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Posted

We just booked the hotel to bring ds to college in August. This is really happening. My first born is going to college.

 

Dh and I attend parent orientation in a couple of weeks.

 

I am excited and sad and thrilled and crazed all at the same time.

 

Plus, I still have to get all the stuff he will need for his dorm room. Does he really need a trunk? Why can't the dorms have regular twin beds instead of making me buy xl sheets?

  • Like 4
Posted

Congratulations to your son and to you!

 

Transfer orientation and registration for our daughters was in late May. During the (long) drive home, we booked the hotel for the week of move-in and several other key dates. It does all seem to be happening so fast. Our daughters, 18 and 20, and will be juniors this fall.

 

RE: trunks -- It's funny you ask: I just ordered one for each daughter. My college trunk has lasted for three decades, so I figured it was a purchase that would prove useful to them now and later.

Posted (edited)

Thank you. I have been told the college years go quickly. Both your daughters will be juniors. How wonderful.

 

I have been getting mixed reviews on the trunk. A few people have said "absolutely necessary. The only place they can lock things up." Others have said "why would you get a trunk? They take up so much room."

Edited by kewb
Posted

Thank you. I have been told the college years go quickly. Both your daughters will be juniors. How wonderful.

 

I have been getting mixed reviews on the trunk. A few people have said "absolutely necessary. The only place they can lock things up." Others have said "why would you get a trunk? They take up so much room."

 

Quickly? Oh, my goodness! Yes! Two years ago, my daughters, who have always been determined to attend college together (regardless of the two-year age difference), enrolled at the the local community college -- the older as a freshman and the younger as a dual-enrolled high school senior. They were 18 and 16. Last month, they graduated with their A.S. degrees. Where did the time go?

 

During orientation / registration, they were able to visit a room in the dorm at which they will be staying. They are small, but the beds are lofted, and there is plenty of room underneath to slide a trunk.

  • Like 1
Posted

Doing the same for ds. He will be four hours away, so we could just get up super early and drive, but the dorm opens at 8 am, and his roommate will be there promptly. We don't want him to arrive late. So we'll go down the night before.

 

Congratulations OP! It is an exciting time. I'm going to miss ds a lot, but am so happy for him.

  • Like 2
Posted

Ah yes.  I just booked my hotel rooms a few days ago.  I have to get three off to college on the same weekend (one freshman, two juniors), so it will be on par with a major military operation.

 

OPERATION COLLEGE DROP-OFF

Leave dh home with 3 younger kids.  Pack up the big van.

Drive nearly 400 miles to the big city.  Check into hotel #1.

Next morning at o'dark:30, drop off ds2 at airport.  Immediately following, drop off ds1 at the Amtrak station.

Return to hotel #1.  Grab ds3.  Drive another 50 miles.  Check into hotel #2.

Next morning, get ds3 checked into his new school.  Since he's a freshman, he will have a lot of STUFF.

Spend night at hotel #2.  Drink wine.  Take hot bath.

Drive the nearly 500 miles back home the next day.

Collapse.

Posted

Ah yes.  I just booked my hotel rooms a few days ago.  I have to get three off to college on the same weekend (one freshman, two juniors), so it will be on par with a major military operation.

 

OPERATION COLLEGE DROP-OFF

Leave dh home with 3 younger kids.  Pack up the big van.

Drive nearly 400 miles to the big city.  Check into hotel #1.

Next morning at o'dark:30, drop off ds2 at airport.  Immediately following, drop off ds1 at the Amtrak station.

Return to hotel #1.  Grab ds3.  Drive another 50 miles.  Check into hotel #2.

Next morning, get ds3 checked into his new school.  Since he's a freshman, he will have a lot of STUFF.

Spend night at hotel #2.  Drink wine.  Take hot bath.

Drive the nearly 500 miles back home the next day.

Collapse.

 

That... *splutter* ... That just seems. so. HARD. Sending all of you good thoughts!

 

On the subject of hotels and distance, our daughters' decision to attend a college more than three hours from home represents (to us) "going away" for college. In other words, for our family, three hours is a significant distance from home. Yet at some point, a relative said to me, "I don't see what the big deal is. It's just three hours."

 

Perspective, right?

 

To us, to our daughters particularly, anything more than ninety minutes seems like quite an operation. We won't be able to get to each other quickly, which had been a characteristic they originally sought in a college (after, of course, more obvious criteria, such as the quality of the program, the transferability of their credits, the merit scholarship opportunities, etc.).

 

Anyway, your maneuvers make ours pale in comparison. I will try to remember how far you must go when I am pining for my daughters. *wry grin*

  • Like 1
Posted

I'm in the "Why would anyone get a trunk?" camp.  Mine have never needed them and I really think they would take up too much room.  Can you wait on the purchase to see if they even want one?  Let them decide.

 

The college years FLY by.  One is done.  One would be done if he weren't doing an extra program.  My last has only two more years.  I just made his plane reservation to head back for junior year yesterday.

 

We had a weekend with the two boys together and it felt so good... I think we get one more weekend together this summer.  We also went to FL for middle son's spring break this past year - flying him down - so we could spend time with our two younger boys then too.  On our trip we (parents) stopped by oldest's place visiting him for a few days.  That's as close as we get to everyone being together anymore.  (sigh)

  • Like 2
Posted

Congrats! It's an exciting, scary, joyful/tearful time!

 

 

As far as a trunk -- totally up to you and DS. Our DS liked having a trunk for locking up his laptop and other electronics when not using them. It slid under his bed, so it was out of sight. The majority of thefts on campus are crimes of opportunity -- an item laying in plain sight -- and dorm rooms are accessed by students other than the dorm roommates -- students from other rooms or floors of the dorm, and friends of friends who drop by. Locking up valuables helps prevent tempting others to a crime of opportunity. It also keeps good relationship with the dorm mates -- if the valuables are locked up, then there's no worry about the trustworthiness of dorm mates.  ;)

 

You might look into if the dorm rooms have some sort of locking option -- desks with a locking drawer, or a locking closet or wardrobe. These threads also had info on keeping items secure: "Keeping things in a dorm room" and "Locking trunk".

 

Will you be flying or driving when it's move-in day for the dorm? Either way, you may want to consider ordering all the bulky things with a store such as Bed Bath & Beyond, Target, Kohl's, or Walmart, and specify that you want to pick it up at a specific store (near the college) on a specific day. That way you have everything shipped to a location that's easy for you to pick up and take to the dorm.

 

Have fun with planning for dorm living! :) Warmest regards, Lori D.

  • Like 2
Posted

We just booked the hotel to bring ds to college in August. This is really happening. My first born is going to college.

 

Dh and I attend parent orientation in a couple of weeks.

 

I am excited and sad and thrilled and crazed all at the same time.

 

Plus, I still have to get all the stuff he will need for his dorm room. Does he really need a trunk? Why can't the dorms have regular twin beds instead of making me buy xl sheets?

 

I did this over the weekend too. I told dd when we were together that I had done it and it made reality hit. She just looked at me like I was an idiot.  :lol:

 

No trunks. Thank goodness for twin XL beds because those of us who are tall do not enjoy sleeping with our feet hanging off the end of a twin bed!

 

Have fun at parent orientation!

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