After a slightly longer hug than usual, Nathalie Anyakpor's father left her in a dorm room at UCLA this weekend, with the teenager admitting to feeling "totally weirded out" at being on her own for the first time in her young life.
Then the pre-med student, 18, heard that her dad, Emmanuel Anyakpor, had pledged to call her every morning between 6 and 7. The Gardena grants administrator said he wanted to "keep [Nathalie] focused" on her studies.
"Whaaat?" Nathalie yelped, reeling backward. Then, "What?" again, even louder, accompanied by spurts of astonished laughter. "No! My God, he's crazy. I won't be awake. I'm not answering," said Nathalie, a graduate of Harbor Teacher Preparation Academy in Wilmington.
And so it went on freshman move-in weekend at UCLA, a time of laughter and tears -- laughter for the eye-rolling, embarrassed students, and tears for their parents, loathe to say goodbye. UCLA officials said they expect to enroll nearly 4,900 freshman this fall, with instruction beginning Thursday.
This was supposed to be the "teacup" generation, students so sheltered by their hovering, overprotective parents that they would crack without mom and dad at their sides. But many of the freshmen checking into the Hedrick Summit dorm on the UCLA campus Friday appeared to be bursting with impatience to start life on their own. Some of their parents, however, were a bit of a wreck.
"I'm not worried about her at all. She's been ready for this for a year," said Denise Sheldon of Laguna Niguel, slipping daughter Breanna's gold high heels into an over-the-door shoe organizer. "She'll be fine. We'll be a mess."
Denise Sheldon, a flight attendant, and her husband, Bob, a commercial pilot, said they had worked out their schedules so that one of them would always be home for Breanna and her younger brother, Bryce. Breanna, who graduated from Aliso Niguel High School, is a U.S. Water Polo Academic All-American who will play for UCLA's No. 1-ranked women's squad. Her major is such a mouthful that it's usually known by just its initials: MIMG (microbiology, immunology and molecular genetics).
Breanna, 18, didn't get where she is by shilly-shallying. Her blond braid flying, Breanna efficiently stowed her extensive gear around the room.
"I have enough clothes and underwear for about 1 1/2 months," Breanna said airily. She planned to take her dirty laundry with her on her first trip home -- to see her brother and five dogs, not her parents, her mother said pointedly, pretending to be miffed.
