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<p>You can get a much better bargain by putting the goods into boxes weighing no more than 50 lbs. and shipping via regular UPS parcel service.</p>
<p>JayDee12…</p>
<p>I’m sorry…Maybe you should re-read the thread?..lol
I’m talking about shipping S off to college in the box</p>
<p>I mean I know they can be a pain in the ass, but I can’t justify taking a chainsaw to the kid…
Besides His Mom would probably draw the line there</p>
<p>Didn’t get the joke … sorry!</p>
<p>Just catching up…</p>
<p>S2’s school had a bit of a departing ceremony. The only thing that bugged me about it was that they really did not tell us ahead of time that this was supposed to be the final “good-bye”. For parents who had traveled a great distance, and will not be seeing their kid until Christmas, I think this was too abrupt. And I really regretted not having a “private” last moment with my son. The day had been packed with activities, and I did not have enough time to do all the things that needed to get done with my son. If I had known about the parting ceremony, I would have planned my time differently. But I did leave. He (and I) survived and he settled in by himself.</p>
<p>Because I then took some extra time to visit friends in the area, I was around when he called me to ask if I could help him find an ATM that took his card without an extra charge. After buying him a frappe-chino, and then driving to two different ATM’s (one was out of cash), we had our private good-bye, which I thought was sweet.</p>
<p>maybe it’s just me, but i’d be outraged if the college charged for orientation seminars, given how much college costs. it just feels too commercial & unwelcoming - they should either forego these or cover the cost.</p>
<p>my son’s college did a nice job on move-in day - we paid a small amount for lunch at the cafeteria, and had a nice but simple (and free) reception for dinner. There were campus tours, info tables & a few welcome talks. very low-key. we arrived a few days early with my son- explored the college town, he showed us around campus, we visited the nearby big city, and did target & bb&b. so move-in day wasn’t crazy, and since we’d had a lot of time with him, we felt ok at letting him go his own way at times during move-in day.</p>
<p>leaving was hard - i admit that we (guiltily) drove through campus the next morning on our way out of town, but didn’t attempt to contact our son!</p>
<p>With S1’s departure, he went through the gate with all the other first-years and we went to the parent reception on campus. Went back to our hotel, and later out for dinner. Had breakfast in Hyde Park the next am (noone is at the Salonica at 7:30 am on Sunday except adults and the occasional grad student) and drove home. S1 called us about 15 minutes after we were on the road – not that he had much idea where we were at that time.</p>
<p>With S2’s departure, we got a nice private good bye, a repeat when we had to go back to get my phone, and we drove from Boston to DC that evening.</p>
<p>Freshman year they had an orientation thing for parents that was scheduled for us to leave shortly thereafter. We had flown in and that made our departure pretty easy. This year, H&I decided to drive to him and planned to take a detour on the way back to spend some time at a favorite spot out east. If there is anything that will make a goodbye a tad easier, it’s to come following a 22 hour road trip with a 20 yr old boy in the car!! It was unload, hug and “have a great year.” However… now it’s a week later and I could stand another hug or 2.</p>
<p>The shipping idea however might come in handy for the holidays.</p>