Moved DD21 into her dorm on last Wed at UNC and then all 4 of us drove to UA on Thu. Move in was very smooth for both. The ride through ATL at 5 pm was another matter altogether!!
Son’s chosen roomie refuses to do anything and stays in his room all day long…standard answer is “I am good.” Another one is rushing and at the frat house all day long. Luckily, the 4th roomie he thought he had nothing in common with, is spending a lot of time with him and has a truck. Classes started today.
#GDTBATH #ROLLTIDE
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I agree. I’ve eaten on Tech’s campus multiple times in a few different locations on campus and have been very impressed every time. Its reputation is well deserved!
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Wonder if he is homesick or just one of those kids who is more comfortable doing his own thing
D23’s only comments about the food served at her dining hall,
“I don’t know why the dining hall afraid to use seasoning”
“Yes, please send condiments. Adding salt and pepper alone isn’t cutting it”
My daughter, born and raised in MD, made sure to pack her Old Bay! IYKYK!
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There is no good time to drive through Atlanta.
Signed,
An Atlanta resident
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NE perspective:
First time we encountered “traffic” in Atlanta during the visit-weekend, I related to my daughter how someone here had warned about how crazy “traffic” can get – being used to NYC, we both had a good laugh.
We regularly spent more time from the 90s on the West Side Highway just to get onto the Bridge, than it took us to cross the entire Atlanta metro area. 
PS - she’s been commuting from mid-town ATL for a year now to the perimeter, and allows half an hour so that she’s a few minutes early.
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Los Angeles mom hearing you all talk about traffic… 
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reverse commute!
As someone who has spent decades living and working in both LA and NJ/NY, I hear you both. I have spent 1 hour and 45 min just going less than a mile from the exit of the turnpike on the tunnel approach – no accident, just traffic. It once took me over 3 hours to get into a tunnel to head back to NJ from Manhattan. Same commute could easily vary by over an hour a day based on random fluccuations.
And in LA, the 405 is some kind of super natural phenomenon. It literally never is not crowded, even at 3am. And when it sporadically clears from stop and go its never at an exit or past an accident – its always at some random, arbitrary spot that leaves you wondering why you were stuck.
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Oh, yeah, definitely!
We moved 23 in earlier this week. They had to colorize the clothes in the closet just like one of your daughters! lol
23 wanted our advice on where to hang things on the wall. I was thinking it was time to go yet 23 didn’t seem ready so we stayed. There was a lot to put together and the move in itself took a while due to university logistical requirements. But it was all simple enough.
I’m struggling with the change to being an empty nester. I thought I had prepared myself by starting new activities and such, but I’m finding this experience to be quite challenging. If anyone has words of wisdom to share, I’m all ears!
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Moved in yesterday. Much smoother and easier than I expected overall.
Traffic getting there was awful (even worse than usual for a Saturday), but once we arrived we were surprised to find absolutely no back up of cars waiting their turn to unload (you have to go to very carefully defined spots). We rolled right onto the college walk where we were greeted by a couple dozen cheering students surrounding the car in an enthusiastic welcome. Were directed to a stopping point where a crew of professional movers rapidly unpacked out car for us and whisked away the bins, which they take and unload in the room. Check-in was easy. Room was clean. The brand new window unit personal AC unit was doing its job. Very efficient operation.
Only real downside was the single room is super tight with all S23’s stuff in it before we had a chance to rearrange all the furniture. So it was kind of like one of those puzzles where just one square is missing and you have to keep shuffling everything around until its all in place correctly (they wouldn’t let us temporally put anything in the hallway, understandably).
The dorm is nice. Almost all singles. Every bathroom is single use with its own shower. Hallway was nice, rooms had very nice hardwood (we we supplemented with an area rug). Great views of the iconic campus from the room. The largest cafeteria on campus is in the building, as is the main student health center. Laundry is free. Other than class or choice, one would never need to leave the building.
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We moved D23 in on Tuesday. Very smooth - volunteer students unloaded everything into rolling bins and brought up to her room. Her roommate moved in at the same time which made for a little bit of chaos but fortunately their room is spacious so it wasn’t too much of a problem. They share a very bathroom with another double with bathroom being between the two rooms. Toilet/shower are separate from the double sink area which is good since it allows for more than one person to be in the bathroom at same time.
We didn’t have more than a few hours to help organize her space before we needed to start our road trip home. We walked around campus and took some photos then said our goodbyes. As we walked back to the parking garage, we ran into her roommate and parents. They invited us to dinner but we needed to get on road as it was already 4:30 and we had a six hour (plus an hour time change) drive to our overnight stop for the night. They very kindly invited D23 to dinner which was very nice of them.
D23 has apparently been having a great time exploring Chicago. There were lots of events planned this past week before classes start so she took advantage of them. I’m glad she did as she has already met a lot of people in her dorm that she has been hanging out with. Unfortunately, her roommate is from an hour away and is the first to go to college. Her mom wanted her to come home already! So she left Friday. D23 thinks she will prob go home often so I’m glad D23 already has some friends to hang around with. Today she is meeting up with a boy at a local farmers’ market whom she met at home this summer at a party (just platonic, at least for now 
). He is also a freshman and lives in a different dorm so it will be nice to make some additional friends.
So far she seems to be enjoying Chicago and all it has to offer. Winter might be a rude awakening! Classes start tomorrow and she will hit the ground running as she has something like four classes on Mondays.
I hope those CCers who have already moved in are adjusting well. It’s not always easy as I have experienced with my older kids at times so I wish all the best to your kids!
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We got S23 all moved in. Spouse returned early for work. I stayed for a few days and did the long drive home alone. Spouse was an absolute wreck while there, and after coming home, but mostly held it in in front of the kid. I was okay there, but struggled saying goodbye and we’ve both been pretty weepy since then.
S23 chose a school far away, where he knows no one. My son is introverted and nervous about making new friends. Roommate is sweet but not close friend material. Son is in several cohort-type things, but has been slow to make friends. He was still wanting to eat and hang out with me or alone when other kids were hanging out with each other. I left him alone every night hoping he’d do the optional activities but he said he was too tired.
I initially felt a bit silly staying for several days, but I’m glad I did. I gained a new appreciation for some things about my kid. He is depleted to a degree that I hadn’t realized by social interaction with people he doesn’t know. I accept that he’ll move at his own pace and it’s slower than most, despite his desire to make close friends. The evening events were too tiring for him after full days of forced socializing with strangers. The final event right before I left was engineering-specific. Finally, I saw a lot of other kids who were behaving like mine, standing close to their parents awkwardly. On the parent FB page, there are tons of parents whose kids of all majors are having a much harder time than mine. Mine was nervous but in bright spirits the whole week. We got consistently wonderful vibes from the school.
We finally talked to him today (god, that was a long wait for us as parents 
). It’s his 18th bday today. He’s spent it alone except for a couple required events. He seems good, has at least one friend, and did one optional activity yesterday. We just have to be chill. He seems fine and happy. We’re following his cues and keeping it positive. It was nice to spend time and learn new things about this person we’ve known so well for so long. Can’t wait to see what happens next.
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Hoping starting classes will help!
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Update from my earlier SOS post last week. D23 is 3/4 of the way through her cross country road trip to URI. It’s going well and I am hopeful. I’m flying out on Wed to help with move in. Wooohoooooo!!!
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Welp, my D23 has a difficult suite mate and that’s putting kindly. The other three girls are getting along like a house on fire. The 4th girl obviously has some mental health challenges and her parents should never have allowed her to go several states away for college. We could all tell immediately that she would need more support than is available at a typical college.
There have already been RA meetings and the girl’s parents flew in for the weekend (they’ve been there a week). While we were facetiming with D23 yesterday this girl started throwing my daughter and her roommates things from the bathroom into their room. We’re obviously concerned but D23 wants to handle it and I know the girl’s roommate’s parents are involved.
Otherwise D23 is having a wonderful time, loves her other suite mates, her classes, and is trying not to melt in the Texas sun 
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wow - that’s nuts. Best of luck to her.
Well, she’s getting an early education that will help her in life.
On a serious note, I hope the school gets involved before any physical harm is done - and throwing things could hurt people - so if it gets bad, they need to go above the RA.
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