My S22 is headed to Barcelona this summer for an 8 week summer internship through AIFS! He’s going to be home for about 2 weeks before he’ll fly out for this summer experience. His original choice of major (chemistry) would not allow him to take a full semester abroad. This spring he changed to Data Analytics, which is a better fit for him overall. Since he just started that degree this spring, we had concerns of him being away for w full term and missing out on required, sequential courses. Overall I think this internship is going to be very valuable (doing business analytics for a company over there), and he’ll have an awesome summer in Spain. I, too, worry about all that could go wrong this summer. But I’m trying to keep my fears at bay. I did a study abroad semester in London when I was in college, and it was a highlight of my college experience.
That sounds really great. I bet he loves it! I’ll have my son look at that program too. I think he’d love an internship somewhere!
As a bonus with my D22’s semester in London she has the opportunity to do an Internship which is great because she’s just working a regular summer job this summer.
My D plans to do a semester abroad in Sorrento, Italy. It will be fun to visit her there. This past January she did a short trip to Dubai and Abu Dhabi that her school paid for. Love school-paid trips!
DD22 is getting dual degrees and a minor, so it is like playing a game of tetris to make sure all the pieces fit.
She had a good advisor, but he recently left the school. But even when he was there, I help DD make/update her own spreadsheet every year.
That way, we noticed right away when a critical prerequisites course suddenly wasn’t offered in the fall anymore and could confirm an alternative course that would work far in advance. She’s also taking a few courses this summer to make it easier to fit everything in.
D22 took her last final yesterday as her mom flew to Baltimore to help with move out. They’ll be back Friday only to leave to Palm Springs for a girls getaway (their term) for a week. Then it’s off to her summer internship at a surgical center. Busy times!
S22 has had to figure out everything on his own from his university’s website and because he’s going abroad for an entire year to Japan next year, there are a number of courses he will not be able to cram into senior year when he returns. He has a major and a minor with many requirements, so he will take two courses over the summer. The other problem is that many courses have limited seats so we are keeping our fingers crossed that as a senior he will be able to get into the classes he needs to complete in 4 years.
He is also headed to LA for an internship this summer and has not yet secured housing. 
It’s so expensive there! Plus he will be driving our 18-year-old car from home, where he’s only ever driven small country roads with no traffic. Our town only has one traffic light. And it’s over 1000 miles just to get to LA! He’s certainly going to get an education in driving. Will be biting my nails all summer!
I also find it hard to believe our kids are halfway through! S22 had his first semester of all A’s. It was quite a transition from a small rural public high school to a T10 university, and while he struggled a bit freshman year, he’s fully embraced the rigor and really enjoyed his classes and his professors this year. Honestly, I’m ridiculously proud of him.
My D18 lost her passport while abroad a couple of years ago, but fortunately in the airport. Even so, she didn’t realize it until she was boarding so she missed her flight and searched high and low for hours and was terribly upset. In the end, somehow, a Delta agent accompanied her to security, lost and found, and eventually airport police, who had her passport (someone had turned it in!) I’m forever grateful that Delta spared an agent for over an hour to help D18 locate her passport. And that they went against their own rules and put her on the next available flight without making her buy another ticket. Anyway, for all our kids going abroad, they will be fine and find a way through any difficulties they encounter. The world is full of helpful, kind people and our kids are smart and resilient!
S22 won’t be able to study abroad in college. He is too invested in getting a dual undergrad degree and masters in 4 years, and needs certain courses at his school. Summers are going to be spent on internships in his field. He did get to spend the summer in Central Europe after HS graduation. I suspect he will do something similar after college graduation. S18 was the same, but with a demanding music degree. He’s made up for it the last 2 summers working at Ukrainian orphan camps in Central Europe. D15 got to spend a semester in London in her junior year. I still regret not visiting her there, though her grandparents did.
Finding intern housing in LA is proving to be a mess! D22 joined a bunch of FB groups and found options through those. She picked one, virtually met the roommates and all agreed it would be a good fit. Now the rental management company is being more bureaucratic than any government could ever be 
She is subleasing a room for two months, so of course she doesn’t fit their regular renter profile. She offered to pay the two months up front to prove she can pay, just to be met with “we don’t do that”. She gave them a letter outlining how much she would make in her internship. Nope, not sufficient (she will make more than two months rent would be). So we are willing to cosign but I’m afraid our income might not be high enough for their standards. Holy moly.
Oh dear! We are going through the beginnings of that. All Airbnb’s were much too expensive. S22 in touch with a couple different UCLA students on FB who want to sublet their apartments. Haven’t reached the stage of being in contact with the rental company. Hope you guys are able to work it out! 
Has he looked into frat housing at UCLA. My sons frat at Cal were advertising pretty large sized summer housing for $500 a month.
Do you know where they advertise these? Should he just search out UCLA frat websites?
Yep they usually advertise on their insta or other social media pages. I would find those and see if they list anything.
There is a fraternity that has not been able to fill their house with members. Whenever I am in Westwood and drive down Galey Ave., there is a sign on DTD (Delta Tau Delta) house offering rooms even during the school year. It’s actually a pretty house on the outside (almost looks more like a sorority). I have no idea what the inside is like though!
oof, the housing company finally approved my D, two weeks before her start date at the internship. Flights are booked and I will accompany her to LA for a few days to move her in. We will see how to navigate LA by public transport, should be an adventure 
@Evie800 how is your son’s search for summer housing going?
I’m so glad to hear that. My son also finally found housing but according to Google Maps, in the mornings, the drive to his internship ranges from 40 to 1 hour 40 minutes. 
Funny not funny. We will see if he ever wants to live in LA in the future after this summer!
I’m glad you will be able to accompany her to LA. My husband is driving to LA with my son, leaving him with our old jalopy and then flying back. Sounds like both our kids are in for quite an adventure this summer!
I too am stunned they are half-way through. D22 has been back for two weeks recharging after a very intense semester. She added an applied analytics minor and experienced her first, serious weed-out class. She did really well and thinks this with public policy is going to be really helpful. USC really encourages them to stretch academically and I had to keep steering her away from fretting about her gpa and instead thinking about the cool coding skills she is learning. She heads to DC in a week through a fellowship program for a 10 -week internship.
She is going to do something next spring, either spring in DC or Greece. I am hopeful it’s Greece. I studied abroad for a year in college and it was life changing. Do these kinds of things before the career grind begins!
I’m so happy for all of our kids who are getting to do internships/fellowships this summer. If they are going to entirely unfamiliar cities and the internships are set up well, there will be a lot of learning to be had.
But I also fully agree about kids taking advantage of study abroad programs. S22 waffled a bit over going to Japan for an entire year…said he was terrified…but is trusting that it will be transformative. As you said, this is the time in life to do exploratory things before adulthood and life take over. Such an exciting time!
Hey fellow parents of HS Class of 2022 – my D22 will be off the meal plan next year and I was wondering if you give your student a grocery budget how much you give them? I do not want to pay for extras. She can and should get a job for those, but until she graduates I will do my best to keep her housed and fed. She is not good with money and spends it as soon as she gets it, whether we give it to her or she earns it herself, so it needs to be a fixed amount that she can count on, but not so much that she is spending frivolously. I can’t fund her Taco Bell addiction. Money is tight for us with paying for college so we need to rein it in.