Week one, day 4

I thought I would set this blog up so that I could kill many birds with one stone, ie: fewer emails.
The build up for this first week of college for Julianna has been fraught with so many emotions that I for one am exhausted.  Julianna, being the one to actually go and experience it all seems to be taking it all in stride.
So, let's see....recap of the week:
We moved Juls into her darling house on Saturday, she was thrilled and not seeming nervous or apprehensive at all.  She loved setting up her room and getting the food put away.  She insisted on getting fresh flowers for the house (that's my girl!)  Julianna has two roommates, one Cutting Edge (CE) student, Hannah, and a peer mentor, Suzi.  They all have their own bedrooms and share a bath and a half.  Julianna may not realize how luxurious this set up is.  Next year she may be in the dorms with one or two roomies to a small room and this will all seem dreamy to her.  The walk to school is about 2 blks, not bad unless it's a blizzard.  We're working on walking back in the dark by herself...seems dicey to me but I'm being assured that it's very safe.
Day one of school Julianna had one class at 1:30 called Engaged Citizens, more on that later.  But what the director does is give Juls a print out of a sched. on Mondays and basically fills her days with other things as well as the assigned class.  So at 8:30 am she was at the schools fitness center working out.  Later she had a mentor mixer, to match up with other mentors, and then a planned lunch date with other cutting edge students, study time etc.
About the class "Engaged Citizens"; this is a regular college course there that Juls is auditing.  The college has a masters program in special ed. so this class is made up of reg. students and some CE students.  The classes are very small and this particular professor is one of the two founders of CE.  The class will look at different disabilities and then groups will do research on one disability (in Juls case, Down Sybdrome) and eventually present a power point presentation to the class.  I think this is such an awesome opportunity for Julianna!  Really, how much she knows about DS herself is pretty limited.  Perfect for going out in the world as an advocate for herself and others.
The separation anxiety for the week has been very, very high!  Oh, for me....not Juls!!  Juls is in absolute heaven!!  I have not been able to stop thinking about Julianna for a second.  I am so proud, I worry, I miss her......I just can not believe that she is off at college and living in a house with other students.  It is unbelievably great, all of it!!  We have talked and texted a few times each day, I know it'll be less and less as time goes on (it's for me, not her).  The program director seems very comfortable and confident and college like.  They are not keeping me posted on the goings on at all and I don't want to be a pest so I'm just hanging back and letting things happen.  This is a good time to realize "no news is good news".
There are many stories and cute things that have happened that I'll fill in as I write in future blogs.  One that I just have to pass on is from the very first day.  Julianna called me after her first day and told me that she was assigned a book to read,  (uh oh, reading not a strong point). I reminded her of the practice reading we'd been doing the last couple of weeks and how all she needs to do is take it very slowly.  Read a paragraph, think about it, read it again if she needs to.  About a half an hour later Julianna texted me and said she'd been talking with Brandy.  Brandy had told Juls that she was also going to buy the book and they'd read it "together" remotely.  That Brandy!  She is the most wonderful friend/person ever and I'm positive a one of the best new special ed. teachers to hit the schools!  What a dear thing to do.
It has taken a village to raise Julianna and that village is now growing, at the college level.
More to come....