creekland Posted May 1, 2014 Share Posted May 1, 2014 We were quite surprised to find that no checked baggage was accepted at our train station. Ds was limited to 2 carryons, which were not sufficient to include the clothes and boots that are needed for a snowy, sleety winter, much less his books, snowboard etc. At the school station, the taxi cost is quite high. There is no bus service available to campus at the time of day that the trains from my area arrive. Train (least expensive fare possible) plus taxi = my gas and lunch cost to drive him to U and back. Yuck. Now I definitely feel fortunate that my guys can fly back and forth for less than a trip by car costs us. Two of them are near airports where Southwest flies and they still allow two free checked bags plus two carry ons. The taxi to middle son's campus from the airport is all of $10. I think they were saying $30 to youngest's, but my memory might be off. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FaithManor Posted May 1, 2014 Share Posted May 1, 2014 If Ds attends MTU, some of the packing suggestions are snow shovel, snow shoes, and skis. Hard to pack in your suitcase? LOL This is a school that had well over 200 inches of snow last year, so my guess is that packing for flying to school is a challenge. If middle boy attended Eckerd, then I could see him heading down there with a suitcase filled with shorts, shirts, sandals, beach shoes, several pairs of swim trunks, and some sunscreen and not much else. He's a minimalist anyway and I think St. Pete/Tampa would offer him the opportunity to be even more minimalist! I needed several performance gowns, plus a ton of music, my flute and piccolo, clarinet and oboe, music stand, metronome, and the regular stuff so it made getting down there in a Dodge Omni (that was my dad's go to car back in the 80's for good gas mileage) which was the equivalent of a shoebox with wheels slightly challenging. Good times! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laura Corin Posted May 1, 2014 Share Posted May 1, 2014 If Ds attends MTU, some of the packing suggestions are snow shovel, snow shoes, and skis. Hard to pack in your suitcase? LOL This is a school that had well over 200 inches of snow last year, so my guess is that packing for flying to school is a challenge. Those certainly seem like necessities! I think that I have been working my way towards something but have been focussing too much on the one-suitcase image. When I see some of the lists, and when I see how the students at my local university live, I am filled with fear: life for recent graduates here is often a string of unpaid internships. And then perhaps a paid position, but not paying very much. There are an awful lot of graduates and competition is fierce. Credit is highly available and debt becomes a problem if people are used to living the high life. I see it with the young professionals who rent our flat in London: they use every penny they earn and more, and can't imagine living without the latest phone, the gym membership and eating out every night. Yes, people can adapt. But I don't have the money to do what the father of one mid-twenties girl I know is doing: essentially supporting her as she lives expensively on the low salary that is all she is able to make in her chosen career. L Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FaithManor Posted May 1, 2014 Share Posted May 1, 2014 Those certainly seem like necessities! I think that I have been working my way towards something but have been focussing too much on the one-suitcase image. When I see some of the lists, and when I see how the students at my local university live, I am filled with fear: life for recent graduates here is often a string of unpaid internships. And then perhaps a paid position, but not paying very much. There are an awful lot of graduates and competition is fierce. Credit is highly available and debt becomes a problem if people are used to living the high life. I see it with the young professionals who rent our flat in London: they use every penny they earn and more, and can't imagine living without the latest phone, the gym membership and eating out every night. Yes, people can adapt. But I don't have the money to do what the father of one mid-twenties girl I know is doing: essentially supporting her as she lives expensively on the low salary that is all she is able to make in her chosen career. L OUCH! Yes, I think that it is very important to also teach our kids to live on a small amount of money, and a small amount of things. I want them to be successful in college, and I want to balance that with making sure they have what they need to succeed, but I also want them to learn to be frugal and able to put off instant gratification. To that end, they really will not get any spending money per se and a maximum amount of college help money per boy. I am no fan really of decked out dorms either. A little spartan living in the young and adventurous years, when there isn't the care of the world, a family to support, is a good thing for the soul imo. I worry about kids that have palaces for dorm rooms, and then get their first apartment to share with two other people and it looks like barely more than a shipping container. Rude awakening! Even if I had the money to support them long term, I would not choose to do so. I'd help them get a leg up if I could, but I expect them to be working hard towards independence so DH can retire from the rat race some day, and so I won't have to work beyond his retirement and then be unable to spend some time traveling and enjoying volunteer work before old age infirmities get us. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jane in NC Posted May 1, 2014 Share Posted May 1, 2014 Those certainly seem like necessities! I think that I have been working my way towards something but have been focussing too much on the one-suitcase image. When I see some of the lists, and when I see how the students at my local university live, I am filled with fear: life for recent graduates here is often a string of unpaid internships. And then perhaps a paid position, but not paying very much. There are an awful lot of graduates and competition is fierce. Credit is highly available and debt becomes a problem if people are used to living the high life. I see it with the young professionals who rent our flat in London: they use every penny they earn and more, and can't imagine living without the latest phone, the gym membership and eating out every night. Yes, people can adapt. But I don't have the money to do what the father of one mid-twenties girl I know is doing: essentially supporting her as she lives expensively on the low salary that is all she is able to make in her chosen career. L I agree! One of my son's former roommate had a pile of pricey gizmos and gadgets. He was the only one in the suite who expressed concern about paying back his student loans! He never seemed to connect his lifestyle to borrowed money. Similarly I remember chatting with a girl who was taking a gap to work and conquer debt. She signed up for several credit cards as a first or second year college student then proceeded to max them out on what she called stupid stuff like CDs, clothes and makeup. She was particularly disgusted when she brought her box of CDs to the pawn shop and was given a pittance--and there she was paying interest on the purchases! The unpaid internships disturb me. Entry level positions are often nonexistent because employers expect slaves interns to work these jobs. It is unconscionable to me that Fortune 500 companies that pay handsome dividends to stock holders expect young people with student loan debt to work for free. There are some creative and parsimonious young people out there though! I'll give credit where it is due. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FaithManor Posted May 1, 2014 Share Posted May 1, 2014 Jane, I'm concerned about unpaid internships as well. It's one thing to job shadow, or to do a job for a week or two for the experience. It's quite another when these companies get highly trained students for a semester and pay them nothing when working long hours. Dh's internship was with Aeroquip corporation (a subsidiary of Tri-Star) and his job was to set up their new database and train the employees to use it. It was easily a full time job for two. He did it alone, worked 4 hrs. went back to campus for class, came back and worked another 8 five days per week for entire semester, and some Saturdays. He got a thank you card. He did such a good job for them that for three years after that they staffed their entire IT department almost exclusively with unpaid interns from our college. Finally, the school pulled the plug on that. Dh never ate a meal on campus that entire semester due to the work schedule and when he asked for a refund of the meal plan, he was denied. Sure...why not? Good money for the school...GRRRR... My sister's internship worked her 12 hour days for a quarter and four hours on Saturdays and SUNDAYS TOO! 7 days per week, and she had to move away from campus for it, but the school had already received her scholarship and student loan money to cover room and board and they refused to refund her the money. Nice scam. My parents ended up totally supporting her in D.C. while she worked like a serf for the "lord" so to speak. I have no problem with short internships to gain experience, do a good job, get a letter of recommendation/reference. I have a huge problem with long, unpaid internships in which the students have high expenses in order to provide the service and are used in place of full time employees instead of to enhance or assist in the short term, then are cut loose without pay and a job offer, then I have a serious issue with that. That said, I think my alma mater may have been worse than others. I've talked to several students from MTU and U of MI who have completed internships and their experiences were very different from Dh and my sister. Okay, and I won't relate what they used to do to us in the music department because I could go on and on about that abuse all day long. Suffice it to say, there is just nothing like being assigned Camille Saint Saens Carnival of Animals to learn and memorize in less than a month while taking 18 credit hours due to some other poor pianist's misfortune of breaking a finger, requiring you to practice 8 hrs. a day in addition to the 4 you already do, plus your coursework, thus resulting in no sleep for a month, so you can perform this for free with the local community college orchestra enduring the "honor" of the head department's comment, "It could have been better, but I guess I have to give you an A in piano lessons under the circumstances". Yep...good times. :glare: So, it would be best to NOT start me on that subject! :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FaithManor Posted May 1, 2014 Share Posted May 1, 2014 Oh wait, this is a dorm room list thread, not an internship thread right???? My bad....Allegra D...send some allegra D if your child is moving across country and may be exposed to new allergens. I didn't have a single seasonal allergy until I went to college. There was a field across campus that the school owned but hadn't built on yet which grew a bumper crop of Goldenrod (which means ragweed as well). Cars parked on the street were sometimes coated yellow from the goldenrod pollen and where there is that there is ragweed pollen in mighty abundance. I've had the allergy ever since. So, just in case, sending a good stout allergy med might be in order and will save trying to track it down at a pharmacy or worse, finding a ride into town if there is no pharmacy nearby. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jane in NC Posted May 1, 2014 Share Posted May 1, 2014 Oh wait, this is a dorm room list thread, not an internship thread right???? My bad.... Laura and I helped derail the thread on the internship note. It is a serious problem though so all opportunities to vent our frustrations should be availed! On the other dorm room thread, it was suggested that students pack an "ice breaker" game. My son took Bananagrams. It is a quick game that allows for a break from studies and allows shy people to join the boisterous. Or parents might want to mail a fun game in a care package. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FaithManor Posted May 2, 2014 Share Posted May 2, 2014 We just bought a new one by the makers of Apples to Apples, Bubble Talk and that has been fun. Snorta is another one that is pretty hilarious. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hoggirl Posted May 2, 2014 Author Share Posted May 2, 2014 We just bought a new one by the makers of Apples to Apples, Bubble Talk and that has been fun. Snorta is another one that is pretty hilarious. How many players are needed for Bubble Talk and Snorta? I know we are talking about our children going OFF to college where there will always be plenty of players, but with a family of three, it is often the case that games require four players. :( Would love to have some new games at home, too! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
regentrude Posted May 2, 2014 Share Posted May 2, 2014 On the other dorm room thread, it was suggested that students pack an "ice breaker" game. My son took Bananagrams. It is a quick game that allows for a break from studies and allows shy people to join the boisterous. I gave that to DD for her recent birthday - with similar thoughts in mind. It packs well since it takes very little space. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
creekland Posted May 2, 2014 Share Posted May 2, 2014 Boggle and Yahtzee are popular with middle son. I don't believe there are limits to the numbers of players - from 2 to ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FaithManor Posted May 2, 2014 Share Posted May 2, 2014 How many players are needed for Bubble Talk and Snorta? I know we are talking about our children going OFF to college where there will always be plenty of players, but with a family of three, it is often the case that games require four players. :( Would love to have some new games at home, too! I think four since in Bubbletalk, just like Apples to Apples, one person judges the responses. Snorta would be too easy if youd didn't have four or five anyway because part of the game is remembering which barnyard animal noise each person is supposed to make. I once saw it played with a group of eight and it was Hilarious!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kareni Posted May 3, 2014 Share Posted May 3, 2014 Fluxx would be another fun game to take to college. There are variations available as well: Cthulhu Fluxx Oz Fluxx Star Fluxx Pirate Fluxx Zombie Fluxx Monty Python Fluxx EcoFluxx Monster Fluxx Martian Fluxx Regards, Kareni Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gil Posted May 3, 2014 Share Posted May 3, 2014 can opener flash light I carry one in my backpack and one in my glove compartment. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kathy in Richmond Posted May 3, 2014 Share Posted May 3, 2014 Fluxx would be another fun game to take to college. There are variations available as well: Cthulhu Fluxx Oz Fluxx Star Fluxx Pirate Fluxx Zombie Fluxx Monty Python Fluxx EcoFluxx Monster Fluxx Martian Fluxx Regards, Kareni Ooh, yes, me matey, Pirate Fluxx is a treasure of fun, but watch out for mutinies! Dominion, SET, and Killer Bunnies (thanks, Belacqua!) are all hits with my kids & easy to take to college. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kareni Posted May 3, 2014 Share Posted May 3, 2014 flash light A flash light was actually required by local law at my daughter's college. She enjoyed using it to search the basements of the old buildings on her campus. (Some experiences are better known after the fact!) Regards, Kareni Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.