Eamon (Rhymes with Damon) Goes to College

On Thursday morning, we left Declan and Brendan with Nana & Gramps in Maryland and drove out to Steubenville, Ohio to bring our third baby to college.  The 4ish hour trip was pretty uneventful, and I had to laugh when we stopped at a Service Plaza and saw soooooo many college-aged kids and their parents all heading to drop-offs and orientations.  'Tis the season!

Eamon and I both wore Vineyard Vines shirts to make sure people knew where we were from.  Just kidding, it was an accidental fashion choice.  His room check-in was at 2pm but we arrived at noon and there was no issue getting into the dorm early.  There were tons of students helping the freshman move in, and it was a very fast and painless job.  It helped that Eamon didn't have too much stuff!  

When he said his name to get his room key, the guy mispronounced it as Eee-mon and I spoke up and said "It's Eamon, rhymes with Damon" and Eamon was absolutely mortified.  But dude, if you don't correct them now you will be Eee-mon forever.  We went to Walmart to get the few things we hadn't thought of (extension cords, Febreze, a mattress foam topper, and a desk lamp) plus snacks and water:

His room is a triple with their own bathroom, but one of his roommates never showed up so he only has one roommate who is a Sophomore and came after we left.  Eamon says he's nice.

Then we met up with his cousin Tommy, also a Freshman, who is living in the same dorm.  These two have been besties since birth and at the same schools since preschool, so it's so fun that they get to go through college together as well.

We went out to dinner at Pastaio with my sister and brother-in-law and our boys, and then attended the opening "Welcome to Franciscan" presentation in the fieldhouse with the other 848 freshman (biggest class ever...for the ninth year in a row) and their parents.

On Friday morning we met up with Andrew's bestie "Smiles" and his girlfriend, his mother, sister and cousin who were at orientation weekend to drop off his sister.  Then we had to go meet Eamon's academic advisor to get some classes dropped (Psychology) and added (Physiology).  Eamon already has 24 college credits from his AP exams so he's practically a Sophomore but he has no plans to graduate any earlier than four years, after watching JP go that route and miss out on his senior year with friends.  

Eamon is currently a Biology major with a minor in Exercise Science saying that he wants to go the Physical Therapy route.  He has the same advisor that JP and Andrew had (as they were bio majors too before Andrew switched to Nursing) and when he met Eamon he was like "I know the Martin boys!  They are both so different, so which one are you going to be like?"  We still don't really know what he meant by that and it made us chuckle.  I mean JP and Andrew are definitely so different from each other in every way, and when Eamon was born I thought of him as the link between those two, in looks and interests.

We got a sneak peek of the newly remodeled chapel on campus:

And then went to the bookstore and stood in a long line to get his new class schedule.  I embarrassed him again by saying that one of the girls we talked to in line seemed nice.  She wasn't even around when I said it but God forbid a mom speaks while her son is trying to look cool and meet new people.  I'll chalk it up to both of us being a little on edge for this big life transition.

On Friday afternoon, Phil and I met with a realtor to look at houses in the area because we were thinking about purchasing one to rent out to students and save money on Room & Board.  They weren't great options though, and being a landlord from far away seems tough, so we are still discerning.  My college/MBA bestie, Alyssa, who teaches Accounting at Franciscan, invited us (including Eamon and Tommy) to her house for dinner on Friday night and it was soooo much fun!  She is always trying to get us to move out there and though we would love to be closer to her and her husband, I don't see it happening anytime soon.  But at least we are more connected since I started teaching online accounting classes, and our boys live in the same dorm!  Her oldest daughter is hoping to go to DuqCom with JP too, and Alyssa will be teaching our nephew Tommy this semester, so it's a very small world.  We left their house and went to the Alumni Reception at the restaurant next to our hotel for a little while.  We ran into one of Phil's old students who lives in the Steubenville area now and it was great to see him.

On Saturday morning, we left to have a short visit with JP in Pittsburgh!

He had moved on his own back at the beginning of July, so we hadn't been able to see his apartment or the med school until now.  We met up on Duquesne's campus and JP gave us the tour:

JP is standing at his assigned seat in the classroom

Guys, he is thriving!  Seeing him was so wonderful, and he genuinely loves school even though he only studies all day, goes to the gym, eats and sleeps.  His roommate was a college gymnast and they workout and try to eat healthy together, which is so helpful.  This weekend was an easy weekend for him without too many tests the next week, and he didn't even know what to do with his free time.  He has joined some groups to start meeting more people on campus now that all of the other students are returning.  He also went to Franciscan the next day to see friends and help Andrew move in.  We took him grocery shopping, vacuumed his apartment (it's the mom in me), went out to lunch and then had to say goodbye again and drive back to Maryland to make it juuuuuust in time for the Vigil Mass with the boys.  We did make a quick stop to Eat & Park to buy some Smiley Face Cookies to bring back, as one does.

Speaking of the boys, Declan and Brendan had so much fun for those two days with Nana & Gramps and Aunt Diana who spoiled them with cousin time and playgrounds and ice cream and movie nights and a trip to the zoo!  We were very happy to get good reports about what polite, helpful and well-behaved little boys they were :)

A visit to their aunt's outdoor furniture shop!

 I have to give a HUGE shoutout to Andrew, Maggie, and Xander who ran the Ice Cream Cottage while we were away from Tuesday-Sunday.  Maggie and Xander started high school sports that week so they were busy, and Andrew packed himself up for college without having a day off from work before heading out early Sunday morning and starting classes the next day.  They are such good kids and hard workers, and we rely on them a lot and are so proud of them.  We literally couldn't do it without them!