@melvin123 - it is a gmail address - that could be the issue. I guess we will find out when he moves in!
S18 leaves Wednesday. So far he is packing more books than clothes.
Move in is a week from today. S spent the evening sending emails to the contact people for work-study jobs. Hopefully they will be impressed that he went beyond āIām interested in interviewing forā¦ā form letters.
D has been safely moved in to Davidson college. We are very happy with the college and their orientation program. Especially helpful was a summer odyssey program where D met friends in advance of moving in. Classes start tomorrow. Hope all of your freshmen have a wonderful year!
Made the long trek to Clemson and back this past weekend. Moved Daughter in on Saturday. Like most schools the process was very smoothly run. No real tears until the car ride home when certain songs were played. She has a couple of days of orientation type events and classes starting on Wednesday.
Good luck to all the kiddos as they start this new journey.
@momo2x2018 After lots of hand wringing, tears and angst, we were in your boat in the spring of 2017 just prior to graduation and we too took a gap year. Best.Thing.Ever.
Seriously, for our DD, this was the best decision. She was in a much better place for round two and is now happily enrolled and off to college. The only thing that was a concern was she was an older high school senior having turned 18 prior to her Sr year, she turned 20 within a week of starting her freshman classes last week but its all good.
We laughingly called it her Gap/Nap year - she napped a lot but maturing and sorting ones self out, is tiring
The year will fly by!
I left my parents of 2017 and joined this group because it was just more helpful.
@droppedit We agreed to buy essentials upon arrival (shampoo, coat hangers, TP and Paper towels etc) the deal was, if it didnāt fit, it wasnāt going. I took a Chevy Equinox (mid sized SUV) there were three persons in the car and our stuff for the 7 day road trip.
DD had to rethink a few things but overall, we got it in. I am a master packer, my family is always amazed at what I can get into a vehicle.
Clemson did a fabulous job with move in. Moved our freshman son into the new dorms, which are beautiful! Students were there to help us unload, the whole process was fantastic. Sad to see him leave the nest, but itās comforting to know heās so happy!
Moved S18 into FSU yesterday. Took a little longer than I had thought. I suspect my spouse was dragging her feet to squeeze out a little more time with him. Most of the freshmen do not move in until later this week, which made a nice uncrowded move in for us. S18 is attending scholarship program activities and bonding sessions for a few days, then lots of university wide activities later in the week followed by classes next week. So weird to have him gone.
@SnowflakeDogMom Iād love to know more about how your D utilized her time - itās a long time from May HS graduation to Freshman entry a year and a half later!!!
Iām still in the gathering things for the dorm stage, since S18ās school starts late (3rd week of Sept.!). We will be flying for move-in and will get six bags checked free for the three of us (yay Southwest). Iām minorly fretting over small things like should I wait to buy a pillow till we get there b/c it would take up so much room in a bag, or should I buy one and get some space bags to condense it (and the comforter and mattress pad that we are packing). My husband says Iām nesting, just on the opposite end of childhood from last time.
@momo2x2018 She napped, a lot! So seriously, she works for Girl Scouts at the residents camp about an hour and a half from our home. She went off to camp the day after graduation in late May and returned the 31st of July. In August, she spent some time getting her early apps into schools and she hung out with her friends until they all departed for their various schools.
In early September she departed for NYC where she was planning on staying with her Uncle for a month. After about a week, Uncle had a major plumbing crisis in his apartment and since he is not a copeāer and leans toward drama queen, he felt she needed to return home. She had been planning this trip for months and it was a huge part of her graduation present, I did not want her to return home. So I scrambled around and found her a bed to rent at a well rated airBNB. She moved from midtown Manhattan to the Bronx (There is probably a sitcom in here somewhere). Anyway, this was the best thing ever, she had to really step out of her comfort zone and she had an amazing 3 weeks in the city, āon her ownā. Huge growth experience.
Upon return she got a job at Game Stop (crap pay, great employee discount) as well as she continued to work for Girl Scouts on the weekends thru the fall and spring.
Somewhere along this route, she received acceptance to UAH and was awarded a full tuition/housing scholarship. This was now our top contender. In November we took a trip and visited UAH for an accepted students day event.
College choice was cementedā¦whew, finally, something we could afford that was a good fit.
She was beginning to understand that costs of attendance could get out of hand very quickly.
The offer from UAH was looking better and better. All said and done, unless she studies abroad, she will be debt free.
She held out for a few other options to see what kind of merit came thru and while she got some decent offers, UAH hands down was the winner. Smaller school, amazing dorms, a heavy STEM school, not in Texas and no football! In Early January we paid her housing deposit, accepted enrollment etc. Somewhere along the way she applied to and was accepted to the Honors College - this allowed her to choose her classes starting in March so she was busily researching her options.
Along about January, her hours at Game Stop dried up and she took a job at Sonic because a friend worked there and it was easy - she still calls this the nightmare job LOL
I laugh because my daughter prior to her gap year had a few misconceptions about life and careers:
IE:
She wanted to be a baker or a chef - wanted to spend $250K on culinary school - then she cooked/baked for 2 summers at Girl Scout camp and decided that while she likes to cook/bake, she doesnāt want to do it all day, every day and certainly not on command. The miserable fry cook job at Sonic cemented this.
She worked at Game Stop and while she enjoyed most of the nerdy gamer kids, the parents and difficult customers annoyed her. Retail sucks in her opinion.
She had this attitude that āeveryone has large amounts of student debtā āso whats the big dealā and then she spent a year working for anywhere from Minimum wage to $12.50 an hour and soon learned that it was going to take a LOT of hours and way more dollars than she could reasonably earn to pay off huge loans in the future. She began to understand the value of that paycheck and figured out that $10 an hour doesnāt go very far when one likes to shop at Lush and Whole Foods.
She also began to explore the things she knew she liked. As a high schooler she was an athletic trainer and while she did not like the athletics, she really enjoyed the medical side. She is now seriously contemplating becoming a medical examiner, she is researching medical school programs and since her school is really big on internships and co-ops she is exploring something with the local morgue. Her adviser is thrilled, this is a non traditional career path for most who enter medicine and there are some great options out there for her. Currently she is undeclared/undecided but is also paired with a professional adviser for Medical majors to make sure she gets all her core requirements.
Her friends came home over Christmas and then again in May - A few changed schools, some due to being unhappy and some due to not being able to continue to afford or they decided the cost wasnāt worth it and shifted to a less expensive option or the local CC.
In Mid May she went to a 3 day orientation at UAH all by herself, she flew, Ubered and got herself checked in.
She returned, spent a few days with her friends and then headed to Girl Scout camp for another summer of Office admin and counselor (she has had enough of the kitchen)!
She returned from camp on 7/31 and we departed for UAH on 8/6 - her classes started last week.
This year, upon reflection was the best thing we ever did. She grew so much, learned about herself, explored a lot and just decompressed from a very rigorous high school career. She was ready to take on this next step and last week we dropped her off
@SnowflakeDogMom ā we took two cars (sedans) down to Bama. D18 is keeping hers there but has very little room for stuff. DWās has plenty of room.
Move-in was very smooth ā¦ itās almost like Bama had done this before 
You follow the signs to the unloading zone next to the dorm, big guys unload the cars into wheeled 4ā x 4ā boxes, then you immediately drive to parking while D18 signs in. By the time you get to the dorm room, everything has been unloaded in it. D18 is in a four-room suite with two bathrooms. Each girl has a room and two share a bathroom. In between the two āwingsā thereās a fairly large common area with kitchen (full fridge and microwave but no stove or dishwasher).
I had expected a mob scene, with people going every which way, boxes strewn about, etc. It wasnāt like that at all. I only saw a few people in the hallways. It was almost too quiet.
On a humorous note, I planned on getting a TV for their common area and had D18 ask the other girls if anyone was already bringing one. A girl said she was. Well, yes it was a TV but was only 20" in size. Not gonna work in a large common area! So, I got a more appropriate sized one at BestBuy along with a printer for them to share.
For a while weāve been focused on dotting the iās and crossing the tās on the move in and havenāt had much time to think about what was happening/the big picture. Saturday night, after I said goodnight to D18, I got verklempt when I realized that was the last time I would do that with her truly living here. Barring a disaster, from now on she will simply be staying here while on breaks, etc. A second verklempt moment was one the drive home. About three hours into the drive, late at night, and almost home, I get to the I-285/GA-400 intersection and thereās the huge Northside hospital staring at me ā¦ where D18 was born.
@droppedit Wow, that was smooth! We had Honors College kids helping but we had to schlepp from the parking lot - we were able to obtain one of those carts you mention and I brought along my own labor (adult older brother!)
Your DDās dorm sounds identical to the one my DD has except my DDās configuration has a handicapped access on one side which makes it larger so there are only 3 girls in the suite - they still have the bathrooms etc. DD has her own sink, she shares toilet and shower with one suite mate.
Same mini kitchen - there is a full kitchen with oven/stove top on every floor - we bought DD a sauce pan, a frying pan, a can opener, spatula and a couple of nylon spoons. She can continue her mac & cheese habit. How nice of you to buy a TV - DD had to take the one her brother took to college in 2008 - It does not have a remote and I hear there are issues with the volume but she only uses it for games, everything else she watches on her phone or laptop.
I noted the quite to my hubby (he didnāt come) and my son noticed it as well - son made a good observation - the kids are rather giddy with excitement, the parents are trying to hold it together. The parents are excited but they are also sad and it shows. My Hubby and I will be attending parent weekend in October which I am really looking forward too as its not quite like the drama of move in day.
Oh I hear you on the verklempt moments (your hospital story choked me up a bit) this is HARD!
My adult son was with me, we both had a tough time at various moments. This was āhisā baby sister (he is 9 years older) and it was tough. We originally were moving in Friday with breakfast on Saturday but Friday late afternoon she announced she had some event she needed to be at in the morning and so this was goodbye - I admit, there were tears. Then I got over it - son and I went and had a nice dinner, a few beers etc.
Then she calledā¦Her event had been cancelled, could we still do breakfast? We said of course but since we had said our goodbyes, this trip was no longer about her and she would have to sit in the back seat (instead of me being in the back).
We were fortunate with Son, when he completed his undergrad, he was accepted to PT school close to our home (we had moved 2000 miles his Sr year) and he actually moved back home for 3 years of graduate school.
You are right tho, it will never be the same, the apron strings are being severed.
I hope you D has a wonderful year at Bama - it was a beautiful campus, we drove thru Tuscaloosa and got out and walked around while on our trip back home to Central Texas.
Been keeping up reading but not posted as August was a busy month. We had a 50th anniversary party for my parents last week (140 people at a country club) which my sister and I put together in 7 weeks. It was wonderful and we called it āthe weddingā because it was on that scale but in reality it was my Momās celebration/good bye to my dad who was diagnosed with dementia two years ago and has been rapidly declining. He did so well and had such a good time he actually talked in full sentences for days after. His favorite part was the people which Mom made sure were ones he had known well enough he would know each one.
My brother and his family were out east for the last two weeks and just as they arrived we were returning from our 10 day pilgrimage to Walt Disney World. It is our happy place and as a Disney travel planner it is bit of business with vacation mixed in for me.
Very busy August. Then Friday night it came to a screeching halt as the day camp my daughters worked at Ended the summer with its annual show. Saturday morning we had a Bye Bye Brunch for my D18 at my mothers home on the Cape then my D18 and I packed up summer 2018 and headed home. We spent the weekend home alone unpacking, she cleaned out her room, and then we packed again. DH an D20 has stayed on the Cspe then met us Sunday night for dinner at my in laws. Yesterday was more packing, hair appointments, dryer repairā¦of course I always have an appliance crisis at the worse timesā¦bill paying, daughter having a goodbye breakfast with her best friend, D18 and I watching the last shows of last seasons Madame Secretaryā¦our show together. Tears at bedtime (hers). Laying in her bed and talking and watching her fall asleep in her own bed in her childhood home for the last night as a full time resident here.
Today we leave for North Carolina. Flying down, shopping tomorrowā¦really picking up all our on site orders at BBB, Container Store etc. Busy. Busy. Busy. But no denying the day is getting closer. So excited for her. We know this is a great thingā¦but if I stop it sneaks up on me and I get a lump in my throat. So for now I will keep busy because I refuse to let her see me cry. She has always fed offf my emotions so I am being really good about upbeat and excited. At least on the outside.
Drop off over the weekend went about as well as I could have hoped. Tears from D (expected) none from me (not expected). I think, like you @MinnieFan , Iāve been really focused on keeping busy and on staying up for her and I just couldnāt feed her sadness that day. Now, however, Iām alone in the house soā¦ :((
Anyway, within 24 hrs of us leaving we were getting the āI want to go homeā texts from D. I knew this was coming as change and my D are oil and water. Fortunately she was also prepared to be feeling this way and knew that she just kinda had to power through it and keep trying. These feelings always hit worse at night, and that was the case for her, but she soldiered on and still went to the organized social event her dorm was having that evening. She had fun, still wasnāt feeling great, but she made the effort, and I was proud of her for that! :x
Next day, complete turnaround. She is busy, she is getting out and meeting people, her First Year Seminar starts during orientation week and meets everyday, so she has homework, and when she calls that night she sounds happy! She said she feels better and she knows things are going to be ok. #:-S
Honestly I know this road is probably going to have a lot of ups and downs for her, but I am so thrilled that she has already had one good day! I didnāt think it would come this soon, so I couldnāt have asked for a better start!
So with my very limited experience so far, I would say, if your kid is struggling with homesickness or feeling out of place (my D complained that she ādidnāt fit inā - after 24 hrs! 8-| ), encourage them to get out there and keep trying, to not isolate themselves. The only way to find their people is to keep trying, fight against that urge to stay in and wallow. Itās hard but worth it in the end. My D reports she isnāt sure yet about finding her āpeopleā but she has a few good prospects. 
Itās a good start, and sometimes thatās all you need.
Hang on tight everyone! This last bump might be a doozy! :))
@SnowflakeDogMom Wow! Thank you for taking the time to post about your Dās Gap Year; it sounds as if she made the absolute most of it - good for her! I hope that she will be very happy at UAH and be as focused and happy as it seems as she was during her Gap!
ps.s Iām happy to know you donāt have any regrets, that makes me feel a bit more at ease!
@1822mom Great advice and I have my fingers crossed your DD continues to power through and finds her people.
Yesterday was first day of classes for DS. Moved him in last week on Wednesday morning. He kept busy in the meantime with āWelcome Weekā activities, a welcome ceremony for his scholarship program, attending some fraternity events, playing some ball and lifting weights with friends, plus a lot of socializing and getting acclimated to his dorm and the rest of campus. The only time he has left campus I believe was to visit a nearby church on Sunday with a couple of friends.
He reported last night he thinks outside of sleeping, he hasnāt spent more than a couple of hours total of down time in his dorm room. He generally likes to be busy so Iām thinking that is a good thing for now. He said he has been pushing himself to get out and make new friends. This week is rush week for the fraternities on campus and he seems to be very engaged in that. Early reports on classes have been mostly positive.
Donāt sense much homesickness yet. Iām telling myself thatās because heās keeping so busy and not because he doesnāt miss us :). He is planning to come home on Sunday for the first time, spend some time with us and go back that night (easy to do because heās so close).
I think Iām ready to call it a successful launch!
S has been to all of his classes, and he is over the moon at how great everything is. MWF, he has chem and physics, plus labs, so those are his STEM / pre-med days. He says his physics prof reminds him of Jeff Goldblum, and his chem prof is super nice.
On T-TH, he has what Iāll call his āIām personally interested in theseā classes: Intro to EMS Systems, Monsters and Marvels Through the Ages and a theatre class. He loves all of these three. There are three other EMTs in the class besides S, and the prof says that even though the class is required, they donāt really need to be there. He took their names and said he will try to make arrangements for clinical hours, ride-alongs or other activities better suited to those four.
Monsters and Marvels is an Honors College literature class where they read things like Gilgamesh, Beowulf, Jekyll & Hyde, Frankenstein, etc. He loves the professor already, and he says every single classmate is a quirky, nerdy intellectual, but each one is quirky / nerdy in different ways - and itās fascinating to him.
The theater class is your basic fine arts intro class, but S clicked with the prof., signed up for auditions for As You Like It, and got to meet several of the older theatre students. He made enough of an impact that heās already acquired a nickname. Alas, I canāt divulge it.
Itās such a relief to hear him so happy and so thoroughly in his element.