I, too, canāt believe my D22 is half-way through college. She had a good second year - busy and a bit stressed (due to school workload) but generally happy and satisfied with her college experience. She received a lot of rejections from her internship and EC leadership applications (which in hindsight will probably be character-building but it was tough to see her go through it) during the spring but things worked out in the end on both fronts.
Sheās spending this summer doing two research internships, one in the US and one in Japan. But sheās not sure what she wants to do after college - perhaps PhD, perhaps medical school, perhaps join the working world (but unclear which field/industry, though).
As for her parents, the big change is that LostWife and I are now living in Japan. It was challenging emotionally to clear out the only home that D22 has ever known - we ended up keeping some things that made no sense from a practical perspective.
Weāll see D22 in Japan in a couple of weeks, although only for a few days as her internship is in a different city from where we live. And then weāll be 6,000 miles away when she returns to the UK for her 3rd year!
Bravo. Congrats to your family navigating your move. What a big change!!! Wow! And your D finding two internships!! So wonderful!
May you all have time to relax and celebrate.
Wow, thatās a major update! Iām so impressed with your move to such a culturally different country. And congratulations to your daughter for struggling through the internship applications. Itās so difficult out there right now. I heard of kids applying to over 100 before landing anything so congratulations to your daughter for finding two this summer! Iām glad all of our kids are getting some experience in the application process for after graduation when they are job hunting!
My S22 will be attending Keio University in Tokyo as an exchange from Berkeley for all of next year so we will most likely visit Japan sometime in this next year. Hope you settle in to your new life in Japan quickly!
Thanks. Japan is a big change, but I feel I still have the curiosity and adaptability to make this a positive experience. The question for us is what comes after Japan (all three of us can live in both the UK and US) - it might depend on where D22 ends up ultimately settling.
D22 is loving her hands-on research experience in the US, which is rarely available to undegrads in the UK. This summer, plus her and her classmatesā industrial visit to Beijing during spring break, has made her more excited about her field than she was previously. (One of the big issues with the UK is the overemphasis on financial services has led to a neglect of STEM industries.)
Thanks. Keio is a great place for your S22 to spend his year abroad. I am only familiar with the Mita campus, which is quite pretty. Hereās to an exciting year ahead for your S22!
Again, Iām so impressed by your choice to move. Itās so interesting to hear some of the differences in focus and experiences between the US and the UK. I really wonder where our kids will end up after college. My S22 will be at the Mita campus so I look forward to visiting him there after heās settled in. Wishing you and the family all the best in all your adventures!
D will be finished with her internship this week. She has been invited to return next summer and has secured commitments for letters of recommendations for dental schools that sheāll need in a few months.
Wife flying up to help her with packing up. Sheāll have 2 weeks home before heading back to Baltimore.
Itās been quite a while since Iāve checked in here. Iāve been busy prepping S24 for college - heās heading to UVA. S22 is actually transferring this year - he is leaving UMass and is headed to UNC Chapel Hill in just about a week - here is hoping it is a better experience for him. Itās nice to see/hear that all your kiddos are doing well. Itās hard to believe they are halfway through.
DS finished his Mexico City internship. Ate soooo many tacos!
Here he is flying home, doing a SuperDay interviews with VPs/managing directors at the airport/boarding/up to take-off (couldnāt connect to wifi in air).
The company couldnāt reschedule him; the next 2 flights were full.
Heād be a memorable applicant
S22 moved back to his apartment last night. I fly home Sunday. Much easier than past years - basically I just dropped him off! Hopefully they stay in the same spot for 2 more years.
D22 also had a good internship experience and told she would be welcome to come back. But she also found that while she liked living in LA, it was pretty expensive on a non-profit intern paycheck. Her next internship will likely be abroad in the spring.
Sheās moving back next week and I look forward having her home for a few more days.
Thank you for sharing the photos. So awesome! Hope the interviews went well for him. Good luck to you and your new career and getting your second one off to college as well!
My D22, a history and communication major at UCLA, has been the communications intern for a regional campaign initiative that got grant funding to hire a few interns. Itās been full-time paid work, so she was quite excited about that. And itās based in our area, so I loved that. She has enjoyed it, and because itās a small, mostly volunteer team, she has gotten to do things that someone 20 years old might not typically be asked to do. Sheās writing op-eds, ghost writing for others, pulling together one-pagers, flip books, running a project work stream as well as the initiativeās social media.
She heads back to LA in mid-September, and into her first off campus apartment. Itās a typical college apartment, and sheās got 5 roommatesā¦ all good friends/roommates from her first 2 years. Iām excited for her junior yearā¦ college is flying by so fast!
She recently expressed worry about finding work when she graduates. I think itās starting to hit home that the school life sheās excelled at since she was a small child will come to an end. I tried to reassure her that it would all work out and to take it one day/one job at a time. Sheās doing all she can to be attractive to a future employer!
S22 will be off soon to a semester in Tokyo. Excited to see in person some works of art he has loved since he was a boy: ceramics, lacquerware, gardens.
Iām sure he will have a great time there. Tokyo is my favorite city in the world. We will be taking D22 and her bro there next summer for a few weeks - Iām sure that they too will love it.
Headed back to L.A. this week for S22ās junior year at USC. He had a great summer internship, learning a lot and getting a ton of responsibility. Was great to have him home all summer. They want him to work part time remotely during the school year but that will be quite a juggle unless he does not do a lab.
Love the updates! S22 survived his summer internship in LA. He worked as a PA (production assistant) in advertising/film and had to do a lot of grunt work, but when he had office days they let him work directly with executive producers. It was all very educational for him though to see multiple sides of that field of work. Weāll see if he still wants to pursue a career in film by the time he graduates. Heās home for a month and then off to a year in Tokyo at Keio University. This has been a dream since HS when he taught himself Japanese on free youtube channels. Sounds like quite a few of our kids are doing junior year study abroad programs! Should be an exciting year though for everyone.
W and D had good and bad news today when they showed up to move in to her off campus apartment. Bad news is that the apartment she originally signed up for was not, in fact available - original tenant signed a renewal. But, the good (great actually) news was that they gave her much larger apartment (with new fridge, furniture, and washer/dryer) while keeping the rent of the smaller apartment. The semester is starting off on a good foot ā¦
DD still has three weeks left of summer, but is already doing things related to her on-campus leadership positions to kick off the school year. She was also selected to be a TA this year.
I am just hoping to get a little one-on-one time with her before she heads back. May all our kids have a great junior year!
. Nice to read everyoneās updates.
