Well D is finished with her finals/projects. Semester now officially done. She will stay on campus till Thursday and “celebrate” with friends. Having wisdom teeth out this Friday.
Overall it was a smashingly successful first semester. She repeated some classes she had AP credit for to build a GPA for scholarship. So she had more free time than she ever will to party it up and boy she partied it up.
Her number 2 goal was to be social and really go outside her comfort zone considering she is an introvert that battles anxiety. She met a girl in the pre freshman orientation camp who ended up in big sorority; she rode those coattails to the frat parties. She tagged along to the “iconic” bars and clubs and such. Did the usual big state university tailgates/football stuff.
At the same time she met a couple friends to form closer relationships with that are more her genuine speed. She enjoyed hanging with them more often then not.
The room mate and she did not hang out outside of the room, but got along really well.
I can not be more pleased for to experience “college life at big Uni”, I never got that experience.
They do not go back to class till Jan 13, so the has a nice break to rest up as the work load and rigor really ramp up next semester.
Yeah to finishing their first semester!!!
Do any of your kids use an electric scooter to get around campus?
For REUs or similar after freshman year, I wouldn’t focus on prestige in the same way we think of prestige for UG admissions. Often big state schools have a lot of research money and their programs can be great. Also, look for ones that are paid. That’s generally a sign of funding and quality. Most of the ones freshman can get are on the lower end of the prestige scale.
fwiw, my kids generally do a study abroad or similar for the summer after freshman year. With research/internships in the final two summers it’s their only chance to get something like that in.
That’s exactly why I encouraged my daughter to apply for a summer abroad course this year, though I have some doubts it will happen, with the ever-mutating virus around. There’s a good chance she will do a junior year semester in the U.K. or Ireland but we thought it would be good for her to experience at least a few weeks with a home stay in a non-English-speaking environment. @AlwaysMoving, any plans for this summer?
Me? I have to work to pay for all of this! 
My college freshman is doing a summer semester in Europe getting a minor in business. She’s a stem kid, so the business classes will really help broaden her, and hanging out in Europe will be awesome. After all the COVID limitations during her senior year she needs to go do something not in our house.
How about your kid?
She has applied to a program in Florance, Italy for for five weeks…homestay, intensive beginning Italian, food sustainability and the history culture of Mediterranean food…including visits to farms and vineyards in Tuscany! More of a “life experience thing“ than a career related thing but, yes, after the last two years I think all of our kids can use some of that. And she’ll get seven credits, although they will be electives. She’ll know in a couple of weeks if she is IN. Holding my breath about the Covid situation though…
I love Florence!!! Depending on cost and how you feel, she could train it to Rome and Venice to explore the area 
She and I were all booked to go to Italy the summer of 2020 
so this would be making up for that…depending on the Covid situation I would be tempted to join her at the end to go to some of the places we had planned to see…Rome, a small town in the central region and Lake Como in the north…we were then going to take a scenic train through the Alps and fly out of Zurich…hard to imagine that kind of carefree life now !
I so want to book a family trip to Europe but I don’t want to risk it and I don’t really want to spend all of that money and have there be any restrictions. And so we wait. Maybe as a grad gift for S19 in 2024.
Yes, I really feel the same way…I seriously doubt I would go this summer, more wishful thinking on my part. For D, as @AlwaysMoving said, I think this summer after freshman year might be the best time to try to fit it in, before internships come into play. And for a non-stem humanities major as my D is, I think internships will be critical to her chances of getting a decent job after graduation
Is she looking at a program through W&M?
Yes, it’s a faculty-led program. The Italian classes will be through a school in Florance, so all local teachers for language instruction (I believe this school arranges the homestays too). The food class will be coordinated and partially taught by the W&M Prof, but will have a variety of local speakers. There is also the option of taking a Renaissance art course instead of the food course (which seems like a no-brainer for Florance) but my D was more captivated by the Idea of the food, plus the excursions to the countryside. And I’m sure she would have the opportunity to see those works of art all around her,.
Sounds amazing! I assume one has to pay for it lol. That’s sort of why we would just have D do her study abroad during a regular semester …
I’m honestly hoping she will do a study abroad semester as well, but she’ll most likely Choose something in the U.K. (as an English major). I really wanted her have some experience in a non-English-speaking country, as that has been a big part of my life, but I don’t think she is willing to take that on for a semester. She’s a little intimidated by dealing with a foreign language for a long period. So having her do a shorter stint with a homestay is a compromise (though now she is very excited about Italy, so who knows where that could lead in the future).
Yes, it’s expensive, but I only have one kid! I’m sure if I had two or more It would be different. We’ve been very economical about most other things in life that people spend money on (we live in one of the lowest COL areas of the country) and exposure to the world is a huge priority of mine, especially as she grew up in a small, homogenous town.
For summer abroad - DIS out of Copenhagen and Stockholm offer 3, 6 and 9 week sessions. Many colleges use this company for their semester long study abroad programs too.
The 2nd 3rd week session include a travel week to learn about the subject in a neighboring country - how about food culture in Barcolona after studying it in Copenhagen! Student home by July 4th if they take the early sessions - so time to still work part of the summer too.
Not sure if either of my kids will decide to apply for this summer (if we push - they won’t!). Selfishly, we would love to meet up if it happens and what we REALLY would love is to take the classes for ourselves - my husband and I have enjoyed going through the online catalog 
@coffeeat3 , I spent a summer with a Danish family when I was nineteen, but on a farm near the German border, far from Copenhagen (though we did go there). It was one of the best times of my whole life! At the time I wanted to stay in Denmark forever.
I think going on a faculty-led program means my D will end up spending a good amount of time with other American students from her school, unfortunately. I hope the homestay aspect will mitigate that somewhat. It certainly won’t be full-on immersion, but it is what she is comfortable with at this time and I think it still will give more In-depth exposure to another culture than being a tourist would.
When my daughter was at Ca’ Foscari for the summer, she was sharing an apartment with 2 other (American) students, but they had to deal with shopping, the landlord, the repairman, etc. And, while it was faculty-led, there was plenty of interaction with Italian students, and of course a lot of unstructured time for day trips or to be fully immersed with the locals.
Moreover, she stayed an extra few weeks afterwards to tour the country by train with two friends.
Ugh. S21 is sick AGAIN with a bad cold. Apparently the flu is going around but he had the flu shot over Thanksgiving break luckily and doesn’t have that. He thinks he didn’t do well on a test as he couldn’t sleep and is miserable. Luckily, the prof allows you to throw out the lowest grade in that class but he’s frustrated since he put so much prep in. He also might not make his goal in time to go on a training trip. Hard to be far away and no help. I said to get as much rest as possible but he’s got lots of work. 
He called to get meds advice.