Oct 1-October 7, 2018

Still does not feel officially like Fall. Our weather has been wet, humid and warm. We have not even been able to turn off the AC yet!  Still gives me time to get some yardwork done, but not much.

And actually, this week we were preparing to head to Michigan to spend the weekend with Scott for Homecoming!  He seems to be adjusting pretty well to campus life-getting to classes, studying, meeting new people. Unfortunately, one of the worst things to adjust to is a bad roommate. Scott roomed blind and was hoping for someone compatible. He filled out a survey, basically looking for someone that had some of his same interests. He is living in an engineering dorm, so we figured that would not be too hard. Unfortunately, his new roommate turned out to be more interested in partying than in his studies. He was bringing friends over that would help themselves to Scott's drinks and snacks without asking, smoking/vaping in the room(non smoking campus), missing classes and generally more interested in the 'fun' side of school(drinking/etc) rather than the serious side of school.  Which made it rather difficult for Scott to focus on his own studies, and generally made him miserable. So he requested a single room since he did not really know any other students at this time to switch rooms. And surprisingly he was able to get a single room, just two rooms down from his previous room on the same floor in the same building! And at an affordable cost. So last week he moved all of his belongings to his own room!  And we'd all like to report that he is much happier! He can now study in his own room, does not have to worry about anyone taking his drinks/snacks, can actually turn on the lights in the morning when he is getting ready for his 8am Pre Calc class! And does not have to get up at 1:00am to let his roommate in because he forgot his key! A much happier Scott. And it looks like he is getting the hang of his classes, how to study and take tests and is able to take advantage of the free tutors available on campus. Especially for the math! He is also discovering that most professors do not speak clear english!

And since Scott had his own room, of course I had to pack a few more items to take up to him. Including some Halloween decorations. And some warmer clothes. Michigan weather changes very quickly- a bit like Maryland, although I would say colder in Michigan!  And it is only going to get colder!  For now, he was also still having warm days and using all the fans we brought. His dorm does not allow students to control the temperature in their own rooms, so we hear they are usually warm/hot-even in the winter since they turn up the heat.  So fans come in handy year round. Scott also had to keep a second set of furniture in his new room which was designed for two-so he had a second bed and desk. He decided not to loft the beds since he did not like climbing in and out of the bed, and his head usually hit the ceiling. I tried to talk him into lofting the bed halfway for more storage underneath, but he was quite comfortable the way he set it up.

So on Friday, Allison, Tom and I headed out on the road to Kalamazoo. We stopped along the way and picked up a Cottage Inn Pizza near Battle Creek. Scott and I had really enjoyed it over Labor Day weekend when I was visiting with my mom. I thought I would share the Hawaiian pizza experience with Tom and Allison. Plus Scott got the leftovers! We arrived in the evening and dropped all of Scott's items off at his dorm since we can't park at his dorm. I even brought my portable wagon to haul things up. We then took Scott back to the hotel with us for the night. Saturday morning we awoke to rain showers. We had planned on attending the Family Tailgate with brunch, but did not feel like standing out in the rain for hours. Instead, we headed to Scott's dormitory. We left our van at the hotel and had Scott drive since he had a campus parking permit. This gave us time to unpack all the items I had brought, including a large poster, a plant, string lights, clothing, bathroom rugs, a shelving unit, a floor lamp, bottled ice tea and Halloween decorations and snacks. Tom also hooked up a new keyboard for the computer. I also had to bring Scott another batch of antibiotics from the oral surgeon since he ended up with another infection from his wisdom tooth extraction. This time it was on the other side of his mouth, but I felt better having him take another round of medication. He definitely did not need an infection to spread in his mouth, especially while he was away at school!  We had fun rearranging Scott's dorm room(not sure he needed our help!). But when we finished, so did the rain and we headed over to the football stadium.

It was quite the hike! Completely on the other side of the campus, and it is amazingly hilly!  We decided to skip the parking and shuttle bus experience to the stadium. The tailgate party was set up in a parking lot overlooking the stadium. We grabbed some of the breakfast buffet and walked around the individual program tents. Each major had a tent set up with different games and activities as well as small giveaways highlighting their programs. We picked up Western cups, pins, stickers, chap stick, pencils and pens and I even grabbed a bracelet from the OT table at the Allied Health Tent. Scott also bought himself a Western Bow Tie at the Bookstore that was set up before we headed out for the football game.

Tom and Scott decided not to go to the game, but Allison and I wanted to attend. Allison had never been to a large campus football game before, with the marching band and huge stadium. So she wanted the whole experience, without the drunken student body. The game was sold out and I was really only able to get discounted tickets in the student section. Turns out, it was not overly crowded in our area, we had great seats and we got to sit mostly with parents. Looks like the students mostly stand during the games, so we were glad not to be in that area. Plus the rain stopped, although it was still humid and a bit warm. We both enjoyed the game, and Western beat Eastern Mich(close game though) while we enjoyed some Buster Bronco Deluxe Nachos!

The game let out around 3:30, and Allison and I called Scott to come pick us up on campus. He was a bit overwhelmed driving on campus due to the increased number of people walking around, some in the roads and some rather "happy" after their own personal tailgate parties.  But we made it back to his dorm room so we could leave him alone for awhile to get some work done on his own. Tom had been helping him with some research for a paper, as well as finishing up his own final class paper. Tom had been traveling the week before, and finishing up a paper for his class that he turned in over the weekend online. Tom also needed a new charger for his laptop, so he ordered one from Amazon and had it delivered to Scott's dorm. Unfortunately, the mail system is not the greatest at the dorms. The front desks are usually closed on the weekends! For Homecoming weekend, they had students manning the desks, but they were not allowed to access the front office where Tom's package was sitting on a desk in plain sight, behind locked doors!  So he borrowed Scott's charger, and Scott picked up the new charger the next day when they opened up the office. Oh brother!

 We left Scott to finish up some homework and set up his Halloween decorations while we ran some more errands. We were looking for a mat to place over the carpet under Scott's desk chair, but most stores did not have them or they were very expensive. We did have fun shopping for ourselves, especially at my favorite store, Meijers. And Allison stopped into Dunham's sporting goods store to pick up a new set of cleats for her frisbee games. We then headed back to campus for dinner at Scott's dining hall. The campus built a new dining hall replacing the individual dining halls for the 6 dormitories about a year ago. Administration decided they wanted students to mingle more and rather than separate them into individual dining halls, they opened one large dining hall with a small snack shop on the lower level. The new dining hall is set up with many different food stations, each serving different types of meals, like a food court. Even the seating arrangements, furniture and lighting are all different, to give you a different dining experience(homey vs restaurant feel). On Saturday night, Tom and Scott enjoyed the bratwurst meal for dinner, and Allison and I loved the stir fry where you choose your own ingredients and they cook it individually with a bowl of rice. And you can have as much as you want.  Tom especially enjoyed the marshmallow treats made out of Capt Crunchberry cereal for dessert!  After dinner we all headed over to the Ice Arena to catch the hockey game.

This was quite a different crowd-very rowdy. The ice arena is a bit small and was completely packed. Again we had tickets in the student area, but not as much space for seating. And the students next to our section stood the entire game, so it was a bit difficult to see parts of the game. Western was playing a preseason game with a team from Canada, and the students certainly enjoyed heckling them! Especially since we won!  Tom, Allison and I enjoyed the game, but Scott was not too thrilled. It was a bit too crowded, loud and difficult to see. So I don't think Scott will be attending the school hockey games. We would still like to see one of the IHL games-the K Wings play in Kalamazoo, just not that weekend. Afterwards we headed back to the hotel and Allison and Scott had fun playing the new Mario Kart video game on the hotel tv.

On Sunday morning, we headed back over to the dorm for Jazz Brunch. The school had their band playing(very nice) while we ate brunch. Tom filled up on their pizza and the rest of us stayed with traditional breakfast meal. We also got to chat with the school Vice President who came by our table to say hello. Very nice woman. She got her PhD at Western in Education and a Masters in Psychiatry. She has to commute from Jackson Mich every day-what a drive-near Ann Arbor-over an hour drive. And we are discovering that highway 94 traffic that runs East/West across Michigan is not so fun to drive. Especially when we got into a traffic jam right before our exit to Western on Friday night. We let the VP know we were Michiganders and MSU grads, but currently living in Maryland. She let us know that Western is a pretty laid back campus when it comes to other universities-not so bad if you want to wear your MSU or UofM clothing there. Just don't show up in a Central Mich outfit!(big rival). We did see a lot of cars and people sporting stickers and shirts from other Michigan schools on campus that weekend.

After breakfast it was time for us to make the long drive back to Maryland. (of course after stopping into Meijers to pick up some more Vernors!)And Scott had some more homework to get to, so we headed out for the long drive home. We didn't see the sun that weekend until we got to Pennsylvania! Fortunately it looks like Scott is adjusting to Michigan life. He seems to enjoy all the chipmunks on campus!

And I finally joined Facebook! However, I only joined in order to sign up for the WMU Parent's page. It is a great way to keep up with campus events and get tips from the Western Parent's support group. They have a program specifically set up to assist new families and their students in navigating the university system. Plus it is a great way for parents to communicate with each other and give tips on the Kalamazoo area and campus living-like recommendations for student apartment complexes, services like auto repair, tutors, restaurants and transportation. We were hoping to link up with another Marylander but the closest I could find was someone on the Eastern shore. They bought their son a car as well, but they did not plan on having him drive home too often since it is an older car. So far the family has not connected with us for ride sharing.