"My parents already dropped by my room and saw my empty bed and they know I never get up before I have to, so they obviously drew their own conclusions," she says. "It was really embarrassing since my stuff was out in the common room for everyone to see and I was parading around on a Saturday morning in my Halloween costume and most of my ghoulish make-up still on."

Other first-years fearfully avoided their parents (or later wished they had) for fear of potential embarrassment.

Michael K. Tan '01 diplomatically suggested that it was not necessary for his father to come to campus because he was already staying in such a nice hotel in Boston.

"It would be hard for me to mix those two spheres of my life," Tan says. "I would not want him to see me in my context here and I think he also didn't want to mix the realities."

In particular, Tan says he cringes upon envisioning his father visiting Annenberg and taking pictures of him with the dining service staff or making a scene in English 197: Introduction to Gay and Lesbian Studies.

And then there were those who actually lived the awkward scenarios that Tan had only to envision.

Michelle A. Capasso '01 was surprised to learn late in the week that in addition to her parents her two aunts and two older cousins would also be visiting. She watched the six adults storm the halls of Straus complaining of their hunger.

"When Italians get hungry, they complain, and they were loud and obnoxious in their heavy Brooklyn accents," she says.

Later, after visiting Pizzeria Uno, where her family grumbled that the burgers were burned, Capasso watched as her adult cousin markered the Matthew's Hall message boards with silly messages such as "The Great Pumpkin Has Arrived."

Her father, while not playing the childish role of her cousin, proved to be responsible to the point of excess.

"It was so embarrassing because he is a neurotic," she says. "The whole weekend he reminded me to take the key as if I haven't survived up until now without him and he made lists for me to sign my term bill, to send in the warranty for my computer, telling me to dress warmly."

Omar A. Nazem '01 also understood the concept of parental eccentricities.

It all began when his parents came to his room two hours earlier than expected and, even though he turned over and went back to sleep, his parents sat on his bed, watching him and hunting for clues about his life while he slept for several hours.

Nazem's parents flew down from their home in Omaha, Neb., where there had been a power shortage the past week; so not only did they come with bulging laundry bags in tow, but they also dressed to impress in formal wear--all that was still clean after a week with no power for the washing machine--and hunted down all the batteries they could find.

"It was worse when they would sit there and tell their horror stories to people in restaurants," Nazem says. "And I definitely did not want to go help them do their laundry."

Many students remarked, though, that in retrospect they were much less embarrassed by their parents than they had expected.

"There were so many others that it wasn't much of a novelty," Angela A. Wu '01 says. "It was so surprising because I am always afraid to go with my parents on family vacations because there are so many scenes. Maybe it is a sign of my maturity or maybe having been so far away they were less likely to frustrate me and more careful."