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<p>cgpm59: I looked for those on Amazon but they have some fairly awful reviews. Do you have the bend-a-roos brand?</p>
<p>@Susancani-welcome to Texas! UTD is only 10min driving dist. from us. It has been HOT here! Bring lots of shorts,flip flops…</p>
<p>BamaMomof3, I actually do know a tiny bit about Bamas Oxford program - its based at Worcester one of the loveliest colleges with a breathtakingly beautiful garden which inspired Alice in Wonderland. Emma Watson is apparently headed there this coming academic year. Ds Oxford college hosted exchange students from University of Georgia and WashU. The latter perhaps had a more authentic experience as they were embedded in the college for a full year but the Georgia kids were popular because their comings and goings served as excuses for many welcome and leaving dos.</p>
<p>Weetbixmum, so glad to see another international here. All the BedBathBeyond references were making me twitch as it is impossible to register on the site without a US or APO address. They do apparently accept overseas orders over the phone or by fax but I may just research a more international-friendly retailer. The heads up re the amazon prime was a great tip. Although Id rather send S off to school with our old worn sheets, were going to be buying new as UK and US bedding sizes differ. His school however seems to be one of the few which does NOT require XL sheets.</p>
<p>gsmomma, I too feel a bit of an outlier as S seems the only one heading to Sarah Lawrence. </p>
<p>Kinderny, thanks for taking on the task of updating the drumroll thread. I never posted there as the expat community in my area is quite small and I was paranoid about being recognized but now, guess what, I no longer care! I too have asked to be removed from the mailing list for the schools electronic newsletter. New horizons loom and Im not looking back…</p>
<p>Finally, while its great to hear such happy outcomes as OWMs account of orientation for her S, weve already had a small bump in the road here. S has to select his First Year Studies and was dismayed to see the course thats been listed for the past couple of years which was one of the factors that turned him on to the college is no longer offered. There are other classes he can pick but I suspect this may be a downside of choosing quite a small school and we did warn him that not all courses are offered all years… I should say all contact with the school so far has been overwhelmingly welcoming and enthusiastic.</p>
<p>I will look on amazon for the HKC book but I ordered the Naked Roommate for S who skimmed it before putting it aside as alarming. Here in the UK, singles are the norm. Major culture shock ahead, I think!</p>
<p>Saw the matriculation list - what an impressive bunch of kids we have!</p>
<p>On the laptop issue - I am a die-hard PC fan, but DH and DD both have Macbooks, and swear by them. I do have to say that the level of service they get in the Apple stores for any technical issues, questions, etc. is truly remarkable. </p>
<p>Thanks, all, for the heads up that the latest round of AP scores are out - this group is the only way I ever get this kind of information. Unfortunately, we do not have the AP number, and I have forgotten the incorrect birth date DD gave them (she gets 5s on the exams, but flunks her birth date?) so cannot get the info by phone til Monday when customer service is open. A few months ago, I would be fretting, but it is so nice now that it really doesn’t matter!</p>
<p>Regarding sheet and towel colors - dark and medium colors do fade, blotch and bleach out with “drool,” makeup and just on their own. I think white is the way to go, accompanied by a gallon bottle of the non-splash Chlorox. Also, I’d rather have clothes fade on sheets, than sheets fade on clothes - separation of colors in laundry seems about as likely to happen as separation of church and state in Kentucky. I am amazed that there is a son in this group who actually irons!</p>
<p>APs:S got his AP scores thru his college online account. He requested AP results to be sent to school and college board has released scores to campus since yesterday. I don’t know every college posts them online or not. Another great tip from CC. Thanks to midwestmomkids_!!!</p>
<p>Just got thru that 26 page thread about what NOT to send to college. I even took notes. As far as sheet colors go, I give up with ds not bleaching everything that comes in contact with his acne preparations. Does anyone else have that problem? All our towels look like someone inadvertantly dropped bleach here and there on them. Even his tan carpet has bleached out streaks from his hands, right around his mirror. So he’s going white or it seems those polarplus sheets don’t get affected, so maybe color on those would be ok.</p>
<p>I had a question - what are you all doing about “Parents Weekend”? This is an unknown phenomenon to me, I don’t remember my college experience having anything like it. We are not just down the street, it is 6 hrs away, and I feel like, “hey - didn’t we just leave him? And now we have to go back to say hi?” What do they do with parents on these weekends? There is a football game but that is the only part of the programming that has been published. Anyone with advice here, experience, would be great.</p>
<p>Samuck~the description in the course catalog did make it sound like a beautiful experience! Part of me is hoping she will decide to do a semester abroad instead of just the summer, but for now it is just a wait and see.</p>
<p>AmandaK~ I’m pretty sure we didn’t have a Parent’s weekend when I was in school. We were trying to decide if we were going to D’s since she is only 2.5 hours away. S would love to go to the football game. But since it is only 5 weeks after D moves in and that weekend is also D2 homecoming dance, I think we will wait and go visit on another weekend. Since football tickets are so expensive, we may just go down on a away game weekend and avoid the crowd.</p>
<p>Wow, new thread and already tons of posts. fyi my handle is and L, but no need to move it, I had thought you had forgotten me at first.</p>
<p>Parents weekend - for us it’s 5 weeks after H drops S off. This is one way I have justified not making the 20 hour ride with them both for move in. S isn’t coming home for fall break(I don’t think he even knows there is a fall break), so Thanksgiving will be the only flight home.</p>
<p>Haven’t been to CC in several weeks and come to find my favorite thread has “graduated.” With the completion of the kitchen remodel, graduation, open house, finishing up grades, and helping D2 get ready for West Point, the last month has been rather overwhelming. The kitchen looks great, though I still need to finish moving back in completely; gradution was wonderful, the open house a success, grades were posted, and D2 is now in her sixth day of Cadet Basic Training. Having been gone so long, I was truly touched by OWM remembering that the 27th was D2’s first day at West Point. Thank you for your kind words, and you can be sure D2 will be so happy to read the notes posted as I’ll add them to the letter I’ll write her tomorrow. D2 requested a daily letter, so H writes one, and I write one each morning.</p>
<p>Yesterday we received our first letter from our New Cadet, and it was upbeat. The first day hadn’t been as bad as she’d anticipated. Sounds like the Cadet in the Red Sash even gave her a compliment. My guess is that future letters will contain despair, but since I won’t be opening another letter till Tuesday at the earliest, I’ll only have happy thoughts till the next news from her. Her first phone call will be July 8 or 9. We made yurt reservations at Wallowa Lake last October for that weekend. Since there is lousy cell reception there, we’re going to stick around the house and do a day trip or two with D3 instead so we don’t miss the call.</p>
<p>BI: D2 is a huge Harry Potter fan, and one of the hardest things for her to accept about going to Cadet Basic Training is that she’ll miss the midnight premier of the movie with her friends. Not even sure when she’ll get to see the movie. I’m guessing not before September.</p>
<p>OWM - Hope your husband’s new job is going well and that he’s finding profitable ways to use his commute time.</p>
<p>I’m spending lots of time checking the academy posts for pictures of D2 and reading emails from other academy parents. But I’ll check in from time to time to see how you and your children are doing.</p>
<p>Phbmom - welcome back! I’ve been thinking of your daughter, wondering how she is doing so please do keep us updated. </p>
<p>Family weekend at D’s school is 5 weeks after we drop her off. I will almost certainly go but not sure about DH since tickets are pretty expensive. As for Thanksgiving, we have tentatively planned for her to fly down to spend that holiday with my family but even those tickets are pricey and I’m not at a point that I can book them yet. Just too many unknowns about her plans. At any rate, she will be home for 5 weeks between semesters so probably long enough to get sick of us again!</p>
<p>Can someone update me on the Shutterfly site? I found cc in the spring and saw the shutterfly site mentioned on the other thread too.</p>
<p>My bio:
2 daughters, D1 headed to UGA on the foundation fellowship. Interested to see the comments on UGA students at Oxford. D will be headed there for a Maymester next year.
D2 is a rising HS freshman and an avid softball player. So her college search will be very different from her sister’s.</p>
<p>Lived in Atl for 16years (does that make me a native???) From across the pond- lived in Edinburgh. We are very excited about the whole college process as so different from H and mine. We lived at home and commuted 12 miles on the bus!!!</p>
<p>ldinct~same Parent’s weekend! ;)</p>
<p>phbmom~I remember watching the new cadets every summer! My dad was stationed at West Point as a Tact officer when I was in middle school. They used to recruit post kids for the upperclassmen to “practice” on before the new batch arrived. I was never brave enough to do it, but my sister and her friends did it a summer or two. I loved living at West Point! So beautiful!!!</p>
<p>phbmom a friends son just started at West Point too. One of the nicest young men I know, so your D is in good company! One of my daughters friends went to the Naval Academy a few years ago and absolutely loved it.</p>
<p>It’s so much fun getting to meet new friends and catch up with the regulars. </p>
<p>Re: Parent’s Weekend - since DS is our only child and neither of us are working (DH just retired and I cannot work due to a disability), we are going up to Boston. DS has a full week off for Thanksgiving so he’ll come home, thanks to our new JetBlue credit card and its sign-up bonus points.</p>
<p>Gibson - DH is a Bulldog. Grew up in Savannah.</p>
<p>Glad to hear phbmom that your D is ok so far. Fingers crossed it continues to go well (at least most of the time) for her.</p>
<p>We are going to D’s Parent Weekend. I know we didn’t have one back in the day at USC, I just took Dad to a football game and he was happy (we lived about 10 miles away). We are not staying for the parent program on drop off day and the next, and H has never been to Hampshire, so we will give it a whirl. Don’t think we’ll go every year though, even though it is less than 2 hours away.</p>
<p>So far the only two items that D has actually asked me to purchase for college are an ironing board and iron. Anything else that we already have (e.g. XL twins sheets) I just went ahead and took care of because she “didn’t care”. When she realized how expensive the comforter she wanted was, and that we had at least 3-4 spare ones here, she decided to go with one we already had so she is thinking about saving unnecessary expenses which is nice.</p>
<p>AK - my ds has same issues with acne meds. Maybe that’s why he wants white sheets. Why can’t he just say that?</p>
<p>PHB-glad your ds sounds upbeat. My ds has a friend there also and he’s very polite, smart, and handsome. She is definitely in good company!</p>
<p>We will go to parents weekend. We can drive there, so its easier than many of you have to deal with. I made reservations as soon as we knew the dates. Ds can come home on the train, so holidays are fairly painless-I’m happy not to have to drive up and back to bring him home. </p>
<p>Sent from my DROID2 GLOBAL using CC App</p>
<p>I’m going to parents weekend. I hope my husband will join me! If not, I have a couple of friends that I may be able to talk into coming with me. We usually do the first couple and that’s pretty common at most LAC’s. Lot’s of parents. I found it very comforting to see first hand how well the kids have acclimated and to meet the friends they tell you about and the places they’ve started hanging out. My older son’s college, Roanoke, had a really nice choice of events that you could do including a short hike on the nearby Appalachian Trail, a golf tournament, a comedian at night, an architectural tour of campus, and a cook out on the lawn one night. It was nice because you could do some things with your kids and/or other parents or some things like the golf tournament and walking tour, without them. </p>
<p>If you haven’t booked your hotel already though, you’d really best get on that right away, especially if you are in an area with limited hotels. If you have a football game attached with that weekend, it may already be too late.</p>
<p>I hope we’re okay with a kind of slate blue sheet. No acne problems, but not sure about the drooling. I’m thinking there’s no reason that pillowcases have to match the sheets. We’ve got some old white ones he can have if that’s a problem.</p>
<p>I got back from Boston last night and it’s taken me all day to catch up on this thread. It’s great to “meet” all the new posters.</p>
<p>My D2 will be a freshman at Boston University this fall. We just got back from orientation (Pepper, sorry we missed you in Boston). She has been happy with her choice all along, but going to orientation really got her excited. She is happy about her dorm assignment and will be rooming with a girl she met last year at a BU summer program. My older daughter is a senior at Penn and is already stressed about finding a job after graduation. </p>
<p>My D1’s school is only two hours from home, so we have gone to Parents weekend every year. We really enjoy visiting and meeting her friends and their parents. A lot of Freshmen parents attend, so I think it’s a good idea to go this year if you can work it out. We will be going to one in Philly and one in Boston in October this year. That should help make the transition to our empty nest a little easier.</p>
<p>Thanks for the reminder about white towels. We have had the same issues with acne medicine bleaching out towels and shirts. My daughter was convinced that I was ruining her shirts in the laundry until we figured out the culprit.</p>
<p>Nice “meeting” you, too, college4three. And hello to aniger and son, as well. Our family is looking forward to Columbia’s convocation - and then seeing each other again during the Parents’ Weekend. (Umm, frequent flyer much?, as the young people say!) All I can really say is that the excitement is beginning to truly mount around here and I imagine it is the same for everyone else! </p>
<p>Samuck, very nice nice “meeting” you, also. Sarah Lawrence is such a fabulous school, congratulations to your son and your family. Our D looked at SLC and truly liked it, though ultimately she didn’t apply; I think she thought it wasn’t as comprehensive in the classical music performance arena as she cared for - but the tutorials, writing emphases, visual arts facilities were all superb, as you will know. </p>
<p>Re basic provisions, a list is being made, but mostly we’ll wait until arriving before trying to address it. You’ll probably know these alternatives already, but a NYC-based friend also advised us to look at the websites for PB teen (it has a special dorm section); Macy’s; Pottery Barn; Bloomingdales; Target; Container Store; CB2; Laytners; and Crate and Barrel, in addition to Bed Bath and Beyond. We’ve perused them all and, no surprise, some suit and some don’t. Our friend also said “You should buy a bed bug mattress protector, a mattress topper and a mattress protector to hold everything in place”, so those items are on our list - don’t know if that’s helpful or not for you.</p>
<p>Don’t know if you’ve got the mobile phone front sussed either, but in case more of our single data point experience might be of use: on a recent business trip to the U.S., my H collected info on both ATT and Verizon. Essentially, he decided, it depends on one’s handset preference: ATT has SIM cards and Verizon doesn’t depending on the type of phone.</p>
<p>Again, congratulations to all and good luck with the preparations each of you is making!</p>
<p>It’s great to see all the old and new friends on this AWESOME thread!</p>
<p>I’ll do a quick re-introduction – I’m not sure I ever did a proper intro after stumbling into the middle of the old thread.</p>
<p>My husband and I have three kids. My oldest daughter is heading to CU-Boulder this fall, majoring in molecular biology and minoring in dance. She has mixed feelings, after choosing her financial safety (zero debt) over two small liberal arts colleges where she was accepted but didn’t get much financial aid. </p>
<p>My other two are in middle school, 13 yr old daughter going into 7th grade and 11 yr old son going into 6th. I am going to need the full resources of cc when my second daughter gets closer to college!</p>
<p>I was depressed over a clip from the Daily Show (about violent video games being sold to children – ARRGGHH) and came here to get over that dark cloud feeling and as usual it worked. (Okay, still not happy about the video game thing, but at least I’m not completely obsessing on it anymore!)</p>