Nice to see familiar names on here! Empty nest has been an adjustment but husband and I are surprisingly okay! (Still have a dog to take care of!) D17 has done well this first semester, once she adjusted to being 5 hrs away from home, and made a few friends. She is involved in 2 volunteer activities to keep her busy. Glad she seems to like the food choices, being vegetarian. She drove home once in September and then had 5 days home for Thanksgiving. We went to Parents Weekend as well. Her grades are fine, so thankful for that. Classes are finished now and some profs gave the finals early, so she has just one final remaining next Friday. Will be glad to have both daughters home from school for about 4 weeks.
Here in Texas, we had a winter snow storm! of about two inches. :))
I am freezingā¦ and some schools did close. We virtually never had school closings in Colorado due to snow even after 2 feet of snow, but things are different here.
DSās last class of the semester today will be cancelled due to late start at 10 AM. I am not sure if there will be a make up next week. Reading days next week and his last final is on 19th.
We will pick him up on 19th, but then, we have been picking him up from dorm and having weekly dinners with him.
It is very nice to ease into empty-nestness this way.
@payn4ward Jealous of the weekly dinners. So nice! Donāt you love how Texas shuts down after the tiniest bit of snow? Itās for the best, though, as most drivers donāt know how to drive in ice or snow.
@payn4ward hopefully you stocked up at the grocery store in case you guys get snowed in with that entire 2 inches, lol!!!
Good to see everyoneās kids doing well !!
D17 got her first snow of the academic year earlier this week (in Eastern Pennsylvania). Sheād been itching for itāif Alaskans get to the end of October without snow, we know that something is Very Wrong Indeed. (That isnāt sarcasm or anything, by the wayāI mean that completely seriously.)
And now at the end of the week, not only is our daughter in Pennsylvania forecast to get more snow, the South is getting snow, while here in Alaska (well, at least in Anchorage), weāre gettingā¦rain. And above-freezing temperatures. In December.
The times, they are a-loopy.
Good luck to all the kids on finals and safe travels to everyone over these next few weeks!
I heard from both my boys yesterday. S15 only has 1 traditional final, and itās next Monday, so heāll be home either Monday night or Tuesday afternoon. Heās a bit stressed because he also has 2 papers, a group project, and an online final to finish up, but it sounds like heās handling it all pretty well. S17 has his last class today, and I think he only has 2 finals, done by next Thursday, and I think his final papers are already turned in. He was happy because heās pretty sure he has an A in French which was one of the banes of his existence in high school. Heāll fly home next Friday. S15 will be home until Jan. 21, and S17 will be home until Jan. 7. I canāt wait to see themāthe whole house brightens when theyāre around! >:D<
Hi! I havenāt posted in a long time, but itās so nice to read the updates! Good luck to all those whose children are considering big changes.
My D is loving Pitt. She couldnāt be happier with her choice of school, as well as her choice in major, engineering (so far). She got super lucky with her randomly assigned roommate, and together with their friends they have been exploring Pittsburgh like crazy, joining clubs, volunteering, etc. She is hoping for a 3.0-3.5, which is fine by us. She only needs a 2.5 to keep her scholarship, thankfully. We had a great time with her at Thanksgiving break. I miss her tons but am so happy to see her happy. I am sure there will be many highs and lows throughout the next four years but I will try to fully enjoy each āhighā and this is one.
@NolaCAR You are a brave mom!!! I have only done that drive once and it was in the summer many years ago so my memory is fuzzy. I would say make sure she has emergency supplies - blankets, hats, gloves, flashlights, batteries, food, water, etc. just in case. From what I remember, there are long (hours) stretches between towns in some parts. They should try to avoid getting low on gas - fill up every chance they get. Make sure she knows what to do if the car went off the road and they got stuck in the middle of nowhere. I think itās really cool that she wants to take on a drive like this, and that you are willing to let her. I would probably need heavy sedation to get through the wait for her phone call that she had arrived safely at school, lol!
Here in the South we are actually having real snow.
A lot of the colleges here are done and D17 is softa jealous. She doesnt come home until the 19th, the day of her last final. She has class next monday and tuesday, final on Wed, the Big Econ final on Sat. the 16th. (that one class, that could go either a B or C.). all her other classes are either Aās or Bās and we wont know until after finals. she has absolutely loved GW, gotten involved in many organizations, and made many friends. The only negative has been that she missed her Ex. i loved spending time with her over thanksgiving at my brothers in NJ.
DS has finals Monday and Friday next week and coming home on Saturday night.
S has finals Wed & Thursday next week. He only has 2 finals but they are Calc & Chem which are both notoriously difficult. He flies home Thursday afternoon/evening. I sent him a Care Package with some of his favorite snacks - it should be delivered today. Heās going into Chem with a very high B so hopefully he can maintain that. In my happy world of rainbows and unicorns he bumps up to an A. All extra credit opportunities are being pursued. Calc is an unknown until the end when they decide on the scale. Suspenseful, and not in a good way. His break is short because classes for spring semester begin on January 8th. Most of his friends have one or two more weeks so it going to be hard for him to go back so early.
Well, D17ās semester is winding down now. Sheās had a good semester and has taken advantage of LA.
Sheās visited Santa Monica beach several times, visited many museums, gone to all the football games and some water polo, attended some arts events, eaten dinner downtown a few times, and gone on a few hikes with different campus groups. Sheās learned to use the Metro and ride sharing services. (The LA Metro rail is surprisingly good for the limited places it goes.) Sheās joined several clubs and volunteer organizations.
She seems really happy.
Classes ended last Friday, and finals began Wednesday. She only has one more final but several final papers. As far as I can tell from 2000 miles away, sheās not too stressed out. So far, the most stressful event has been her yoga class performance final. She and some friends headed out into West Hollywood for dinner on a study day to relieve some stress.
She flies home next week after a final group presentation. It is supposed to be 80 degrees when she heads to the airport and about 10 degrees when she lands. I say it all the time, but sheās never coming back, is she?
She also starts back a little early. Class start January 8th. Weāre flying her out earlier in the day than we did for Thanksgiving break in case sheās delayed again. I donāt want her to have to arrive at campus at 1:00 A.M. again.
Thoughts to anyone in LA who is having trouble because of the fires. The fires inched closer to the Health Sciences Campus, but still not too close. The safety notification text says the fire is moving away from campus.
The main campus seems fine. She says she can smell some smoke but not really see any.
I hope everyone has a relaxing and enjoyable break!
My D17 wonāt be home for a couple more weeks. First time we will be together since moving in! I do ask that she check in daily, just a smiley face emoji text so I know she is alive.
Classes are going well, had some roomie drama that was resolved by moving rooms, joined a sports team that practices all school year which gives her a nice group of friends. Will spend JTerm abroad and already has spring break plans (without us!) I think she is very happy and made the right School choice, whew!
Back at home the house is clean and organized and everyone is receiving more attention than ever!
@Dave_N The (relatively) new Metro stop in Santa Monica has been a godsend! My D19 gets on there, and gets off in DTLA, and I loooove not having to drive there.
@JenJenJenJen and down here in oc my husband is actually applying for jobs in dtla without freaking out about the commute after doing a couple of metrolink to metro trips.
@VickiSoCal Well, obviously, and I donāt think I even need to say it, but if he gets a DTLA job, you move closer to me and become my neighbor and new bff. 
We are paying 1996 property taxes. We are NEVER moving.
DS is done with the quarter, but staying in Pasadena for at least another day because Amtrak isnāt running all the way home. Thatās because of the fire in Ventura. The fire never got close to us, but the air is awful. Heās better off having some fun down there rather than coming up here.
Iāll do an update.
D is super happy with her choice of Pitt. She loves the school, the campus and her roommate situation is great. I get regular texts with pics of the campus, the recent snow, etc. and she tells me regularly sheās happy with her choice and canāt imagine being anywhere else. The friend thing has been a slow process but sheās happy with how things are progressing. She got grouped in with a friend group in the early days and then one of them spiraled down and had major issues. It was too much for her to try to keep up with as school was starting to get intense so she pulled away. We had an interesting phone call last night about friend groups and how she is watching major drama unfold all around her----these groups seem to be having major issues and sheās glad she isnāt in the thick of things.
She has been shocked at the drinking on campus. It could just be that her entire suite (except for her roommate) seem to be into the party and drinking scene so it seems excessive to her. They had an incident where a girl in their suite had to be rescued at 3 am after drinking to the point of passing out and it was quite horrifying to her, kept her awake all night and caused her to miss classes the next day.
Fortunately though, she has other friends and has never felt pressured or isolated to drink She has been reaching out to new friends, done some volunteer events, initially joined a bunch of clubs but now just focuses on one. I am hopeful that will change as she continues. She does wish sometimes she was on another floor where the girls are more like minded and she can see herself in their group. Butā¦she is not and for now she is making it work. She and friends had a nice night out last night at a campus vocal performance and had dinner,etc. So I know she has enough friends for her.
Academically-- while she excelled at her school of almost 700 (ranked #10), we always knew it was not crazy academically rigorous and we were right. Also, she was in the IB program and for science there was only chemistry and biology HL. Since her early interests were in bio, thatās what she did. She has a whole year of college Biology credit that is useless now that she has mostly decided on Civil Engineering. She never had physics in high school outside of a very unchallenging pre-AP class and now itās time to pay the piper.
All that to say that First Year Engineering at Pitt has been extremely rigorous and time consuming and stressful. Physics has been the beast and she may end up taking it again. She has rallied in her other courses and will end up with As and Bs in those and Iām super proud. Despite of it all, she claims she still loves the actual work and feels she is on the right path, in the right major.
So thatās her huge update. Happy with her choice, challenged with her major, adjusting and making new friends and not joining in on the āgetting MIP citationsā club. Itās been a ride for sure and I know the next 4-5 years will be the same.
Heading up to the mountains today with son17 for a few days of dad/son bonding. The best!!
Have a great time, @RightCoaster! Maybe heāll share some fun stories from his time abroad on the ski lifts.