<p>My S has settled in at USoCal. We went up 8/4, on the plane. My D & I went on one airline (got a special 2 for 1 airfare with CitiCard Elite) & son went on another airline that offered a good one-way fare (HNL-LAX), that fortunately had the same approximate time (except for his 2 hour delay in arrival).
We had a lot of fun visiting with friends in Pasadena, going down to San Diego to see the zoo & animal park & then helping son move into his new dorm room at USoCal after a yummy Aloha breakfast thrown by faculty who have any connection with HI from 6:30-8am. It is unbelievable how much stuff fits into a dorm room, but within the next few days we had bought him just about everything we or he could think he’d need. They’ve kept the kids quite busy with dorm & floor meetings & activities, as well as live entertainment, free food & parties, and watching the football team scrimmage itself at the Colliseum–free! He’s called a few times with quick, short questions & IMs his sister briefly about what he’s doing. Mostly, it sounds like he’s having a great time & adjusting well. Met his room mate, who is from Boston & majoring in English (while son is majoring in engineering). They seemed compatible, both pretty quiet.</p>
<p>Love these settling-in stories, CCers, keep 'em coming. And Cur, please send updates on your daughter, OK? Weird how you can become attached to people you’ve never met…</p>
<p>We leave tomorrow for Boston to take D to Northeastern. First child to go off to college. She’s thrilled, been ready to move out since she was about six. I – I don’t know how I feel. Guess I’ll find out soon.</p>
<p>Here’s a saga. WildChild got a single (his first choice) at Penn. It turns out the singles are absolutely tiny. Dear S decided he would find a lofted bed somewhere in the dorm, since he did early move-in. None to be had. He found one in the IKEA catalogue and last Sunday while he and H had the rented UHaul, they made a major excursion to IKEA, complete with long line, to acquire it. Meanwhile, I was on my first business trip for my new job and enjoying life on the corporate plane and then on the shores of Lake Superior in a gorgeous lodge. H and WildChild went through hell trying to build up the IKEA bed (I think a wrench was dropped down the heating ducts), and then S was told by the Penn facilities folks that you aren’t allowed to move the dorm furniture and they will not haul it off for you. (He has been at a number of boarding schools and the unwanted chairs, beds etc were just moved somewhere else). So-the IKEA bed had to come down. All the packaging had been discarded so it was not returnable. H was about to scream. He blamed WildChild for not figuring all this out in advance. As H and I know, EVERYTHING involving WildChild is a production! IKEA bed now awaits re-selling on craigslist or next year’s use in an apartment and is resting peacefully in the suburbs in the back of my parents’ garage. I enjoyed a beer with my new co-workers and surveyed the beauty of northern MN. I did NOT tell H what a nice trip I was having. I pay my dues tonight and tomorrow when I go to Penn for the parents meetings and to give WildChild one last send off on this new chapter in his life.</p>
<p>^^^ LOL - guess they’ll ask first next time, or maybe not bc they’re men and it’s too much like asking for directions!</p>
<p>Heard from S that his pre-orientation trip focusing on urban poverty is “amazing.” He talked so fast and so excitedly that we had a hard time understanding everything he was telling us. Something about section 8 housing vouchers, Head Start, cleaning out basement debris, being arrested and jailed for theft and drug possession (during a very realistic and extended group exercise in which he was in the low income project group, thank goodness), meeting with econ and politics profs, staying in hospital ward-style low income senior housing, upperclassmen who are just a year or two older but running the entire program, and what an incredible “bargain” this experience was no matter what we paid for it ($155). And that was just the first two days . . . . </p>
<p>Good luck with your move-ins and goodbyes, fellow '10 moms and dads!</p>
<p>Katliamom, I sympathize with you. I too have a child who has never shed a tear or looked back on her way to camp or any academic “away” program.</p>
<p>MOWC, My child has a single that’s only 7’8"x13’4" and that’s including the closet. We didn’t want to do a loft but we knew she needed to maximize space so we took a tip from a different college that we visited in April.</p>
<p>2 cinderblocks under each bedleg raises the bed enough to slide the minifridge that’s 25" tall (bigger than the cube fridge, shorter than the microfridge combo) underneath with plenty of clearance. We cut up a rubber mat to the size of the blocks and the feet of the bedlegs and put them </p>
<p>a. between the 2 blocks,
b. between the floor and the base blocks and
c. little squares under each foot of the bed. </p>
<p>This is the type of mesh mat that one uses to keep an area rug from sliding around on the floor. It is not wobbly or slippery. She has all of her suitcases and her bulky sweaters in storage under her bed and there is still room to spare.</p>
<p>D’s athletic team has helped out with Campus Kitchen a couple of times this week. Campus Kitchen is yet another W&L Shepherd Poverty project that assists the poor of theithe Rockbridge County region in Appalachia.</p>
<p>"just"aMom–
Looking forward to hearing the impressions you and your daughter have of her first days MHC. What dorm?</p>
<p>Cinderblocks are absolutely prohibited by my daughter’s college… so that is just one other idea (like the Ikea furniture) that needs to be checked before implemented. I think my d’s school also fines them for the cinderblocks (not sure on that) – but the problem is that they say they damage the floor. </p>
<p>Not that its a problem… my d. is very happy with the size of her room. She and her roommate are happy with the layout, now focused on decor. Today they acquired 2 pet fish, and decided to pay for cable tv.</p>
<p>What school prohibits blocks? The rubbermats prevent slippage AND actual contact w/ the floor. I can’t believe you’re allowed to have pets (even fish)!</p>
<p>Every school has its own rules…</p>
<p>My daughter goes to Barnard - its in bold print on the housing forms, repeated twice: *** cinder blocks are not permitted in any location, and students will be billed for their removal as well as for any damaged as a result of their use.*** It is also specified that “The only pets permitted in the residence halls are fish and small turtles that can be humanely kept in a tabletop aquarium no larger than five gallons.” I don’t know whether a kid could get away with some other aquarium-dwelling small pet (frogs? snails? hermit crabs?) … but so far the only discussion from my daughter has been fish. (The girls followed my suggestion and are now the proud owners of bettas, which do very well in small individual tanks).</p>
<p>Dartmouth also prohibts cinder blocks. The reason given is that they are left behind and are a big pain for the maintenance staff to deal with</p>
<p>We were told not to leave them behind next spring but I can’t see that being an issue as we will need to save them as she will need them subsequent years.</p>
<p>When I was in college back in the olden days and there was definitely a no-pets rule, some boy on the floor above me kept an IGUANA. Now that was definitely something I would not not like to see running around loose.</p>
<p>Heck, at my second school :eek: one dude, a Floridian, had a large black cat named Hemp. Florida fella reminded me of Jeff Spicoli (Sean Penn character in Fast Time) except this kid was more of a stoner/slacker. ;)</p>
<p>D is doing great . Three grading opps, two down - one good - one great , one as yet ungraded paper. Finding her away around. </p>
<p>Best line so far is when she returned from something do with Frat’s known as a walkthrough (heck, I don’t know) . They get dressed up and go to the houses and she was “on the arm” of some snappy young candidate. When she called she said “I just found out what it would be like to be a trophy wife.” I just about busted a gut. </p>
<p>I do find it interesting that all tests are done outside of class time (at least so far). Certainly can cover more material.</p>
<p>
Bettas? Good. Turtles? Bad. The most common pet turtles start off small but will very, very quickly outgrow a 5-gallon tank. And the amount of waste a turtle can produce . . . Take it from the dad who is now the proud owner of (A) a 15 Gallon tank that is just barely big enough for one red-ear slider and (B) an external 3-stage filter that is also just barely big enough – yeah, you just go on thinking that the $10 filter at Wal-Mart will be enough. :)</p>
<p>I say Mudgette should go for the trophy husband (but later, much much later)!</p>
<p>Esquette, I think her reaction to the trophy wife experience points in that direction.</p>
<p>As one who has done the fab education and glam label career, here’s my vote.</p>
<p>Trophy wife:).</p>
<p>HIMom, so great to hear about your setting up your son at USoCal. And good luck at Penn tomorrow, MomofWildchild and best to you at Northeastern Katliamom tomorrow! such a pleasure to hear about the kids getting installed in their new worlds. I shall be more excited to see the Notre Dame marching band this year and will be watching for updates from Hopkins (Hurricane anniversary!) and MIT from jmmom and andi, too. by the way jmmom is always “JaminMom” in my head and Hi Mom! is…you get the jist…we once discussed our misrreads of screennames.</p>
<p>I stopped by the HS today & told the physics teacher (who taught my son & many of his friends AP physics for junior & senior years) that son & all the kids from the HS are happily settled at USC. The teacher was grateful that I stopped by & said that I was the 1st person he had heard from about the USC kids.
I also told him that the kids aren’t thrilled with the calculus instructor but fortunately learned the subject well in HS. The physics teacher beamed & agreed that they all have a great background in calculus (since they all learned it in both calculus & again from him in physics). He also agreed that the reason the kids aren’t keeping in touch is they’re busily & happily getting settled at their new school.
Oh yeah, the folks at the HS office also asked how my S was doing & I reported that he & all the kids from the HS are happily settling in at USC & everyone seems happy & healthy. The office was glad to get an update as well (especially since 10% of S’s graduating class is at USC with him).</p>
<p>Well, Curmudgeon, I know this nice, athletic, handsome, brilliant (no bias here!) young man who is not only a freshman at W&L, but a star graduate of Cotillion classes . . . .</p>