My son has a paid film internship this summer in NYC. He’s learning a ton about the industry in which he’s hoping to make his future career but also, learning how hard it is to get by in an expensive city on a small salary and having to commute an hour each way to work by public transport from his cheap apartment to his office. All life skills that I’m glad he’s learning now.
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D22 is working fast food. She’s also shadowing a few times a week at 2 different Physical Therapy clinics. She’s been enjoying seeing friends and having lots of time for hikes and runs. Right now we’re on a wonderful extended family trip. It’s been awesome having her back home and it’s going to be tough saying goodbye come end of August. Love that she’s been doing a ton of face timing with her 3 best friends from college- they definitely miss each other.
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My DD22 is also working fast food and taking a summer term class. She didn’t want to take on a “big girl” job just yet. She is also interviewing for on-campus jobs for the school year and starting work on internship applications which are due this fall for the following year.
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My D22 is working a lowish paid job in the mountains, but it comes with free food and lodging and the limited ability to spend any money. While she will focus in the future on getting an internship or research work during future summers, this job is perfect for now, and she is having an awesome time. Manual work makes a nice break from the school year’s mental work.
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My D22 also found that the internships she wanted are not available to freshmen. She did a summer research class in South America and since she got a grant to pay for it she needs to do a formal research presentation to the granting organization, which is keeping her busy now that she’s back. She also continues to be a soccer referee, a job she’s had since she was 14. And, best of all, she had the time to come with me and her brother to visit the grandparents in Europe for a month, which makes mom very happy 
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My D22 is also having a relatively relaxed summer. She applied for a few internships earlier in the spring but, as they were targeted toward upperclassmen, she wasn’t successful. She had a chance to be an undergraduate research fellow (title fancier than actual duties!) in the US summer STEM program she participated in during HS but chose instead to shadow junior doctors at a local hospital (here in the UK) as she’s considering applying to medical school after her degree. She was tutoring a HS student during the past academic year but he’s taking a break over the summer (reasonable enough but means she has less spending money).
Selfishly for me (a recurring theme!), she’s living at home this summer 
and we’re heading off to the Far East at the end of the month to visit friends and relatives.
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It has been a while since I posted. My daughter had a great year. Her school opted to not do any triples this past school year. She ended up in a room phyiscally built to be a triple with 2 people - basically 3 of everything but just two beds in a fairly larger room. Her roommate was an international student from Lebanon. They were not great friends outside of the room but got along great as roommates. The only issue my daughter had was her roommate would occasionally want the room dark by 8pm to go to sleep but she just went out to the lounge if she was in the dorm. The roommate was transferring last she heard. It was a pretty traditional dorm with an elevator but no ac.
My daughter and friend will be in a double in an old victorian house this year. They will have a small bathroom in their room. There is only I think 1 other room on the floor with students and another used for campus tours. They have a kitchen and living room and full bathroom on the floor and some rooms upstairs with study room and hall bathrooms. I’m guessing the laundry is in the basement. They have a friend who is an RA next door, a quiet house on the other side with a friend, and another friend across the street etc. It is a university which most people live on campus all 4 years.
Academically and socially she did great - which is what I hoped for after doing high school at home from March 2020 on just the way it worked out. She has to have a meal plan I think but we will see how 1st semester goes with cooking if she does and make changes for second if needed. This summer she is working at a specialty summer camp - basically camp counselor though her job calls her an intern. The camp specializes in music, art and computer programming. She also does occasional dog sitting for friend when she is home. She didn’t work at college but did end up with a dog watching job for a professor who didn’t dare leave a new puppy home alone. She might be doing that in the fall as well. She was asked by a professor to take a specific class which fulfills a requirement and she will be some type of assistant but I don’t know more than that.
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Year 2 here we come! It was a fun summer having him home. I think we will miss him more this year. But he looking forward to heading back down to Bama.
I hope everyone had a good summer
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Our D just finished up her internship yesterday. We came down to watch her wrap-up presentation and will take her back home with us for a couple of weeks rest and some shopping. W will then take her up for some whale watching then it’s back to Hopkins.
Here’s to everyone having a great second year!!
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Many Southern colleges start so early and end so early.
Friend’s DS2025 is starting at GT, and they’re driving down all his stuff next week.
1st day of class for DS is 9/6 so he still has 4.5weeks of summer, but they aren’t done until late May.
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DS is really enjoying his summer, part-time internship and hanging out with his HS friends,
so he is a bit dreading going back to college, “back to the grind”.
But I told him that he needs to LIVE LIFE a bit more (do more social stuff/have fun) and study a bit less.
There feels to be some pressure to do very well, or else you feel like you’re falling behind and then you doubt yourself, that you don’t belong there, etc.
What incentives do you give your children to have fun, meet more people, LEAVE YOUR DORM ROOM?
My friend suggested that I offer to add $50 of TechCash (dining dollars, etc) to his account for every picture/video he shares of him doing stuff/having fun (not studying in his room). I thought I saw a thread about something similar.
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I have loved having D22 home and am going to miss her likely just as much as I did last year. Hopefully knowing she is going back to friends and a place she loves will help. She has a week and a half left at home but H and I are taking D24 on a college tour trip next week. D22 wanted no part of that so is staying home. I don’t love that I’m not maximizing my last few days with her but need to keep perspective- she has been home 3 months. Best of luck to all our 22s as they start their second year of college!!!
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My D22 is going to go back to school early to see her girlfriend. They haven’t been able to see each other all summer, only talk on the phone/internet. Her girlfriend is working orientation. I think D22 will come back to see another friend who will be in town for a week before he has to go back to school. They haven’t had a chance to see each other much this summer either since he has been doing an internship in another state. So it will be a staggered leaving for us. I am hoping to drive up and take some stuff too. D22 has her own car, but it’s small and doesn’t hold that much. I’d just like to drive up and see campus and have a proper send off.
@huango, I haven’t given any financial incentives to getting more involved socially. I think D22 does all right with that. I’d like her to get more involved with campus clubs and stuff, but that’s not really her thing. I do encourage her, though. We were hoping she could get a job in the library this semester, but those are reserved for work-study students. She was disappointed about that.
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He actually doesn’t start until Aug 23, which is a bit early, but not too much it seems. But marching band camp starts Aug 11, so he wants to be fully moved in by then.
I have tried to figure out a way to encourage him to get out as well. He does have band and really enjoys that, but I wish he did more socializing than he does. He rarely spends money, so that is not a great motivation. I don’t know what would be. He says he enjoys it and all, so maybe I am worrying for nothing. But that’s my job 
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I told my son the same thing. He has been taking 2 summer classes (stem). He wants a laid back fall quarter, and I am on board with that— he’s been doing so well, but I want him to enjoy the experience a little bit!
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D22 still has six weeks of summer! But she finished up her summer class (asynchronous) early and landed a second job in addition to her fast food gig. It’s an on-campus position relevant to her major and she was able to start remotely over the summer.
She can’t wait to go back. She is a natural introvert, but went in fully prepared to push herself outside of her comfort zone and it paid off. We told her to try all the things and then cut back and she actually listened (granted, other students told her the same thing). It was a bit stressful last fall as she juggled what to keep and what to drop, but it ended up working out well for her socially and for building her resume.
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S22 finished up his summer job (working for the corporate tennis league I play in) last week, and we’re heading to Martha’s Vineyard tomorrow for four weeks. While my wife and I will work remotely from there for the first two weeks, S22 will be on vacation the whole time. Our D19 will join us for the final week as she has to work otherwise. S22 has invited some friends (including a family friend who’s a maybe-maybe-not girlfriend) to stay with us for part of the time, but unlike us, he doesn’t have anyone he considers a friend among the other summer denizens. We’re encouraging him to keep an open mind, but he says he has enough friends, lol.
Speaking of which, fortunately he has a tight cohort of great friends at NYU, where classes start after Labor Day. We’re fortunate that neither of our birds has strayed far from our empty nest — S22’s dorm for this year will be even closer to our apartment than last year’s. No, he doesn’t come home to do laundry, a constant question we get. The laundry machines at the dorms are bigger than ours and more convenient, and it isn’t like we’d be doing the laundry for him. He does like to host dinner parties at our place where he cooks for his friends, and he and I will continue to play golf and tennis as his schedule allows.
For work, he’s thinking about continuing with the tennis league but knows he’ll be working as a referee in the intramural basketball league, which he also plays in. He’s a natural all-around athlete: His basketball team came in second out of about 40 last season, he whipped me at tennis last night and he’s about to whip me at golf this afternoon. 
Wishing everyone’s kids the best for the school year ahead!
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My S22 just returned from a summer interning in NYC and is only home for one week before he heads back to school. 
He really loved his time in NYC (so much to do so much to see for a country mouse!) and said the internship was so intense and required so much work that he’s not at all daunted by college anymore. I guess that is a good thing. 
He’s been out every day visiting HS friends, then we load up in a few days and start driving to California. I miss him already since I had so little time with him this summer. But I understand that our small mountain town is just not much of an interest to him at this stage in his life. And I’m happy he’s finding his own place out there.
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My D finishes her internship tomorrow. They gave her real substantive work to do and she was busy with TA work for her college and spending time with friends. We’ll get to have a family vacation before she heads back. My other kid graduates college this year. It’s been great but definitely nice to make the next to last tuition payment!
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S22 is finally home for a bit. He really enjoyed his REU and made great friends there. Their talk based on their REU has already been accepted to two undergraduate conferences and they are now finishing a paper. There is another paper in progress based on his last semester research, so he is busy even now.
S22 is heading back a few days earlier to attend an undergraduate learning assistant orientation. To our surprise, he was assigned to teach recitations for honors MVC. I hope he is up to the task. We had most of his stuff stored with one of the dorm moving companies and it won’t be delivered till after the orientation.
He will stay in a “better” dorm which has a worse cafeteria and is farther away from his classes and favorite places. Go figure
Things seem much more relaxed this year. No dorm shopping, no worries how he will manage. not even a trip to drop him off.
Here is to great 2023/2024 to all of our kids.
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The dog jumped in the car as we were packing up and now refuses to get out. I think we may have to take her.
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