Who else just dropped off college freshman

[Guest Barb B]

Dropped my son (our oldest) at Purdue university saturday. Just got back today. It is exciting, proud, happy, sad, bittersweet. . . all in one. I miss him! The move in went great (except a horrible rental car fiasco that left me with out a car for most of the week end!). Hugging goodbye I got teary eyed but managed not to cry! Now I muddle through the age old question - how much communication it too much, too little . . . ! I texted him yesterday a cute comment from his 8 year old brother. Called him when we (my 2 younger kids and I) were on our way to the airport (long story - goes back to that rental car fiasco - I had to find alternate way to airport that was 1 hour away!). He just emailed me - said his first day went great (they have an orientation most of this week), that the rooms looks good (oh my - 2 kids in a room about 6 ft by MAYBE 16). After I left roommate's mom helped a lot (she is an interior designer!) - and I guess they rearranged the room so its doesn't feel so claustrophobic! Roommates parents and roommate arrived saturday and the parents are staying till tuesday! Thought that was long! But since I was without a car most of the time I was there (Friday we had one - till after I moved him in Saturday - then no car!) it was reassuring that they were still there in case ds needed to tag along during some shopping trips.

 

Any other drop off stories - Just need to communicate to some other moms who are in the same place!

Barb

[creekland]

:grouphug:

 

Glad things went well in general, and your rental car fiasco will make nice, fun memories for years to come. ;)

[Basketmaker Amy]

We are taking our son to the University of Florida today. I feel your pain/pride/etc! He is moving into an apartment with my niece and nephew (the nephew is in grad school at UF, the niece will be a junior at Santa Fe...but it's her first time away from home). They have it made! The apartment is huge and very safe and close to campus. It helps knowing that he will be near family. My sister and parents live 30 minutes away and we are only 2 1/2 hours. I have had a teary-eyed week and a good cry last night...hopefully I will be able to hold it together today ;)

 

I am happy and excited for this new stage of life, yet sad to see the end of his childhood stage. Every stage is good...I have to keep reminding myself of that!

 

I'll be thinking of you...and others....who are launching their kids into life in the next few days/weeks!

[Riverland]

My DD leaves in one week to Grove City College (PA). We live on the west coast. She will be flying alone, but is an experienced traveler. My mom, who is currently visiting my sister in the south, will fly from there to PA for 1 day to help her get settled.

 

It's a very exciting time, but I couldn't sleep last night thinking of all the odds and ends we still need to cover....sheets, towels, toiletries, etc.

 

I'm also worried about how she will limit herself to a reasonable amount of clothes. Those dorm rooms aren't that big!

[Karenciavo]

We are packing the car right now and leaving early in the morning. I'll let you know how it goes when I get back on Thursday. ;) Right now it's just weird. I gave him a new commonplace book today - a nice leather bound book with a couple of hundred pages - and I wrote in 20 or 30 of my favorite passages, he'll fill the rest. I cried when we read through it because many of the passages are from books we read together.

[Leonor]

I just read this and cried. I read it to my ds who is a senior. He said, "You're going to make me cry."

Praying for all of you.

 

 

We are packing the car right now and leaving early in the morning. I'll let you know how it goes when I get back on Thursday. ;) Right now it's just weird. I gave him a new commonplace book today - a nice leather bound book with a couple of hundred pages - and I wrote in 20 or 30 of my favorite passages, he'll fill the rest. I cried when we read through it because many of the passages are from books we read together.

[Brilliant]

We took my dd yesterday. Yesterday morning, I posted a baby pic of her on FB. That was stupid b/c then I couldn't stop crying! I had to go in the bedroom for a while so dd wouldn't know what a mess I was. (I didn't want to ruin it for HER!)

 

Anyway I pulled myself together and we had a nice afternoon, unpacking stuff in her dorm & having drinks in the campus coffee shop. Hubby met us for dinner (did I mention her school is only 2 counties over from us?) and the welcome speech from the honors program director.

 

This morning I am feeling a bit lost on a more practical level - who will do the sweeping? That has been her chore for about 6 years! We seem to have acres of tile flooring. :blink:

[Grace is Sufficient]

Move-in day is Friday... no tears yet, but watery eyes when I think about things too much!

 

Not sure it was a good idea, but we're cleaning and organizing his room at the same time as we pack up what he's taking to college.

 

Hugs to all of us moms saying goodbye for the first time...:sad:

[Halftime Hope]

We drove her up to school on Monday and unloaded her stuff, and then her former roomate's stuff as well, when she arrived. They will both be RA's in the "not freshman" dorm across from the Freshman Dorm. Dd was supposed to have 26 girls on her floor, but they moved her to another floor which will have 45 girls, :scared: :svengo: but she's jazzed because many of them are.........freshmen!

 

The only way I muddled through was by telling myself that it was just like dropping her off for another "week at camp" and that I'd see her in another "very long" week. (October 1st weekend) I'm getting good at delusions.

 

Already miss the girl like crazy!

 

Hugs to all who are doing this for the first time!

[Lovin Learnin]

We dropped our ds yesterday for the multicultural orientation at his college. He admitted to being nervous, which made me nervous. It was all I could do to hold it together somewhat when we left.

 

I texted him FOUR TIMES today with no response. I finally got ahold of him in his room a short while ago and he said he just hasn't had time to even look at his phone. He has never been a particularly social person but he said he's been hanging out with a handful of kids he just met and he even went to a party this evening. A real party - with dancing (his words, not mine, :lol:)! Whoa! This is the kid who went to freshman year homecoming and then skipped every other dance in high school. Including prom. I feel better. Right now (day two) he really seems to like it. I miss him.

 

Our older son, who is a junior, leaves Saturday, and while I'm used to him being away at school I just came to the realization that there is a very good chance this was his last summer home. He will be fine when he leaves the nest. Me, not so much.

Edited August 18, 2011 by Lovin Learnin

[LynnG in Arizona]

I dropped off my second daughter at Arizona State University this past weekend. (My eldest daughter will be a junior at University of Arizona.) Classes start today.

 

After several intense days of Target shopping with dd's roommate/suitemates, we arrived with a loaded car on Saturday. The moving in went well. ASU has a wonderful drop off procedure. You check in at a central location and get a magic ticket for your car. This ticket allows you to turn into a specific drop off lane . . . where they have professional movers who instantly unload all your belongings into huge bins on wheels.

 

We were then directed to park in the nearby parking garage. By the time we walked to her room (about 10 minutes later), all of her belongings were already in the room and waiting for us!! Having done it the old fashioned way before (lugging fridges and micros up multiple flights of stairs), I have to say . . . this way *rocked*! :)

 

I am heartbroken to lose my second girl, but I know it is simply time. This is where she needs to be; this is what she should be doing. The dynamic of our family has changed enormously: our two teens gone, and now we just have the little guys left at home.

 

It's been hard to get in contact with DD, partly because she's been crazy busy doing welcome week activities/orientation, and partly because her phone barely works in her dorm room. I'm looking forward to things calming down slightly, and patiently await the time when she'll have more than 60 seconds to chat with us! I do remember that my first daughter went through this, too. At first they are just so busy and overwhelmed themselves, and so focused on meeting and bonding with their new classmates . . . but that settles down in a week or two, and they remember that they do in fact have a family at home who loves them! ;)

[Guest Barb B]

OK - good to hear (LynneG in Hawaii). . .This is my first and he has been busy with orientation from breakfast until 11:00 at night! So, the short emails are very short. . . this is his first day after the orientation. Just got a short email that this is his first time doing laundry at school, he is going to open an express card (put money in and you can use your ID as a sort of debit to pay for things on campus) and asked how we are. . .I try to think of what kinds of things from home he wants to hear! I miss spontaneous conversation throughout our day. . .

Barb

[Jann in TX]

We drove 4 hrs to her 'new town' and got a hotel room. She had an appointment that afternoon with a new Dr.

We took her out to eat and had a nice dinner and fun conversation--she was 'happy-nervous'.

 

Yesterday we got up at 6:45am and left the hotel by 7:30. DD had enrolled in an optional Freshman Camp that was taking place off-campus and she had to be checked in by 8. Her dorm did not open until 9.

 

DH and I ended up moving her into her dorm room without her! Her room is in a brand new dorm and they had changed the floor plans up so it was not what we expected. She has a private room but shares a bath with the next room. The model had 2 small closets and 3 sets of drawers under the captains bed. DD's room had ONE small closet and 2 sets of drawers (smaller of course). DD is planning on cooking most of her own meals (due to special diet restrictions) so she needed a place to store her food and cooking stuff. Her room had a great spot that was perfect for a 'bistro' table-- but instead we went with a pantry we purchased at Home Depot. So the storage problem was solved--but we ended up being in her room from 9am until 10pm and barely got her key returned to the housing office before they closed! She will see her room for the first time on Friday afternoon.

 

Now we just have to figure out how much money she will need for living expenses... she will not work the first semester. Hopefully she will be able to work some next semester. We have to pay FULL PRICE for college so this is very painful!

 

It is peaceful around the house today, but I'm looking forward to her planned call this evening!

[Irene Lynn]

Dropped my son (our oldest) at Purdue university saturday. Just got back today. It is exciting, proud, happy, sad, bittersweet. . . all in one. I miss him!

 

Any other drop off stories - Just need to communicate to some other moms who are in the same place!

Barb

 

We dropped our dd at Purdue yesterday. She opted out of BGR. It was a very quiet day, which suited us just fine. We probably had to do more work to move her in, but it was pleasant. Everyone is so very nice and helpful at Purdue. We had to drop off some paperwork, so dd and I tried to navigate ourselves around a bit. I got to show her one last time through example, that even when you don't really know what you are doing, you just do something and keep asking and it will all work out. I found out that a relative, whom I haven't seen for years, works in the health student health building, so we stopped by there to introduce dd to her. She was busy giving shots, but took a moment to make dd feel like there was another person on campus, who was predisposed to like her and would be there in a pinch. They likely won't see each other, but it is still nice to know there is someone like that around.

 

After all our running around, we went up to her room to be together for another 50 minutes before we left. We went through the dorm packet, while sitting on little pillows on her very hard floor. LOL

 

She didn't get to meet her roommate until after we had gone and even then her roommate was only around for about 30 minutes. Dd is in a Learning Community, so she will meet some people. She also has a UHP event tomorrow and a LC event Sunday, so she will get to connect a bit before school starts.

 

Dh and I find that we are extra tired today. It is just tiring emotionally. She was our only child for 13.5 years and has influenced our lives in so many ways. Our tea selection is already lighter. Trying not to think about it. I am so excited for her. She has wanted to know about college since she was a little girl. It is her time to blossom one minute and meltdown the next all on her own. I know she is as ready as she can be.

[Irene Lynn]

I am heartbroken to lose my second girl, but I know it is simply time. This is where she needs to be; this is what she should be doing. The dynamic of our family has changed enormously: our two teens gone, and now we just have the little guys left at home.

 

We have the same sort of situation with the dynamic change. We have two only children rather than two sets of two. Our dd had a lot of influence on our eating habits, which will change now. Our little guy doesn't eat much variety, so I will try to plan more meals that will entice him to branch out. Dd's tastes were too complex for his taste buds at this time. And now that she is not in the house, I will feel like running around with the little guy more frequently. No more late night talks with dd, so I can have some alone time and get to bed a little sooner. Now instead of talking about life and how to be a friend and so much more, I will get slammed headlong into a world of make believe and adventure and letter of the week sorts of things with lots of Legos under foot. It will be a different sort of year.

[Guest Barb B]

Irene Lynn, How awesome another boilermaker on the boards! I think boiler gold rush was good but - they were kept going from morning till late at night (11:00) now I know ds - he wouldn't have been in bed early anyway. But, ds had very little sleep before he left. Dd (13) told me now - you know he was up almost all night playing xbox (who ever thought it was a good thing to be able to play xbox online with friends was nuts!). I just emailed him, and the last thing I said was - maybe catch up on some sleep! He was doing his laundry and decided that a boiler express account would be a good idea (you save on laundry if you use it rather then quarters!. Let me know how your dd is doing!

 

I like your line "she is as ready as she can be". So true. Of course keeping in touch (call, email, text) so as to keep communication going, is good! What is your dd majoring in? Ds, so far, is engineering.

Barb

[Irene Lynn]

Irene Lynn, How awesome another boilermaker on the boards! I think boiler gold rush was good but - they were kept going from morning till late at night (11:00) now I know ds - he wouldn't have been in bed early anyway. But, ds had very little sleep before he left. Dd (13) told me now - you know he was up almost all night playing xbox (who ever thought it was a good thing to be able to play xbox online with friends was nuts!). I just emailed him, and the last thing I said was - maybe catch up on some sleep! He was doing his laundry and decided that a boiler express account would be a good idea (you save on laundry if you use it rather then quarters!. Let me know how your dd is doing!

 

I like your line "she is as ready as she can be". So true. Of course keeping in touch (call, email, text) so as to keep communication going, is good! What is your dd majoring in? Ds, so far, is engineering.

Barb

 

I see that I need to update my siggie.:tongue_smilie: She is majoring in Creative Writing, but we have encouraged her not to skimp on the science and math classes, while she is there. She chose Purdue because of their Honors program and the volume of sciency people. She is a liberal arts person, who loves to hang around engineering types. Her writing always leans toward sci fi.

 

It is a good school and seems to be very organized. We are only 1.5 hours away, so we can help, IF it is needed.

 

Where is he staying? Dd has a pretty good hike to her classes from her dorm. Is your son prepared for winter? It won't hit too hard until after Thanksgiving.

[Guest Barb B]

Irene Lynn,

DS is in Cary Quad. Tiny single room make into a double - welcome to college LOL! He actually doesn't mind winter - we will see if that changes. But is enjoying it now as down here it is still 106 degrees every day (52 days total over 100 this year).

Barb

[LynnG in Arizona]

We have the same sort of situation with the dynamic change. We have two only children rather than two sets of two. Our dd had a lot of influence on our eating habits, which will change now. Our little guy doesn't eat much variety, so I will try to plan more meals that will entice him to branch out. Dd's tastes were too complex for his taste buds at this time. And now that she is not in the house, I will feel like running around with the little guy more frequently. No more late night talks with dd, so I can have some alone time and get to bed a little sooner. Now instead of talking about life and how to be a friend and so much more, I will get slammed headlong into a world of make believe and adventure and letter of the week sorts of things with lots of Legos under foot. It will be a different sort of year.

 

We'll have to keep in touch this year . . . sounds like we're in very similar situations! :grouphug:

[Irene Lynn]

We'll have to keep in touch this year . . . sounds like we're in very similar situations! :grouphug:

 

:) even down to the SL P4/5. We will start it this coming Monday. I know he will miss his big sister, but he is eager to get a lot more attention, too. This college thing can be time consuming. It just feels strange, like moving into a different life that dd won't know.

[2cents]

We're all taking ds to UCF tomorrow morning. I'm happy for him, a little sad for me but very proud too. He is a fantastic young man and I know he will do well.

[JulieH]

My DD leaves in one week to Grove City College (PA). We live on the west coast. She will be flying alone, but is an experienced traveler. My mom, who is currently visiting my sister in the south, will fly from there to PA for 1 day to help her get settled.

 

It's a very exciting time, but I couldn't sleep last night thinking of all the odds and ends we still need to cover....sheets, towels, toiletries, etc.

 

I'm also worried about how she will limit herself to a reasonable amount of clothes. Those dorm rooms aren't that big!

 

My dd is going to Grove City this year too! We leave Tuesday morning and are driving. We live in NH so will be driving as far as NY on Tues, picking up my mom, and driving the rest of the way wednesday, then helping her move in Thursday.

 

She's SO excited!! She's going to be a sophomore transfer.

 

Hope your dd has a great year!!

[TravelingChris]

Dropped off d at U of Alabama yesterday. She is in a two bedroom suite and her suitemate was already there. Suitemate is strange, like I guessed. Her room is quite large and the suite is very nice. THe kitchen area is small but it'll be fine. She ate dinner alone but seemed to be doing very well. She has found the local library, checked out some movies and planned to watch them in her room. Today she has her day planned out with church service and a BBQ lunch given by a college christian group.

[LynnG in Arizona]

We're all taking ds to UCF tomorrow morning. I'm happy for him, a little sad for me but very proud too. He is a fantastic young man and I know he will do well.

 

How did it go? DD seriously considered UCF and visited there last fall . . . lots to love about it, though she ultimately decided on something else. UCF is obviously a school on the move! Definitely growing and improving almost before one's eyes.

 

Hope everything went well!

Edited August 21, 2011 by LynnG in Hawaii

[LynnG in Arizona]

Dropped off d at U of Alabama yesterday. She is in a two bedroom suite and her suitemate was already there. Suitemate is strange, like I guessed. Her room is quite large and the suite is very nice. THe kitchen area is small but it'll be fine. She ate dinner alone but seemed to be doing very well. She has found the local library, checked out some movies and planned to watch them in her room. Today she has her day planned out with church service and a BBQ lunch given by a college christian group.

 

Sounds very positive! So you daughter has a single room but just shares a bathroom with another girl? That sounds luxurious! :)

 

My daughter has a roommate, and the two of them share a bathroom with two other young ladies. I was able to meet all three of the other girls - and all 6 of the other parents - and was very pleased to find everybody pleasant and "normal", for lack of a better word. No red flags at all.

 

Interestingly, once all of us parents got to talking, it turns out that three of the four girls have older sisters who have had negative roommmate experiences in the past. I think we all went into this move in with a sense of trepidation, hoping that there wouldn't be obvious problems. We all breathed a sigh of relief that it seems like we have four nice young ladies who are outgoing and fun, but also very serious students. (I'm sure it helps that they are living in the honors dorm.)

 

One of the other parents shared that their older daughter had a freshman roommmate who "thought she was a vampire". Literally. :001_huh: Uhhhh . . . yeah, that pretty much takes the cake. We were all swapping negative roommate stories, and when she told us the vampire bit I stopped and said: "You win!" Yikes.

 

So, I'm sure there will still be the normal amount of minor personality conflicts and issues, but I am counting our blessings that my daughter seems to have a great roommate and suitemates. :)

[Karenciavo]

We dropped my ds18 off at Patrick Henry College last week and he began classes on Monday. There was a 2 day orientation for students and parents last week ending with a closing dinner - I held it together pretty well until then. His room mates are great, although the room, while nicely appointed, is like bunking in a submarine. He's fine with it though, he doesn't like "stuff" and has plenty of room.

 

I love PHC and I am so glad my ds is there. He's already working his butt off :lol:

[distancia]

We dropped our DD of a college just 2 weeks ago. Though it is in the same community, just 18 miles away, it is an hours' drive due to traffic.

 

The first week was terrible: I had lost dd's car keys and we spent almost a day waiting for locksmith to unlock her car so we could unpack it; her kitchen stove did not work one bit and there was no way to cook; her kitchen sink leaked so badly that it flooded the apartment below, her internet service did not work for the first ten days, and her computer access code wouldn't work, even at the library computer! No TV availability, either .

 

DD called at least 10 times a day every day, checking the weather, asking me to look at her email, even coming home for a few meals here and there. Sometimes I would meet her halfway with a cooler of food. By the end of the week dd came home to chill out and recover.

 

Evidently she has adapted (all her problems have since been resolved) to campus life because she has cancelled her earlier plans to come home this weekend because 'it's more fun at college...sorry, mom."

[Abbeygirlsouth]

We moved DS into his dorm room today, and I have to admit that I'm really pretty glum right now. Since he is often away at camp in the summer and works much of the time when he's here, I think that I had convinced myself that leaving for college would simply feel like that. But it doesn't.

To top it off the University gave a "lawn party" this evening for Freshman and family, but it was still in the high 90's so I wasn't able to attend (I have a condition that makes it difficult to regulate temperature). Tomorrow I'm going to hydrate all day to make sure I am up to the evening BBQ, and then on Sunday there will be a student/family mass and reception in the afternoon.

[AngieW in Texas]

I took mine on Tuesday last week and left her the next day. We were both in tears when I left. Fortunately, the campus is less than 15 minutes from the grandparents, so about 2 hours after I dropped my dd off, her grampa picked her up and took her out to dinner. The first week was really rough for her (she has Asperger's and ADHD and is VERY nervous about meeting new people), but she got set up with on-campus counseling and is slated to start in the Asperger's support group when it resumes after Labor Day.

 

We met both her roommates about 15 minutes after we got to her room. They both seem nice. My dd is worried about one of her roommates because she seems sad. That roommate lived halfway across the country and won't see any family members again until family day in October. Her other roommate lives just 1.5 hours from campus and can be picked up to go home for the weekend. My dd is too far for us to pick her up to bring her home for the weekend (4 hours to get there, 8 for the round-trip), but we are going up to see her for a day-trip next weekend. We just haven't figured out whether to go Saturday, Sunday, or Monday.

 

My dd's entire floor is in the Living Learning Community for her major, so there should be plenty of opportunities for her to get to know people if she can break out of her shell.

 

They had a movie night tonight and watched Kung Pow and Kick-Ass. She said she had a great time. It's actually still going on, but they're watching Shutter Island now and she didn't care for that movie (neither did I).

 

She just started her classes on Wednesday, so there are still two classes that she hasn't been too, computer science lab and freshman seminar.

 

We're keeping in touch mostly through gmail chat. I did talk to her on the phone for a little while this afternoon, but she doesn't like to talk on the phone or video chat unless her roommates are out because her voice is loud enough that her roommates can hear every word she says.

 

I was very proud that when her history teacher said that no recording devices were allowed without a note from the Student AccessAbility office, she figured out for herself how to get an appointment with the office and took a copy of her evaluation report (I made sure to leave two copies with her). She had her note when she went back to that class on Friday.

Edited August 27, 2011 by AngieW in Texas

[creekland]

:grouphug: Hugs to all, and, glad to hear it's working out for everyone on the student's end. It does take a little while to adjust from the mom's end IME. This year my oldest is a sophomore, so it was a bit easier. Next year, middle son will go somewhere. I still threaten to fail him in English so he has to wait another year... ;) I'm looking forward to his leaving for him, but not for me, hubby, or youngest.

 

:grouphug: