So far so good in Spain! She is doing more with others, yet has plenty of time on her own. I sometimes worry when she is just in her house all day, but I know she needs those days too. She’s trying new foods, which is amazing, as she has never been adventurous with food. She has never eaten soup, much meat, or anything mushy, like mashed potatoes. I mean never. Pureed baby food just got spit right back out and she didn’t really eat anything until about 10 months when she could do things like Cheerios! She is eating soup a few days a week, eggplant(!), lots of potatoes, and various other things. It may not carry on here, but I’m so happy she is at least learning to try different things.
There is a weekend trip with the group this weekend and she is looking forward to that. There seems to be at least one planned group event each week.
Sometimes it’s hard to remember that she is not just a tourist, but is living there for 2 months. So she doesn’t have to hit all the tourist highlights in the first week or two. She has lots of time and can just do normal things she enjoys.
This board is soooo quiet! How is summer going for our 2024ers?
Ours is going fast! Hard to believe we are nearing the end of July already. D24 has been busy and hard at work at her internship. Between the 2.5hr/day round trip commute and the 40 hour work week, she hasn’t had a whole lot else going on. M-F she is up at 6, out the door at 7, at work from 8:30-5pm, home at 6:30, with just enough time to eat dinner, meal prep for the next day and chill for a bit before lights out by 10.
On weekends, she tries to catch up on sleep, do something outdoors and see her home/HS friends (who are all having a more typical summer break). She doesn’t seem to mind the grind, though. She’s learning a lot, really enjoys her coworkers and fellow interns, and is making good money.
The job runs until early December, and she’ll return to school for spring semester. It has been really nice having her home…though my house feels small (her big sis, D20, came back last year to live at home and attend grad school locally). D20 has the bigger bedroom (which was D24’s for the 5 years D20 was away at school and living on her own after college), so D24 is VERY anxious for D20 to get that job and move out But other than that, all good.
Wow- so many found internships and are being productive, S24 not so much He assumed he could return home May 1 and find a job in one of many local places and have his pick. Nope! APPLIED TO SO MANY PLACES. Ghosted at most of them. It was a painful lesson. He has tried to do odd jobs here and there but it has not amounted to much. He heads back to school on 8/12. D26 heading to same school but eaves 8/3 for early move-in.
We’ve been so busy doing the tournament/camp LAX circuit with our D30, but she finally went to a two week traditional summer camp, so we went to see S24 in St Louis over the weekend.
He seems to be doing really well. He is very much enjoying his research gig plus shadowing in an ER, and now is maybe thinking MD/PhD. Still a lot between now and deciding anything but he seemed happy to be thinking about these options with more grounding in experience. We took him and his girlfriend out for a nice dinner and they seem to be doing very well together.
And this upcoming weekend we pick up D30 from camp and then drive over to see S24 play in an adult men’s club tournament. He and some of his college teammates are on the team for the summer so that should be a lot of fun.
And then he should be back home first week of August for most of the month.
I know about a lot of 24s in my other circles who had a rough summer finding things. Lots of uncertainties, funding cuts, and so on out there. All this tends to be cyclical and different age cohorts just get better or worse timing.
Hard to believe summer is more than half way done. S24 has enjoyed his internship although he notes that state government is heavy on the bureaucracy and slow moving - despite that he has had a good experience and thinks well of his co-workers. He’ll be heading to Copenhagen for the fall semester on 8/14 which is really creeping up on us. S22 finally found a job at the beginning of July so he is finally earning some $$ - he’s contemplating going back to school in the Spring to finish up and seems in a much better frame of mind after dealing with some mental health challenges. Hub and I just returned from 10 days in Scotland where we got perfect weather (to the shock of us all) - not a drop of rain - trip was capped off by a day on Skye which I highly recommend; it was phenomenally beautiful. Hope everyone is doing well and enjoying their summers.
We’ve been enjoying D24 being under our roof and S21 coming home for weekends to spend time together. Both are doing research and learning from their experiences. It’s been so nice that I really don’t want the summer to come to an end!
That said, it will and we’re planning to fly out to D24’s college end of August to help with move in and visit with other parents as well as family in the area. She’ll be on the 4th floor of a walk-up apartment building next year as her house/dorm is being renovated, so move-in will be a bit more of a challenge (and every day thereafter will be a “leg day”).
Good things are happening for D24–she took a jaunt over to her college town (2 hours away) yesterday to do a “trial shift” (audition) for one of the best restaurants in town. She got the serving job. Hooray! I’m so grateful to the nice restaurant in our home city that originally hired her over a year ago. She’s worked for them steadily, and these jobs make a lot more money than your average $13-16 an hour college job around here. She is very responsible (a hoarder even) and wants to put money back in her pot after spending it this summer on her study abroad in Italy/Greece. She’s also realized that she might need only an M.S. rather than a Ph.D. in her chosen field. I would love it if she didn’t have to spend the six years I spent in grad school. All is well with her, and I’m hoping she has a great junior year.
It’s always so nice to read updates from this group! We, and our children, have all come so far in the past couple of years!
We have really enjoyed having both D24 and S24 home all summer. S24 in particular is showing a lot more maturity and has been extremely helpful around the house and considerate. Having an apartment may have made him appreciate that someone needs to unload the dishwasher!! He has been interning at a law firm and not loving it, so that may mean he is less interested in going to law school. So, useful to have had the experience.
D24 has really blossomed socially and has made a lot of friends and reconnected with old friends, so that has been great, too! She has a very cool internship where she is working with local government and non-profits on addressing some of the challenges that impact homeless people. She thinks she wants to get a Masters in Social Work, so this has been an illuminating experience for her, too.
S24 heads up to school briefly next week to move from old apartment to new apartment, and has not requested help. D24’s study abroad program does not start until OCTOBER so we have her home a bit longer.
H and I have accepted an invitation to a wedding in Budapest, so we are excited about that upcoming trip this Fall. We have not been to Budapest, but S24 went there over his Spring Break and raved about it. We think going to this wedding will be really fun and cool and we definitely are entering into the YOLO phase of life and trying to embrace more opportunities like this.
I’ve been to Budapest twice, on two pretty different budgets, and loved it each time. Beautiful, historic, some really interesting dining options, lots to like. I am jealous!
S24 came home this weekend from a 9 week research position. Loved the reseearch and physics aspect of the program, did not so much love the location. Solidified his plans for pursue a phd in physics and where in the world he wants to live. Have him home for 3 weeks before a very needed extended family vacation and then back to school in September. He is very lucky to have gotten into the REU and got paid!
It was a lot of fun going to S24’s men’s club tournament. We took him and a couple of his college teammates/roommates who are also on the men’s team to dinner, which is always nice. It was also great seeing them interact with post-college-age guys, I really think that is helping them accelerate their future social and team skills.
One of my kids is a serious ultimate player, and this is one of the benefits I did not expect when he started—how many opportunities there are for HS/college kids to play with and get to know older players. And the culture of the sport is kind/generous, so the people who play tend to be good eggs. It’s been fantastic for his development as an athlete and a person.
Absolutely. Just as parents, we have had lots of very nice coaches, older students, and now post-college young adults come up to us, introduce themselves, talk to us a little about S24 . . . as you say, it is just built into the culture.
Incidentally, we just found out he made the roster again for their next tournament (they have more players on the team than who can make the roster for any given tournament, and as a new-to-the-team college-age player this isn’t at all a given). So, we are off to Wisconsin in a couple weeks. More fun!
D24 comes home from Spain tomorrow. She has enjoyed it but is ready to come home. We would do things differently if anybody my kids do a study abroad again. But overall a good experience for her.
Move in is in 2 weeks which is very soon feeling! I hope she can relax and regroup in her time at home.
I’m loving all the updates about our kids. It’s hard to believe they are halfway through their college experiences!
S24 is having a great summer. He stayed in CA doing a bunch of things, but especially studying for the MCAT and working part-time for a nonprofit.
Since he’s on the quarter system, he has about 2 months left before classes begin. He’ll be in CA for another month and then come home to take the MCAT. he gets a score he’s happy with. If so, he will start applying to med school this coming year, as his goal is to start right away after graduating undergrad.
My likely-premed S24 and his premed girlfriend are both planning to take gap years, but they were talking about premed friends on your S24’s schedule doing MCAT prep.
My D just finished her summer job (camp counselor and teacher at local day camp), which she really enjoyed, and now has two weeks to prepare for a semester in Seville, Spain (“and I’ll need all that time to pack!”). Of course the 2labs parents will be making a trip over there this fall! Her college years are flying by, exascerbated by the fact that she’s our youngest …
But other than that, all good.
He assumed he could return home May 1 and find a job in one of many local places and have his pick. Nope! APPLIED TO SO MANY PLACES. Ghosted at most of them. It was a painful lesson. He has tried to do odd jobs here and there but it has not amounted to much. He heads back to school on 8/12. D26 heading to same school but eaves 8/3 for early move-in.
he gets a score he’s happy with. If so, he will start applying to med school this coming year, as his goal is to start right away after graduating undergrad.