It’s natural to want to impress your family when they come to visit. You probably don’t get to see them very often, and Family Weekend (October 18-20) is your chance to show them that your tuition is being well-spent. First thing’s first: make sure to clean your room and hide any evidence of excessive partying. Most importantly, don’t stress too much; your parents (hopefully) just want to see that you are happy.
Make a Reservation
Reservations are very hard to find for Parents Weekend as the date approaches. If you haven’t already, call your favorite restaurants and secure a table. If you are new to campus or just want some new recommendations, here is a list of my favorite restaurants for dinner…
- Rosalina
- Mills tavern
- Salted slate
- Al Forno
- Gracies
- Bacaro
- Red stripe
- Pasta beach
- Waterman grill
- Sienna
- Hemingway’s
And, if you want to have a sit-down brunch with your family, it can’t hurt to make a reservation too…
- Waterman Grill
- Julians
- The District
- Duck and Bunny (no reservations)
- Amy’s (no reservations)
- Nick’s on Broadway
Lastly, coordinate with your friends and their parents because this is a rare opportunity for them to meet.
Sports
If you have a parent who is crazy about sports (like my Dad, who made us go to 4 damn sporting events last year for Parents Weekend and who desperately wishes I played a sport in college like he did), there are some big games that weekend! You will have to buy tickets for non-students as well as for students included in advance for the dance show, which is really cool :)
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Volleyball against Cornell 7pm Friday
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Family Weekend Dance Concert 8pm Friday and Saturday or 2pm Sunday
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Women’s Rugby vs Harvard 11am Saturday
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Field Hockey vs Princeton Noon Saturday
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Football vs Princeton 12:30pm Saturday
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Volleyball vs columbia 5pm Saturday
Brown Organized Events
In case you have family members who aren’t abnormally crazy about sports like my father, here is the Brown schedule of events for the weekend. Take advantage of these opportunities Brown provides to impress our families, and ask your parents which activities seem interesting…
Here is the online schedule:
https://www.brown.edu/family-weekend/schedule-fri
Or download the guidebook interactive app, where you can see the general schedule and create your own personal schedule:
https://guidebook.com/g/brownfamilyweekend2019/
The schedule is long, so here are some highlights…
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Friday:
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First, make sure to check in at the Welcome Center from 12-6 on Friday (and register your family members online beforehand)
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Welcome Reception at 5
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Keynote speaker: Dara Khosrowshahi (CEO of Uber) at 6:30
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Saturday:
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Educating Your Student at Brown lecture at 9am
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Weekend Forums at 11am
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Peer Advising for Navigating the Open Curriculum
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Film Screening at 2
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Still, your interests may be very different from mine, so be sure to look for yourself. For example, there are LBGTQ and Brown Center for Students of Color open houses. There are even AA meetings. So, feel free to ignore my very biased suggestions.
Other things to do off campus
If your family drove over or rented a car, take advantage of having a car—especially if you aren’t really interested in any Brown events or you just want to hang out with your fam. Go somewhere fun like the beaches nearby and relax. Keep yourself busy, but not too busy or stressed because you will regret not enjoying the much-needed family time.
Providence has a lot to offer, and most students fail to take advantage of it. There are lots of cool, artsy things to see and do. Unfortunately, there is no WaterFire that weekend, but you should definitely go at some point (there’s one October 5). It’s only a 15-minute walk to India Point Park. You can also walk along the Providence rivers. There are lots of random festivals in this city too. On October 19, there is a Hard Cider and Donut Fest (basically bar hopping during the day) if you’re into that… here’s the link: https://g.co/kgs/9KvXzp.