<p>I love it. My D has gotten her dorm mates to join her in eating carrot sticks dipped in salsa, but other than that she makes do with what the dining hall dishes out. We're going through the whole warm clothing ordeal. I'm sure she's going to have frostbite before her first winter in MA is over.</p>
<p>I started worrying about this last July, when the recruit calls began. S will not care how cold it is, but I wonder if he would have the good sense to buy a coat, or even to wear one if he had it. He is so used to us prompting him, which we won't be able to do from this distance.</p>
<p>Of course, this is all part of the reason why going away to college is such a great experience, right?</p>
<p>Any practical advice for managing the Princeton experience from 3,000 miles away?</p>
<p>As hard as it's been with my son who is only 40 miles away, it's time to let them do the managing. If he can get into Princeton, he'll figure out how to get warm!</p>
<p>lol, Kirmum, yes, I understand that. I should have clarified: I meant practical advice in terms of how to prepare and pack, get everything he will need across the country, or where to shop there, etc. </p>
<p>At the moment I am envying those of you whose children made the 40-mile-a-way choice!</p>
<p>I envy those whose kids had a chance to get away and spread their wings! Feel great about it!! Daughter is headed East, but my son struggles and was lucky to get a spot at a good UC. Don't worry, it's not that cold in Princeton, it's practically the South!</p>
<p>Strick11--Pittsburgh may be a city, but CMU is located in a beautiful residential neighborhood. Yes, some areas can be somewhat sketchy, but I'm sure your S will use common sense when he heads off to those areas.</p>
<p>It seems that kids can get so intrigued by the notion of going someplace "exotic," i.e., far away or different from home. When our S got into UCLA four years ago, lots of HS parents asked how we could let him go so far away from home. My response was that it was a choice between five hours of flying or five hours of driving, and we preferred flying. College is a perfect time to experiment with living in a different environment. He's learned how to negotiate the streets of LA using public transportation since he doesn't have a car. We did worry about whether S would pay his bills on time--he was financially independent beginning day one so he could qualify for in-state residency after two years, and he has turned out to be a mature, young adult. Of course, staying in occasional contact through e-mail, AIM, and the phone helped.</p>
<p>This year, our D was adamant about living near water, in the suburbs but near a big city, and not being any place colder than home. Well, she got her wish by going to sunny California, too. She's already announced that she's going to get a job when she get there (we think so she can buy herself a cell phone), so I guess that bodes well.</p>
<p>Sorry if this sounds like stream of consciousness, I'm recovering from the flu.</p>
<p>Dizzymom,</p>
<p>Congratulations on Princeton. We live about an hour south and I can tell you the winters aren't too bad. As far as your S having or buying what he needs, remember once he gets outside of that cute little town, he's in NJ, land of malls, Walmarts and Targets on every corner, or so it seems.</p>
<p>Marite, maybe it was my SoCal daughter that you saw with the flip-flops! It was a sad day for her when she had to retire her flip-flops for the winter season--on DEC 6th!</p>
<p>When our D went cross country this fall we brought from home only those things that she already had, and bought stuff when we got there. Most of the stuff we bought there was for her dorm room; lamp, fan, a second set of sheets, etc.That way we did not have to ship stuff we would be buying anyway. We did buy her a real winter coat at an outlet store last summer even though she thought she had a "winter coat". Her dad and I (we both grew up in the east and went to school in western MA), laughed at her idea of a winter coat. She was going to get boots, other than her hiking boots, after she got there, but I don't think she has yet. She did buy a pea coat. She comes home in 3 days. I haven't seen her since I dropped her off so I can't wait.</p>
<p>Ellemenope:</p>
<p>Since I was huddled inside my hood and looking down to protect my face from the wind, all I could see were the flipflops and the blue toenails! They were blue from nail polish, not cold. It think, however, my own lips may have been blue.</p>
<p>Congrats, Dizzy.... We moved from the midwest to Princeton and I spent the first winter with my jacket open and rarely putting on a hat and gloves. But now trips back east from the west coast find me shivering despite the warm clothes. So it is all what you and your body are used to. </p>
<p>We didn't let our D visit a midwest school until prospie weekend in April for fear she'd be turned off by the cold, having lived most of her life on the west coast. I suppose that could have backfired but she loved that college and has since lived in Boston and Chicago. She refuses to let weather stand in her way despite the fact that without a car, she walks and waits for buses. By all means send the warm clothes and advise her to buy more if she needs them once she is there!</p>
<p>Oh, these girls and their flip flops! I am amazed still to see the kids at soccer and lacrosse games, still in flip flops despite the lowering fall and early spring temps! Not the players, the observers! I'm in a fleece, my S - a player - is in warm underarmour and the girls on the sideline are in halter tops and flip flops. I get the sense that they were warm enough all day but never really thought about what the temp would be at the game in the evening.... The boys in the crowd aren't much better, in their t-shirts and shorts.... Ah, to be young....</p>
<p>I've bookmarked this thread -- thank you for the weather reports! So geography and culture no longer matter -- they all dress the same coast to coast?</p>
<p>For instance, for the Princeton winter coat, do I shop LL Bean, Patagonia or Barney's? Or does it matter? S will generally reject anything too expensive or with a 'label', but I'm also not sure Princeton is ready for his particular sartorial style...</p>
<p>Princeton jacket=The North Face. CA kids won't see this as a lable until they get back east!</p>
<p>2331clk, my S's sort of the first to go away (he's thinking about the 5th year, too). My D from a previous marriage lived in Louisana with her mother and went to school there, but it's not the same. The oldest boy's been at a residential school on at a college 30 miles away, so it's not the first he's left either. What's different is how far away he'll be and what I expect the differences to be like. None of our running just short trip up the road with things he's forgotten or to buy him lunch when he's tired of dorm food and such. </p>
<p>I travel for a living and once spent 3 winters in Toronto (plus stints in Philly, San Francisco, Chicago, Denver, etc), so I know some of the things he'll be going through. We typically begin to crave Tex-Mex and or other more typical Southern food after 5 days.</p>
<p>This is a case where he's thought only of the school and what he's going to learn and almost nothing of what his life's going to be like for the next four years. Thinking about it, I couldn't help wonder what it might be like for other students heading out but perhaps in different directions (who might be surprised at what my S takes as normal, for example).</p>
<p>Oops, Dizzy, I meant have HIM buy more once HE's there - all these girls in their flip flops have my brain confused.</p>
<p>My S is eager to go someplace different and is hoping to meet kids like Stick's who crave southern cooking. We are in the NW and he has his eyes on the SE. Keeps teasing me that he will bring home a Texas girl. For him, part of the college experience he wants is being in a city that is very different from where he grew up, with kids from other places. And he craves sunny days when he can longboard from class to class. This meant he lopped off whole sections of the country in his search for the right schools. If we are lucky, I'll soon be posting for help with a southern wardrobe!!!</p>
<br>
<p>"Princeton jacket=The North Face"</p>
<br>
<p>Anyone know about about Boston/Cambridge? We're planning to shop for a "real" winter coat at the after xmas sales, and I'm not sure what to look for. The whole concept of "snow" and "cold" are a little abstract in our family. I know the local dept stores aren't going to have anything warm enough for Mass. The stores that cater to campers, backpackers, skiers might. They'll have North Face. But that won't look very "urban". Would it fit with what everyone else is wearing? Catalogues are always a possibility, although it's hard to tell what things are. For instance, what is an "anorak"?? And what's with calling a jacket "R3" or "R4"??</p>
<p>Texas we bought our son a winter coat and a WINTER coat. He wears the middle weight coat more often, but has occasionally found need for the much heavier one. We also purchased a good pair of boots. They haven't been worn yet, but the flip flops have gotten a work out.</p>
<p>Hi, Texas137. We used to live in the Boston area and S#1 is in school up there.
Check out EMS (Eastern Mountain Sports) which has several locations including one
in Harvard Square -- also REI which is somewhere near The Fenway. My kids don't like North Face clothes cuz "everyone has one". Each to his own -- and I love my North
Face wind block jacket!</p>
<p>Texas:</p>
<p>The North Face will be fashionable in Cambridge. I've also seen EMS, Lands' End and LLBean, Columbia and Eddie Bauer around. You can buy things online, and if you wait until January or February or even later, you may be able to buy things on sale. I would suggest some fleece sweatshirts to wear underneath. My kids have zip out hoods on their jackets, their dad wears hat. Your S may want to buy a college scarf, so you can let him buy it at the Coop. Get him some warm gloves (not leather, they aren't warm enough. I prefer Polartec myself). It's true that people need different kinds of winter coats. But they can also make do with the 3 in one kind (with a zip-out liner).
Jeans are not warm, so if your S is the chilly kind, he can wear flannel lined ones (available through the Gap or LLBean), or wear thermal underwear. Waterproof shoes, or waterproof work-type shoes are good for walking through slush and puddles, though your S will be able to use the MIT tunnels and keep warm and dry a lot of the time, unlike my S who has to deal with puddles every winter. :)</p>
<p>Oops, Texas -- I gave you Boston places to shop for winter coats cuz I thought you were going to be up there.</p>