My kid has gone dark, hopefully just meaning no cell service on her camping trip. Only problem is that she never told us she would be out of reach. I’m trying to pretend it’s 1988, when as a college student I enjoyed my independence and of course didn’t bother to tell my parents where I was for the weekend, a week, or more. This in contrast to her older sister who has already FaceTimed us within 12 hours of arriving in Australia for her study abroad program feels unsettling.
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My D18 came to me before her last year of college and told me she wanted to go to law school. I said thats fine as long as you actually want to practice law. As you noted law school is too much work and costs too much money to just go as a place holder or because you don’t know what else to do.
Fast forward 4 years, she graduated from UF in the spring and is starting her “big law” job in Miami on Monday.
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She texted! She was out of cell range for 2 days. Next time we talk I will mention to please let me know when she anticipates no cell coverage and also estimated time/day of return. It was a good lesson for me in letting go, but I also like knowing kinda sorta where my kids will be. Now to figure out how to strike a balance.
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D24 called today. She’s at roommate’s parents’ house this weekend with the roommate. Learned that every other weekend, a lot of the TX students go home for the weekend. She said that makes weekends “boring” sometimes.
She’s friends with some girls on the water polo team. Word on the street is that some of the water polo boys sleep around a lot and have dubbed themselves “the sinners of water polo.” 
D24 has decided to not have any extracurricular activities with water polo boys. 
She said a lot of the TX students have cars but she’s getting tired of relying on other people for rides. 
Necessity is the mother of invention and she has changed her mind about our proposal to buy her a gas-powered scooter 
(probably a Honda Metro). 1st plan was to get an electric 
scooter but those are not allowed in any campus buildings or dorms and you cannot charge them inside at all…which I understand because of the fire hazard.
On campus jobs are hard to come by if you don’t have work study, which she doesn’t qualify for. No idea what her plans are for a summer job next summer and I don’t think she knows either. But there’s plenty of time to come up with a plan for that later.
She’s asked for D26 to come visit some time during the school year. I think it’ll probably be in March when D26 and I go to tour University of Tulsa.
She said she’s happy there. DH is flying there for a weekend in 2 weeks and D24 is looking forward to that.
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Water polo boys! We saw D24 when we took her the car yesterday. I asked her if she’s better at identifying “bros” now. It came out in her answer that she just assumes all frat boys are “bros” because “they will make them that way if they weren’t already.” I told her I had been hoping that there were some non-bro frat boys. She seems less than hopeful about that, so I speculated about which classes I thought the “nice boys” would take. It’s not that she’s desperate to find a boyfriend or anything–but it has been a real transition to move from urban city culture to SEC Greek-prominent culture. 
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Which school again ?
I hear ya. D24 likes boys who are down to earth. The “bro” culture thing is a huge turn off for her.
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UGA. She’s loving it, despite the transition.
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Oh yeah proximity to Atlanta. Many go home. One of my colleagues kids is in Honors but has a weekend job in Alpharetta. With the proximity to the state’s largest metro it makes sense.
But she’ll find her groove. Will be boys (and girls) of all stripes.
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As the resident parent’s class of 2024 Italian, I’d say a Vespa beats the Honda Metro any day of the week- and older ones (which will run forever and a day) are the best-looking of all…
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Yeah, but Vespa’s are definitely out of our price range! 
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We just returned from spending parents weekend with S24 and we are thrilled to see that he is incredibly happy (and possibly having too much fun). Best thing we did was rent a VRBO and make him a homemade meal. We also did a very low key tail gate where we were able to really talk and get to know some of his friends and their families instead of going to the huge, crowded events. Next year, we will probably skip parents weekend and visit during a more low key weekend
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Just had my weekly FaceTime with D24. I think she may be progressing from merely enjoying college to thriving. She’s now very into exercise—running and lifting weights several times a week. She also loves the Japanese table at the language cafeteria, where she’s met a lot of friends. And it seems like she takes the train with friends to central Los Angeles about every other week. I think she’ll probably get her work-study job in the next week or so, which will add another 10-15 hours to her weekly schedule.
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What about a bike? Are there Zipcars on campus? Both are options my older kid used for 2 years before having a car on campus.
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No zip cars available.
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S24 was home for 48 hours over the weekend, out of which 16 were spent at home. The rest of the time was spent with GF who was visiting from out of state. This includes meals at their house (Her Mom invited him), studying and shopping together. We did get to see her when she stopped by.
Im glad he is happy and she/her family are lovely but does this foreshadow where his future Thanksgivings will be Im joking of course but just thought this was amusing.
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We are five weeks into the Fall semester - which was preceded by three weeks in a study abroad program - and getting information is like pulling teeth, mostly single word responses to our texts. Trying to frame it as no news in good news. They are enjoying classes and made a serious effort to “join” stuff, which I know is uncomfortable and exhausting for an introvert.
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I have fond memories of 1988 Honda CH80; bright red. That poor thing was a workhorse. Have to assume a Metro will be the same. The Vespa note did make look up the price…man, they have gotten pricey. Times have changed.
Good luck with the search.
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Well, college classes officially started today. With his first class down I received a positive note from my son (yes, shockingly he continues to communicate). In fact, he appeared excited. It was a chemistry lecture and lab for engineers and he was both positive about the professor and the fact he was familiar with what would be covered in the class.
The last few days have been an introduction and orientation session to the campus, local community and clubs on campus. That, plus an introduction to the roommate he met for the first time on Wednesday. He enjoyed the orientation period and was able to find some clubs that he would be interested in. Solid win as he has been keen on finding people with similar interests and the club fair gave a chance to truly just talk. Sounded as if the microsystems team was a solid fit.
I think the roommate will be a learning opportunity for him. First year roommates can range from your new bestie to simply someone occupying a separate bed in a common living space. Only 3-4 days in, my son is thinking it will likely be the later. Civil, but multiple attempts at engaging his roommate to grab dinner, play some pool, etc. have resulted in polite but consistent “not interested”. We will see what occurs over time but we (wife and I) could sense disappointment but acceptance.
All in all, a good start to a college journey for our S24.
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I think anyone who’s smart enough to be in chemistry in college is already ahead. Glad to hear the second quiz went better. I’ve been getting texts about the huge workload recently–it’s manageable but not without real planning. All normal as you say!
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