<p>Congratulations to you and your two new grads, BunsenBurner! </p>
<p>Runnersmom - I’m glad you’re enjoying having your D home. Wow, she goes back to school late compared to everyone else (of course, she got out later than everyone else too). What is she planning to do for the summer? Maybe if she has a job/internship that is either fun or interesting, it won’t matter if her friends are not as available as they once were.</p>
<p>BTW, which of your kids is the runner? Just curious because my D is a runner too.</p>
<p>Nice that your S has access to a computer and free incoming phone calls - enjoy a nice long conversation with him if he has the time to spare.</p>
<p>LIMOM - actually she’s taking a 3 1/2 week immersion Spanish class in NYC and working at a part time internship for a friend of her brothers. I think being in NYC and being in school for the first part of the summer will keep her very busy. Even though she’s not taking it for credit (her school won’t accept the credit so she’s using it to bolster her skills for her next quarter of Spanish), she will have a lot of work to do. The class is 4 and 1/2 hours a day, 4 days a week. Yes, she goes back so late because her school is on quarters. The end and the beginning are tough because their calendar is so different from most schools. However, her brother went to the same school, so she knew what she was getting herself into. I’ll cross my fingers and hope for the best.</p>
<p>As for the runner…all 3 of mine ran in HS. S1 and D ran cross country and track and S2 was a sprinter. All gave up running competitively in college. S1 played Ultimate, S2 plays rugby and D plays ice hockey! I kept the old name however!</p>
<p>runnersmom - it sounds like your D will be kept busy this summer. I’m sure she will be fine. It must get a little difficult in September, once all the other friends have gone back to their schools though.</p>
<p>My D runs cross country and winter track. She plays softball in the spring.</p>
<p>Glitch #1 today occurred for my traveling S…and he had nothing to do with it! We got a call this morning that there had been suspicious activity on my credit card, the same one he has with him in Israel. I immediately assumed someone had either stolen his card or the number…not. Seems they could identify the cloned card as mine (primary card on account) and someone had actually swiped a card with my info on it to buy thousands of dollars of electronics. To Citibank’s credit the fraud division caught it and called me today. They asked about all the charges and the only valid one in the bunch was my S’s deposit on a hostel in Athens. For a grand total of $7.53! So now the account is canceled and they are overnighting new cards to me. Problem is I have to get the new one to him before he leaves Israel. He’s found that though AmEx (I got him one because of the travel offices) is accepted many places, many hostels don’t accept it for on-line booking. So i have to figure out how to get it there…before he leaves Israel next Monday. Sounds like enough time, but the new cards won’t be here until Tuesday. Oy! He has an ATM/debit card, so money isn’t the issue, but since they are booking hostels, trains etc. one step ahead he needs a readily accepted credit card. And of course his friend only has an AmEx card with him.</p>
<p>Well, I received them from Citibank and my S’s is on its way to Haifa where the boys are staying with my H’s cousins. FedEx Express Int’l claims it will be at its destination by 6pm tomorrow. This is the second time this has happened to me. The fraud division explained that it probably happened at a restaurant or some place where they actually take the card from you. There are these machines that they run your card through and it clones the magnetic strip with all the info on it. They know it was mine, and not one of the kids because it was the primary card on the account. And, the fraudulent transactions involved a card actually being swiped. I must say that their fraud alert division worked very well. My cards were at the time being used in Washington, DC, Chicago, NY and Uzbekistan, so the fact that they figured out that these other charges did not belong to us was amazing. </p>
<p>Back in the day things were not reserved on-line and you paid by cash or travelers cheques. Some good, some bad with the internet age! But the trip is otherwise going well. My S has enjoyed Israel immensely so far. He was in Jerusalem since arriving from Uzbekistan Saturday night, went to Haifa today and they will spend the weekend in Tel Aviv before leaving for Athens on Monday.</p>
<p>Wow, runnersmom, I’m glad the fraud department moved on it so quickly and has been so efficient with getting out replacement cards. What terrific summers your kids are having.</p>
<p>I had never thought of seeing if I could get a card on my account for my son who will be leaving this fall. I should look into that as it would be great with textbook purchases, plane tickets, etc.</p>
<p>Look into DHL. I had to ship a bridesmaid dress from the States to Ireland and was told by the dress shop (who gets things from Europe and the mideast) is the most reliable. The website was easy to use and they had it there the next day. Pick up was from my house. You’ll have to nail your son down for a delivery address.</p>
<p>Thanks Shelley, but it’s on its way already! FedEx was best delivery option to our cousins’ business in Haifa, but I’ll let you know how accurate the delivery estimate was when I hear that it has arrived! </p>
<p>2blue- I got my kids cards on my account when they started traveling extensively alone. They have been very respectful of the fact that it is not “free money”, but a “necessaries” purchase option! They call when they are using it for anything that has not been “pre-approved” such as plane tickets, books, groceries etc. It has been very useful for this purpose. The only issue is when, like now, the card has been canceled and my S used it for the monthly payments on his storage unit in St. Louis…my next issue to deal with.</p>
<p>Runnersmom, I hope the new card arrives when it’s supposed to - what a relief that will be!</p>
<p>2blue - my parents gave me a card from their account when I went away to college - but I was too afraid to ever use it…lol. I will do the same when D goes away to school, I’m sure.</p>
<p>Bunsen, at least your kid didn’t graduate last year. Poured rain the whole day and to top it off one of the drains from the covered part of the stadium broke and dumped water on a bunch of people who thought they were safely under cover.<br>
The field was a sea of umbrellas - I did a nice job in photoshop making them all purple. It made a cool picture.</p>
<p>Quick update…FedEx, true to their estimate, delivered the package at about 3:00pm Haifa time today. Card is activated, S is relieved and all is well. Apparently our cousin took them to see the Ba’hai Gardens outside of Haifa today and both boys were flabbergasted at the beauty of it.</p>
<p>Hooray! Glad the card made it! Is he taking lots of pictures??? I’m a scrapper so I’d be anxious to see the photos and scrap the trip!</p>
<p>We also have a card for D1 through Wells Fargo. It is in her name, some student type of account, that ties in with our account. It builds her credit but is limited in some way…I think we set the limit. She uses it for books or large purchases that she checks with us beforehand. It has really worked out well and has never been abused.</p>
<p>Runnersmom, really enjoying the updates on your son’s travels. Both of my girls leave for Israel early July. We meet them over there after their trip…so excited!</p>
<p>Back from orientation with D2. Really enjoyed it and she got all the classes she wanted. She’s very happy with her program and got along well with the other kids. D1 will be an orientation leader in the fall at her college. She’s having fun planning things for her little flock.</p>
<p>How’s everyone doing? Should waiting for move-in day be the next vigil?
For me it’s waiting for the next destination arrival! S departed Greece today for Bratislava via Vienna. They had hoped to spend a couple of days in Vienna at this point, but realized that the finals of the Euro Cup were this weekend and there was not a bed to be had, at any price, in Vienna. So, flexible souls that they are, they hopped on a bus and headed directly to Bratislava. They’ll catch Vienna on the “back side” as they told me yesterday.
D is home and settling in, but having a little of the “can’t go home again” feeling. I think the downside of such a wonderfully successful first year at college can be a tougher than expected re-entry to life at home. Not within the family, but in the greater “friend” community. Ah well, she’ll adjust. But she has warned me that it will be her last summer home.</p>
<p>runnersmom: Sure, the vigil for move-in day is on! Those of us with kids going to schools with the quarter system are in for a bit of a wait – mid-September. I can’t even imagine having either of my kids on a different continent from me – although it probably will happen some day.</p>
<p>Gladmom, boy do I understand that mid-September move-in. Those weeks after the rest of the friends leave can be tough. I have had 2 kids on the quarter system in your neighborhood (U of C), and 1 (traveling boy) on a semester system. We saved much of our “dorm prep” for those few late August, early Spetember weeks. I had thought that our options would be more limited in terms of availability and choices, but she found everything she wanted with no problems. We also used the time to do some family things that we had avoided while she was wrapped up with her job and friends. Second year can be even more difficult since there is no orientation period. She doesn’t start classes this year until September 29.</p>
<p>As for kids on a different continent…you get used to it. This is my second S to go wandering, and at least this one has an international phone. Makes mom feel much more comfortable.</p>
<p>runnersmom, how did we live without international phones or the internet? H went on a business trip to Europe a couple of weeks ago, and he managed to e-mail me from his Blackberry from everywhere! He even sent me pictures of his posh hotel (business travel is real suffering :rolleyes:).</p>
<p>LOL, this thread is ready to enter a new stage - the so-called “towel/sheets obsession and move-in vigil”.</p>
<p>Sign me up for the “moving in” vigil. I’m waiting eagerly to see who my s’s roommate will be. He really hopes he gets a roommate who is not from anywhere near where he grew up-- for some reason, that is the essence of college-- meeting kids from all over. Speaking of sheets, etc. has everyone ordered from a standard catalog? We got the same catalog from two different sources so I suspect all dorm rooms will look like variations on a theme. It’s hard to find extra-long sheets anywhere else!</p>