<p>Dropped my son off yesterday and I’m doing worse than I thought I would be. I miss him terribly. The sad part is I don’t think he’s happy yet. Yesterday was the first day of an unstructured preorientation program and he seemed to have some trouble connecting with a group. He called last night pretty down.</p>
<p>Awww, (((hugs))) to Viewer. I’m sure he’ll perk up.</p>
<p>sophie, UF football is a BIG deal.</p>
<p>We will get through this Annie. :)</p>
<p>And for everyone for whom this is your first, a helpful hint: Those creatures will call you and emotionally dump on you. You will spend the next 24 hours sleepless and fretting about how mad/sad/whatever they are. And then the next time you talk to them, they are as happy as larks and have totally forgotten about the thing that was a crisis earlier. And you’re left wondering WTH? Grateful that they are over whatever it was but also mad that you took on this emotional baggage. At least I’ve heard this … ;)</p>
<p>Viewer, sorry your son is not connecting. This article talks about how long it can take to make good friends. Our kids are leaving behind friendships that took years to build. They will not replace that overnight. They should not get discouraged if it takes a while to “find their people.” Encourage him to pursue his interests so that he will find others who have something in common. Easy for me to say - D has not launched yet!</p>
<p>[10</a> Things No One Tells You About Your Freshman Year Of College](<a href=“10 Things No One Tells You About Your Freshman Year Of College | HuffPost Teen”>10 Things No One Tells You About Your Freshman Year Of College | HuffPost Teen)</p>
<p>Thanks.</p>
<p>This shouldn’t have taken us by surprise but it did. We’re both homebodies and we spent a lot of time together this summer. This is my third child who’s gone off to college so I know the drill, but it still has been difficult.</p>
<p>This is Gig 'Em Week for D3. (Welcome week, basically). Her classes don’t start until next week. We have a “to do” list working between us (getting PO Box, checking on credits for HS classes that didn’t show up, sending scholarship info, etc.) She has been attacking tasks like crazy. Really proud of her. Hope she keeps it up! We thought we got rid of her, and I cried for 2 days almost…but she’s coming home this weekend. :)</p>
<p>Viewer. My DS is not a social butterfly. So I told him to not stay in his room, walk around campus and keep talking to people. It was easy for me the tell him that but I’m sure harder for him to do. It may take a while to find other kids with common interests. But I know they are out there. Plus remember it was only day 1 for your son, it will get better.</p>
<p>At my son’s school, the freshmen just started registering for classes today. They sign up for one class a day until Friday. I’m trying to back off with the suggestions but S is killing me!!!</p>
<p>Viewer, sorry to hear your son hasn’t connected yet. It’s still early though. But I know how I’d be feeling if my s made a similar call. Hugs to you both.</p>
<p>A few posts here had me thinking about making a CD for the ride home from college drop off. So far my list is:</p>
<p>Fleetwood Mac, Landslide</p>
<p>Howard Jones, Soon You’ll Be Gone</p>
<p>CSNY, Teach Your Children</p>
<p>Rod Stewart, Forever Young</p>
<p>Anna Kendrick, The Cup Song (You’re Gonna Miss Me When I’m Gone)</p>
<p>John Lennon, Beautiful Boy</p>
<p>Simon and Garfunkel, Bookends</p>
<p>Miley Cyrus, Butterfly Fly Away</p>
<p>Sinead O’Connor, Nothing Compares To You</p>
<p>Kate Bush, This Woman’s Work</p>
<p>Cyndi Lauper, Time After Time</p>
<p>Everything But the Girl, Apron Strings</p>
<p>JT or Carole King (pick your version), You’ve Got a Friend</p>
<p>Cast of Rent, Seasons of Love</p>
<p>Kenny Loggins, House at Pooh Corner (okay this one may be particular to our family-it was our favorite lullaby)</p>
<p>Cat Stevens, Wild World</p>
<p>For the truly depressed:
Bill Withers, Aint No Sunshine or Gary Moore, Still Got the Blues</p>
<p>And for a little pick-me-up:
Bob Marley, Three Little Birds</p>
<p>My guess is that about three songs in I’ll get sick of the emo lyrics and crank Rock Lobster at full volume! :-)</p>
<p>Sue, if you listen to many of those you will have to pull over to the side of the road and assume a fetal position! Stick with Rock Lobster. ;)</p>
<p>Sue, I see a dearth of country on your list so let me suggest: [Trace</a> Adkins - You’re Gonna Miss This - YouTube](<a href=“Trace Adkins - You're Gonna Miss This (Official Music Video) - YouTube”>Trace Adkins - You're Gonna Miss This (Official Music Video) - YouTube)</p>
<p>Just got back home after launching D today. It went pretty well. We went very early - showing up at 7:30am even move-in didn’t officially start until 8am, which worked out very well, since it all went very quickly. A horde of upperclass students descended on the very full SUV and emptied it in two minutes flat. We managed to have D mostly unpacked and setup before her roommate got there, which is good, since it would have been hard to have both of them in the chaos stage at the same time.</p>
<p>D was both nervous and excited beforehand, but seemed happy when we left. I was so caught up in the activity that I didn’t get too emotional.</p>
<p>Sue, I love that playlist. Some of my favorite songs.</p>
<p>My son is doing slightly better. I think the idea of preorientation is a little ridiculous. Next week is orientation. Hopefully, that will be more structured. We both can’t wait for classes to start. My older two keep telling him to enjoy this time. Never again will he have time at college with no stress from coursework etc. Too bad he can’t appreciate that now.</p>
<p>Good luck to all launching in the next few days!</p>
<p>What do they do during “pre-orientation”? Neither of my kids had that program.</p>
<p>Viewer, which program is he doing? I have always heard that FOP friends are usually friends for life…</p>
<p>EastGrad, he’s doing Dorm Crew. It wouldn’t have been my first choice, but he thought it would be good. It still might be.</p>
<p>megpmom, they had the option of attending a few different pre-orientation programs, an outdoorsy one, an artsy one, international or urban. He picked dorm cleaning. To him it may have seemed the least intimidating of the bunch. He heard from a friend that he had a lot of fun and made some lasting friendships (and you get paid) while doing dorm crew.</p>
<p>The jury’s still out.</p>
<p>My D’s college offered a Yosemite Camping trip or an ‘Urban Adventure’ (whatever that is) for pre-orientation. She decided against it because we just got back from family vacation and she hasn’t even gotten packed or organized yet. Also, I think she couldn’t bear being away from boyfriend. They are spending every minute together which is also causing severe procrastination about getting packed and ready to go.</p>
<p>I notice a lot of your kids are ‘breaking’ up as they launch to college. My D is looking forward to being 1 hour away from her BF who is going to UCLA. I just don’t have the heart to tell her that she will probably drift in another direction when she goes to college, I stay positive about it. It’s all about growing up and experiencing that first heart-wrenching breakup.</p>
<p>I think she will be the one to break up. Her BF is already a Junior in college and transferring to a new school - living in an apartment. He’ll probably be lonely and they have already had a ‘long distance’ romance for 7 months. He drove all the way back from Santa Barbara every 2-3 weeks just to see her, then he went to Europe for a film project and then she went on family vacation. They stuck it out</p>
<p>^ I don’t know. Since they are now only 1 hour apart I think there is a chance it may work out.</p>
<p>Good morning! We are leaving tomorrow and moving S3 in on Saturday. I think we are ready, but not sure. </p>
<p>Coralbrook: 1 hour might work. My S2 is at UCLA and his roommate has maintained a long distance relationship with his high school girlfriend who is at Boise State. They have regular skype dates etc…</p>
<p>We’re packing to leave in the morning, although S2 doesn’t move in until Wednesday. We will spend a few days in DC seeing his sister and retrieving the items that I put in storage. He’s got 3 suitcases full to take on the plane. I just need to weigh them and see if we have room for a couple more things that I don’t want to repurchase (lapdesk for laptop, etc). The heaviest things he has are binders full of sheet music. I guess Grandma could mail them but I bet it would be expensive. Fingers crossed that we’re under 50 pounds.</p>
<p>Thanks for the info about “preorientation.” I guess my D1 did participate in something like that at American - it was 3 days of volunteering in DC, although it was all they did before school started. Orientation was in the summer (with a 1 day “make up” mini-orientation for the kids who missed the summer one)</p>
<p>Btw: S2 is not happy about his orientation. They picked a theme of “Disney Movies” and his group is “The Little Mermaid!” As he says, “That’s too gay even for me” (and he’s really gay!) 
That’s what he gets for going to a music school.</p>