Monday, August 19, 2013

Taking My Son to College

 This past Saturday and Sunday were a bit bittersweet as Mary Beth and I took our son, Sean, to Pittsburgh to start his freshmen year at Carnegie-Mellon.  The first picture is of the SUV being packed up.  At first I thought we were over-packing as we almost filled the whole thing up and had to take two vehicles to Pittsburgh, which is a 4.5 hour drive from where we live in Maryland.

 Sean, sitting on our front porch just before departure.  You might be able to discern from the photo that he is more than a little excited to be going to CMU.

 Our route took us past Sean's elementary school and we stopped off for a quick picture - when he first started at Triadelphia Ridge he was shorter than the bushes!

 At bit of history.  We stayed at the William Penn hotel in downtown Pittsburgh and the Terrace dining room is a 60 foot mural of "The Taking of Fort Pitt" during the French and Indian Wars.  The William Penn is a grand old hotel which is a lot of fun to stay in.

 To be honest, I was dreading the move in process as Sean's room is at the top of a hill and all his crap - oops I mean, important school supplies would require multiple trips.  We were all very pleasantly surprised that once we parked in the designated spot our car was descended upon by an army of CMU students who carried everything to Sean's room while he went and got his student ID. All I had to do was stay in the car and then move it out of the way once it was empty after a few minutes.  It was an amazingly well organized affair.

 Here's a shot of some of the academic buildings at CMU, which has a very nice campus in Pittsburgh.  Sean is enrolled in the Mellon college of sciences and is currently planning to major in physics and robotics.  The university is a temple to geekdom, which means Sean will fit right in.

 A shot of the room after we've finished unpacking.  As I indicated earlier, I thought Sean was bringing too much stuff to college but after seeing what the other kids brought he's definitely one of the lighter packers.  We do need to get some wall art for the room.  Sean will share the room with one other student.  As far as dorms go, it's a very nice room - he was very pleased with the wi-fi speeds.

We had a wonderful day at CMU and there were some programs to occupy the parents while the students got acclimated.  There was also a firm deadline for parents to leave which we adhered to.  While I'm very excited for Sean - college is a great experience and CMU is the finest place in the world to study robotics, it will be very different not having him around the house.  Did I cry as we left?  Lets just say I had something in my eyes...

12 comments:

Unknown said...

Miles,

I took my daughter to college this past weekend as well. I think it was harder on me than her. Look forward to seeing you at Fall In.

Cheers.
Tom Keegan
http://tomahawkcampaign.blogspot.com/

James Brewerton said...

a great post thanks for sharing with us what had to be a huge part of both yours and your sons life. Fantastic looking trip.
Peace James

john de terre neuve said...

Hi Miles,

Great post, I did the same thing 2 years ago when I dropped off my son Simon at Concordia University in Montreal. Next year this time it will be my daughter, Jane who is also planning to go to Concordia.

A real rite of passage for sure. All the best to you and your son, I am sure he will do great and just think you will get your wargaming table back.

John

Iannick said...

Ah, College! Good times!

Ray Rousell said...

Nice one Miles!
I'll be doing the same thing in September as my daughters off to Sussex Uni, not looking forward to it at all!!!!

Paulalba said...

That's brilliant,
What an exciting future your son has embarked on. Thanks for sharing.

Thank goodness 4.5 hours is not so far away to visit.

thanks for sharing.
Best
Paul

Monty said...

Great looking dorm and campus! I'm getting my son moved into indiana U right now so I'm about to go through the same. My son said it won't be goodbye but a "until next time." It will be tough when we leave. Best of luck to your son and all the kids off to college this fall.

ljr70 said...

I taught ROTC at Pitt so I know CMUs reputation. You should be proud. He has a bright future ahead. Congrats. I know the feeling with one just graduated, one a senior. It was hard to do. I only have two more to do.

jmilesr said...

I'm very proud of Sean but having him go off to college has been tougher than I expected. He needs his independence but letting go is proving difficult!

Thanks for the comments

Doc Smith said...

Mate its a huge milestone and the start of the next journey not only for Sean but also for you and your good wife. Its sad but exciting at the same time. My daughter goes off to university next year and my two eldest sons have already moved out so its quite an adjustment rattling around a half empty house. More wargame hobby indulgence will help with that!

jmilesr said...

Doc:
The lad's going off to college does leave a bit more time for the Mrs and I to travel a bit more and there will be a lot more time for the all important wargaming hobby which will include redoing my game room!

366_Zoh6 said...

Wow. This post actually touched me. My prayer is that this time in all your lives will be the best yet!!