Getting Oriented

 

In case you noticed my absence in commenting or responding to comments on this blog, it was because I was off again on a road trip. Our eldest had freshman orientation at her college and so we all headed up to attend that. We got there a bit early and so headed off to find her dorm for the year which we located and you can see in the above picture. 

After that, we attended seminars all morning on everything from adapting to paying tuition. Our college aged children were separated from us and the parents attended more tailored seminars that we could chose from a list. Nothing terrible exciting in all of those. Perhaps the only thing that changed for me is that my romantic notion of someday attending college again is now permanently squashed. Sitting in the seats of large auditoriums with someone droning on and on about something in a far to perky voice just didn't bring back the good memories. 

One positive is that after we were reunited, our eldest said she was just a big nerd. All the girls in her group mostly talked about getting nails done and which bars they could get into underaged first, neither of which interested her. After sharing class schedules, none of them knew a single class on my daughter's schedule as they were far too advanced for them. The only one who had signed up for a computer account and submitted their transcript, as required, was my daughter. She was also the only one who had utilized the recommended career councilors to help plan out her schedule. All I could do was smile with the knowledge that I had raised my daughter right and that being a nerd in college should serve her well throughout her life.

As chance would have it, a couple in our gourmet group arranged to go to a restaurant instead of preparing the meal from our homes as we most often do. They arranged our meeting at a nice restaurant in the very town of my eldest college orientation on the same day. So after orientation was over, we were able to drop the kids and MIL off at a motel room and head out for an evening eating very tasty foods. Perhaps most notable was the skate fish course. Only after googling did I understand that it is a close cousin to the more known manta ray fish. Best of all, after the meal was over, we had a fifteen minute drive back to the motel versus a two hour drive back to home. 

The following day, we had a leisurely departure with the girls doing some shopping at some stores we don't have back home before heading out. I composed a post on the Book of Face seeking native recommendations for future places to eat since undoubtedly, we will be spending more time there in the upcoming years. I'm not terribly thrilled with the traffic, which is quite heavy, but am excited to taste more of this culinary world outside of my home area.