Parents of the HS Class of 2016 (Part 1)

To move clothes, we keep shirts and sweatshirts on hangers and pull a large garbage bag up over everything and tie it around the tops of the hangers. Clothes that are usually in drawers, we pack in walmart-sized bags, (then stack in a large bag), so they can be transferred right into the dresser. We basically try to pack things so each bag goes right into a drawer- dresser or desk - or on the closet shelf. The bags make it easy to pack the car.

Great idea @psychmomma! The challenge will be not knowing how big the drawers are.

We got an 1 inch foam topper covered by a padded mattress pad, covered by the fitted sheet. My D did not want too much padding in fear of falling out of the raised bed, and it was plenty comfortable according to her.

I did not buy a mattress cover that zips but that would be personal preference, honestly her mattress looked new, but of course you wouldn’t know that.

I washed all bedding, towels and stored them in plastic totes so we just moved them in those. If you have room in the car that’s great, you can just bring empty ones home.

The twin size comforter my D used was 68×86" I think and the beds are only 40" wide, since the bed is right up against the wall there was a lot of overhang. It was fine and she had her dresser and drawer cart under the bed so she needed to get into the drawers.

@palm715, yes it might be wise to wait, I assume a triple room wouldn’t be much more roomy than a double.

One thing to watch out for when using space saver bags and flying - the total weight of the suitcase. We’ve been surprised at how easy it is to get over 50lbs in a large suitcase without the bags. Keep in mind the weight limit in addition to the size limit when checking bags to fly.

We are big fans of the large trashbag method for moving - especially for linens, shoes, and even some clothes. Not sure if we’re going to use it again with our S who is moving further away - but still driving distance.

@krnBoston, yes, good point!

Yes, we brought the scale into the living room and weighed each of the large space bags when filled-each came to about 10 pounds. We were very surprised it was so little. D just filled in the spaces around the two bags with random clothing and it’s still not near 50 pounds. And the shoes came to only 24 pounds, even including boots, since they were in a nearly weightless nylon bag. The 3rd bag will have all of D’s summer/warmer weather clothes, which she won’t pack until it’s nearly time to leave since it’s summer now and she’s wearing them. All the big, heavy stuff, save one set of sheets, we’re getting on-site.

Got a call from S at 2 am saying the Megabus was late and they had no idea when it was coming. He walked over to Penn Station and got on Amtrak. He arrived at our hotel on the Temple campus a little after 5 am. He was up a little after 8 to start his orientation. I haven’t seen him since before lunch, so I don’t know if he’s still standing.

Well he is certainly resourceful @mstomper

My son received his dorm assignment and has been told by an upperclassman that he got a good room. Things are getting real now.

DS16 has been in frequent contact with his suite mates , and it seems like they’re going to be a good match. I hope it turns out to be true . He’s also been contacting other students on the Class of 2020 FB page that are from OOS to offer to show them around. If anyone would’ve told me a year ago that my usually somewhat reserved and shy son would’ve been initiating contact with future classmates , I would’ve said " You clearly don’t know my son." It’s good to see him reaching out , and it’s making me feel better about the transition.

Kudos to your son @mstomper - sounds like he is ready to take on anything that comes his way.

Good news @Justathought - we won’t know DS’s assignment until mid-July but, hoping it is his 1st request.

I should add that there was no hint of panic in his voice when S called early this morning. Used Uber, which he’d never used before, to get from Amtrak to Temple at 5 in the morning.

Wow @mstomper He’s definitely resourceful but what was he doing out so late/early?

@readingclaygirl, he was at a comedy festival. It went on all weekend and wasn’t over until late Sunday.

Your son sounds like a bona fide trooper, @mstomper. Clearly, he is ready to swing new doors wide open.

We had our son travel from Cambridge to meet us in NYC his first Thanksgiving at college and he took a MegaBus-type service. He’d bought the last ticket for that bus and was making pretty good time in blustery conditions (snowed like you would not believe!) when the bus made it to mid-town and then cut across into Queens before returning to Manhattan.

It was pretty late at night and I suppose he just wanted off the bus. He sent a dour, eye-ball-rolling text to the effect of “
and now we are headed into QUEENS! Oh, boy
”

He thought he’d never get to the rendezvous point where his Dad stood waiting for him. It was great to see he and his Dad walk into the hotel room, shoulder to shoulder (and looking taller and thicker) with no residual look of ‘blah’ on his face.

So has anyone else’s kids received a “If you change your mind, we still have room for you” letter from a school they declined? D18 received one today from a school that ranked very high on her list.

Am currently in denial about the dorm mountain. Walked through a BBB while we were at Marquette Pre-Orientation last week that is about it. D18 said she is too busy to think about it until after July 4. (When she gets back from a volunteer gig at an RTX convention in Austin). All on her own, D18 arranged to meet up her roommatte (a Milwaukee native) on our recent visit to Marquette as well as meeting up with some of the other Direct Entry DPT kids she had been talking with on the internet. Was surprised to learn that , of the 65 or so direct entry kids, D18 is one of only 5 who are Biomedical Science undergraduate majors (most are Exercise Science/Athletic Training) 1 physiology major, 1 biology major, 1 spanish major, 1 psychology major, 1 business major and 1 theology major.

The first of her friends headed off to school on Sunday, (Airforce Academy) There was a going away party for him Friday night. I got a teary call around 11:30pm saying she wasn’t going to be home that she and some friends were spending the night at a girlfriends because they were just realized that they would be scattering soon. And she has been spending more time than usual in the common areas of our house rather than holed up in her room.

Our graduation trip to Japan went well. I had really stressed about the trip before hand but it all went off without a hitch except for my fall during a visit to a temple in Kyoto. It was only slightly embarrassing to fall flat on my face in the gardens of a buddhist temple. I muscled through the remaining 5 days of our trip (that included a day a Universal Studios Japan and a day at DisneySea). Came home to find I tore a ligament in my foot/ankle and fractured my wrist!

oh my goodness @labegg! speedy healing to you!!

Well @labegg you do things right. Just think how bad you could’ve been hurt without Buddha looking over you.

Feel better @labegg

My goodness @labegg, talk about taking one for the team! I hope you feel better soon.