My oldest daughter began her college career this fall.  We dropped her off over a month ago, getting her settled in to her dorm room while attempting to boost her confidence for the upcoming adventure ahead, as the uncertainty and anxiousness of being away from home and starting a four-year foray into higher education alone was clearly written on her face as we said our good-byes after move-in day.

Would she make new friends?  Would she get along with her roommate?  Would she adapt to her new surroundings?

This past weekend was a “Parent’s Weekend” at her university – Towson.  We finally had the chance to revisit the campus, assess how things were going, and get a real sense for how things were shaping up.

In a nutshell, things are going well.  Not only is she embracing her new collegiate lifestyle, she seems to be thriving in it.

We found her late Friday night – in the campus café playing “Dungeons and Dragons” with a whole table of new friends.  She was bubbly, confident, and totally at ease in her college surroundings.  She jumped up from the table, gave us a round of hugs, and introduced us to her playing partners.  We asked her about everything on the walk back to the dorms, and she was excited to introduce us to her roommate, who was hard at work in her room (on a Friday night), finishing up some work before the weekend.

Although her roommate is a totally different personality than someone my eldest would have historically hung out with, they seem to get along quite well.  Heck, if anyone can persuade my sports-challenged daughter to attend a college football game (and enjoy it), that’s saying something right there.  They’ve established a nice respect for each other’s spaces, text each other BEFORE coming back to the room, and also ask each other if it’s OK to bring someone over (including Mom & Dad).  It’s a good match.

The course load?  Definitely different from high school, but manageable.  She has what I call an “upper-class” schedule.  Nothing before 10:00 AM on Monday, Wednesday, or Friday (completing by 1:00 PM each day), and nothing before 2:00 PM (yes, I said PM) on Tuesdays and Thursdays.  Good Lord, I didn’t see times like that until my junior year.  She took us around for a campus tour on Saturday to all of her class locations and trust me – the dreaded “freshman fifteen” won’t stand much of a chance with all of that walking.  I think we passed a tired billy-goat on the way up one of the final hills to the Honors College building.

She’s slowly experimenting with new food items and expanding her palette.   She’s tried  Moroccan (and liked it), has developed an affinity towards pesto-mayo, and showed us where to get the best deli-made sandwich on campus.  I have to say that college food choices are a LOT different from back in the day – it’ a far-cry from the old dining hall experience.  These kids can get sushi, Indian food, “Chick-fil-A” sandwiches, and a whole host of other enticing dishes (for Parent’s Weekend, we went to a huge blue crab feast).  I will say that she confessed that she misses my cooking (“these vegetables are NOT how Dad does them”), but our fears of her living on pizza and macaroni and cheese have proven to be unfounded.

We went to the football game on Saturday night (Towson lost in overtime, 52-45), laughed at an “overeager” and incredibly high-strung fan (who sat right in front of us), and during the game I got a nice “Dad moment” in when she snuggled into me during the halftime show.  On Sunday, we met up one last time for a supply run to Target, lunch in Towson proper, and a visit to “Holy Cow”, and ice cream shop that also sells edible cookie dough.

Although we were sad to leave, this time our parting was much different from our goodbyes just a month ago.  This time we left feeling confident that our oldest daughter had made the right choice, was embracing her college experience, and was working on become an independent young woman.

Bravo Becky – you’re doing great!