It’s been a while since I checked in (tho I’ve seen some of you on other threads). D came home for Thanksgiving with a friend. I cooked a turkey with all the trimmings for the first time ever (also a vegetarian Tofurky-type thing for D’s friend.). She’s been doing wonderfully – loves her living/learning program, loves everything about the school, and is doing some excellent work, getting excited about future research projects, etc. etc. Finals are next week – quarters do go by quickly, I have to say.
This week is Dead Week for S17 - just means no Exams. His last day of class is tomorrow with Exams next week. he’ll be home December 15th and goes back Jan. 7 for Spring Semester. D16 has exams starting 12/14 - 12/20 and will be home after her last exam on 12/20. She’ll be home until 1/21. I can’t wait until all 3 of my chicks are back under my roof!
My D will be home this weekend for her birthday even though that’s not until Monday. We’ll be going to have dinner with her on her actual birthday - the big 18! Then it’s one more week of classes and she’ll come home on the 15th and have her wisdom teeth removed on the 18th. She goes back on the 1/8 and it’ll be reading period until the 17th when exams begin.
She has a very rigorous schedule so it’s been somewhat stressful but she seems to have gotten things more in control and seems more relaxed. We’ll see how exams go. I’m sure she’ll be getting ahead of things after Christmas in Math by doing some old exams. I think it’s Math that she really wants to blow the final out of the water.
Been a while since I checked in too. Both boys have finals next week. The quarter has gone very well for both of them so far. Today is the last day of classes and S17 had classes cancelled at UCLA today because of the nearby Skirball Fire. Some power outages and lots of smoke filled air at both UCLA and UCSB. I’ve been monitoring the fire situation all day and last I read is that UCLA will be alright, although homes in nearby Bel Air have burned. I asked my older son during the Thanksgiving break about the speed of quarters and he said no way would he want to take some of these classes for 15 weeks. One thing we’ve learned about UCLA that we didn’t know about was that they have a really good, structured program for students in the ASME club that teaches them a lot of things about design, materials/manufacturing, and electronics. It’s basically like another class and gives them hands on work they are not necessarily getting that first year with all the foundational classes.
Good to hear from you @youcee. I’ve been watching the fires also, and thought of you when I saw UCLA cancelled afternoon classes. We had numerous widespread power outages yesterday. S17 will be heading home via Amtrak on Friday or Saturday. I know that a clear Amtrak path is the least of the worries considering the home losses in Ventura and LA.
I am looking forward to having my kids home next week. Daughter will have her wisdom teeth out over break which everyone in the house is dreading. Not the best patient (approaching the worst actually) and extremely low pain tolerance (outdone possibly only by my own). All is going well for both at school so far.
@Ynotgo Our kids made good use of Amtrak at Thanksgiving. Our son up your way said the air is really gross there today. He’ll be Amtraking it next week to get home after finals. Twice now this fall we’ve had family affected by wild fires. Hoping we’re spared down here.
To correct a previous post of mine, today is not the last day of classes, it’s the last week of classes. I was totally thinking it was Friday today. I seem to be a little out of it today.
We had D home for a week for Thanksgiving, which was lovely! She’s so busy and having such a good time at school I hardly hear from her otherwise, so being able to really talk and catch up was great. @youcee my D takes Amtrak to/from breaks as well - we set her up with their frequent user program which will hopefully add up to some savings down the road!
She’s got her last classes tomorrow, then finals next week through Wednesday night. Should get her home on Thursday then and this time we get to keep her for a month.
Popping in to comment on the wisdom teeth. Just went through that at Thanksgiving. Ice, ice, ice for the first 48 hours really makes a difference. Mashed potatoes, pumpkin pie (no crust) and applesauce help as well. Good luck!!
Great to see so many updates from so many familiar names! D’s last final is Saturday 12/16, so she will be flying home Sunday 12/17. A couple people mentioned having finals clustered closely together - at D’s college, which is small so I’m sure that makes it easier for them to be able to achieve this - students have a final every other day during finals week.
Regarding wisdom teeth, when they took me back to the recovery room, my D was crying. I was a bit concerned as D is not one to cry easily or often, but staff said it’s normal - some kids have an emotional reaction to the anesthesia. So if you find your child in the same state, don’t be alarmed like I was.
@VickiSoCal you mentioned finals are 70% of your daughter’s grade. That seems like a lot of pressure for freshman year. I asked D this very question the other day, and she said her finals are worth 20% of her grade in most of her classes. Curious if your D seems happy with her choice to attend college in Scotland now that she’s been there a few months?
D has been begging to drive her car back to her college at the end of winter break ever since she learned during new student orientation that freshmen can have cars on campus. (We had been under the impression that only upperclassman could have cars.) After months of deliberation and discussion, DH and I have agreed to let her do it. She will be picking up another student in St. Paul, MN to help share the driving. Still, I’m nervous because of the unpredictable winter weather. She’ll be going through MN, ND, MT, ID, and part of WA before dropping down into OR. I’ve never driven this route myself. If anyone has tips or advice, I’d love to hear them. If anyone thinks DH and I are totally nuts, I’d love to hear that, too. She does have a return plane ticket as of now, and we did say that we reserve to cancel if there’s a blizzard.
@NolaCAR she was super happy up until this week when the reality of the final heavy system hit. If she gets through finals and gets good marks I’m sure she will be happy.
D17 completed her last final today and is driving home as we speak. She had a great first semester balancing academic and athletic training. She had her first indoor track meet last weekend at Vanderbilt and competed in 3 events, finishing 4th in the long jump with her best ever indoor jump. Quite excited for her progress!! She will be home until just after the 1st and then go back early for track.
D14 graduates next weekend (semester early) from her small LAC in Mississippi. She is coming home for 10 days or so before returning to MS to attend some weddings and work for a semester until starting grad school.
D17 woke up this last Thursday before finals dizzy and nauseous due to (she was pretty sure) a bad sinus infection. Went to her morning classes before going to the health center where they confirmed the sinus infection and sent her off with antibiotics and Flonase.
So here’s hoping things improve significantly before finals start on Monday…
ETA: And congrats to @jumpermom on being poster #33333! <:-P
S17 finishes his first semester classes tomorrow with the dreaded drafting. I am hoping that he pulls off a C.
He has 2 finals, a couple of papers, a website to set up (he is a performing arts tech major and is NOT into computers or programming so this is not going to be pretty. It is supposed to showcase him, so I am sending him some photos from shows and stuff that he can put in it. He also has a final drafting project that he is obsessing over.
He will be home at 2 AM next Saturday and is taking the school sponsored bus. He’ll be home till the end of January but he is taking a gen ed course on line from 12/26 - 1/13. In between, he will be doing his stem cell donation and seeing back stage at a few plays as part of his program.
More D17 news, this one better: I think I’ve mentioned before that yes, she’s a STEM kid, but she has never, ever, ever really grokked chemistry.
However, for her major she has to take a year of chem.
So she went through her grades today, and discovered that going into the final she can’t get an A in chem I (she’d need 120% on the final), but neither will she likely lose the B she’s been fighting so hard for (since she retains her B with at least a 55% on the final, and that’s even before any curving of the final grade happens).
So that’s good. (Well, as long as she doesn’t go into hubris mode about bio. But bio’s always been her thing, so that will hopefully be smooth sailing no matter what.)
D17 finished her finals yesterday, then took today to visit the space flight center with a friend. She’s driving home tomorrow – eight hours on the road – and I can’t wait! It’s been four months since she was home. I think she’ll stay until around the 4th or 5th.
She’s worked her butt off all semester and will finish with a 4.0.
Went to her morning classes before going to the health center where they confirmed the sinus infection and sent her off with antibiotics and Flonase.