The college girl is home

or maybe should be titled "Lessons learned the first quarter of college"

1.  She doesn't need the mid-level meal plan she signed up for. The lowest level will be adequate. She has like 67 meals left that she didn't use and ended up even guest comping meals this last week of classes for some friends that ran out of meals.

She always eats breakfast, but having 8am classes each morning, she didn't want to go to the cafeteria, so she would have cereal or oatmeal in her room. Sometimes she ate lunch at the cafeteria, but she didn't have much time between classes and it was always so crowded. So, about the only meals she ate there on a regular basis was dinner.  The microwave and fridge/freezer they have in their room has been adequate to have some meals from, too. One night she even went to the big kitchen in their dorm and made a bunch of quesadillas for herself and others.

2. She likes her private space more than she realized. Only having a brother and not having to share a bedroom growing up, it has been an adjustment learning to live with a roommate. While she really likes her roommate, she likes her own space even more :)

She's trying to decide what to do for next year.  She can live off campus if she wants and is considering trying to find an apartment to rent with another person, so then she at least has a bedroom to go off to study and sleep in.

3. She missed home (and her momma) more than she thought she would. She made 3 trips home. The first one a couple weeks after school started, then over Veteran's Day long weekend and then at Thanksgiving. Now she is home until Jan 5th. She was packed and ready to go, finished her last final at 4pm yesterday and was in her car and heading home by 4:15 :-)

4. It's easy to spend money to do stuff with friends. She found she was spending more money to go out and do stuff (dinner out, a movie, bowling, etc) than she thought she would. A couple of times she decided to pass on the activities, because it wasn't something she really cared to do one way or the other and didn't want to spend the money on it. (Even though I give her $100 a month specifically to have extra to go out and "do stuff")

Other than that, I think it was all pretty much what she expected. She loves the university and the town. Her classes are tough (since she's already in the upper level classes) but she got A's and B's. She's starting to have some guy friends from her dorm, but so far nothing in the "dating" interest. She has apparently been texting/messaging quite a bit with a guy her brother went to high school with. I guess after she started school he sent her a message asking how she liked college.  He lives in our town and has a good job with a big company in our metro area and is going back to school next month to get his degree (while working). I had met him once about a year and a half ago and thought he was such a friendly young guy. So then I asked her if they are texting so much why aren't they going out while she is at home on break and she said "ya, he mentioned about getting together....but Mom, he's like 24!" I was like "pfft....so... you are like 19 going on 30, so no big deal".

She also just heard from a guy she dated when she was 15 (that she had known since she was a little kid). They are meeting up halfway (he lives over an hour away) to have dinner tonight. Now this was a nice boy! I've known him since he was 8 years old and he is still as sweet as ever.

Just glad to have her home and I am enjoying the time with her.