<p>Dave, I’m feeling a bit ill right now just reading your post. :-)</p>
<p>"White bread with four fried eggs, two sausage patties, mozzarella cheese, three strips of bacon, and two hash brown patties. "</p>
<p>Sounds like a great hang over cure.</p>
<p>^^ Yeah my thoughts exactly. Nothing like sopping up that alcohol with a bunch of grease. I remember in my day, I would eat fried chicken and tater tots with a quart of gatorade and followed by two Cokes.</p>
<p>Son is home from first semester. This is our third child at college and, by far, the easiest transition we’ve experienced. It kind of feels like Goldilocks and the Three Bears – this first semester was “just right.” He seems secure where he is and challenged and it’s great to have him home for a while.</p>
<p>Our freshman S is home after first quarter, but for 2 weeks only. He’ll spend his third week with a relative near his far away college, where the weather is MUCH nicer. </p>
<p>He loves his university, and did very well academically, although he had to work very hard and spent at least 4 hours a day studying. He is excited about his classes next quarter, and made lots of new friends. He really likes his roommates, but my son is a bit odd for a college student in that he goes to bed early, gets up very early and doesn’t like to party. So the noise and chaos of the dorm at night is the only thing he doesn’t like.</p>
<p>He absolutely loves the dorm food. He runs every day, and needs the food to fuel him. He gained weight, which is a good thing, because he was too thin before. He worked out with weights a bit, and returned with shoulders and a chest that I didn’t recognize. He spent only about $50 extra dollars (not counting books) all quarter, and some of that was for presents. </p>
<p>So far, so good. I am crossing my fingers and thanking the powers that be, because my older D had a very negative college experience tied up with emotional problems. So anything good makes me very happy!</p>
<p>My daughter said she had good experience so far. She did gain some weight, claiming it was induced by the stress of studying and having to write nearly 20 papers in one semester.
She did mention a few odd things her college did during final week such as having a band played loud music at 10:00 P.M while her concentration for the nex day final was just get going. She wished they had played the band earlier, like 8:00 P.M.
I’m just glad she is back at home, our family is back to where we were just before she left for college.</p>
<p>^^ That band playing is the signal for the students to throw all their notes out their windows even though they still have exams the next day. I KNOW it is a longstanding tradition but sheeeesh.</p>
<p>D is home, thankfully on Thursday before the flight delays began!</p>
<p>She LOVES her school. Has made many great friends, one who happens to be a fellow CC’ers S, Madville, his S is one of her new great friends! Academic’s are going great I think, haven’t seen grades yet, but she has gave me an idea. D is rowing crew, and even tough they are “off season” they still have captians workouts that give her a great physical workout. She has a great social outlet as well, I feel, this is important to the whole college experience. I can’t imagine anything better for her!</p>
<p>S had a more successful launch than I would have ever dared to dream. He organized his life, his work, had time to participate in several on-campus groups, and did very well in extremely tough courses. Got a job the first day on campus; didn’t spend much money; has stayed in contact with GF at a different college; has a position lined up for next summer; has made lots of friends. Hair got longer, he gained five desperately-needed pounds, started going to theatre events.</p>
<p>He has carved out a life for himself on his own terms, he is happy and we are thrilled.</p>
<p>Next quarter: he adds another class to the mix, a core course he’s not particularly looking forward to taking. We’ll see how that goes! I don’t think we are out of the Woods of Worry yet, but so far, so good.</p>
<p>Our two ( boy/girl twins) have been home from first semester freshman year for five days. DH and I are still trying to figure out if their new schedule will always consist of staying up all night and sleeping all day. Any answers out there from those more experienced than we are? </p>
<p>In some ways they have had similar experiences-like the campus, dorm is good ( except for the ant invasion at 5 weeks), campus food is horrible-thank heavens for pizza and grocery store runs. Other experiences diverge from that point. S has had the full range of professors-some are great-Econ. was awful and ended dropping at mid-term. Still waiting for grades for both kids-Spring will determine whether academic scholarships are renewed. S has made several good friends, become involved in two community service organizations and met new girlfriend. Seems to feel settled and even enjoys roommate.</p>
<p>D has had a challenging semester-a Shakespeare teacher who would throw kids out of class the first time a student was unable/unprepared for class-DH and I thought that was a tad tough for first semester freshmen course. Despite that, D did make B+ in course-we never knew B’s would look so good. Still waiting on other grades. Both kids were shocked ( as were we) to hear during orientation to not expect A’s and prepare for C’s. After 1st semester, we can now understand why. D has also had the toommate from H—. Roommate’s mother contacted me within 3 weeks of school starting to complain on behalf of D and last week of finals, roommate and friend were listening to D’s phone conversations behind dorm room door. Must say D has become more resilient than I thought she would ever be.</p>
<p>D1 and D2 came home together about a week ago. D2 had a stellar first semester. Has actually become somewhat of a gym rat and looks great. D1 just finished her MPH program and has been interviewing for fellowships. Other than that everything is pretty much normal at home. Lots of singing, laughter, and of course, shopping and eating too much. It’s getting increasingly rare to have everyone together as they all get older so I’m cherishing these times more than ever.</p>
<p>S made it home Fri. despite the weather. Semester went well, not perfectly, but very well. He found out that living, breathing, sleeping music appeals to him. He’s made good progress musically, fits in remarkably well, seems to have made some friends (no GF yet–sigh of relief), and just seems so much more grown up.</p>
<p>Last of the semester’s grades just came in…3.987. Wow! That’s all A’s and a B+ in a one credit chem lab. I’m proud even though I suspect some grade inflation in a couple of classes, as it’s better than he’s ever done in high school.</p>
<p>Due to our unusually wintery weather, my son finally made it home this afternoon, after leaving the east coast on Sunday morning and having two flight cancellations. He is so glad to be home. We checked his grades and he is still waiting on grades for 2 classes. He thinks they’ll be B’s, but the other 4 classes are all A’s! WTG!</p>
<p>My daughter got her grades today…3.35. Not bad for the workload and a lot of freshman adjustments .</p>
<p>Oh yeah DD is back. The credit card is smoking, the food bill is back up to over $150 a week and the dishes are piled up in the sink.
First Semester was too short, I hope the second is longer.</p>
<p>Theresa, I know what you mean. The dishwasher, washing machine and dryer were getting used to being run about once every other day. With son and daughter both home, it seems like we wash dishes twice a day and the washer and dryer are in pretty much constant use. I don’t even want to think about the grocery bill.</p>
<p>Sleep, eat, hang out with girlfriend, watch movies. Repeat. That’s the routine here so far. It’s good to have him home. Grades were excellent. Now I know he’ll keep the merit scholarship for four years. He’s happy.</p>