<p>My d has a full week off as well. So happy she gets in reality 9 days home. She needs the little break and rest to go back and tackle finals. </p>
<p>I agree freshmen need so many classes that when d couldn’t get into a required english class she could just substitute it for something else. My d is the opposite though - she wants to get through the math and science quickly so she can be done with it.</p>
<p>Fortunately for my son, his AP/DE credits got him out of so many intro classes that he could move to the next level without too many issues. Still, depending on what concentration he takes in a finance major, he could need some additional prerequisites in marketing. He is doing one of his two required accounting classes this spring – he needs them before he can start his finance major. He will be glad to be home for Thanksgiving, since he has not been home since early August (had to leave early for his sport). I’ve seen him twice on visits, so that made his semester a little more bearable. My husband, who has seen him once, said that he will take a long weekend sometime this winter and go and see him. Not sure if he will be home for spring break, because of track and field season, but as a teacher, we do have spring break, so maybe I’ll go down and see him.</p>
<p>I haven’t seen D since we dropped her off in August. She’ll be spending Thanksgiving with relatives who are a bit more conveniently located. Sad? No. It would have been too crazy for her to come home for Thanksgiving. She’ll be home in mid-December. </p>
<p>I am surprised by how many of my friends and acquaintances can’t imagine a freshman not coming home for Thanksgiving. A day to get home, a day to get back, with the likelihood of weather issues, why? </p>
<p>It helps that D is very happy at her school. </p>
<p>For all you SoCal parents with children in cold climates I want to recommend the North Face Outlet in San Diego at Plaza Las Americas at the border. I was there last week and got great deals; a running jacket that is this season’s and on NF website for $80 I got for $30. Loaded up on a ton of running gear for cold weather since my DD is wears only shorts and texted me that she really needed it last week. I am heading there again to get gloves and a warmer coat since I just got that text this morning. With such savings it i well worth the drive plus this particular outlet mall has really great stores. Did you know that at JCrew including outlets you get an extra 15% off if you show a college i.d.?</p>
<p>Older child usually did not come home for Thanksgiving from Ohio State because he always got stuck and it was just not worth it especially since finals are around the corner. Since we have a ton of vacation time available we are going to DD. She will fly from her college to meet us in DC (short flight) and we will see her for a few days before she flies back for “hell week” (what they call their last two weeks of school). So excited to see her and I am going a day earlier to see her best friend who goes to Gtown. </p>
<p>In other news I am happy to report I finally have walls at my house. The past six months have been horrible since a flood destroyed our house on my son’s graduation day. We had to fire the first contractor; our insurance adjuster royally jerked us around (we only got the rebuilding check three weeks ago) but we love our new contractor and he is working really hard at rebuilding our house and I can finally see a light at what has been a very long dark tunnel. Never thought drywall and insulation would bring such a smile to my face. I had a really good cry three weeks ago when we discovered further damage to our house including finding a whole drawer of pictures destroyed that were taken back in the days of negatives. Priceless photos of my children when they were younger. </p>
<p>We have already accepted that Christmas is going to be weird especially since we don’t really want to decorate the rental for the holidays. Rental is out of a magazine and our stuff in it would look really weird and make us sad. I have planned a lot of out of the house activities to keep our spirits up since both kids will be home for the holiday (like holiday 5k etc.). </p>
<p>Thank you all on this board for your support in getting me through the early days of our flood. We will not be back in our house until March. Who would have thought when we left at the end of April to attend our son’s graduation that we would return homeless. If anyone ever goes through this contact me; I learned a lot in the process and would not want anyone being taken advantage of like we were with the remediation company. </p>
<p>Thanks for the tip @itsv about the North Face outlet. I didn’t know they have one here. Also glad that there’s a progress on your house. You also gave me an idea for next year Thanksgiving of us flying to the other coast.</p>
<p>I didn’t go home for Thanksgiving while in college, but I was a lot further from home than my DS is. For him, it’s an easy 1 hour flight and he is an old pro at traveling so he knows what to do. He’s flown solo many times, not to mention the numerous trips with at least one parent or grandparent. He took his first trans-Pacific flight at 5 months old and has had a frequent flyer number since he was 2!</p>
<p>We are all veteran travelers in our house. It was apparently DH’s 25th anniversary flying with his primary airline and since he is in their super-secret top flyer category they gave him a card and a personal escort to his gate the last time he flew. When he flies internationally with a connection, an agent meets him at the door off the plane, escorts him down to the tarmac, where the airline has a Mercedes Benz waiting to drive him to his next plane (or to the first class lounge if he has a long wait). DD and I just got back last night from an impromptu trip to Orlando and I was pleasantly surprised to have my name called to board first since apparently I get to piggyback on DH’s frequent flyer status. It was a little weird to have everybody staring at me and my daughter though!</p>
<p>@itsv That’s quite an ordeal you’ve been through. I’m sure March can’t get here soon enough. </p>
<p>My boy tweeted this yesterday: Sometimes I’ll be walking around campus and just think to myself, “Woah, I’m a college student.” My insides still get all tickly.</p>
<p>That made me smile. I think he’s pretty darn happy where he is. I’ll pick him up next Tuesday after work for the Thanksgiving break. BarnardGirl won’t be coming home this time. She chose to come home for her election day long weekend instead which saved us like $700 in air fare. It will be strange having one home without the other, I think. </p>
<p>@itsv Thanks for the info about the outlet center. We will have to check it out. Glad to hear things are getting better with your home. March will be here before you know it.</p>
<p>Registration happened this morning and DS got all the classes he wanted, although not in his preferred time slots. The schedule is still fine, with no early morning classes so all is good. </p>
<p>For those whose students have been maintaining long distance relationships with high school sweethearts, be prepared. Thanksgiving break is often the time these relationships end. I can’t remember the term often used for this phenomena, but there is a term coined for it here on cc. </p>
<p>Breaksgiving is the term I’ve heard.</p>
<p>also called the Turkey Dump. There’s a website. <a href=“http://turkeydump.com/”>http://turkeydump.com/</a></p>
<p>Am I the only one here that wishes their DD or DS’ long distance relationship with their HS bf/gf to end? </p>
<p>My D and my wife had a little bit of drama few days ago when we learned that the bf visited her. We didn’t find out from her, We found out from other sources but we didn’t tell her that we knew. DD eventually told us but when my wife told her that we were not happy about it, she was ignoring our text/calls for a while.</p>
<p>It’s the turkey drop and it’s happened here already. I know it’s serious because she isn’t even planning on seeing him over break. </p>
<p>@Dad2018, A Turkey dump, Breaksgiving would be welcome by me! Last we heard the gf was working on transferring to a school 30 minutes drive from DS. </p>
<p>@lots2do </p>
<p>LOVE LOVE LOVE your thumbnail pic!</p>
<p>My son avoided the whole thing by intentionally avoiding relationships in high school, especially towards the end. Of course, as soon as he got to college he developed a serious relationship. I hope she doesn’t break his heart, but if she does it will have been a good learning experience for him. </p>
<p>In other news, many RIT students are having trouble getting the classes they need for spring semester, but luckily my son has not had a problem. Actually, it probably isn’t luck. He got to sign up a day earlier due to AP credits, and also his major just seems more on the ball. His only regret is that he wanted to take an additional class on African history and that would bring him up to 21 credits and he’d have to pay extra. He must like college :-)</p>
<p>Is it common for freshmen to get waitlisted for required courses at other colleges?</p>
<p>crowlady, my daughter had no problem at all, and she didn’t have early registration. I read the reports of difficulties too and I think they will shake out, as we (on the Facebook group for parents of freshmen) were informed by the staff.</p>
<p>My D reports that she got all the classes she wanted, without any early registration. So far, so good.</p>
<p>My son had no interest in dating in high school. He did go to his prom with a track and field teammate, and they had a falling out before he graduated. From what I understand, she’s said some pretty nasty things about him. He is not perfect, but she’s no angel. He has not found a girlfriend yet while at college, but he does socialize a lot with the sorority girls. They take him along for late-night runs to IHOP! </p>