting for a cab using our droid - we searched and booked it in 5 minutes.</p>
<p>Re Fogfogs confession to being a little nervous about being behind since so many here are on top of it all believe me, I am much more than a little nervous! H is taking Samson to move-in we are internationals so they will do banking/phone once they get there. As for laptop - I am completely out of the loop on that decision they appear to have decided on some sort of custom design that S will build himself. The less I know the better.</p>
<p>My job is get the dorm stuff sorted and thats keeping me awake at nights. I cant buy bed linen here because the sizing is different. I really want the sheets to be washed before use them (actually just sheet as he will only use a fitted sheet under a duvet from home) so have decided to order this to be sent to a friend, ask her to wash it and have H and S collect it. I may be pushing this friendship a bit far … Am assuming a mattress topper doesnt need washing before use but have considered starting a whole thread on that topic alone. </p>
<p>S has heard from both his RA and a peer mentor but although he has the names and emails of his two suite mates, they haven’t gotten in touch with each other. Boys. Im urging him to ask the RA or mentor for advice about lofting the bed. Were sending him along with a gigantic suitcase which Im assuming wont fit in any closet. Assuming there is a closet. Do people still use trunks/foot lockers? I went to college with a trunk which served as a great little coffee table with an Indian bedspread draped over it in our common room. </p>
<p>Finally, just to make things more interesting, H has decided that as he can do his job from pretty much anywhere in the world, and as we only live where we do because of the schooling, with Samson off to college, its time for a change. So hes decided to try Shanghai as a work base. Well move this fall but buy a flat in London to use as home base. I am in charge of selling our current place and househunting in London. This is actually a nice diversion to keep me from obsessing about fitted sheets/duvet covers…</p>
<p>@ samuck - Being an international adds to the stress, that’s for sure. I’m sure your friend doesn’t mind washing the linens for a hand off to DH & DS. Any mother would understand wanting to at least <em>start</em> with fresh sheets! FWIW, I won’t be washing a mattress pad. </p>
<p>I had to laugh today when I saw that Bluejr’s school provided mattress pads… ewww on every level. I’m assuming this is something that has to be there when he leaves (meaning we can’t burn it), so I will simply treat it as part of the mattress and cover it with the hazmat/bedbug enclosure, then top with our mattress cover, sheets, etc. I can’t imagine who thought it was a good idea to have mattress pads left on the beds?!?</p>
<p>Good luck with your search for your new home in London. That would certainly provide a good deal of diversion! For me this would be stress alone, but for a lot of people this is an adventure. I hope you are the adventure type!! :)</p>
<p>Road trip to Samuck’s ;o) London is closer than Shanghai…though that sounds like great fun too.</p>
<p>Blue–I agree—ewww on so many levels.<br>
My MiL asked if we would be looking at used furniture stores for things for the dorm and I just had to mention the bed bug issues to close that idea down.
An alumni of the U posted on another thread to warn freshman away from used sofas…and that often upper classmen used pretty girlsto try and sell them to the frosh boys—The alum said to steer clear of used sofas for many reasons…blek!</p>
<p>Samuck - My dh threatens to move us all back to the homeland (China) regularly. Honestly it would be a great adventure but I wouldn’t want to be that close to the relatives. And I wouldn’t want to move there until the fall when the temps drop. Shanghai is really hot and sticky from June - Sept/Oct.</p>
<p>I do have a request though. I have only ever been to Europe in December/January- maybe we could go when the weather is just a tad bit better? ;)</p>
<p>I hear you,
yet the food will be better in Shanghai…
Think of it? What kind of indigenous food is the UK known for? bangers and mash, beans on toast, fish and chips…</p>
<p>@samuck - Hi again! And welcome, in anticipation, to the really cool timezones of the world! (As for being some of the absolute least convenient for liaising with NY, what can one say? Nothing like taking full advantage of each of the 24 hours in a day, eh?)</p>
<p>We, too, will be imposing on friends to wash sheets prior to first use. Not ideal, but … .</p>
<p>Mostly, here, we’re now finalising requisite medical forms and arranging adapters and/or U.S. plugs and organising a fun send-off with family friends and school friends and teachers. Our D is increasingly excited to start this next great adventure and so are we on her behalf (and we’re ignoring, as best we can, the Big Void post-departure, of course!).</p>
<p>From a cold and torrentially rainy Sydney, best regards to all of you!</p>
<p>Blue~Please tell me where you found that link regarding the mattress pads, i can not find it :-)</p>
<p>Samuck~Last year,S1 roommate was from Singapore he showed up with nothing, and nicely called S1 at home asking if he needed to buy him sheets for his bed…How thoughtful! We showed up on campus and took care of business in no time. As my mother would say all you need is your passport, and credit card. In America, we like to fuss, seriously anything can be washed on campus on the first day no biggie. Look at it as being part of the adventure ;)</p>
<p>Now, finding a nice flat in London, sounds so much more interesting to me :D</p>
<p>As is my habit, it looks like I’ll be in London at some point in September and Shanghai at some point in October (still working out the details on that). Let me know about the party.</p>
<p>As 2education says, everything can be obtained with a credit card – and especially with a credit card and Amazon Prime.</p>
<p>fogfog, although you probably know this, but London is now a great city for food. It has undergone a huge change over the last 20 or so years from over-cooked veggies and curry restaurants. Many very good restaurants (Indian as before but now upscale, French, Italian, Japanese, …). It is however, one of the most expensive cities. Imagine that they took the menu for a comparable restaurant in the US and just switched the currency sign from dollars to pounds. If an entree were $20 in Boston, a comparable entree would be £20 in London. </p>
<p>I think to deal with the Big Void, weetabixmum, ShawWife is thinking of joining me on some of my trips this fall (so far, in addition to the jointly planned trip to Boulder, she’s evinced interest in joining me in Toronto, Vancouver and Shanghai but not London, Louisville or Stockholm). I think at the end of the day she’ll pick one. You are right about the difficulties of calling the east coast from Sydney or Asia – I make lots of calls from my home office in the evening in the US to Asian cities (and used to do so with clients in Sydney and Melbourne).</p>
<p>Hi everyone,
Have been skimming the posts, but so busy getting D ready to launch. Feel like I am bleeding money these days with all the shopping trips. D needed lots of new clothes as she has put on a little weight this year (hopefully she won’t also put on the freshman 15!), went from a size 0 to a size 2 ha ha!! (wish I had that problem!). She also is going through one of her periodic style changes and actually wanted to get some more fun clothes to go out in. So, on top of all the stuff for the dorm room etc we have been clothes shopping. The funny thing is just yesterday I realized that we needed to buy the usual school supplies-pens, notebooks etc…hmmm, funny that I forgot that small detail! Too worried about bedding I guess! I can’t believe that we launch d in less than four weeks. The summer is flying by way too quickly. I have been having alot of really nice talks with d on our shopping excursions. Boy am I going to miss her…</p>
<p>hollie - that is funny! D and I were at Office Depot/Max/whatever looking for computer stuff (she did get a pig flash drive) and I mentioned notebooks and pens. She said she just doesn’t want to buy them the way she used to. She has a bunch she can take for the time being and will buy them at the bookstore at school.</p>
<p>That did feel like another weird parental transition moment, I must say. She also laughed when we passed the “locker supplies” area. She is SO over HS!</p>
FWIW, I won’t be washing a mattress pad. </p>