AvonHSDad: I agree with 2014novamom about the start of the 2L year. My older son had 29 interviews for his summer internships, all in DC. He did land an outstanding internship, and recently, he accepted an offer of employment following his graduation. He plans to live about an hour from our home, so there is a chance we will see him every couple of months or so.
As for Son '14, he missed three of his four classes the first day, because he caught an awful bug. Had a fever of 102.5. His digestive system was a mess. He made it to his first class before returning to bed for the day. He is feeling a bit better after a lot of rest. So, he will be playing catch up to get his books and other items, but he should be all right.
He has been quite busy as he begins his 2L year. He spent a week traveling to regional interviews on both coasts in late July that his LS set up. One of those resulted in a summer offer as he had networked on the west coast during his 4 week LS summer session out there. He then had his week of OCI with 22 initial screening interviews on campus that resulted in 14 callbacks. He is traveling to the bay area, Chicago and Washington DC for the next 8 days to complete those interviews. His callback on Tuesday resulted in another offer on Wednesday (yesterday) for next summer. The way this is going he may be on a short cruise on the SS Indecision as he will have a tough decision to make. But having to make that decision is much better than not having any offers for his 2L summer.
AvonHSDad: It’s awesome that your son is getting a choice. Some students don’t. My older son said that several of his classmates were thrilled just with one offer … and they have parlayed that internship into a job offer following graduation. He is thrilled with the firm he will work for following graduation, as it has offices throughout the U.S. as well as in several locations internationally. So he may get the chance to travel, something he loves to do.
Son '14, meanwhile, seems to have beaten back the stomach bug that got him. He sent me a couple of texts saying that he feels better but still needs to pick up his books from the bookstore. Hopefully, this is the only time he is ill this year.
@momreads I worked for one of the largest firms in the US with offices all over the country and the world. Most of what I saw when I traveled for work was conference rooms and client offices unfortunately. Life in a big firm can be a grind and it was common for me to fly to somewhere like Dallas from the east coast, spend a day with the client, and then fly back that same day. West coast trips sometimes had an overnight but because of the time difference I would oftentimes fly out on the 6 am flight and still have a full day with the client before catching the red eye back. Snooze on the plane for a few hours, grab a quick shower and then be in the office just a little later than normal.
It was exciting to work at a big firm but I couldn’t keep up that pace especially with two little kids at home and a husband who traveled as much as I did. I went part time, then left for the government, then eventually retired early at 48. I do have to thank the big law job for paying me well enough to be able to save and have that flexibility!
There can be some great opportunities, however. If your son gets a chance to work in a foreign office, say Brussels or London, for an extended time he should definitely grab that offer. We had many associates that did that for 6 months or more at a time. Obviously certain practice groups are more likely to offer this opportunity than others.
Year 3 has started for one 2014 daughter. The other has moved back to school for Rush, but doesn’t start until next week. She’s finishing year 2 as she took the spring off.
2014novamom: I appreciate your honesty about your travels with the big law firm. My son loves to travel, so should he have the chance to work for one of the international offices, I think he would take it. For Christmas, he has asked for materials so he could learn French … his Spanish is fairly good. He believes this would make him more attractive to his firm if he were able to speak more languages.
@momreads - while a lot of the biglaw firms have offices in various European cities, it appears that much of the growth is in the Asian markets. The languages are much harder but learning Chinese, Korean or Japanese could bring very attractive opportunities depending on the practice area.
AvonHSDad: I agree about the languages. My son’s firm has an office in Singapore where English is the predominant language, although having Chinese on his list of learned languages also would be good there. They also have offices in some Arabic-speaking countries.
Less than a week until DS leaves for Scotland! He’s flip-flopping between “I got this!” and, “Mom, I’m really nervous…” He’s got his adapters, some Pounds in his wallet, his prescription medication for 4 months, warm clothes, all his paperwork (I hope), and an unlocked phone; he even arranged for an absentee ballot (gets to vote online, since he’ll be abroad). All he asked me to do was to help him make a list, then he zipped through it on his own.
And we have our tickets for a visit to the UK in October. Hoping he’ll be able to take a long weekend and go on a little road (or train) trip with us up to the highlands, but we’ll have to see if his schedule allows it. We’re excited about our vacation, though, regardless - first time outside of the US/Canada for hubby, and first visit back east for both of us since moving to Hawaii in 2008.
Our son will leave for Edinburgh right after Labor Day. He’s packing this week and going to Apple to open his phone. I’m visiting the first week in October. Going to make a girls’ trip…my best friend since early childhood, who I don’t see as much as I’d like bc we live several states apart, and my SIL, who lives on the opposite coast, will accompany me. We’re so excited. Spending 7 days in Scotland and then taking the train down to London, where we’ll visit for 5 days.
@Sweetbeet, enjoy your trip and visit with your son!
My daughter leaves for Florence, Italy in two days. Is working on packing and figuring what to take in her one allowed checked in bag. I’d be willing to pay extra for another checked bag, but afraid she’ll have too much luggage to deal with on the other end (she is also bringing a small wheeled bag on as a carry-on which is limited to 26 lbs combined with another very small bag).
Moved DS in over the weekend. His university apartment seems like it will work well for him. The bedroom is large 12 x 20 with two big closets and an attached bathroom. The common areas are small though.
He’s started school where he’s continuing his research and becoming an undergraduate TA. He has an honors physiology course that is basically a med school course; it’s even taught at the med school.
We got lucky with our Target trip this year. We didn’t know it was “stock up days” where everything was 10% off. With our red card, the whole bill was 15% off, even sale items. Given we had to buy a wireless router, among other things, this really added up to significant savings. I think our bill was about $450 before the savings.
Plane tickets home and back for Thanksgiving have been booked (with the lowest level FF miles too!) Now I have to start shopping for semester break tickets once he gets his finals schedule.
Hope everyone has all the success they want this year.
DD is mostly packed for her semester abroad in Edinburgh. We’re leaving Tuesday for 3 days in Iceland before I head home and she flies to Glasgow and then takes a train to Edinburgh as Iceland Air doesn’t fly directly there. But it does mean she can bring two bags with her for free which helps with the packing stress. We’re going to have to pay for an extra bag home anyway so she may as well bring a larger bag than a smaller carryon. I think she’s feeling both excited and a bit anxious but she’s also trying to visit friends before she goes and is heading to her college this afternoon for a couple of days so it’s good she’s mostly packed!
@RenaissanceMom - I don’t think she ever connected with your son as she had so little free time during her summer job! She arrives in Edinburgh on Saturday and we’re also visiting her in early October (about when you leave for England) and then will travel around Scotland for a week. I can’t wait for that trip! Hope your son has a safe flight over!
@RenaissanceMom - that is so funny, we are flying into London, spending a few days there, then taking the train up to Glasgow! Maybe our trains will pass each other. It’s been recommended that we stop over in York for a night, not sure if we will or not. My hubby, who is usually a bit of a “stick in the mud” about travel, keeps finding new things he wants to see and do, from museums to waterfalls to whisky distilleries to millennia-old graveyards.
I woke up to a hilarious Skype message from my son the other day. “I’m in another country. I have immigrated and purchased coffee and a muffin. Things are looking up.” Followed, after I woke up and responded, by tales of finding his accommodation, riding the subway, and obtaining groceries, a pillow, shampoo, and a sim card for his phone. After his first day he was feeling very successful, and VERY tired! Orientation starts tomorrow.
This 11-hour time difference is interesting. It’s just hard to fathom him getting up, as we’re getting ready for bed.
@AvonHSDad - I totally agree about the Asian languages. My D took German freshman year and studied German in Berlin the summer after. She is now considered Level 3 on the State Department’s scale. However, she also took Korean sophomore year and spent this entire summer in Korean in an intensive language program at Sogang University (free of charge to me, thank goodness, due to a fellowship that paid the tuition, room, board, and travel expenses). She is now getting offers in her junior year to do internships next summer with businesses who have a presence in Korea since she now knows both the language and the culture. She is State Department Level 2 now but is taking Korean her junior year in the Heritage track which is the track that native speakers have to take. Not bad for an AA kid who took Latin all through high school. I think that those kids that can master a language, whether they are liberal arts or STEM, will make themselves much more marketable in this global economy we know have.
We learned from my D’s trip to Korea this summer that the Iphone 6 is not locked. She was able to take out her SIM card and put a Korean one in for the entire time she was there. KaKao Talk became our best friend while she was there.
In terms of learning languages, Son '14 is not taking any in college, but he probably could pick up Spanish (he had four years in high school) again without an issue. One of his former teachers worked in the finance industry, and he recommended a good working knowledge of the language if he wanted to do anything in banking. As for my older son, the soon-to-be-attorney, he has an incredible knack of learning languages, so I figure that he will not stop with Spanish and French. He’s the kind of kid who will decide to add two or three more languages to his resume.
iPhones have been unlocked for some time. And even when they were “locked” they weren’t really locked. You can ask your carrier to unlock a phone (we did this with an iPhone 4 many years ago when traveling to Asia) so you can put your own SIM in it. If your network says your phone isn’t eligible (under their rules) for unlocking you can use an unlocking service.