College Delivery Day Update
Posted on August 24, 2017 Posted by John Scalzi 55 Comments
Child delivered and ensconced in her dormitory room, and she’s pretty happy. I posted the above picture on Twitter and the response was largely, “Wait, she has a single room? As a freshman?” The answer is, yes to both. Apparently this was surprising to people at her college as well. Be that as it may, I also had a single room as a freshman, so I guess this is a Scalzi family tradition. Which is better than having a tradition of, say, being the first person in the dorm to do a keg stand or something like that.
We’re back at home now and everything’s fine, if a bit quiet. It was a long and kind of emotional day, but overall a good one, I think. But this evening my plan is to eat ice cream and zone out. I think that’s a perfectly fine reaction to the first day of an empty nest.
That’s about as nice and cozy as a dorm room can be. Enjoy the ice cream!
Wishing you all the best.
For bingeing, I recommend Halo Top ice cream. It’s good but also low calorie, meant for moments like this when you don’t even want to scoop it into a bowl. Go ahead and eat the whole thing.
How I wish my daughter was so neat!
I’m a few years out of college with a 8 month old daughter. I’m in between both of your experiences, knowing the second may be tougher. I wish both of y’all the best :)
I remember taking my daughter to college the first year and I was upset not just that she was going away but that the next year I would be able to do it without feeling as bad and even less so the year after that. And that this was the beginning of her leaving and I didn’t want to eventually accept it with a shrug.
Wow, that room looks more settled and personalized than the house I moved into back in March!
Most students in the UK get single rooms, we think having to share is odd!
She looks jolly comfortable and very happy, so enjoy your icecream, job well done.
The concrete block walls are handy. I used to let off stress by taking ice cubes and throwing them as hard as I could against the wall. It was sort of satisfying.
Eh, I noticed the single room, but figured it was at least partly to do with your financial situation. That said, I had a double room to myself for most of my freshman year, after my roommate dropped out about a month in.
Congrats Scalzis and best wishes on the new chapters in your lives. I also want all of the ice cream and we are just facing my kid’s imminent first day of first grade.
From the Delivery Room to the Dorm Room. Kudos.
Congratulations to you and your family! Adorable room!
Love the afghan at the end of the bed, that’s a pretty color combination.
Athena and younger-you are/were lucky not to have to deal with roommates. I managed to get single dorm rooms sophomore-senior years, but we were required to have roomies freshman year.
Looks like a great set-up, especially when I think back on my dorm room and my first roommate.
Looks fake, I don’t remember my dorm room ever looking that tidy. But that’s more telling on me than anything else. of course my college tradition was causing a multi room blackout, which is a far more interesting story.
I love all the colour! One of the things that made me homesick upon going to college was the dull dorm room. I see she has already added her own style to the place!
I read this as I was taking the first bites of my evening ice cream. Ice cream, always a good plan. Best to the college lady and her parents.
I’m impressed not only by the neatness but also by the fact that I don’t see any giant-screen televisions or massive game consoles.
We were floored by the high-end electronics that all the other freshmen were hauling into their rooms when we dropped our kid off fourteen years ago, particularly given the fact that the rooms themselves were about 10’x14′ – what the heck do you need a pair of 60″ TVs for in a room that small?? Not being the TV sorts ourselves, it hadn’t even occurred to us to buy our kid a television set for his dorm room, and I think he was the only kid on his entire floor who was thus deprived.
Enjoy your ice cream tonight, sir. I recommend Zanzibar Dark Chocolate – you deserve it.
Congrats! We move our oldest daughter into her dorm next Saturday. Sounds like ice cream is a good idea for us, too.
Congratulations. We moved our oldest daughter into her dorm last Sunday to start her college experience. Even with three more children, the house is a bit empty (not to mention quieter) without her. But there have already been text messages exchanged, FaceTime conversations, and even the occasional old fashioned phone call already. And there’s been a fair amount of ice cream consumed in our house, as well.
I moved Teela into the other Miami (in Florida) three years ago, and it was very, very quiet when I got home. It took a while to adjust. This year, she drove herself down, and I headed off on a business trip. It’s like she’s a grownup now. Sniff.
Oh man. I’m a few years out from that still, but I feel you. That’s rough. You earned that ice cream, sir.
TOTALLY PHOTOSHOPPED! Just kidding, but the blasphemy of a single dorm room? No… I didn’t do college but have had lots of friends and family who did. Hell.. one of my brother’s best friends was his roomie at college. So much that they shared an apartment for a long while after. And yes, he’s a friend of the family too.
And Athena? She has all these new people in the dorm and elsewhere to meet, get to know, and figure out who she’s going to make friends with among. She has classes to prepare and gear up for. And what to do with the rest of her time? College life is very different from high school. A whole lot of new experiences needing to be absorbed are awaiting her, and it’s, frankly, far more exciting and interesting than old Dad moping around eating ice cream.
You shouldn’t stifle your daughter’s ambitions. There’s no reason she can’t have a single room AND be the first to do a keg stand.
That single, by the way, is at least as big as the double I shared my own freshman year. And since I went to school in Boston and lived on the far edge of campus, I actually did have to walk a mile through snow to get to class a fair chunk of the year. I’ll admit it was only uphill the one way, though. And it really wasn’t much of a hill.
It’s better than the rooms in the main dorm buildings at Pitt; which were wedges!
Rec’d for the obligatory dorm room lava lamp. Hope she enjoys college, John.
Huh. What’s that purple stretchy-band thing in front of the chair? Almost looks like a mini trampoline.
At my state university there was a “Residence Scholars” program: if you were willing to do your own housekeeping (a “dorm job” daily for a week once per semester) you got a single room for less than the cost of a double. That’s what I did. I mention it because it was NOT advertised at all. Other institutions might have similar programs so it’s worth asking.
Congratulations to Athena! I never lived in dorms except for a single summer, and I often felt like I was missing out on an essential part of the experience.
As far as ice cream, I’m a Ben & Jerry’s man myself. I’d recommend Phish Food or Chunky Monkey. Chocolate chunks make everything bettah.
A single?! Outstanding! (was her original roommate Leon Deaks?) Meanwhile, back at the Scalzi ranch: Weekend-long game of naked flashlight tag….
Yeah, when I was a freshman back in ’58, nobody I knew had a single. But I’m still friends with the guys I shared my triple with.
Congrats to the whole family on this milestone. Your daughter has a lot to look forward to, navigating a new school, meeting new friends, learning and spreading her own wings. And your wife and you deserves kudos too for helping prepare her for this adventure. Having dropped my own son off at college this week, I can relate to the bittersweet hole it leaves back home. But reading the text coming in now and then about all the things he’s handling ably on his own and the ways he’s learning growing and enjoying his Independence,, I wouldn’t wish him anywhere else.
Hope Athena enjoys her single room, but keeps the door open — that’s a pro tip to make friends in the dorms. (My son would definitely be envious of that space. He’s a sophomore in a triple-occupancy room that’s part of an eight-person suite, still trying to figure out how to fit two 24″ monitors side by side on his tiny desk ).
Congratulations to Athena for scoring a single and to her parents for raising such a lovely young woman. Our daughter had a single for most of the fall semester last year after her roommate moved in with another single. She picked up a roommate second semester, after SIU sent consolidation letters to those without roommates. She and her spring roommate already knew each other and got to be really good friends (which was probably helped by the fact that her roommate spent most weekends at her boyfriend’s apartment). Wishing Athena a terrific college experience!
A single with a lofted bed, as a freshman? Is it appropriate to be jealous? Probably not, but I’m going for it anyway.
All new room built at the University I work at for the past decade or so have been singles (often singles in a “suite”, with a common central room and/or shared bathrooms). It’s one of their selling points, and apparently the trend is going that way in higher education in general.
@Jack I think that’s what I was (am) most emotional about, too…it’s the beginning of the leaving forever.
@joseph finn That’s another chair, so visitors have somewhere to sit.
Best of luck to all of you! Absolutely awesome decorating!
I had a single by default during the second semester of my freshman year. My roommate withdrew from the school about two weeks into the term, and they never cycled anyone in to replace him. It was nice, if a little too quiet at times.
True College Dorm – Lava Lamp installed
I’m more surprised at people being surprised Athena has a single dorm. In my country just about every college/university is either moving towards single occupancy rooms or is already offering that only. Shared kitchens is about the most of it. Its considered better for student achievement outcomes, and also safer too (in this day and age sharing sleeping areas is not ideal in terms of ensuring student safety, especially for female students; sad but true).
@jane johnson Thank you!
In my day (early 2000s), I had to make due with a pair of roommates (one freshman year, one sophomore) that switched rooms before Christmas, leaving me in a single. Eventually I wised up and waited in line junior year to get a single (and pay the extra money).
On the other hand, my sister’s auto-assigned roommate was her Maid of Honor in her wedding. (With my blessing: by then, I was out of state and was happy to just be a bridesmaid and have the job of showing up properly dressed, rather than hosting the bridal shower and the like.)
At my school, you had to sign up for a lottery for singles, and it wasn’t open to freshmen. We also had a rule requiring you to live on-campus freshman year, but it wasn’t an issue–nearly everyone wanted to live there all four years, but there weren’t enough rooms, so most people had to live off-campus for one year (typically junior).
That said, I was an antisocial kid, and had I had the opportunity for a single, I’d have probably gone for it, which would have resulted in my not having much in the way of friends. My roommates from college are the only people from that time of my life I’m in any sort of contact with at all.
Looks like you’ins did some shopping at Bed, Bath & Beyond. Nice looking room, if a bit small. Hope Athena enjoys her time there. Is the dorm coed?
I remember dropping my son off for college (Bloomington, Indiana) the first time. Didn’t cry, but did drive off thinking, “How can I leave him?” Then the satellite radio, tuned to the Bruce Springsteen channel, played “Jungleland,” and I immediately flashed back to a Chicago concert we’d seen together in April. It was almost a time travel experience.
Then I get lost leaving Bloomington.
Yeah, I just drove both my daughters down to Athens today to start their first year at Ohio U. Definitely a strange sensation, especially because that’s where I went back in the ’80s.
Did you say she was going to Miami U? When I went single rooms were only available by special application but there was no extra charge for them. I lived on the Western campus in ancient Peabody Hall which had hardwood floors and a pipe sticking out of the wall of each room which had once fed a gas light. I loved it. Hope her time there is wonderful.
Definitely a fake photo. Four reasons: The room is spotlessly clean, The College student is smiling, Its a single room and shes let her parents in. In my day as a student NONE of those things EVER happened.
Good luck to Athena! And it’s going to be a big change for you and Krissy, too.
I dunno, while having a roommate can certainly be a hassle (to put it mildly), I’ve always felt that it’s hugely helpful in acclimating to on-campus life. YMMV, of course. I didn’t go away to college until I was 21 – I attended a local university and lived at home for the first half of my undergrad – but when I did, I actually had to specifically request a double room from campus housing. Just one semester, mind, after which I either lived in single dorms or shared rental houses.
Thank the Maker there is a roll prevention rail on the bed! These college kids are so delicate and fragile. We wouldn’t want them getting hurt getting out of bed!!!!!!
That loft bed looks similar to the one we got for my 6 year old daughter this year. Did it come with the room, or did you lug it in for her?
It’s standard.