Drove down to New York from Boston on Saturday to pick up D19. We have an electric car with about a 200-mile range, which requires one charging stop along the way if you start out at 100%. Went much more smoothly in both directions than the college-dropoff trip in August, now that we know where the reliable chargers are. The challenge now is that the chargers are mostly located at malls, so we’ll have to resist doing shopping we don’t need. S22 is enjoying his new Christmas sweater, though: Will Ferrell squeeing as Buddy in “Elf,” surrounded by CHRISTMAS GOT ME LIKE.
We brought a big empty suitcase for D19 to fill up, along with the carry-on bag she has with her. Had a nice family dinner on Saturday night, then on Sunday I had brunch with my mother and S22 while DW saw a friend and D19 packed. Then I picked up the car, which I’d parked overnight at a hotel garage that has what seems to be the only public high-speed charger in Manhattan. They’d filled us up at no extra charge, I guess figuring the $77 parking fee was enough. Picked up DW at our hotel, picked up D19 at Parsons and we hit the road. Planning a three-day family trip to New York around Christmas, but we’re taking the train then.
As others have observed, it’s really nice to have the whole family together again. DW pointed out to me, as we watched the siblings head off into the student center for a pretrip bathroom break, that S22 seemed practically giddy to have us all reunited. We have a good time as a family in whatever combination, but it’s a special dynamic when it’s the four of us. D19 is happy as well, having planned lots of vegetarian meals to make for us on the 5 1/2-week break. She’s glad to have some time away from her messy suitemates – her direct roommate remains great, but the women in the other two rooms are thoughtless disasters. Perhaps they’ll do some soul-searching over the break, as D19 had a modest blow-up with one of them recently that led to a rare apology from the suitemate.
Happy holidays, and enjoy your own family reunions!
S19 is finally home. He did well in his classes and has decided to do a double major. He has many friends, tells us he sleeps 8 hours every night, and generally likes everything about the school. On top of this, he was just accepted into the famous research seminar class which only takes 6-8 students every year, based on how they solve two quite hard mini-research problems in the first quarter. So now he’s like the cream of the crop at Caltech! I’m so happy for him! Eat your heart out, [the other school that shall not be named]!
Envious of those of you whose children are already home. D19 won’t be done with finals until Thursday and will fly home Friday. I can’t wait to see her!
Wishing you all a wonderful holiday season with your families!
@homerdog I don’t want to give the impression that S19 has not found groups that he really likes. In fact, he has immersed himself in the Outing Club and does lots of social activities with them. He has ‘found his people’. But developing close friendships takes time. I suspect that he’d also like a GF (I get no updates on that front though, lol!)
S19 and D17 are both arriving tomorrow and their flights are scheduled within 15 minutes if everyone is on time. We shall see. S19 did not get a 4.0 due to a few bumps in the road. D17 never did either and is sitting in the mid 3’s. Anything over a 3.0 I consider a success. thursday as a family we are all going to see Star Wars. That will be nice.
Two funny stories to share. S19 is notoriously frugal and isn’t the best at planning ahead. So I was very surprised when a Shutterfly box showed up a few days before he arrived home for Thanksgiving break. He made his roommate do a little holiday “photo shoot” with him and then S designed holiday photo cards from the pair. They gave them out to all the kids on their floor and some other friends and parents - the cards are pretty funny. S sure did get lucky with his random roommate. They have become good friends and will be in same fraternity starting in January.
Also, back in high school, S19’s friend, who is quite the character and now at Harvard, knew of S’s preference for shorter than average shorts so he ordered a gift for S of these super short royal blue shorts with yellow piping (Think Larry Bird style). Of course they were a big hit. Well this semester, S’s calculus professor was this young (28) guy who always wore shorts and flip flops. For each exam the prof would give one extra point to students who dressed like him on exam day, so of course S went for it but saved the short shorts. For the final exam however, S pulled out the little blue shorts to make sure he got that point and he said the professor was pretty surprised and amused. Hopefully his ridiculous outfit helped to relax some of the tense students as well.
@sdl0625 We do not expect all As from S19. There’s something called the “Bowdoin B”. I think it’s when all of these A students show up and start getting Bs. lol. So far, it does look like he MIGHT pull off all As but he’s not sure. Needs a 50% on his linear algebra final but he doesn’t know if that’s reasonable or not. Prof said the test is crazy hard. Bring all of your notes. Said that anyone who gets an A on this test will get an A in the class no matter where their grade stands as of now. It’s that hard. For the kids who don’t get an A, it’s just 15% of their grade. Not sure where the cut off is for an A. For the rest of the tests, it’s been a 90.
@elena13 Love both stories. Fun stuff! I love when roommates become good friends.
DD has to keep a 3.5 so I’m happy about getting through 1st semester with flying colors so I can relax. It’s not a tough school so I will expect lots of A’s now :lol:
Her play was live-streamed on Facebook last night so DH watched it live (after I explained how to get to Facebook and then a specific page on Facebook…). I watched later when I got home. It was taped from the side and the audio wasn’t ideal but yay, we got to see it!
S19 is on the plane, arriving this evening. His flight out of Columbus was delayed by snow and he almost didn’t make the transfer in DC. This was his first time flying home from the US by himself, and he had less than an hour layover, so I had written out fairly detailed guidance for him - my husband laughed at me, but now I am glad I did it! There’s another thread going about how the holidays can become a burden, but I am really looking forward to Christmas this year. S19 is the family traditionalist, so he will want everything to be just as it has always been, but one big difference is that this year, he has actually put a lot of thought and effort into his gifts. And then his little sister realized she better get going and do the same. So it should be very festive. In the meantime, we are also planning a family outing to see Star Wars on Saturday.
@sdl0625 You mentioned the Star Wars movie…I asked S19 a few weeks ago what he especially wanted to do for family activities when he got home (thinking Christmas activities), he wanted the family to go to the Star Wars movie on opening day. I have never purchased movie tickets in advance, glad I did this time.
Yesterday S19 was notified that he got the dorm he wanted next year! This is a big deal - housing is limited and not many sophomores and above get dorms, and he had no back up plan. But it seems U of SC decided to give Honors upperclassmen priority in one of the newest apartment-style dorms. S and 3 buddies from the business school got in. (And in a side note, when did single-en suite -bedrooms/bathrooms become a think at college? This is not the roughing it I remember…)
S19 is coming home today. Last final this morning then he will be on the bus. We travel next week to visit family for the holidays and we had family visiting over Thanksgiving. So it will be nice to have it just be the four of us in the house.
S21 was keeping it low key. But this morning before leaving for school, he told me how excited he is for his big bro to be home for a longer stay.
Wow. Can’t believe our 19ers are wrapping up first semester!
@SammoJ Congrats on getting in desired housing! One of the things DD’17 liked about her cc was the apartments with your own bedroom & bathroom, after seeing the cinder block dorm rooms other places. It was so nice!
I had warned DD’19 that the apartment she’d have after dorm life might not be too fantastic looking and she said she felt like it was part of college life to live somewhere “sketch”.
However, she found a cute one with old house charm and character. Now she and roommate are considering putting two other girls in their 2 bedroom/1 bath apartment. I’m thinking what a great savings on rent but how crowded? She says she and roommate are already used to sharing a bedroom and she doesn’t like to be alone. So, I’ll let them decide. Maybe 1 bathroom for 4 girls will be their version of roughing it.
DS comes home Friday night at 7:40, after spending 14 hours traveling between the bus to the airport, changing planes in Heathrow. So I expect he will be exhausted. His last final was on Saturday morning (?) but he didn’t want me to change his flights because he wanted to chill down and relax with friends this week. So I think he’s happy at college.
Once he’s home I have him until late January. We asked him if there was anything he missed, and he said “Mexican food. Even Taco Bell would be fantastic”. I think we can take him somewhere better than Taco Bell.
We spent last weekend cleaning his room. It had become a bit of a miscellaneous storage area while he was gone, plus there was cat hair all over his bed. I guess the cats miss him too.
Not having Thanksgiving break, it feels like forever since we’ve seen him. What will be different, what will be the same? Brave new world that has such people in it.
S19’s Chemistry professor asked the students if they wanted him to wear A. Hawaiian shirts or B. I forget what that alternate was. lol He wore different Hawaiian shirts to every lecture. He must own lots of Hawaiian shirts. lol
S19 arrived home last night. S17 finished finals last Friday.
It is nearly 11 AM and no stirring in the house. zzzzz
Great reading about everyone students! My S19 flew home last Thursday and he’s been juggling time with girlfriend, friends, and family. He did great the first semester, so is excited about that, and has a good group of friends. They’ve been chatting on Discord also over break. Goes back Jan 4.
I’m enjoying being able to sleep in both weekend days while he’s here :). Our dogs believe in early breakfast, so someone has to get up to feed them early-ish even on weekends. Husband and I swap days, but no need when kiddo is here lol.
We’re seeing Star Wars tomorrow night, should be fun.
My S16 and D19 are home. It’s only two hours away - at the same university - but boy have I missed them!
D19 got her wisdom teeth out yesterday morning. All 4 and impacted but surviving well on day two. In fact she is out tonight looking at Christmas lights with her home friends in town.
Both kids had a great semester academically. Break is pretty fast IMO - they go back 1/12. My S16 is a senior so he is entering his last semester. Unbelievable! He has been applying to full time jobs for post graduation - we will see where he lands. My D19 has an exciting spring break trip planned - she is going on a Habitat for Humanity trip through her university. Very cool!
But for now - I am just enjoying them being home. My heart is full. Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all!
They gave them out to all the kids on their floor and some other friends and parents - the cards are pretty funny. S sure did get lucky with his random roommate. They have become good friends and will be in same fraternity starting in January.