Continuing the discussion from Parents of the HS Class of 2019 (Part 1) - #20239 by dfbdfb.
Previous discussions:
(Apparently this post closed our thread! Weird. Posting it here again, then.)
D19 got home yesterday (we’d hoped to hit a seam in the Thanksgiving travel weekend), with her finals over as of this past Wednesday!
Of course, her sisters are still in school (D17 attending college remotely, D23 and D25 in remote high and middle school classes) and she’s distancing pending her covid test results, so there’s not all that much she can do here with us yet, but that’s okay. Still nice to have her safely home.
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@dfbdfb Glad your D made it all the way home to Alaska! Does she stay home through January?
D19 came home last Monday and she does not head back until about January 8th. She is supposed to go back one day early and stay at a hotel so she can get tested before moving back to the dorms but there are no direct flights that day. She is only going early (classes don’t start until the 18th) for rush so I am hoping she can be a day late.
This week is finals week, I think she only has one though. She has the option to skip her Psych final because she has an A, she has two projects and then the Calculus final this afternoon. She is the most non-math person you can imagine so she is very nervous! She managed to have a good semester despite the restrictions. She spent a lot of time at Audubon Park which is right across the street from school and she loved having that outdoor area to relax, take walks and study.
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@momtogkc, she heads back for classes early January. (The 6th, IIRC? and then they barrel through without a spring break and finish sometime in mid- to late April.)
She already knows she got an A in calc IV, which she was worried about. (She absolutely loved differential equations, but of all the math she’s taken, she liked calc IV the least. Which means that she still loved it but wasn’t excited by it, but everything’s relative, right?) The only other class she’s worried about gradewise is engineering economics, but even if she did badly in it she’ll have done well enough overall to keep her scholarships, so yay!
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Hi all, Been a long time since I checked in. I think last time was in March when S19 and D16 were packing up their rooms at college to live with friends off-campus. S19 finished u spring qtr in a remote (in mtns) house with friends and then drove cross-country back to NH with friends for summer job. Though the start of summer was quite stressful (buying a car), he lived in a group house with friends and had a great time. He drove back cross-country to WA at end of August. Now for the last 3 months he and his sister have been living with H and I in a largish cabin in the woods. It is essentially a big one room cabin. I often feel like Little House in the Woods, quite the change from life in the city. For much of that time, we had almost no internet (much cooking and baking!) but recently, thanks to SpaceX, we have ripping fast internet. Movies! At the beginning of November, the snow came and now we can ski all over.
S19 decided to take a gap year (wanted to have the in-person college experience) and has been auditing computer science and machine learning classes. He’d applied to a bunch of internships but realized that the stuff he wanted to do required more skills. He is spending the gap year working on getting those skills. Looks like he has landed a part-time programming project for winter. We’ll see.
Early December will be rough I expect. I have too much work. D16 is stressed working on grad school apps and the pandemic weighs heavy on her as a good friend’s mother (pulmonary nurse) is now sick with covid and another of her friend’s works in a LTC that has been hit by covid. S19 injured himself and can’t ski for a bit (thankfully nothing too bad). But the mountains are beautiful every morning and the snow is crisp and white.
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@liska, that sounds lovely despite the various stresses. Our S19 came back from the US to our home in Asia about two weeks ago and is finishing up exams and papers remotely. One more to go, due by 2 p.m. on Saturday. He doesn’t go back until late January, so we’ll ask him to figure out something productive to do with the rest of the break. He has been talking about gaining an athletic training certification. He had a good fall semester despite the various restrictions, but it was clearly also stressful and he’s enjoying being home and being pampered a bit.
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Hey all! I thought I would check in as the semester winds down for my D19. She did fine for the semester at home- she has a 4.0, has carried her job, and maintained her level of activity in her clubs- but she is very happy to be heading back to school in the spring. Plane ticket is bought, place to ride out a two week quarantine before heading to school is set (she’ll be staying with her spring roommate, who lives in-state for the school), and excitement is growing. She just hit submit on her school’s application to study at Oxford for junior year, and she finished up applications for two summer programs. Probably the biggest thing that helped this semester was that she received an accommodation for subtitles for her zoom classes. It’s made a world of difference.
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DD was here Wednesday through Sunday. Now she is at her sister’s, working afternoons at her sister’s office. I haven’t heard much, but I think the job is going fine. The lady going on maternity leave is still there this week to show her what to do, then she will be gone starting next week.
Finals are next week, DD thinks they are all in mornings, so that will work out.
She did not get to see her boyfriend while she was here due to his family not wanting him to be around people. Supposedly they will be allowed to meet at our house on the 19th for their 2nd anniversary. She’s fairly used to the separation at this point, and if they stay together, this will all be part of their story! He did come see her earlier in November so that helped a lot. It’s super good that she has her sister and a job to distract her for break.
First semester overall went really well. No issues with Covid in her circle or classes. Enjoyed her classes and had fun with her friends.
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Finals week is almost over for D. She passed Calculus!!! She turned in one project yesterday, has one due today that I think she finished last night and then her last exam tomorrow afternoon. Not sure what she is planning to do for the rest of break yet. She probably could go back to her summer job but who knows.
@dfbdfb Tulane is doing the same schedule -no spring break but a few days off scattered throughout the semester. The originally said they were still going to do Mardi Gras break (a 4 day weekend) which I thought was crazy - Mardi Gras was one of the first super spreaders I think - but Mardi Gras was cancelled and they took away the long weekend.
@liska21 Wow - two cross country trips for your S - sounds like fun! I drove cross country with my college roommate after we graduated and it was a blast. Looking back I can’t believe my parents let me do it- no cell phones, no internet, just drive until you are tired and find a motel that has room - I don’t know if I would have said yes to my kids! And the cabin in the woods sounds very cool - is it in NH?
@tkoparent I’m glad S made it home to you and you will get a nice long visit with him!
@milgymfam Your D sounds like she is doing great! Good luck on Oxford. 
I told D to keep an eye out for study abroad information meetings but she never saw anything. I later heard they were waiting to start giving kids the information for applying until next semester when they know more about Covid restrictions - I hope there is some way she gets to do it.
@bjscheel Glad that the job is working out with your D. That is nice she will get to see the BF on their anniversary. I met DH my freshman year of college, it is fun to have so many crazy old stories together.
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@momtogkc I hope so too! The deadline for this was 12/4, so there was no way to wait and see, unfortunately. I’m hopeful that if she isn’t accepted there will be time to find something else for next spring. She’s studied in Italy twice, both pre-college, and I think experiencing study abroad somewhere else would be an amazing growth experience for her. I have had the darnedest time finding any info for her on the acceptance rate, so she doesn’t know how much to think about backup plans.
It’s nice to see the updates. Thanks for sharing! I’m glad I came back to check this thread - I really hate the new website design and all the scrolling. Overall, S19 had a decent semester. He was definitely glad to be back in Nashville and really enjoyed living with his roommate and getting together with some good friends. However, having most of his classes online and just having a totally different college experience in every way definitely was a big bummer. He was glad he served as a leader for a group of freshmen and also got to rush his business fraternity, but everything was so different and not nearly as fun (he actually stayed Covid free!). Oh well, he feels he’s making good academic progress and hopefully learning some things that will help him get some internships he’s shooting for. He also submitted a proposal to design his own major and is really hoping to get to study abroad next school year to go along with his Spanish minor. I’ve enjoyed having he and my D17 home the past couple of weeks and they should be done with finals in the next few days.
Wow @liska21! That sounds like such an interesting experience in your cabin with the family.
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Good news, DD got her full Americorps education award! We weren’t sure if she would or not. There were days (most days) she dreaded going, but now that it’s over, making $10K in one summer makes it seem not so bad in retrospect 
She is glad to have a different job over break that she doesn’t mind going to though.
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Good to see the updates, everyone. D19 is thriving as she wraps up the semester from home with us. Sounds like she’s doing great in all of her classes, though with a few frustrations that she’s been the one carrying a couple of her group projects. She and her three best friends from school (Parsons/The New School) are looking for apartments in Brooklyn to move into in January – we’ve provided our guarantor paperwork. Although they’ll still be doing classes remotely, it’ll be good for them to be in the city and be together. D19 is still waiting to hear about her potential museum internship, which she should find out about in the next week or so. She made sure to leave Fridays clear for it in crafting her class schedule. Fingers crossed!
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I’m still not enjoying the new forum but getting more used to it. Don’t think I’ve posted in this thread since the changeover.
D19 is due to come home for winter break tomorrow. She moves out of dorms into an apartment today. The Manhattan market is still very weak so she got a great deal. (I’ve warned her she will probably have to downgrade when her lease is up and the market normalizes!) She also gets the rest of Dec free with immediate move in (lease starts Jan) so can move her things in there right now rather than storage. She’s taken a year lease, planning to stay over summer to take advantage of the “flex” program this year - she has decided to change her major (…again…to a previous option…) so she’s dropped one class and will substitute with another in summer, no extra cost. She’ll either do another credit class or internship, or both, over summer too.
We are very hopeful with the vaccine rollout that they will still be able to do semester abroad, she’s hoping for spring 2022.
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It’s nice to read all of the updates. Your cabin quarantine sounds idyllic, @liska21. We’ve spent as much time in the mountains as possible during this time too.
D has two finals this week and then it’s winter break. Thank goodness! This semester of remote learning has been challenging. She had a couple of apathetic professors with little desire to teach or curtail rampant cheating that ruined the whole experience. Add in the social isolation and the semester just felt like drudgery.
College houses will reopen this spring and D is looking forward to returning to Philly for some socially distanced fun with friends. She also hopes to study abroad in the fall, but it’s too soon to tell if that will be possible given public health guidelines.
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Hi, everyone! I put it off for awhile, but I’m starting to figure out this new forum. One frustrating thing is that when I return to a thread, it doesn’t put me at the last post I read. Am I doing something wrong? I’ve bookmarked threads, but when I click on the bookmark, I get the first post of the thread.
Anyway, I love reading the updates! D19 was home for the fall semester and it has worked out well. Her boyfriend (also remote) came and stayed with us for two months, so we really got to know him. I’ve always wanted four kids, so I loved it! We’ve also been fostering dogs for CCI, so there’s plenty of chaos in our house.
I can’t remember whether I updated that D did virtual rush and pledged a sorority. She’s going to live in the house when she goes back to school for spring semester. I really glad about it because she missed almost two semesters of being on campus making friends etc.
Right now, we’re bracing ourselves to go through the dark tunnel before the vaccine is widely distributed. Local hospitals are full and diverting patients, and levels keep rising. So far, we’ve avoided the virus so I just want to hang in there and not let down our guard. DH has a lot of patients with long-haul Covid and it sounds miserable. Plus, praying that my parents and in-laws stay safe.
So grateful that the vaccine is so effective and on its way. Best wishes to all!
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Picked son19 up on Monday. He has a few exams this week to take remotely. He is doing well at school and enjoyed his time on campus this Fall. Tufts did a very good job in regards to virus testing and figuring out ways to keep campus safe but still enjoyable for the kids and workers. He was able to live with a group of friends in a dorm, and was able to practice with a small number of teammates every day. That was good for his health and social well being. He’s off until first week of Feb. We’ll probably get some skiing in. Other than that no big plans.
Hope everyone enjoys a nice holiday season and stays safe and healthy.
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Happy to hear your son’s school was able to stay open and that he had a good semester. I like hearing about colleges that were able to provide an enjoyable on campus experience during the pandemic because it gives me hope that my D’s college will be able to do the same. Be well.
So D19’s flight home today (late afternoon) got cancelled with less than 24 hours notice (to be fair we should have seen it coming with the snowstorm, but then again they needed to be the ones to cancel for a refund …) and we scrambled to get her on a morning flight out. Such short notice booking in a normal December, especially at the price we paid, is likely impossible …one thing to thank Covid for I guess. The other side of it was that meant she had nearly a day less than she thought to move her stuff over to the apartment and finish cleaning her dorm room etc. of course internal mom clock in me woke me up at 2am so I could be sure she was awake on the opposite coast and wasn’t gonna miss her flight 
turns out she barely slept getting everything done last minute. Anyway, she’s home now. (Sleeping!!)
Now to figure out when to book her to go back. Prices are super low. Can get SFO-LGA on southwest in January for $77!! Unfortunately no direct flights. JetBlue non-stop starts blue basic at $89-95, blue at $130 (but no free bags like southwest). Not sure I have ever seen fares this low since we moved here (6 years).
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Yay! Happy to hear your D made it home despite the flight issues. Flights to the east coast are super low right now. Booked my D on a Southwest flight from DEN to PHL in January for $49!
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