<p>S has decided to enroll at UNC and we are already looking forward to Parents Weekend. As we will be flying in from the Upper Midwest we need to plan ahead. My specific question is when do official activities start on Friday as we are deciding between flying in Thursday night or Friday morning. Frankly my prefrence is to save the night of hotel costs and car rental and come in Friday morning, but we don't want to miss any fun.</p>
<p>Experienced parents your thoughts please
Thanks</p>
<p>LEDad: I assume you're talking about the Parents Weekend in the fall? If so, I think they let you know about the specific events planned for that weekend, sometime in the summer; the information will be mailed to your house and will also appear on the UNC website.. So that should give you more detailed information about planned events. </p>
<p>Although we've been the last 2 years, we have never arrived before Sat morning (we're instate). So I'm not sure what they plan for Fridays. Maybe someone from OOS can tell you, but I would guess that coming in on Friday would be fine.</p>
<p>Yes I am referring to the Fall Weekend. Just wanted to get a head start with rooms and flights if possible. I did note that we should get more specific information later this summer. Guess I can't wait for our next trip to the Southern Part of Heaven</p>
<p>LEDad: Ha. Yeah, I know what you mean. ;)</p>
<p>We went to our first parents' weekend last October, and I have to admit, we just enjoyed spending time with our daughter more than the organized activities. We enjoyed going to the football game, out to dinner, shopping for groceries and spending money in the student store.
My advice is to make your hotel reservations now; I've already booked a hotel for this fall and places like the Carolina Inn are already full.
Pam</p>
<p>Anyone care to recommend hotels?</p>
<p>Here's a link to hotels; they're all decent hotels (some more expensive than others). Just remember that the ones that end in 14 with the zip code are actually in town (27514), or much closer into town. The others that end with 17 are further out of town. The Carolina Inn; Sienna; and The Franklin are all in town (within walking distance). The Marriott/Residence Inn is in Chapel Hill and pretty close in, too, but you might need the car to get to campus.
Those within walking distance will be more expensive, but it might be worth it, just because it's so difficult to find a parking space in Chapel Hill, and Parents Weekend would be especially bad.
<a href="http://www.travelres.com/Search.aspx?hs_destination=Chapel%20Hill&hs_location=%4862&hs_validate=2&han=931855&lng=en&gclid=CKG08oyM-4sCFRI7ZQodujZNUw%5B/url%5D">http://www.travelres.com/Search.aspx?hs_destination=Chapel%20Hill&hs_location=%4862&hs_validate=2&han=931855&lng=en&gclid=CKG08oyM-4sCFRI7ZQodujZNUw</a></p>
<p>The main activities as far as seminars etc seem to begin on Saturday as I recall. There are campus and historic tours on Friday as well as check-in at the Friday Center (that's the name of the place).</p>
<p>As GoHeels already stated we had far more fun spending time with our son and meeting his friends etc than the seminars some of which we skipped. There are some helpful seminars like one about travel abroad that many parents who are doing college for the first time might find beneficial. </p>
<p>The biggest concern after hotels is dinner reservations at the nicer restaurants. We've booked them late summer to early fall and been okay, waiting until the week or two before can be problematic. Some won't take reservations too far in advance unless you have a large party.</p>
<p>The big thing is just hanging out with your S, taking your S and friends to dinner etc. They LOVE getting a good meal or two and especially when it's free! We've always taken some of his friends with us who didn't have parents coming,which seems to be a widespread practice. We've done joint dinners with roommates and friends families which are always nice and this past year since he is now living off campus in a house, the kids had a cookout for ALL the parents of all of them living in the duplex. it was a beautiful fall day and we really enjoyed getting to know the parents of all his house mates.</p>
<p>Many sororities plan their Parents' Tea or dinner event that weekend as well so the time really passes quickly.</p>
<p>One word of caution, don't feel bad when they abandon you after dinner to go out with their friends. Some things don't change regardless of the event....LOL! It's a nice time to meet and share stories with other parents.</p>
<p>The cost of an international flight for Parent Orientation puts an end to my going for Parents Weekend. However, my parents are due for a trip and thought of attending. Will they meet other grandparents there?</p>
<p>Parent's weekend is really a misnomer. It is more like Family weekend with events for kids etc. </p>
<p>As several others and I said earlier it's really more about spending time with your student and taking them to dinner etc. The Parent's weekend our S's freshman year was less than a month after move-in so we chose not to attend as OOS (planeride away) parents and he had plenty of offers for dinner from both his roommate's parents and the parents of some of his friends who were closer by.</p>
<p>The "official" events like seminars are really geared to first year families but I spoke with Shirley Hridlicka from the parent's office last year and she told me that she was adding things for returning students this year as well. The barbecues and other things are for anyone but many choose more intimate sessions/brunch/lunch with their students preferring less crowded places.</p>
<p>eadad-- so it sounds like my D won't be the only one "forgotten"... Do you know what percentage of parents do attend? This takes me back to my D's first grade when I noticed one of the children didn't have any family attending his Christmas presentation... broke my heart!</p>
<p>RioMom</p>
<p>Sorry, I have no clue as to percentage of parents that attend. As I said it's mainly parents of freshman but because it's also on a football weekend the campus is really crowded, which is another reason to book hotels early. We weren't going to go last year until we got a last minute invitation from S who told us that he and all his house mates (he lives in a duplex so a total of 6) were having the parents in for a cookout on Saturday afternoon before the game and that everyone else was coming. It's really hard to say no when you get invited to come since they don't often invite you when they get older.....LOL! Because it was last minute we ended up in a hotel near the airport, which though a really nice place was a pain because the interstate was under construction and down to one lane on Sunday making the drive very very slow.</p>
<p>RioMom:</p>
<p>Even though we're in-state (and really not all that far away), we always go and just spend the Sat there. In fact, our daughter was on study abroad last fall, and we still went! There was an organized lunch invitation we received, and so we were the parents there without a kid last year. We were a little hesitant to go, thinking we might be roaming around all alone--but when we showed up, the kids were so nice to us (as well as the parents), and it really was fun. One of my daughter's friends saw us as soon as we walked in, and she came up and gave us a big hug and took care of us. ;) The first year we went, though, I did notice there were lots of kids whose parents just couldn't make it (too far to travel). So they sat with us and others at the lunch, and we took a few out to dinner with us (along with another couple and their kid). It all works out, I think, and really not so sad, and no one is ever "forgotten." I think it would be fun for your daughter and her grandparents if they could go, though. I have seen other grandparents and relatives at these events, for sure.</p>