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Post by healthy11 on Jul 19, 2012 15:59:18 GMT -5
I'm perplexed...from everything I've seen, most college kids wear flip-flops, and they work fine in the rain, or at the beach, by the pool, in the shower, etc. (Quite a few still wear flip-flops in winter, although my son switches to high-top gym shoes when it snows!)
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Post by caniacfan on Jul 19, 2012 16:11:55 GMT -5
For my daughter, her school is in Virginia and it sits right on the James River, near the Atlantic Ocean and Chesapeake Bay. When it rains, it rains...and the water on the campus grounds easily covers her ankles (it doesn't get inside the buildings, fortunately). She hates the feel of wet feet and ankles when she's in a class room. I'd say the majority of kids on her campus find rain boots a necessity, especially like last year when Hurricane Irene hit. No fun walking around in 5 plus inches of water wearing flip flops!
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Post by healthy11 on Jul 19, 2012 16:16:39 GMT -5
So, for those of us who are "uneducated," what do stylish rain boots look like for young adults? Is there a particular brand that's considered "in" at the moment?
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Post by michellea on Jul 19, 2012 16:52:15 GMT -5
Rain Boots are HUGE right now. They come in all colors and there are the "designer" brands as well as the knock offs at Target and Costco. "Hunter" is the high end brand - they can go close for close to $200 for a pair of rubber rain boots. usa.hunter-boot.com/shop/womens/footwear/original-rubber DD has a traditional pair of these in yellow, as well as 3 others in a variety of patterns and colors. One of her friends used some of her graduation $$ to buy a pair in her new colleges colors! Flipflops are also "in". But when it rains, wellies are both practical and stylish. Of course she also has an assortment of rain coats and her BF's mom gave her a new Lily Pulitzer umbrella. So, she will be looking good when it pours. The question will be - which boots and coat to bring...... Thank goodness she won't be needing her long down coat for the winter - it is a real space hog.
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Post by healthy11 on Jul 19, 2012 17:20:37 GMT -5
Michellea, you might not believe this, but after looking at the website you mentioned, I had to laugh! Remember, I work for a small engineering company that does forensic fire investigations. When we're out in the field, walking through debris, we have to wear actual firefighter's boots, which are flame resistant and waterproof with steel-toes, steel shanks in the soles, etc. so that nails and other sharp objects don't penetrate. Ours are "basic black," but they can also come with yellow highlights. www.thebootpro.com/products/dsp_productDetail.cfm?pSKU=347&w= workingperson.com/footwear-1/mens-steel-toe-boots/puncture-resistant-boots/thorogood-boots-hellfire-rubber-insulated-felt-boots-807-6003-79757.htmlOther than being available in a rainbow of colors, I can't see any reason to spend so much money just to stay dry in the rain. I can't believe that's what kids enjoy wearing!!
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Post by michellea on Jul 19, 2012 17:32:29 GMT -5
Well, Healthy - you could be on the cutting edge with those firefighter boots!
The knockoff boots run from 20 to $50 depending upon the store and brand. I think the knock offs are so much cuter - bright colors, whimsical patterns etc. I have no problem with my 3 year old pink polka dot Costco brand rain boots - but I know they are not as desirable as the Hunters!! It's a fad just like the Uggs and other name brands. At least they're practical! DD only has one pair of Hunters (her grandmother bought them). The others are all cheaper versions. She was actually looking at a display of rainboots yesterday - that is what prompted my comment about choosing ONE pair to bring to school.
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Post by healthy11 on Jul 19, 2012 17:42:57 GMT -5
My nieces all attend college "in the south" and they've never mentioned rainboots...I know they liked the flip-flops I got them with their sorority logos, though! www.greekgear.com/podotflfl.html
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Post by michellea on Jul 19, 2012 17:51:23 GMT -5
This style is very popular!! Once she pledges, I'm sure she'll want these flip flops and other things with the letters!! Maybe I'll order myself some Pi Phi flip flops....
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Post by jisp on Jul 19, 2012 18:08:25 GMT -5
hahaha.....no summer reading for my DS. Nope, instead I walk by his room and hear him singing in a high pitch voice....do-so-me-do-re. It is called SOFREGE. Never heard of it until now. His teacher asked me if I was doing it with him and I laughed.....my singing is a dangerous weapon that if deployed could result in entire armies putting down their guns to cover their ears. It is part of training that he is doing to prepare. That and continuing to work on his Bach and other music. I am going to miss hearing him practice all the time.
However much to my joy and surprise he is reading "This is your Brain on Music" for the second time, because the guy who wrote that book is joining Tufts Faculty. My son is so excited and hoping he can get into his course, if not this year then next year.
My son just got his roommate assignment. The boy is a classical guitarist, which is pretty impressive. It is not easy to get admitted to conservatory for classical guitar, especially the conservatory my son is attending. He is from FL so I we might be called in to be a surrogate family if he needs. Other than that he seems normal. He calls himself a music nerd on his FB page which is a good sign because that is what my son calls himself. Son isn't too happy about being on the 2nd floor of the dorm. I think he was hoping to be higher up. But at least this way he won't have to wait for the elevator if it is slow and can walk up with his Bass.
As for Flip-flops.....don't get me started. If I had a dollar for every college student I have seen around Boston wearing flip-flops in the snow I would be one wealthy woman. I don't know how they do it, but they do.
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Post by beth on Jul 19, 2012 19:38:44 GMT -5
Well, in Florida we get plenty of rain but appear to have missed the stylish rain boot craze. My daughter graduated from college without a pair and I have never seen anyone wearing them. I don't think I have seen rain boots since we left up state NY twelve years ago.
Flip-flops--well that is another story.
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Post by momfromma on Jul 22, 2012 8:55:42 GMT -5
He finally got all the elements of his room. He is happy as it is on the first floor and close to the center of the campus. No long walks. We started buying things, and ds is really ready as he is bored. He was supposed to have Music appreciation, but the teacher has been sick all this week. Hopefully she will be back this coming week.
He says he likes his summer reading book. Good. At least I wont have to push him to read.
On the bad side, ds discovered Facebook, and of course got hooked up on the Hunger Games game. It is a game where you buy things to continue the game, and of course, he went through $50 before he realized that it added up. Hopefully, this will be an object lesson.
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Post by healthy11 on Jul 22, 2012 9:03:35 GMT -5
I'm not familiar with the intricacies of Facebook games...do player have to pay REAL money in all of them? (Many people I know play "Farmville and Farmtown"...do they also require actual $$? If so, it's no wonder my boss is so upset at the time his wife spends online, involved with those games!) I hope your son looses interest in them before school actually begins... sadly, there are studies attributing college dropouts and video addictions: myvideogameaddiction.net/should-video-game-addiction-be-blamed-for-college-dropouts/
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Post by momfromma on Jul 22, 2012 9:10:55 GMT -5
I am not familiar with them either.
ds plays another game where you have to buy tokens, but you buy a bunch of them and you can see how many you already used. Here, if I understand correctly, you have to buy things throughout. Each of these things are inexpensive (between $1 and $2), so you do not feel the pain until it is too late.
Not all games use real dollars, but I know that Farmville does.
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Post by healthy11 on Jul 22, 2012 9:39:06 GMT -5
How do the players actually pay? Obviously, if they have a credit card, it's one way, but so many younger people don't... are people required to give bank account information in order to play??
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Post by michellea on Jul 22, 2012 10:05:23 GMT -5
DD went to her roommate's graduation party last night. She felt a little "awkward" going by herself. It was a joint party with the roommates cousin, who went to the same small private school DD's BF graduated from last year, so she knew some of the girls, but she actually said she felt funny around them. I guess all the older relatives were exclaiming to each other that dd was THE roommate! All in all it went well, she only made an appearance and we are scheduling a mother daughter outing to shop and have lunch.
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Post by jisp on Jul 22, 2012 10:37:00 GMT -5
So the roommate is from this area Michellea? That is probably good because from what I hear northern girls and southern girls approach certain things differently and that can sometimes create conflict.
It is interesting how social life shifts and changes with age. I suspect some of the awkwardness your daughter felt is the suddenly being in a situation where the social environment is no longer defined by high school. I remember taking our son (who had social issues) to a party for entering freshmen in the area, and observing how awkward all the students were as they struggled to socialize not just with peers who they might not have anything in common with, but with adults as well.
My DD is dealing with the changes that come with no longer socializing with people who you meet through school and commented on how when she meets many people who are just a few years older than her they seem somewhat lonely. She is a bit worried about her social life next year. Many in her graduate program will be older than her and in a different place in life.
It is weird our son has connected with his roommate via Facebook but as far as far as I can tell the two have not communicated much. Son said his future roommate seems really nerdy.....my response "duh". I suspect most the kids at my son's school are going to be excessively "nerdy." He knew that and felt OK with that saying he had plans to socialize with Berklee and Northeastern and Tufts kids. grrrrrr.....
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Post by dwolen on Jul 22, 2012 10:59:49 GMT -5
I think being in the RN/NP graduate program might be a little isolating,as all the classes often don't meet often. My family nurse practitioner students, some of whom already have BSN's and some of whom began the accelerated RN--MS/FNP programs wish they met in class more often, because many of their classes are done online. They do some joint project work and get to know each other that way. One of my most recent students lived with her sister, who was also in the program, so they had a lot of mutual support.
Too bad we can no longer orchestrate our young adults' social lives like we did when they were young. My dd's getting more into the social service mentality, and a close friend of hers is moving to Boston to start the physician assistant program at Northestern U. At least in terms of interests, they might have things in common with your dd. But, alas, those days are over, aren't they?
I read a study or something a while back, that in adult friendships we gravitate toward others with similar personalities. Most of my friends are nurses and I can relate better to nurses and some public service oriented physicians, and perhaps nursing attracts folks with bleeding heart personalities like mine.
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Post by michellea on Aug 2, 2012 13:41:37 GMT -5
DD and I went to Bed and Bath today to reserve items for college. If I had a dollar for each time I mentioned how small her room would be...... The icing on the cake is when she told me she wanted monogrammed towels and sheets! It was all I could do not to laugh! I explained that we don't have monogrammed linens at home and if she felt it was necessary to have them for the dorm, I would let her make the investment.....
All in all, we got out of there pretty cheaply. (of course we didn't get sheets or towls.....)
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Post by healthy11 on Aug 2, 2012 16:26:20 GMT -5
We moved my son's stuff into his new place earlier this week. When it comes to things like needing a new shower curtain or waste basket, the "Dollar Tree" store has a perfectly fine selection. Unfortunately, as seems to be "typical" for my son every year, the "new friend of the friend" roommate didn't show up for the walk-through. That person never seems to get off on the right foot, and has inevitably turned out to be "problematic." It's frustrating. We did get to meet the girl who already graduated, and will be living with the 3 male students (my son, one of his current roommates, and the "friend".) She seems well-organized, and made sure the utilities were already turned on. My son says she's a "coupon clipper" and not a big partier, so hopefully she'll be a good influence. They gave her the "master bedroom" upstairs of the townhouse near the kitchen, while the guys will be in the lower level near the laundry room. I hope the close proximity means they'll use it, LOL! (I know my son will....his allergies have been really bad lately, so he's good about washing his sheets regularly. His jeans, I'm not sure about...)
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Post by jisp on Aug 2, 2012 17:53:01 GMT -5
Michellea, Once she moves a few times she will change her tune when it comes to wanting stuff. Now that our daughter has moved several times she is not at all interested in acquiring ANY EXTRA POSSESSIONS for her apartment. I know the feeling. After we moved out of our house to remodel it I swore I would never buy another thing again in my life. Unfortunately it seems we easily forget the pain of dealing with too much stuff.
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Post by jisp on Aug 2, 2012 17:55:32 GMT -5
OH my son panicked about shopping for dorm room stuff the other day and said to me, "But we need to get shampoo and toothpaste and stuff like that." I laughed because he knows the neighborhood where his dorm is really well and there is the nicest large CVS right around the corner from him. That CVS probably has a way bigger selection than the one a block from our house. He has even been in that CVS last summer when he was living in Berklee's dorms and got sick and needed to get some medicine.
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Post by dwolen on Aug 2, 2012 18:47:35 GMT -5
Michellea, the monogramming idea is so funny! It is possible, though, with the permanent magic marker pen! Just like at camp. She can have monogrammed underwear like at camp, too. Actually, my first college roommate at a state U. brought her diamond wrist watch to college, adn wore it daily. She also wore her diamond ring with two emeralds daily. She had tons of designer, wool knit dresses, and many shoes to match. She might have had monogrammed towels, I don't remember. She was really nice, though, but we did have major class differences. Her father owned a steel company and mine worked in a cookie factory.
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Post by michellea on Aug 2, 2012 20:30:05 GMT -5
dwolen - I like the idea of the sharpie - I had mentioned the same thing years ago when I bought her faux Uggs from Costco and I offered to draw the Ugg logo on the boots!
Jisp - I am the same - whenever we paint or do some sort of re-model, I try to cut back and purge. Somehow I slowly begin to acquire new "stuff" that I really don't need or have room for. My heart drops anytime I think about what would happen if we had to move....
And yes - health and beauty aids can easily be purchased locally!! I think I have buy in on that idea. But, dd is convinced that the shelves will be empty for anything else. I also reminded her that parents' weekend is less than a month away and surely she could survive if anything is missing. I'm sure her concerns are rooted in a bit of anxiety about what lies ahead!
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Post by beth on Aug 2, 2012 20:31:30 GMT -5
I would not hold your breath on your daughter wanting less things in the future. My daughter does not travel lightly through life. She always has an amazing amount of stuff. I think she finds it comforting. There is never a clear surface in her room.
My son started college this summer. He had so much less stuff than she ever did.
And she spent a semester in Spain with only three suitcases. It did not cure her.
She is moving to Nashville for graduate school. My van is already dreading it.
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Post by michellea on Aug 2, 2012 20:40:38 GMT -5
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Post by beth on Aug 2, 2012 21:25:36 GMT -5
I helped my daughter move in and actually stayed two nights in her room, since her roommate had not yet come. Everybody thought that the stuff in the room was both hers and her roommates! But she got it all in there and it looked nice. It actually is amazing how much stuff you can get in a small room. She had a three plastic drawers unit in her closet and hooks everywhere. Her bed was raised up and there were storage containers under the bed.
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Post by teacherabc on Aug 2, 2012 21:41:22 GMT -5
For HP, having his own room within the suite was a luxury since he had never had a room of his own, even though it was tiny. This year, he is not in a dorm but in an apartment with a 30 something year old workaholic and we will see how this works out. No living area but a large room of his own in a decent area. The room is on the warm side and I suspect he will be climbing the five flights at times (the elevator leaves something to be desired)...no conditions will be ideal but $600 for a clean room 15 minutes from us and 20 minutes from college is a bargain (the dorms cost $1100-1200 a month with a communal kitchen and bathroom) in NYC. For my daughter, who is used to having her own big room, it might not be as much of a luxury as what she is used to, and neither is her (also warm) small dorm room close to the street level (and noise). For her, all of it matters less because when she needs to work, nothing will distract her, including bulldozers...
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Post by empeg1 on Aug 2, 2012 22:42:50 GMT -5
My youngest dd moved in to her dorm as a freshman last year. She bought towels in a tan color, as she thought no one would have that color (she was correct). We bought the cheapest towels we could get our hands on. She is still using them and they are fine. We came into town the night before move in day. Some parents stayed, but the university encouraged us to leave. Housing had plans for activities for that evening. I remember asking my dd if she wanted me to stay. No, was the answer. She heard two girls next door say they were going to dinner and my dd popped out of her room and asked if she could go. As soon as she did this, 4 other girls came out of their rooms and asked to join the group. I waved goodbye and left. As for rain boots, go on a shoe site called Endless. I bought my dd rain boots, purple ones, from the above site for $35 when the boots retailed for $75 in the stores. They are Canadian made with lining, soft and very comfortable. The Target boots are really cute but run very wide. DD's roommate had boots from Target, which ran very wide at the top. Her roommate said that the rain just went into the top of the boot. Plus they fell apart by the end of the year. My dd's boots should last the 4 years. They are purple and cute (and even more so, functional). My advice, buy the minimum for your dd's dorm. At dd's university, the university had a party at the local discount store that started at 11 pm the second night after move in. The store was closed to any one else but the university students, who were bused to the store. Pizza and music with dancing yet added to the party, along with the opportunity to get what was missing. What a kick! I did spring for a printer for my dd and she had a lap top. All that concern about locks for dorm stuff; she never needed any of it!!
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Post by teacherabc on Aug 3, 2012 0:55:14 GMT -5
My husband is the one that goes nuts...bought HP a monogram towel. Never took it out of the packaging--too pretty to use. Pots, most of which were stolen (in my daughter's dorm there was a pan thief--stole dirty pans)...a scanner he hated using...upside is we wanted one and we are now getting his because, as he says, he can just bring stuff over now instead of scanning and emailing, since he is now 15 minutes away and will be here often (he made an offhand remark about bringing laundry...which is fine as long as he doesn't expect me to do it).
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Post by jisp on Aug 3, 2012 6:19:24 GMT -5
All this talk of dorm room stuff just made me realize that my son will be bringing along a HUGE item. An item that is the size of a person. That huge item is going to end up in my son's tiny double. Oh well. He is attending a conservatory. The only instrument that probably would be more problematic in a dorm room is a Tuba. At least a Double Bass can stand up against the wall.
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