We were out to dinner last night when S16 said, “Hey, at this time next week you guys will be back from dropping me off!” I’m glad he seemed happy about it, but it still made me sad. Only 3 nights left at home.
1 week left until move in!
Smooth move-in to UK, despite rain. We need to FedEx her SS card; she nabbed a campus job already.
On our way. Bad start - H’s work emails are all missing from his account. Left two hours late due to that, plus he’s in a horrible mood. 
S seems fairly excited. His roommate called and is in the room. Everything fit in the minivan with no room to spare.
I heard less from D during orientation week than I have now that classes have started. A lot of it is administrative, but we also talk about other things. There’s been a glitch-her Spanish class was cancelled until next semester and there is no room in other sections that don’t clash with her schedule. Luckily there are several choices that she has and quite a few of the classes sound interesting. And I’m convinced that the textbook game is a racket designed to part parents from as much money as possible. The school contracts with a bookseller in town and the guy swore up and down that he researched Chegg and Amazon and “priced competitively” but I found cheaper options on both. Now D has to return the Spanish rental and it turns out that a book the book guy swore was “required” isn’t at all, it was just a suggested supplement. At least I got that one on Amazon and it was only $12. No way was I going to pay bookstore rates on that.
Today is convocation so there are no classes. D sent a photo of herself and her two new BFF’s. They looked so pretty in their white dresses, fancy hairstyles and pearls. Yesterday was the club fair and D is happy because as The Girl Who Signs Up For Things hadn’t joined anything yet. She is hoping to get an internship with the student government, among other things.
Tonight is our last family dinner at home before the big move in. DD ended up with early practice so we even get to eat at a reasonable hour. I am out now running errands since the essentials Re done and I cannot concentrate at my desk. Seemed more honest to take a half day off than to struggle through.
@psychmomma I’m sorry it’s starting off poorly. I hope it gets better!
@livinginLA Are you impacted by the flooding?
Jealous about that campus job @midwest67 !
Hope your move ins go well @psychmomma @cheeringsection
Whenever I’m worried that we are close to the weight limit on luggage I use the curb side check in and am extra friendly/chatty with the handlers. (And have a tip ready.) It’s always nice to escape the long lines inside, and often they don’t even weigh bags…they just kinda ‘know’ by lifting them.
I was kicking myself, @LexieAnn, for not using curbside check-in when those late tags went on my D’s bags after we waited in line for 30 minutes. (But like I said above, all’s well that ends well.) Tipping a generous $5/bag is a lot cheaper than paying overweight fees, the airline service or an errand service to deliver them, or paying for a second taxi from the airport.
We are getting ready to move DD across the pond, still have some time left till 9/8. Everything has been going smoothly, and U of Edinburgh is really helpful. We attended a pre-departure orientation in our area a few days ago. Apparently, there are over 20k alumni in the US. If any other parent of a freshman at U of Edinburgh is on this thread, let me know! Let’s stay in touch 
My D met EastGrad’s D and they shared a cab to Cambridge! Nice they got to meet IRL. Now, she is on a 6 day outdoors trip, sans phone. I can imagine this will be difficult for her. Am heading out there next week to help her move in, and am also clearing out her room (she is switching rooms with my S21.).
@jupiter98 One of the students out our my sweet girls IB school is going to UE. I will try to get in touch with them, get them on CC and in touch with you.
@psychmomma On top of the fact that my hubby is a nervous traveler…he doesn’t want her to go. He’s gotten cranky for no reason and I can tell that’s what it is.
D left today for an 18 day trip with 100 freshmen in the Adirondacks. No phones allowed, so she sends a text for pickup when she returns to school on Labor Day. (She hasn’t even started packing–pile of some stuff in our family room.) She got her student ID and access to her room at checkin, but locks it when she leaves. H took her down (an hour away) and they sent pictures of the room so I could see the layout. Furniture bolted down, so no bunks, 2 windows, closet larger than hers at home. Community bathroom. Dresser is built-in under the bed, so no storage option there. I think we will have to bring some type of shelving for the room.
Roommate is from 500 miles away, so she is packing the car for a single trip. We can supplement where needed with multiple visits. Freshman orientation starts 2 days after the trip so enough time to come home, pack up, and move in.
@texaspg Not directly. Our house and neighborhood was spared. I am only minorly inconvenienced due to staff not being able to come in to work. But we are very fortunate and several of my staff and their families were not. I have 1 that lost their home, and one that has to gut and replace everything. One of my coworkers has 10 people staying with her right now because four of her relatives homes were flooded. I have one assistant that may still be at a flood risk and a kennel worker that had his sister and Mom lose everything. It’s heartbreaking and we have to take a break from the news because you can only process so .much. People are still displaced into shelters and nobody knows how many are staying with friends and family. There have been 11 deaths and so many pets were lost, left behind, or drowned. Farms have lost all of their livestock. It is absolutely devastating. Thank you for asking about us and please keep the people of Louisiana in your thoughts.
@dentmom4 sounds like an awesome trip!
Phase one of today’s journey is complete. S is moved in, roommate and family seem nice, everything fit, and we are back on the road.
The only minor glitch was that the closet door wouldn’t open. It seems they painted the trim around the doors and it was painted shut. Someone finally got it open- so now I need to add sand paper and crowbar to my move-in tool bag!
We are distracting ourselves from being empty-nesters of children, by visiting D. So we are back on the road, but headed 3 hours further from home.
@livinginLA my heart goes out to all your coworkers affected by the flooding.
It really puts into perspective some of the minor inconveniences we have.