Parents of the Class of 2019

[bjscheel]

That's right, thank you for that, Western is on DS's list too, decent size, close to a ski area.

Yeah, it looks nice, when Gumbo mentioned it I checked out their website because DD is enamored with Colorado. She will be settling for a two-week summer class in CO this May instead!

 

[ColoradoDisneyFreaks]

Yeah, it looks nice, when Gumbo mentioned it I checked out their website because DD is enamored with Colorado. She will be settling for a two-week summer class in CO this May instead!

Where will she be? We're in southern metro-Denver.

 

[bjscheel]

Where will she be? We're in southern metro-Denver.

Don't know yet, they survey the kids who sign up for it what their future employment interests are in the recreation field, and tailor the trip to that.

 

[ColoradoDisneyFreaks]

Don't know yet, they survey the kids who sign up for it what their future employment interests are in the recreation field, and tailor the trip to that.

Interesting, so probably somewhere up in the mountains.

 

[design_mom]

Last night was DS's turn to lose his wallet. Sigh.

The big rivalry football game was an away game this year and was on ESPN2 last night. It was also his roommate's birthday, so a bunch of friends went to watch the game at Buffalo Wild Wings. He says he knows he had the wallet when he left the restaurant, but he thinks it must have fallen out of his pocket while he was riding his bike back to the dorm. He spent almost 2 hours outside in the rain last night with a flashlight looking for it. He walked all the way back to the restaurant without finding it, but finally found it on his way back (about 50' from where he realized it was missing, he said). I'm so glad he found it -- and everything was still there. He'll probably have to replace the actual wallet, becuase it was pretty waterlogged, but everythign else seems OK.

So... probably a good life lesson, but he didn't handle it particularly well (mentally) at first. He was kind of freaking out. "Relax, dude. It's a major hassle and will end up costing some money to replace everything... but it's NOT the end of the world."

 

[ColoradoDisneyFreaks]

Last night was DS's turn to lose his wallet. Sigh.

The big rivalry football game was an away game this year and was on ESPN2 last night. It was also his roommate's birthday, so a bunch of friends went to watch the game at Buffalo Wild Wings. He says he knows he had the wallet when he left the restaurant, but he thinks it must have fallen out of his pocket while he was riding his bike back to the dorm. He spent almost 2 hours outside in the rain last night with a flashlight looking for it. He walked all the way back to the restaurant without finding it, but finally found it on his way back (about 50' from where he realized it was missing, he said). I'm so glad he found it -- and everything was still there. He'll probably have to replace the actual wallet, becuase it was pretty waterlogged, but everythign else seems OK.

So... probably a good life lesson, but he didn't handle it particularly well (mentally) at first. He was kind of freaking out. "Relax, dude. It's a major hassle and will end up costing some money to replace everything... but it's NOT the end of the world."

I'm glad he found it! DD hasn't run into it yet thankfully. She tends not to carry a wallet/purse but she's going to Montreal this weekend for an underwater hockey tournament so we'll see how she does!

 

[bjscheel]

Facetime with DD last night. She can't wait to be in an apartment with a kitchen next year. She is totally not getting her money's worth from the dining plan and is sick of the options already so eating in her room a lot. She'll save so much money next year when she can drop down to a block plan.

On Wednesday nights she and her roommate and two boys on their hall take turns cooking suppers in the dorm kitchen. She really looks forward to those and is trying new things which is a big deal for her. I had encouraged her to use the unlimited cafeteria to work on trying new things but it sounds like there's not a lot to try. Being in this small group where you know they fixed this meal just for you gets her do it. Next week she wants to make a white sauce and I'm wondering if she can obtain a few tablespoons of flour without having to buy a full bag!

Next month she can get signed up for an on campus apartment. I don't know how fast they fill up, but hopefully she will be able to get right on when it opens up, and will know whether she is going in with her current roommate, or a group of her theatre friends. It's hard to make these decisions already!

 

[design_mom]

haha... your daughter is lucky that she will have the opportunity to do the on-campus apartment. At my son's school, kids have to live on campus for 2 years. There are only a few on-campus apartments that sophomores can try for, so you have to get a REALLY good pick in the lottery to get one. In addition, they are not very conveniently located to the business school, and that's where most of DS's classes will likely be.

But I think he concurs with your daughter about the dining hall offerings. (I remember how sick I got of the dining hall options when I was in school. He has more options than I do... each dining hall serves a different menu, so if he doesn't like what's in Dining hall A, he can always go to Dining Hall B... even if it's a farther walk, but he generally sticks to the 2 that are closest to his dorm.) Last week he texted that "I'm trying dining hall tilapia. If I die of food poisoning, this will be the likely culprit... but I just wanted something DIFFERENT!" I'm not sure the tilapia will make it onto his normal rotation but his final word on the dining hall tilapia was "it wasn't too bad."

 

[PollyannaMom]

DS has been complaining about the food lately as well. (Apparently, he and DH had a text conversation about "bathroom issues" that I was happy to not be a part of.)

Next semester, he wants the plan with fewer meal swipes and more flex dollars.

He will have the opportunity to try for a suite next year, and that does have a mini kitchen - though I don't know how much he'll actually cook?

 

[soccerdad72]

My son and his roommate are hoping to get into the on-campus apartment complex next year - they choose rooms in February, I think, so they're hoping for a good lottery pick. I think my son would do some cooking - he misses fresh fruit most of all. Overall, it sounds like he's pretty much tried all the offering around campus, but isn't a fan of the main cafeteria (where half of his meal swipes need to be used at). Next year, we'll probably do a much lower amount of meal swipes and more flex dollars as well.

 

[mom2rtk]

Applications for housing open next week for my daughter. She has a group of 4 trying for one of the nearby campus owned apartment complexes. Fingers crossed they get it. Sounds like a perfect arrangement for what she's looking for. Fingers definitely crossed here. She cut her dining plan in half a few weeks into the semester and eats in the room a lot, making do with stuff she can make sharing a tiny fridge and microwave. A full fridge (with freezer) and real kitchen would be life changing!

 

[wishesuponastar]

Applications for housing open next week for my daughter. She has a group of 4 trying for one of the nearby campus owned apartment complexes. Fingers crossed they get it. Sounds like a perfect arrangement for what she's looking for. Fingers definitely crossed here. She cut her dining plan in half a few weeks into the semester and eats in the room a lot, making do with stuff she can make sharing a tiny fridge and microwave. A full fridge (with freezer) and real kitchen would be life changing!

Design mom, glad you’re son found his wallet but sorry he was in the rain.

Mom2trk and everyone, please share what your child is making to eat in the microwave. My daughter is making pasta using the pampered chef pasta cooker. And Lipton noodle soup that comes in the red box. She has to perfect the cooking procedure as it overflowed in the microwave and she didn’t let it cool enough and burned her tongue

 

[mjkacmom]

My daughter is still sticking with healthy eating, luckily her dining hall is pretty good with a lot of stations, so made to order omelets and decent salads, plus vegan and gluten free where the food is fresher. What’s killing me is that she is grocery shopping, and since she is in a dorm, it’s pricier, with individual sizes of things like baby carrots and hummus and guacamole. There are a ton of restaurants adjacent to campus with healthy items like poke bowls or sushi, but she does have unlimited swipes on campus. She’s been running almost every day with club track, and dancing a few days a week with the small irish dance club, just too little time. She got a ride home yesterday and is at Marist until tomorrow, can’t wait to see her (I had a hair appointment yesterday and missed her).

 

[bjscheel]

I think mine is mostly making Annie's mac & cheese in the individual microwave cups, ravioli, ramen, and soup from a can. Or popcorn or just snacking for supper. Nothing healthy or interesting...

 

[mom2rtk]

Design mom, glad you’re son found his wallet but sorry he was in the rain.

Mom2trk and everyone, please share what your child is making to eat in the microwave. My daughter is making pasta using the pampered chef pasta cooker. And Lipton noodle soup that comes in the red box. She has to perfect the cooking procedure as it overflowed in the microwave and she didn’t let it cool enough and burned her tongue

I think she has one meal a day on the dining plan. Don't know for sure, but don't think that includes the weekends. In the room she has a lot cereal. Mostly uses the microwave for oatmeal. Stocks up on fresh fruit every time she gets to a grocery store. She eats a lot of those Starkist tuna sala kits, with tuna, mayo and crackers. She also stays stocked on granola bars and cheese sticks. They can have toasters so she eats a decent amount of toast with Nutella. So not really cooking in the room, but eating a lot in the room.

My son lived for a couple years with no dining plan and just a fridge and microwave in his one room studio. He ate a ton of those pasta packets. The biggest problem was that the biggest fridge they allowed had a tiny little freezer compartment. So many of the things a college kid would cook in a microwave came frozen.

 

[Colleen27]

Mom2trk and everyone, please share what your child is making to eat in the microwave. My daughter is making pasta using the pampered chef pasta cooker. And Lipton noodle soup that comes in the red box. She has to perfect the cooking procedure as it overflowed in the microwave and she didn’t let it cool enough and burned her tongue

Mine is basically living off of freezer food from Trader Joes when she gets sick of the dining hall. I'm not sure what all she's found so far, other than a mushroom soup she mentioned liking, but she did say she's going there every week and spending $15-20 on groceries for the room.

 

[ColoradoDisneyFreaks]

DD has said that the food was meh in the main dining hall, they do have several smaller halls with specialties that are better that she eats at. She's in a suite so they do have a full fridge/freezer, which makes it easier. There's also a kitchen on each floor for kids to cook. They don't have an oven, but one of the other halls does and she borrows that if she wants to bake. She's done one meal a month that she cooks for herself and a bunch of friends, September was tacos, October was Chicken Cordon Bleu soup with an apple pie for dessert from the apples that we picked when we were out there. She said her friends all love it so hopefully that will continue.

She wants to try and be an RA next year, which would put her in whatever dorm she's assigned to. If she's not an RA she'll still end up in the suites I think, they do have some apartments, but I think she enjoys the suites. We'll have to wait and see what she thinks, they don't pick dorms until next March.

 

[bjscheel]

DD had supper in the dining hall Friday night and realized there is different food there in the evening! I encouraged her to go to supper more often.

I can understand not wanting to trek over when it's cold and dark. I was lucky at my college the dining hall was inside my dorm.

 

[soccerdad72]

No microwave in my son's dorm room. He said he tried using the one in the lounge early in the year to make Easy Mac and he said it was the weakest microwave he's ever seen. It would barely boil the water in the cup. I don't think he's tried it since.

He's got a lot of choices for meal swipes on campus and I think he's tried pretty much all of them by now. He eats in the main cafeteria a couple times a week, as he has 5 swipes that can only be used there. Many weeks, he doesn't use those 5. He still has like $400+ left on his meal plan (beyond the meal swipes) for this semester, so I think he's in good shape. Anything he doesn't use he can roll over to spring semester.

 

[design_mom]

My son's registration window opened this morning for Spring Semester class registration. I was a little nervous because I've been hearing a lot of complaints on the school's parent page about kids being locked out of classes (all sections full, or weird 'holds' on accounts that they didn't know about, etc.) However, DS was able to get all of the classes he wanted. They're not all at ideal times, but it's a much better schedule than he has this semester, so he's happy (he has evening classes every day this semester.)

He doesn't have classes on Fridays at all.
On Monday, Tues, and Thursday, his first class is at 10am. (8am on Wednesday, but he says he can handle that).
On Mon/Wed he's done by 4pm, and on Tue/Thurs he's done by 5:30. (He'd rather be done earlier, of course, but he has class till 7:30pm 3 days per week this semester, so he's happy to be done by 5:30.)