Midweek Musings
In this Issue:
- W-S hailed as a city to visit by Southern Living
- Other NC places you might want to visit
- P’28 weekly message (a day late!) – Housing
Today is all about travel and housing assignments. Let’s dig in!
W-S hailed as a city to visit by Southern Living
I subscribe to the WSToday enewsletter, which brings me a smattering of news and events taking place in Winston-Salem. This morning’s edition had this interesting little tidbit in it:
“Winston-Salem is among Southern Living’s “8 Under-The-Radar Southern Cities To Visit This Summer” list. The publication listed the Twin City for its rich culture, entertainment options, and schools.”
Southern Living also hailed Boone, NC as a city to see.
Other NC places you might want to visit
I often have parents and families ask me where are some potential places to visit while they are in NC, particularly if you are dropping off a ’28 for Pre-Orientation and need something to do for a couple of days before official parent and family orientation begins. Here are a few thoughts:
Asheville, a little over 2 hours southwest of Winston-Salem, has a fun, funky downtown, lots of live music, restaurants, and breweries, plus Biltmore House, the historic Vanderbilt estate (apparently they have a Chihuly exhibit right now). I was just there a couple of weeks ago and had an absolute blast. Food was incredible (Mountain Madre was amazing – some of the best tacos of my life).
You can head to the mountains about 1.5 hours northwest of us, and visit Boone, hike in beautiful Blowing Rock, or drive the Blue Ridge Parkway.
A little closer to home is Seagrove, about an hour away, known for its large concentration of working potters (so your arty Deacs might like it).
If you were an Andy Griffith fan, you can visit the inspiration for Mayberry: the town of Mt. Airy, 30-40 minutes away. You could even make it a two-fer and visit Pilot Mountain on the way there/back.
Asheboro is maybe 40-45 minutes away and has a large zoo (if you have younger kids).
Greensboro (30ish minutes away) has the International Civil Rights Museum and some great international grocery stores.
Do you golf? Pinehurst is about 1.5 hours away and boasts all kinds of golf courses, including the famed Pinehurst golf resort.
A longer drive (4+ hours but well worth it in my opinion), are NC’s beautiful beaches. There are a wide variety of options, and some of the locations are more ‘rent a house for a week’ while others have some hotel options. My family tends to be a Wilmington and Emerald Isle family; while I like the Outer Banks and places like Duck, it is a long drive through the barrier islands to get there.
This is not an exhaustive list – just off the top of my head. I’d be interested in hearing your recommendations too (you can hit reply to this Daily Deac – it will come straight to my Inbox).
And a final thought: my first year at Wake, my parents decided to drive down from PA to Winston-Salem for Thanksgiving, rather than have me fight the Thanksgiving airline traffic to get home. They took a leisurely drive down to W-S, and then we spent Thanksgiving in Charleston (4.5ish hours away). While our Thanksgiving meal was not as good as my mom’s own turkey, it was wonderful not to have to fight airports, cook all day, and/or clean anything up, plus the weather in Charleston was delightful at that time of year. That remains one of my favorite Thanksgivings, just because it was so different. Food for thought at least.
P’28 weekly message (a day late!) – Housing
It’s coming to you a day late this week (my bad), but here is our Weekly Update for P’28s about Housing and The Forest.
Housing assignments were released today, so a couple of key points to stress here:
For many students (or their parents/families), when you see their housing assignment, one of the first things you do is a Google/Instagram/X [Twitter] search for the roommate to see what you can find out about them. Remember that nearly everyone has something on social media that is not representative of who they truly are (even our own children!). Don’t put too much stake in social media posts or pictures; do encourage your student to spend some time trying to get to know their new roommate
You may discover that this person seems to be a lot like your Deac (and that seems comforting) – or that they are quite different (which might feel disconcerting). Relax and remember that students were assigned based on presumptive compatibility from the Housing and Dining Application.
Roommates don’t have to be best friends, or share the same beliefs/religion/etc. They just have to share the space peaceably.
Room assignments will not be changed (either to a new hall or a new roommate), so your students (or you!) should not ask Residence Life and Housing for changes 🙂
Finally, please check with your student/get their approval before you to go to your social media/message board of choice and say “Anyone else living in Babcock 3rd floor?” Your student may have valid reasons they don’t want their living space on blast to people they don’t know, so again, ask before you post. See more recommendations for families to maintain their students’ privacy.
And just to offer some personal perspective, here are renderings of my ’27’s first-year room. It was TINY. And although at the time I fretted about how small it was and that there really wasn’t any way to arrange the room other than to put the bed up high and the desk below, my ’27 and his roommate Did. Not. Care.
They were so excited to be in college and be independent, and they were both busy students who spent a lot of time outside the room. They were happy with their little space and adjusted quickly. They are living in a similar building this year because although the room is small, the location is perfect.
Just know wherever your ’28 lands, they can make it work.
