<p>Woot! Woot! Last exam is over! DD heading to the airport tomorrow!</p>
<p>Congratulations to all the newly minted sophomores!</p>
<p>Ahhh, we’re home 
Move out went more smoothly than move in. D slept almost the whole way home. We ran into a few of a her friends through the course of moving out and that was nice! I’m exhausted, but very glad she’s home.</p>
<p>Since they moved the threads, thought I’d pop i and see how it’s going for the rising sophomores. D doesn’t finish until June 4 but I imagine just like the her older siblings, we’ll face some tests of independence this summer. She hasn’t had to tell one person when she’ll be back or where she is even headed, and I think they forget that if they’re sleeping under your roof, you tend to worry if you have no idea where they are or when they’ll be back. I sleep just fine when they’re at school, but I don’t sleep all that soundly if they’re at home but not yet home. So while there is no curfew, we’ll have to set some sort of understanding so I can sleep and she doesn’t feel like Im being overly – whatever. :)</p>
<p>My kids felt our home was home while they were in college – a dorm with a dining hall just isn’t really a home. When the older kids got their own places, etc. that became home. But they also call our house home. I think as long as we live in the house they grew up in, it will be home even if they have a home of their own. If we move somewhere else though, I think that would probably not feel like home.</p>
<p>Modadunn - I just explained to my kids that they’ve shifted out of the “child of mine” category and into the “someone who lives with me” category, at least as far as communication on whereabouts. My husband certainly wouldn’t just stay out for 4 hours after work without letting me know, I certainly wouldn’t walk out the door to meet up with friends without telling my husband or anyone else in the house where I was going. It’s just common courtesy and a normal part of sharing a home and your life with someone. They have no problem keeping us in the loop and estimating when they’ll be home. They text if it’s going to be much later than expected. If they’re going to be out late, they’ll come knock on our door when they get home to let us know they’re back. We have it easy because neither of our college kids go out a lot or stay out real late. </p>
<p>One trick I have to help me sleep: If someone is expecting to get home around midnight and I want to go to sleep, I set my alarm for about 12:30 and fall asleep. When they get home and poke their head in to say they’re home, I turn it off. But I sleep better knowing that if something happens and they don’t get home, my alarm will go off and I’ll notice that they didn’t come home. Just knowing that I won’t sleep through the night while they’re in some ditch somewhere helps me get to sleep. :)</p>
<p>After my quick pop in after the move, I did catch up on the thread. I’m glad to see I am not the only one who’s kid is not coming home for the summer. As someone else said, we don’t have spare cars so it is easiest if the kids work somewhere where that isn’t needed. D was a resident camp counselor last summer, but made slave wages (below minimum wage) and so I encouraged her to look for something else this year. She is working at an amusement park with employee housing. This has been her first week and so far so good. She had a chance to go on rides yesterday. When the weather gets warmer she can also go to the water park and the beach.</p>
<p>She had a good year with a good GPA with plenty of headroom to keep her merit scholarship. organized a group for summer storage including transportation there. Really enjoyed her sorority.</p>
<p>That’s it, glad to hear others are doing well! Glad to see some new people join the thread.</p>
<p>Very behind on reading all about our kids as they finished up and are now ready for sophomore year!</p>
<p>S moved out of his dorm today and his dad went down to pick him up. Can’t wait to see him!</p>
<p>Ok so remember all those conversations about what a DC should bring a host when they do a home stay abroad? I have a twist on the question. I am going to visit D1 in South America next week. We will be seeing her host family and the family that D2 stayed with when she spent a month abroad two years ago. I would like to bring a little thank you gift and am struggling with what to bring. Thought I would bring it to my on-line advisory board. Any suggestions?</p>
<p>DD got home last night. Feels great having all the kids under one roof again. We encouraged to her to come home for the summer, as the internships available will be getting better and better and we want her to have at least one more summer with her siblings.</p>
<p>1012mom - can you think of something that is representative of the area you live in?</p>
<p>1012 Mom, maybe some notecards with photos of your city or state? Or t-shirts from your town/city? I have family in Japan and they say everyone there likes t-shirts with American sayings on them or things that say “USA”.</p>
<p>At our HS we often have exchange students from Europe, South America and Asia, especially China. I am always amazed by the beautiful gifts that these students bring with them, especially the lovely packaging. All of these items are made in their countries. To find USA made items I go to local art galleries and craft fairs to purchase inexpensive artwork and scarfs by area artists for gift items. I try to wrap them as nicely as possible.</p>
<p>D has committed to staying in her university town for the summer. She will go to summer school and work on training a new horse. She is hoping to get a job.
She is still in the thick of midterms. Struggling big time with trying to fit her liberal arts brain into a heavy science math curriculum. I am encouraging her to explore different majors. She is so set on liberal arts majors are not prepared for any job.
1012 Mom- older D brought notecards made my local artists. Photo books that highlighted our area or state. Also a photo calendar of your area is also nice.</p>
<p>So son got a phone call from Dream Internship Company, where he had applied for a very appealing paid internship in the cyber security field. The message went to his voice mail so he called back and got the Project Manager who was in his car stuck in traffic heading to the beach (Friday afternoon). They talked for 18 minutes, basically a phone interview, and PM seemed very impressed with the programming languages son knows, the conversation flowed and son felt very good about it. PM ended the call by saying something like “someone will call you back with more details.” Now Tuesday night and no call yet. What do you think? Wait a few more days, follow up by calling again? Or was that a “don’t call us we’ll call you”? The internship sounded ideal for son’s interests and there was much he could contribute in terms of relevant skills. But son doesn’t even have an email for the PM as he had applied to a generic HR address from which his resume was passed to the PM. Advice?</p>
<p>bookmouse, if that was on Friday, I think today or tomorrow S should call the phone number he has (I assume the Project Manager’s) to follow up and ask if there is anything else he can provide, and continue to express interest in the internship. And/or an email to the HR address mentioning the phone call with the PM and asking the same. And/or perhaps he can find an email address for the Project Manager by searching the internet?</p>
<p>Yes - I think follow up is appropriate and shows interest. Good luck to him, bookmouse!</p>
<p>Bookmouse - I suggest that you son write a nice thank you note to the interviewer, ASAP. He should have done that the day of the phone interview. I also think a followup call is in order just to check to see if there is any more information they may need. Good luck!</p>
<p>Son got the internship! And it even pays! He got the call while I was at work today. Thanks for your thoughts.</p>
<p>^^^^Cool! Good luck to your son.</p>
<p>Great news Bookmouse! Woot! Woot!</p>