Parents on campus!

Parents? In your dorm room? Sounds like a recipe for disaster! A first-year Bwogger shares fun tidbits from Parents Weekend, in chronological order.

My parents arrived at 1 pm on Thursday but didn’t tell me they were safely in New York until 5:00 pm—a function of being unable to navigate their iPhones. Here’s a direct quote from a text: “Mom here: I sent you a couple of msgs earlier but they didn’t go through. And my text app is doing something weird. I need your tech help!”

How have my parents survived without me for the past 8 weeks? Unsure. Our miscommunication continued throughout the weekend, but it was mostly endearing.

My parents were somehow trend-savvy enough (if not tech savvy) to book an airbnb in Harlem. On Thursday night my dad decided to walk 40 blocks from the airbnb to campus so we could have dinner together.

Per my request, he took me to Community, where I ordered kale salad and a glass of Chardonnay—and the waitress didn’t even card me! Life is great. I then gave him a tour of campus and MoHi, pointing out important sights, like the 13th floor of Carman, where I like to party, Low Steps, and International.

I then snuck dad into my dorm while my roommate was gone to show him what her side of the room looked like when she didn’t clean up. Woops.

Dad decided to walk the 40 blocks through Harlem back to the airbnb, and all I could think was: MALE PRIVILEGE.

On Friday morning, en route to my midterm review session, I literally ran into my mom–our reunion after two months!–on Broadway, holding a Nussbaum smoothie that she couldn’t finish. I slurped it as I headed to class.

We were supposed to meet up afterwards to have lunch together. Mom expressed a desire to “experience college life” by eating at “Hewie” and I refused, opting to order Thai food instead with my hallmate, and leaving my parents to eat alone in the dining hall. Oh well!

At night, my dad took me to Dig Inn (he seemed more willing to try eating out than my Mom—after all, Parents Weekend cost $30, and it was important to get their money’s worth by taking advantage of the dining halls).

We fought on the street about my refusal to eat with them at Hewitt. I felt a little bad but not that bad. Then we went to The Dream Play together, which none of us really understood. I pretended to understand it so Dad would realize the widening gap between our generations.

On Saturday, Mom and Dad attended various Parents Weekend events. The thought struck me that maybe they weren’t here to see me, but to pretend they were students/relive their college days.

We went to Bernheim & Schwartz for dinner, and I also didn’t get carded! Then we took the metro to see Spring Awakening, which was dope. Finally, we returned to their airbnb. I got to sleep on the sofa bed—it was distressingly way comfier than my dorm bed. I was a little sad the room didn’t have a bathtub. But it was a comforting to sleep soundly, nestled down the hall from my snoring parents.

I can’t wait for Parents Weekend next year!