Wife dropped D19 off at her friend’s house for pre-return quarantine. Now we have to get used to the empty nest all over again. When we moved here in January, we thought that this new place would be less of a home for D19, since she was already at college. Instead, we have spent most of our time here as a family. So the attic is not the attic/guest room, but “her room”, and the house seems kinda empty.
On the other hand, when she met with her friend, at whose house they are going to spend the next week, they were like two little kids, they were jumping up and down, spinning around, totally happy and giddy. When the third arrived the next day, it evidently repeated itself on steroids. This is the first time D19 has actually seen any of her friends face to face since mid-March, and hasn’t touched another person besides us for the same period of time. She has only spent a few hours with anybody her age in all that time as well.
She texted that her mental state was great, also the first in a long time.
Hopefully all will go well with the return to campus…
S19 just got his negative Covid test back. Headed out to Maine on Monday to start his internship and moves into the airbnb at the end of the month with his friends. Some are working, some are not. I expect a lot of excitement when they first see each other again. We are leaving towards the end of the month to meet him, grab his stuff that was left behind in March, and get him settled.
S19 arrived back at Denison on Friday afternoon. I was so happy that his flight itinerary had held since I booked his tickets, but in the end, there were mechanical problems and his flight from Tokyo was cancelled. He was rerouted through LA, and Delta put him up in a hotel overnight and then it took two more flights to get him to Columbus, but it all went OK. Usually, S19 flies economy class, but this time I decided to buy a business-class ticket, and I am glad that I did, since it helped him maintain social-distancing through this long trip. I also picked Delta because they are taking a more cautious approach than some other airlines, and, although the mechanical problem was unfortunate, I was pleased at how they handled things. Denison has a fairly elaborate check-in process for both students and helpers but it has been working smoothly by all reports, and S19 was able to get his things out of storage and move into his dorm room today. His two roommates will arrive tomorrow. He had training already this evening for his new job as a docent (tour guide plus assisting Admissions), and he will lead four or five tours this week together with an experienced guide. Maybe because not all schools are doing tours at the moment, Denison seems to have a very full calendar. Classes and athletic practice will start from Monday, but it seems they are planning to ease into the semester a little, with no homework for the first week, etc. Denison has adopted a hybrid model, although it turns out that all of my son’s classes will be remote, at least for now. The kids are all being asked to stick to campus for the first fourteen days, although they are permitted to do quick shopping runs. A slice of the community - students, staff and faculty - will be selected for testing each Thursday, and there was also some random testing done at check-in. The school has created a new gravel area on the lawn and erected a big tent with tables and chairs. The idea is that this area can be used for student/teacher meetings, for dining, for student groups of less then ten people, etc. My son said the tent was already being put to good use today. So, so far so good, and I have my fingers crossed that all the school’s careful planning will pay off. Since returning home in March, S19 has been in an environment where people are being very careful and the number of cases is relatively low. He is also naturally careful about taking care of his health. So we are not too worried about him but still a little worried about everybody else!
Kind of nervy here as we count down the last few days before D19 leaves to start quarantine. The college is keeping right on the students about the testing - they have apparently been calling students due to quarantine who have not yet scheduled their first Covid test (must be within 24 hours of arrival in NYC). They have put an awful lot of work into the quarantine arrangements (move in slots to avoid everyone arriving at once, accommodation, 3 meals a day delivered, testing onsite, virtual programming etc)… I really hope it all pays off. There will be mandatory continued testing after classes start, etc, including anyone who will use any college buildings. ( Interesting another college in the city has gone online for fall saying it doesn’t have the facilities for successful quarantine. Selfishly I guess the smaller the out of town population coming in is, the more the city can continue to keep it under control in the short term. ) Anyway… we shall see how the great experiment works out. She’s obviously aware of the risks of coming home early.
DD also went to her apartment today. She had her bed and some miscellaneous down there already but we still had two rather full vehicles especially with her dresser, bike, and guitar. And a stack of cute masks from Grandma! Got things mostly put together and it looks nice. It’s so funny to look at her roommate’s perfectly pink and gray Paris/fancy room and then to DD’s colorful beach/maps/chaos room. Which was exactly how their dorm room sides looked but now they really have space to expand upon their themes lol.
She has some remote work she can do for her summer job through October. Hoping for a job at the animal shelter down there- they told her they would interview next month.
Hoping for the best for the year, still feeling optimistic…
Dropped D19 off at Mississippi State today. Everything went smoothly, no worries except that we forgot to buy bread for her pantry, and if that’s our biggest problem, I’ll take it.
We are dropping some stuff off in my son’s dorm tomorrow, a sort of pre move in. Then he returns for good on 9/11. He seems happy with dorm and is sort of eager to get back to school, however he has had a good time socializing with a tight knot grip of friends and he might miss them. He is hoping one of his friends transfers to his school too, but we’ll see. Son19 has had a good summer. He ended up running a local sports clinic for a few weeks, and has been private coaching a group of kids and that has been fairly lucrative for the time spent. He finished his summer courses and got good grades in those. So, pretty productive and not a total flush of a few months.
I’m hopeful that the kids at his school can hold it together and not get sent home or become seriously ill.
@PurplePlum - Good luck with your D’s move. I hope she has a good semester.
The move-in with S19 and his roommate went well this weekend. It was pretty tiring, but thankfully the guys and my H did most of the hard stuff. They also found a mattress for S’s roommate and a sectional sofa in Nashville, so we were able to go get those things with our trailer. I feel good about the effort that Vanderbilt has gone to in planning this semester and the extensiveness of the procedures in place. I’ve also seen many families comment in the FB group about how smoothly the move-in process has gone so far. However, I’m not optimistic about their ability to keep cases low with the number of students living off campus this year. It just doesn’t seem possible, but I’m still hoping.
Well that was the easiest drop off we’ve had to date. Son19 has a pretty decent room in a nice building, convenient to a lot of stuff. He had a door right near his room so we could pull up and unload with ease. We were the only ones dropping stuff off too, so it was nice and stress free. Now he’s back at home until he officially returns for good in a few weeks. We are thankful that we live so close, it just makes planning a lot easier. The school has a good virus plan in place, so I’m hoping it all goes well and he can enjoy his semester there. The campus looked great, and son19 was happy to see it again and said he missed being there.
Last night S19 sent photos of his on-campus apartment (shared w 3 others). He is the one who cares about his surroundings so they let him decorate - hence a nice table lamp, throw pillows, great artwork. He commented, “My apartment feels so peaceful.” It is going to break his heart and mine if (maybe I should say when) the positives at UofSC rise and they close the housing…
DD’s classes start today. It’s going to be a lot to keep track of, which days she is to attend and which days she joins online…
I had not been uptight about whether there will be a change to fully online, since she has an apartment and would just stay. But she said yesterday her roommate would go home if they went all online and DD doesn’t want to live alone. So now I have that nagging worry in the back of my mind.
DH decided to get DD a new Macbook Air for her birthday next week. Apple has special pricing for college students (but I didn’t have to submit anything for proof?) and free Airpods with purchase. She’s never expressed interest in Airpods but maybe they’ll be nice for Zoom classes. She has a school-issued laptop but tries to use our old Macbook for personal use and it has problems.
@elena13 Thank you! I will admit I am a bit anxious about the ability of the students as a whole to refrain from the parties, etc. Though I just read the Dean of Student’s email, where the students were put on notice that disregard for the COVID protocols, in particular Vandy’s restrictions on “gatherings”, whether on or off campus, will be met with severe penalties.
Most notably, the Dean stated that at “a minimum”, if a student is found responsible for hosting a gathering that violates Vandy’s COVID policy, the student will be **suspended ** for a minimum of one semester.
He went on to say that a first sanction may be ** “as severe as expulsion” , depending on the nature of the violation. He also pointed out that even ** “attending, participating in, or otherwise supporting, and/or concealing a gathering that violates the policy may also result in suspension or expulsion for a first offense”.
So, the students have a lot to lose, not only those who host the parties, but also those who attend them.
@PurplePlum - I would say my anxiety is sky high!
Praying my pretty social S makes good choices. He seemed to all summer, but being back in Nashville might be hard. He says he won’t go downtown or go to parties, but I just don’t feel great about the whole situation.
D19 is ensconced in her suite for quarantine. She has a pretty view, which is nice too. Some teething problems with the meal delivery but they got food eventually (and she had some backup of course, they have a kitchen in the suite). They will be enforcing quarantine strictly - may only leave the building for medical reasons (including Covid testing), and they have to sign in and out with a public safety officer, will be consequences for getting caught in the hallways, etc. Going to be a tough two weeks, hopefully it’s worth it and it works out. Students are being encouraged not to travel over thanksgiving…I’m just hoping they make it that far! (If they do, we’ll go there.)
NYU has similar kind of sanctions as Vandy but they’ve used a broad brush - “Students who engage in, facilitate, or organize irresponsible and reckless behavior that puts the community at risk“. Punishment ranges from being forced to go all online and made to leave the dorms if living on campus, to suspension or expulsion. There is also an anonymous contact for reporting reckless behavior and interestingly looking at reddit, it seems the vast majority are going with an “it’s safety, not snitching” attitude… at least those who post, anyway. Possibly a slight benefit in that the places NYU students usually party at are public ones currently closed, and the Greek scene is small - having seen it reported that a number of other campus outbreaks centered around frat house parties. But of course, those who really want to party will find a way.
D had her first two classes yesterday and really liked them. She has just a lab today, shortened so they can be in smaller groups.
Her social bubble is about 6 kids. Even if they go online and her roommate leaves, she knows the rest of them will be around.
She got her room arranged some more and lots of photos put up. She is happy
