What a great place to go to college! I went to a very small school U. of W. Florida in Pensacola. While it was only 20 minutes from the beach it also had only 3000 students. Of course, this was in the dark ages so much has changed even there. We went to Bama on Wed and Thur for Doug's orientation and our edification into life on campus. It was exciting and wonderful! The campus is beautiful and big.
They separated us from Doug right away to let him know that he didn't have to hang with us for two days. He went to his programs and we went to ours. They spent a lot of time talking about letting go of our kids. Helicopter parents are not needed or wanted there. I guess I'm not the only one who wants to go with him. One Mom admitted that she was moving to Tuscaloosa to be near her daughter! So, I'm not so bad!
We got to see his Dorm, classrooms and hear professors speak. He got information about how to arrange his schedule and on the second day, got his final schedule from the on-line system. Back in the day, everything was paper and standing in line. No more, all done from a computer that spits out one piece of paper with your 1st semester on it.
We had dinner in the "dining hall" read: cafeteria, but the selections were amazing. There is an oriental station, a southern cooking station and of course a pizza bar. Wonderful barbque chicken pizza. Doug had met an Asian boy and they ate together, so Bruce and I were on our own. My favorite part was the warm apple pie with ice cream, I splurged!
After dinner, Bruce and I were sitting on a bench taking in the people walking by. Doug had gone to a pool party with his new friend, Andy, that was hosted by the welcoming committee. I looked up at a woman coming down the side walk. I knew right away that she was from Jacksonville, Fl. I accosted her with "Where are you from"? She said Jax, of course, so I told her that her son had gone to Swiss Point Middle School with Doug and that I had been Pres of the PTA there during there 7th grade year. She was very nice and her son said he remembered Doug.
Bruce was amazed at the kids and parents we met who said they had been to U of AL once, loved it and just had to go to school there. We met parents from VA, CA, WA, ID and Conn. When they asked for a show of hands of out of state parents, more than half were. It surprised us.
So another great Heen adventure is over, but we all had a wonderful time. Bruce and I are very excited, Doug rolls his eyes, and I have a "BAMA MOM" sticker on the back of my car.
