We spent last week in lovely Long Island for Espen’s college orientation. Student orientation was Tuesday-Thursday, with a parent orientation on Tuesday morning. We drove down Monday night and met Alan at the hotel. The next morning we dropped E off at her dorm for the week. It was a rough start. They didn’t let parents into the building (which was known from the start) but she couldn’t carry all her stuff, so they sent her in to check in while I waited outside with her stuff. I stood there in the hot sun, watching people come and go, waiting for Espen to come back. Meanwhile some other mother walked right in and another asked about bathrooms and was sent inside. I was super annoyed. After like 15 minutes Alan got there and I had to explain it all to him. I asked one of the orientation leaders to go check on her. She came out a few minutes later, on the verge of a panic attack. Said she didn’t know where to go. Didn’t know how to carry everything. I gave her big hugs, piled her stuff on her, and sent her back in. Tears were shed. Alan and I headed to the parent orientation. Awhile later she texted and said she figured out where to go. A bit after that “Gerald” posted a pretty positive post on Instagram. I sighed a huge sigh of relief.
I spent the afternoon exploring a GIANT mall. Biggest one I’ve seen in a long time. It was expensive and exhausting. LOL. I spent the next day working at the hotel. I ended up with a two-room suite, which worked out well for the whole “work from home” thing. I had a desk and plenty of room in the fridge for snacks and beverages. Then I spent a few hours exploring IKEA :)
Thursday I picked up E around lunch time. We took a quick trip to the campus bookstore, then headed back to the IKEA! LOL. We got lunch there and bought some fun little things for the house and dorms. We had a long, whimsical drive home.
I love spending time with my girlie. She’s the best. <3 I’m gonna miss her next year.










































































































