@Kardinalschnitt and those of us brought up in Billericay wished we lived in Brentwood!
@geramom Lad is positive that he’ll keep his British accent! I think he is hoping it will be be attractive to the girls!!!
However, when he went to Germany for 4 weeks when he was 11 on an international camp he came home sounding American. One can’t help but pick up the different words because of confusion: ‘pissed’ here means ‘drunk’. We say ‘pissed off’ for your ‘pissed’. So there is going to be some slippage.
My aunt who has lived in Vancouver for nearly 50 years to our ears sounds ‘Canadian’. All her Canadian friends still think she sounds British!
Check out the forum that lists parents who live near your son’s new school. There might be someone who you can connect with to be able to ship items ahead and have them stored there for your son to pick up.I
New England could be a different country. Our family came to America first shipwrecking on Bermuda on the way to the Virginia Colony (Stephano from the Tempest is based on our guy’s real attempt at a mutiny) and then back to America on the Mayflower (we’re the first family in America to get in trouble for operating a pub on Sundays). So we’ve been here a long time but still retain enough culture, having tea, Sundays roasts etc. etc. to have the UK feel very familiar when we visit. Culture differs by region in America. The UK feels more like home than other regions in the US to me.
@Whistlingal So he has seen Love Actually then. Yes, he keeps his accent and adds a bit of Americanisms (we make up our own words). It certainly could help him with girls and/or can be helpful because it will be his magic feather and he’ll be more confident with them.
You may want to consider having him fly in (or out) of NYC, Boston, DC and letting him have a few days in another region to acclimate to the time change and explore before travelling onto Memphis. When we to the UK when our kids were young, DS1 became pen pals with an English girl he met. Years later she came to visit us. She liked the music scene in Boston and NYC (and a Broadway show, Central Park performances). I don’t know your son’s musical interests but there are cool Jazz venues in NYC.
Back to the pen pal, two things she noticed that were different. We use the expression “All Set” all the time. It means that you are ready or if you are in a restaurant, for example, that you do not require more service. Also if we do not finish our meal while out dining, we’ll ask for it to be wrapped to take home.
Yes, and the sick thing. I’m going to be sick won’t get someone to rush him to the toilet or hand him a sick bag! :))
@svcamom Where do I find the forum that ‘lists’? This might be really useful.
@gearmom Serendipitously he is stopping in Philadelphia overnight with a friend he met on one of his summer camps.
@Kardinalschnitt What does it mean if you say ‘sick’? Intriguing?
Sick = you have a cold, the flu, a fever / feeling under the weather…
Honestly, I would not use Amazon. There are so many cheap Chinese-made products floating around on there that are just crap. I would not trust a surge protector from there! Have him purchase a power strip from Home Depot or Bed Bath and Beyond. Your best bed for bedding would probably be Target, Bed Bath & Beyond or Macy’s. Don’t bother with Kohl’s either - it’s too complicated for someone overseas. You have to have coupons in order for the prices to be reasonable, and you don’t want to mess with all that. Plus, quality is hit or miss. Ikea might be another great option - if there is one in Memphis.
Can you just send him with a credit card and have him purchase? TJ Maxx and Marshalls are discount stores that have really good prices on sheets.
And 3 sets of sheets is way too much. He may not even have room to store 2 sets of sheets.
Considering the heat, you might want to consider all-cotton percale sheets. The Company Store is a mail order bedding store, and they have all-cotton percale sheets that are supposed to be pretty nice. Oh, and he’ll have to have identification with him to open a bank account - so he’ll need to take his passport with him.
International orientation will include all students being taken to a bank (or the university’s credit union). It’s important he attends international orientation as all details wrt SEVIS will be presented then.
Actually since you mentioned being sick (or ill), if there is any comfort food that he loves while he is ill, it might not be a bad idea to have some on hand. When our guy was sick over seas we were stuck with barley water for him but really needed jello and ginger ale.
Also saying that you are going to be sick means that you are going to vomit.
@MYOS1634 Ah if things were that easy! Son is missing international orientation due to a prior longstanding commitment. College has been very good and understanding. He will be arriving on move-in day (Friday). Shipped goods can only arrive after he has cleared US customs (just the custom rules) and so he will be arriving with just his 23 kilo luggage allowance after spending 3 weeks in Portugal. So can’t even send him with stuff for college - except t-shirts and flip flops. Lessons start on the Tuesday so he is going to have to beg, borrow and organise himself the best he can. Isn’t that what university is all about!!
Orientation for all students I think is going to be pretty full on but I hope there will be ‘shopping’ trips organised over the weekend. Surely there will be American students that also are travelling long distances by plane and on their own that will need ‘stuff’. Anyway it will be a great way for him to ‘make’ friends.
He also has his SEVIS info as he needs that for his visa application.
Thanks @Trixy34 for the tip about cotton sheets. That was my thinking. And yes I think 3 sets is maybe a bit to much. I was considering only suggesting one so he has to wash/dry and re-make in a day. I look at some of the pictures of the laundry facilities and see piles of dirty/wet/clean/who knows what laundry and think if he has to wash and dry and remake he has to be organised and cannot just leave it hanging around in the laundry room.
Any thoughts?
@Whistlingal I think two out of my three boys would actually change the sheets. Do you think he will strip the bed and wash the sheets. Is he in the habit at home? My guys are smart in other areas but when I ask them to strip the beds I get everything including the blankets.
Can’t you just have his mailbox information before he arrives at university and simply order from Bed Bath and Beyond before he arrives? Or Amazon? These are well rated, inexpensive dorm sheets and you can just order what you need (two fitted, two pillowcases) You could get all his sheets for about than $40.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B019J27MFK/ref=twister_B019J27MFU?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1
I would just order something in a neutral color (or colour - we remove the “u” in many words) unless you think he will actually bleach them when he is laundering. The laundry room certainly could be chaos. Cotton is nice for your real home but for dorm living I wouldn’t even worry. I don’t think boys are so fussy.
@gearmom He’s pretty good at changing his sheets - as in I never do it now or remaking his bed. But he is very clever at putting his sheets/laundry in the washer when he knows I’m at home so I then take it out and dry it! Guessing my worry is that he will do the same at uni. Put it in and then forget about it. But if he doesn’t have any sheets to put on his bed he will have to ‘finish’ the laundry.
Thinking I will just get him the one set for day one and then he can organise himself. If he wants more he can buy more!
I really must learn to ‘let go’. It helps that he will be thousands of miles away!!
@Whistlingal Just pretend that you do not know. I sent DS1 to his apartment with a bin of cleaning supplies. I think most of them came back unused. If he loses items in the laundry then he will have to make due without and purchase more. I mean hopefully it will bother him enough that he replaces but when boys get into bachelor mode I’m not sure. Girlfriends can be a great motivator for keeping things presentable.
@Whistlingal The school my DS will be attending has washing machines that text you when your wash is done! Perhaps your son’s school will have that too?
@3scoutsmom I wish I had that!!!
Ours does beep at us but always when we are sitting down for a meal so someone gets up and opens the door. We then finish dinner, watch some telly, do our emails and only when we are going to bed to we remember there is washing to be sorted!!
@gearmom Thinking of sending in the shipping parcel a pair of rubber gloves and Jcloths (weighing nothing) with a note of them for use when someone is sick (as in vomit - generally alcohol induced). I hope that when he unpacks it will give him a laugh - and his roomie! He won’t go near the washing up unless he has gloves on and any parties he has had here, the rule goes I don’t want to see any evidence of vomit! So he knows how to clear it up!
I mispoke earlier. I meant to say “I am sick” will not get anyone to bring him a sick bag. I’m going to be sick will convey the message in the US.
@Whistlingal My daughter is also missing orientation because she is not an international student but we can’t afford to send her all the way to the States in June and then back again August. It makes me very anxious because she won’t be allowed to register for classes until July.
Before I knew I was going to be able to come along, I was going to wait till July to get daughter’s new address, then ask if we could start shipping stuff already, just ordering from Amazon.com other US shops. There is no BB&B in Wyoming. Oh, and at least five different families on the parents FB group for our school/year, maybe more, offered to take in packages for me.
@Kardinalschnitt Kids bond with their roommates ahead of time. Need be if she has a local roommate, you could send things to her and ask her to bring. Can’t you just order from BBB online.