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limner
Member
| Joined: | Sun Jul 16th, 2006 |
| Location: | Tennessee USA |
| Posts: | 807 |
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Posted: Thu Jul 26th, 2007 07:00 pm |
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S got his new roommate's name, rank, and serial number--well, okay, it was his name, e-mail address, and snail mail address. S immediately looked up his location (Wisconsin) on Google maps (ah, how things have changed. In my day . . .).
His reaction: "He's from the middle of nowhere!" (Hey, you know, we're here in a booming metropolis in Tennessee--not.) I pointed out that the "middle of nowhere" is only 10 miles from Beloit and so maybe one or both of his parents teach/teaches there.
I wondered aloud if maybe S's new roomie was doing the exact same thing to him (taking advantage of Google maps). "He is if they matched us up right," was S's hard-to-argue-with logic. I said S should e-mail the new roomie. "I will--but I'll wait a day. You know, the cool thing to do." I think that last comment was only half in jest.
I'm thinking maybe females go straight to Facebook?
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CarolynLawrence
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| Joined: | Sun Mar 5th, 2006 |
| Location: | USA |
| Posts: | 3191 |
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Posted: Thu Jul 26th, 2007 07:10 pm |
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Limner,
Tell your son that my daughter thinks her friends from "the middle of no where" Wisconsin are some of the nicest, most down to earth people she's ever known. In fact, she considers them her best friends in college. Of course, when they first met her they all were stunned that someone from CALIFORNIA could be so normal and not tanned, blonde or into surfing. So, the stereotypes definitely go two ways -- maybe your son is thinking, "some good ole' boy from Tenn. is going to be MY roommate?" LOL! 
Last edited on Thu Jul 26th, 2007 07:13 pm by CarolynLawrence
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limner
Member
| Joined: | Sun Jul 16th, 2006 |
| Location: | Tennessee USA |
| Posts: | 807 |
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Posted: Thu Jul 26th, 2007 08:16 pm |
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CarolynLawrence wrote:
Of course, when they first met her they all were stunned that someone from CALIFORNIA could be so normal and not tanned, blonde or into surfing. So, the stereotypes definitely go two ways -- maybe your son is thinking, "some good ole' boy from Tenn. is going to be MY roommate?" LOL!
Absolutely! I'm sure this poor Wisconsin kid is thinking just that! "Will he have teeth? Will I be able to understand his accent? What will he do in the winter without shoes? Will he bring his banjo with him???"
He needn't worry. S is only missing four wisdom teeth. 
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WestrnMom
Super Moderator
| Joined: | Fri May 26th, 2006 |
| Location: | West Coast, USA |
| Posts: | 1161 |
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Posted: Thu Jul 26th, 2007 09:57 pm |
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He's lucky. Mine is still waiting. They will receive names and dorm assignments sometime in August.
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Lderochi
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| Joined: | Sun Mar 5th, 2006 |
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| Posts: | 300 |
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Posted: Fri Jul 27th, 2007 01:38 pm |
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Between Google, Google Earth and Facebook it's amazing how much info you can learn about somebody before you ever meet them. Before even writing an e-mail to each other my son and his roommate knew each other's favorite books, movies, quotes, political and religious leanings, etc. I dunno, seems to take all the fun and mystery out of showing up on campus and meeting the roomie.
And yeah, I'm sure my S' roommate is thinking "oh no -- a Yankee"! Not knowing that S, though living half his life in PA and DE, will always consider himself a southerner!
Last edited on Fri Jul 27th, 2007 01:40 pm by Lderochi
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limner
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| Joined: | Sun Jul 16th, 2006 |
| Location: | Tennessee USA |
| Posts: | 807 |
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Posted: Fri Jul 27th, 2007 04:30 pm |
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WestrnMom, it'll be here before you know it--although I know it's hard waiting.
Lderochi, it's true; there are tons of tools that weren't around even 5 years ago. S doesn't have a Facebook account, so he won't be using that avenue (or vice-a-versa).
Gosh, the summer seems to have whipped past. My D starts 5th grade on Aug. 9.
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WestrnMom
Super Moderator
| Joined: | Fri May 26th, 2006 |
| Location: | West Coast, USA |
| Posts: | 1161 |
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Posted: Fri Jul 27th, 2007 07:00 pm |
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limner, I heard it will be a few more weeks. It's OK, they can't do much except call or email between now and then and my kids informed me that guys don't care about matching comforters! My DD didn't, but a friend's daughter and her roommate color coordinated their entire dorm room via email from across country before school even started.
I'm so glad we didn't have My Space or Facebook when I was 17. I have changed so much since then, I can't imagine what silly things I would have posted on the internet. Kids today at least are more internet-savvy than we are but some post very personal information.
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limner
Member
| Joined: | Sun Jul 16th, 2006 |
| Location: | Tennessee USA |
| Posts: | 807 |
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Posted: Fri Jul 27th, 2007 07:06 pm |
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WestrnMom, that's so true. Kids (and some adults) will post very personal info. I think it's akin to the anonymity we feel when driving. Road rage comes about because people don't feel at all connected to other drivers on a personal level. With the computer, we're all alone (usually) in a room with no one present. It's all too easy to blather blithely. I believe, ahem, that I've done a few times myself.
I know there have been college admissions articles warning kids about posting anything and everything on MySpace or FaceBook.
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CarolynLawrence
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| Joined: | Sun Mar 5th, 2006 |
| Location: | USA |
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Posted: Sat Jul 28th, 2007 12:07 am |
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Here's a story one of my daughter's teachers told us. The teacher is this very smart, well-educated woman. Her daughter was heading off to Smith, and when the roommate information came in, it turns out the roommate was from Vermont. The daughter calls and after talking to the roommate, she tells her mother that the roommate lives on a farm and her mother is a potter.
The teacher immediately assumes the worst: her daughter was going to be living with the child of hippies! God knows what type of danger that could spell. So, she decides that they will arrive on the east coast a few days early and take a spin up to Vermont to meet the girl and her family and check out the ramshackle farm where these "potters" live to see if they are drug-addled hippies about to corrupt her daughter.
They fly to the east coast from California, drive up to Vermont, and pull up to the address. The house is a beautiful mansion with a carriage house. The family comes out to greet them and the parents look like perfectly normal people. No sign of hippie-dom . While the girls go off to get to know one another, the mother of the roommate invites the teacher to have a glass of wine and they start chatting. Turns out the mother runs a very successful pottery import company, she's not a "potter," and the Dad is a retired lawyer. Pretty mainstream.
Then, just as the teacher is starting to relax, the roommate's mother leans over and confides, "I can't tell you how relieved I am. When we heard you were from California, we assumed you would be hippies!"
Last edited on Sat Jul 28th, 2007 12:08 am by CarolynLawrence
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limner
Member
| Joined: | Sun Jul 16th, 2006 |
| Location: | Tennessee USA |
| Posts: | 807 |
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Posted: Sat Jul 28th, 2007 12:14 am |
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Uh, well, Carolyn, you are all hippies, right?
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WestrnMom
Super Moderator
| Joined: | Fri May 26th, 2006 |
| Location: | West Coast, USA |
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Posted: Sat Jul 28th, 2007 03:02 am |
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I love that story! Don't we all wonder who they are going to room with?
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CalifCarolyn
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| Joined: | Tue Apr 4th, 2006 |
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Posted: Tue Jul 31st, 2007 04:07 am |
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Facebook
My D met her future roomie at accepted students week in April at Valparaiso and they have been chatting daily. Last week we went to a party here in Southern Calif for both accepted Valpo students and returning students. It was funny because most of the kids acted like they were greeting old friends even though they had never met. It was a great event put on by Valpo alumni...
....oh and the kids are having a 'movie night' tomorrow at the home of one of the returning students.
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limner
Member
| Joined: | Sun Jul 16th, 2006 |
| Location: | Tennessee USA |
| Posts: | 807 |
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Posted: Wed Aug 1st, 2007 04:21 pm |
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LOL, CalifCarolyn. So, my theory was correct.
S wrote his roommate an e-mail buthasn't heard anything back yet. Of course, this dovetails with his "middle of nowhere" observation: "Maybe he doesn't have internet access?" (Picture me rolling my eyes.)
Ant any rate, S is busy enough reading the common reading, registering to vote, sending off health forms, etc.
And our 9-year-old got braces yesterday, so I've been dealing with her. She's not a happy camper, sigh.
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Shennie
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Posted: Wed Aug 1st, 2007 04:47 pm |
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| Back in the old days as most of us remember, we didn't meet our roommates until we moved in. My sister-in-law grew up in Youngstown OH and attended a college in the DC area. During the summer before college, she worked at a fast food chain that used to be in the midwest called Red Barn. When she met her eastcoast roommate for the first time, the 2 of them were chatting. Roommate asked SIL what she had done during the summer and SIL said she had worked at a Red Barn. The roommate replied, "Oh my! Did you have to touch a pig?"
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HijinksAndSue
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Posted: Wed Aug 1st, 2007 07:40 pm |
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When I went to college, we were sent our roommates' name, address, phone number, high school and I guess their extra-curriculars, because I knew that my roommate went to Exeter and played varsity tennis there before I met her ( lived in NYC and she lived right over the bridge in Teaneck and was working for her father in the city for the summer so it was easy to plan to get together for dinner).
So of course I was expecting (read: dreading) a vivacious preppy jock.
And that couldn't have been further from the truth. She was incredibly laidback and cool and cynical and funny, almost "anti-prep" ... I think her family wanted her to go pre-law but IIRC she ended up majoring in English lit, switching over to art and is now a professional artist somewhere in Washington state.
We were, actually, a perfect pair of roommates and got along wonderfully.
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Lderochi
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| Joined: | Sun Mar 5th, 2006 |
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| Posts: | 300 |
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Posted: Thu Aug 2nd, 2007 02:03 am |
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Off topic. The Red Barn. Wow, that brings back memories.
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mom61
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| Joined: | Fri Jun 23rd, 2006 |
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| Posts: | 247 |
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Posted: Thu Aug 2nd, 2007 11:56 pm |
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| Got room assignment today but no info on roommate. From the info it looks like he is in a double. He should get the packet in the mail monday, hoping roommate info is in there. Not that son cares!
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kdmom
Member
| Joined: | Sun Jun 4th, 2006 |
| Location: | Washington USA |
| Posts: | 110 |
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Posted: Fri Aug 3rd, 2007 07:08 pm |
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My son's roommate refused to disclose his contact information. Do you think that's a bad sign?
(I'm kind of hoping he's out of the country for the summer and therefore wasn't able to submit the release form, but son is worried that the new roommate is anti-social...)
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WestrnMom
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| Joined: | Fri May 26th, 2006 |
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Posted: Fri Aug 3rd, 2007 09:05 pm |
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The family could have personal reasons for not wanting to disclose. I wouldn't hold it against the roommate until he finds out why. Some people are just more private or cautious.
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binx
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| Posts: | 459 |
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Posted: Fri Aug 3rd, 2007 09:50 pm |
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My D is in Germany at the moment, but got her roommate info, and has been sending me updates. She and the roommate have been in touch several times already. I am cautiously hopeful. They seem like they have enough in common to get along, but are different enough to not be breathing down each other's necks!
The good news is that they both are in agreement about the decisions they are making about the room. And they are both messy. (Our fear was that D would be with a neat-nic - that would NOT be good.)
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