<p>I think Magnum PI is in love.</p>
<p>He is just VeryHappy!</p>
<p>Hi 2014 Parents, yes it was great. Went there for a week. The Matriculation was great, even saw the evening ceremonyâŠjust a few parents at that.<br>
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It took some time to get the room set up----, coming from so far away and Walmart was out of pillows,etc. Never got a TV or Bike⊠TV isnât bad, since they can connect their laptops. Have to find a bike⊠D is tall so many of those 26 in ones arenât that great. Donât want one too expensive, and the bike store across the river didnât have the right/exact size available.
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Maybe one suggestion for College is to have a little more for parent; maybe 1 mixer where they meet. Like many said, their student wanted to meet w/their trippees. I did happen to meet several parents at the hotel. It was really odd when about 4 families had kids on the same floor/dorm.<br>
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Either way it is a great placeâŠI canât wait for parent weekend.
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Iâm single parent and have no other family aroundâŠso it will be odd to see her off to college but this is great and right place for her.</p>
<p>Hi MyCollegeKid.</p>
<p>I think you are really going to love parentsâ weekend. That is when I met some great parents of my studentâs great friends. Even though it takes place annoyingly far into the first year - there are some benefits to that - by then, the students really seem to own their school and it is really great to see it through their eyes at that point. I reconnected at the sophomore summer family weekend (a wonderful time to visit) and again at graduation, and by then, despite the intervening years of no communication, it was like reuniting with old friends. It was fun marveling together at all the students, how much they had accomplished and where they were headed. </p>
<p>Sure does help to feel so confident that she is in the right place though, doesnât it?</p>
<p>Glad that all is going well with current year Dartmouth parents. When we dropped off D last year, we left with her sitting in the dorm room with about 6 other girls yakking away. Felt good that she was having a great start to her Dartmouth career.</p>
<p>By mid-week, she was telling her sister (not us) how lonely she was. Her roomie already knew lots of people at Dartmouth (friends of older sibs) and liked to party at the frats. So D (who will only occasionally go to frat parties) was left to fend for herself. I guess she thought that your roomie became your BFF (which happened in her sisterâs case).</p>
<p>Once she disabused herself of the notion that you and your roommate had to be joined at the hip and after she found a group of friends that were on more of her social wavelength, she hit the ground running and has had a great time.</p>
<p>It took about a month though. So donât be alarmed if the glowing feelings surrounding drop off donât continue in an upward trajectory. Your kid will find her peopleâŠit may take some longer than others to find them.</p>
<p>MyCollegeKid, there is a bikeshop in Lebanon, Omer & Bobâs Sports, and they carry Trek, Specialized and Cannondale. I ended up getting S a hybrid (700c wheels) âurbanâ bike here and shipped it because I wanted to make sure he got something that fit him and he could get used to it before sending it. He has a pricey carbon road bike, but we did not think it would be suitable for campus, but maybe for sophmore summer so he could do some epic rides in the region. Anyway, He got the urban assault bicycle this morning and put it together before the football game. He called me (yay) to tell me it gives him greater freedom to zip from place to place. </p>
<p>On orientation, I agree, a mixer or opportunity to meet other parents would have been great. When I attended a prospie session for D at Wellesley, I met many other parents and keep in touch with some of them to this very day. There seems to be a mutual bond when you separate from your child at the same time.</p>
<p>S has been attending the games, volleyball last night and football today. He says it has been awesome to attend the sporting events. His roomate started today and scored 2 touchdowns in a win over Sacred Heart University. S also attended a party last night but told me he didnât enjoy it because most of the kids were drunk. The other side of Dartmouth that I am not too thrilled about. </p>
<p>Hope to meet some of you if we make it out to parentsâs weekend. We could have a CC coffee hour for a meet and greet. -MPI</p>
<p>MPI, make sure your DS locks his bicycle. On our tour of Dâmouth, our guide mentioned that people never lock their rooms (which Iâm not sure is correct) but someone on the tour remarked that all the bikes we saw around campus were locked. </p>
<p>My DS keeps âmisplacingâ his bike. Sometimes it âgoes missingâ during winter term, only to turn up again in the spring. I have no idea what thatâs about.</p>
<p>Thanks Magnum. Yes, still in search of hybrid bike. We live in flat place; so that is more important there. D has to much going on w/classes now, switching classes, etc. She does like it but didnât get to go to games, not a geek but trying to play a sport, and math/sciences take some time. She may switch 1 class to not have math/science at same time first term there.</p>
<p>D mentioned-There does seem to be a fair amount of drinkingâŠmy D plays sports and hangs around with people generally that donât drink. She was surprised a few acted like they were drinking, but she knew they hadnât been drinking at a Frat, I guess they wanted to fit in. She has a single room, so in some respects, you have to go out and meet more people. She is independent type, traveled without me overseas, etc. She also saw the impact of drinking to some people she knew in HS, one boy killed while driving his car at 16, the other boy was worked hard and accomplished much; went out on 18th birthday, and ended up in trouble from drinking---- dashed hopes at Ivyâs and many colleges. </p>
<p>A get together for âCCâ would be great in the spring.</p>
<p>If anyone hears about Care Package services, that would be great. Received a letter in mail with info on Care Packages that are $25/each by the swim team. Great idea.</p>
<p>Bike lock-- yes, plan to get one of those if she finds a bike (she has the helmet). Some colleges we visited had bike loan programs (maybe UoChicago). One of the other people in my daughterâs dorm recommended getting a cable lock for laptops as well.</p>
<p>Have a great weekend.</p>
<p>I second (third?) the idea of getting together at Parentâs Weekend in the Spring. That could be great fun!</p>
<p>MyCollegeKid, another option would be to check mailorder bike shops like Performance [Generic</a> Application Error Test JSP (Item)](<a href=âhttp://www.performancebike.com/bikes/]Genericâ>Performance Bicycle - Your Best Ride Yet) or BikeNashbar [Nashbar</a> - Road tube, bike tires, cycling shorts, cycling gloves, cycling jerseys, handlebar tape](<a href=âhttp://www.nashbar.com%5DNashbarâ>http://www.nashbar.com) and have the bike sent to her. I think DOC has a bike repair shop on campus that could help her put it together. </p>
<p>S has a cable lock which I hope he is using. I gave him a bike cover too, but there are some covered bike spots in the Choates. In winter I hope he stores it in the basement trunk room. His custodian is really nice and helpful. </p>
<p>Well, back to the empty nest, which I found to mean no more excuses for yardwork, cleaning, paintingâŠWe will have to see the schedule for the spring and plan a meeting at the Dirt Cowboy Coffee shop in between events on the first dayâŠ</p>
<p>Thanks about the info on bikes. I really am a city person, have a bike but rode it once or twice. I will look into it; she has been working on switching classes.</p>
<p>Yes, empty next hereâŠsingle parent/1 child, so I have a lot of catching up to do on cleaning, etc. figuring what I will do with my ânext chapterâ. I will have a lot of free time. May move closer to Northeast, like Boston. It is hard to see them play a sport living so far away⊠use to spend alot of time going to sporting events, etc.</p>
<p>Weâre on to the empty nest as well - will have to find some new passions for the next stage. Maybe bridge plus improving the garden?</p>
<p>Sorry to sound dumb, but does anyone know the full address for sending mail? I have the HINMAN BOX number but no street address, zip? Just in case you have itâŠmy student is out and havenât heard back. Trying to address this envelope.</p>
<p>Take care, this will be my first week since getting back from 10 day trip to Hanover area. I am sure it will be an adjustmentâŠalready started to look up old freinds.</p>
<p>student name
Dartmouth College
XXXX Hinman
Hanover, NH 03755</p>
<p>This address will work for online postage accounts, too.</p>
<p>Thanks for your help Consolation.</p>
<p>Pasteur, gardening wouldnât work as a new passion because I would wait for kids to return to help me weed. If Bridge requires 4 I would have to wait for them to return too. Golf doesnât work, S beat me the last time out even though he hadnât played in months. Cycling wouldnât work either, because I plan to ride Sâs racing bike that he left at home. Running doesnât work either because I think of them all the time while I run. I guess surfing wouldnât work, because I surf the Dartmouth website daily. Hmm, I have been thinking of taking up sailing, if I bought a sailboat the maintainance and costs would be so high I wouldnât even think of my kids. Except maybe how more affordable it would be without the tuitionâŠgasp, Iâm drowning in the empty nest.</p>
<p>Thatâs cute. I know my student said I can use their room now⊠I would do something different career-wise but have to help with getting her thru college. As soon as I returned, my company had asked if I want to move for higher job but I think I want to think until Jan. 1st to what I will do next.
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I always dreamed of living/traveling abroad, living in Southern CalifâŠnear San Diego, or becoming a tour guide thru Europe. D donât want me to go that far (I am far enough), plus if they play a sport, I may need to be closer to the northeast now. May just wait until college is done.</p>
<p>~Perhaps I will join the gymâŠto stay as young as I can.</p>
<p>Check out the support for health/wellness thread in the Parent Cafe. Full of parents in the gym, on the road, etc.</p>
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<p>Wow, I actually live in Southern CaliforniaâŠnear San Diego. This is first time to my knowledge that Iâm living somone elseâs dream. But dream or no, we still have an empty nest too.</p>
<p>I have really enjoyed reading the entries in this thread. Iâve been checking periodically to see if there are any new ones. I decided I should contribute as well. My daughter seems to be settling in well. I wasnât able to go up with my husband to bring her dorm stuff because my back âwent outâ and I couldnât make the 14+ hour journey. I did try though, and made it about 2 hours and then my sister-in-law came to rescue me! I invested in a webcam and weâve skyped a few times which has been very cool! She took me on a tour of her room with her laptop. She has already found a work/study job which is great. She also attended the Big Green opener. Sheâs a big Ohio State Buckeye fan (you have to be if you live in Ohio!) so itâs good that they never play each other!</p>
<p>We hope to be able to go up for the First Year family weekend. I wish it was sooner, but I can understand what Ohmadre is saying about it being worth the wait.</p>