Monday 6 July 2009

Baby goes to eleven

Round 18: University
(Tatiana, David, Kirstin, Abigail, Caleb)


David, Kirstin and Abigail have just started their junior year and are still living at Moretti Hall. Tatiana is somewhat bored and lonely, being separated from Jonas once again.

David and Tatiana are both working hard to graduate. There are more term papers and assignments and a lot more preparation to do before them.



Not that Kirstin worries about such things. Playing chess might be useful for some degree programs but it's of very little value for her Economics course.

So at the end of each semester, while David enjoys some music...

...and Tatiana enjoys some grog...

Kirstin is stuck in the dorm's library, cramming a whole semester's worth of work into one night.

To celebrate Kirstin finally entering her senior year, David treats her to dinner back in Sullivan (after popping in to visit each set of parents briefly).

Being a Fortune Sim, Kirstin decides that attempting to scam unsuspecting pool players out of some cash is an appropriate after-dinner activity.

With dollar signs in her eyes though, Kirstin neglected to remember that she's actually never played pool in her life. She ends up losing $50 and goes home poorer, rather than richer.

Jonas and Tatiana can't wait to be living together again but for the mean time, they have to put up with very sporadic nights out.

Being a college graduate, Jonas can afford more than dinner at the pub so he and Tatiana dine at Dragonfly instead. They did burn Jonas's food a bit, which isn't really what you expect when you pay through the nose for your meal though.

Time out together is what counts though and Jonas leaves a rather expensive token of his appreciation at Tatiana's dorm that evening.

Tatiana has found herself the unwilling subject of her dormmate Martin's affections lately.

Everywhere she goes, he seems to turn up there too.

He's really not her type and she's taken. She was horribly offended when Martin invited her to join him in the hot tub. No thank you!

Thankfully, it's time to graduate. Tatiana leaves campus with a 4.0 GPA. She will be living at her family's farm.

David has also earnt a 4.0, so all that hard work paid off for him and his cousin.

Kirstin graduates with a 3.5 GPA, which is pretty good considering what a slacker she was. She and David will both be moving in with her parents in Sullivan.

Meanwhile, over in Family Housing Unit C, Abigail is attempting to finish her degree, while Caleb takes menial jobs to support their little family.

One of the things Caleb has been doing to make money is entering cooking competitions. He wasn't very successful at first. Max Nihill, who took up cooking on a whim just to earn another scholarship, kicked his ass.

Caleb turned the tables at the next competition though. He took home a $500 prize and was pretty successful at the comps from then on.

Abigail is very proud of him. They need any money they can get and they've got a nice little nest egg saved up for after Abigail's graduation.

Caleb's parents had not yet come over to visit since he'd moved to Suffolk with Abigail, so they made the trip during Abigail's junior year. Filippo was immediately enchanted by his first little grandchild.

Maria wanted to be as excited about Filippo, but she found herself standing by the mailbox with her arms crossed, sulking. It really bothered her that her son had a child with a woman who she didn't really know and who he didn't seem to have any intention of marrying.

But who could really look at Nicholas and refuse him anything he wanted?

Not Maria.

Still though, Maria is finding that getting to know Abigail is not improving things much at all. Abigail is trying but she just rubs Maria the wrong way.

At least Abigail is hitting it off with Filippo but then again, he's always been a tad more easygoing than Maria.

You wouldn't know it from these pictures but Abigail is still a student and they do live on campus. Kirstin is a good friend to Abigail and comes over for study sessions, especially when Abigail has to miss the occasional lecture.

With careful money management, Caleb and Abigail managed to buy a few more toys for Nicholas. These are toys the whole family can play with together, so they help Nicholas's social skills too.

Abigail graduated from Suffolk with a 3.8 GPA and a degree in Psychology, so she and Caleb decided it was a good cause for a celebration. It was amazing how many of their family and friends they were able to fit in their tiny little house.

Pascal and Mina were both incredibly proud of their daughter for graduating with honours.

Abigail even received some congratulatory phone calls from friends who couldn't make it to the party, though it was hard to hear over all the noise.

There was a minor scandal at the party when Mina pulled Filippo in for a hug that lasted a little bit too long.

Maria knew all about Mina and Filippo's history, so she wasn't going to stand for that for a single minute. Things are not rosy between Maria and Filippo right now.

Mina knew Pascal wasn't bothered by Filippo but she was a little concerned about Maria. She doted on Nicholas for the rest of the party, knowing Maria was unlikely to start anything with her while she was holding their grandson.

Maria and Filippo didn't talk to each other for the rest of the party but Maria did at least manage to not throttle him in front of their children and grandchild.

Notes:
  • Whoa, I was not expecting all that drama at Abigail's party! I think Filippo might be sleeping on the couch for a while, even though it was Mina's fault. Poor Filippo.
  • I've aged Nicholas up to child now (I was supposed to do it at college but got distracted) so you can see him in his profile.
  • In the graduation pics, you can probably spot Zaria, Max and Eliot as YAs if you look closely. I am switching to a rotation system similar to Lakeside Heights and Riverdale, so I won't actually play those kids until a little later. I'm going to write up a post about my take on the rotation system a little later and hopefully that will clear up any confusion. I'm really excited to get it going, so I admit that I rushed these guys through college a bit!

8 comments:

  1. OMG, what a graduation party! How crazy that they used to mess around, and then their kids hooked up, lol! I don't think I've ever seen in my neighborhood!

    Congrats to all the graduates! And such good grades too!

    ReplyDelete
  2. What a party indeed! Well hopefully feelings will be worked out and men won't be sleeping on the couch for to long.

    Way to go to all teh grads. Can't wait to see them out in the world!

    You have some lovely family student housing. Mine aren't so nice. lol

    ReplyDelete
  3. Look at all those sims!

    Maria seems like a tough old sim. Don't mess with her Mina! Smart move holding the baby for cover though! XD

    ReplyDelete
  4. Well, Maria's been through a lot, hasn't she? I don't think she'd stand for anything that looks like husband stealing.

    Oh, I just remembered that Maria is (or was) actually Mina's stepmother! She married Mina's dad Anton after Steffi died. They used to be pretty close. Not any more, I guess! LOL.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Mina is good at causing drama, isn't she?! I've never thrown a graduation party for any of my students, I really should.

    I've been reading all the updates from the two weeks my computer was broken and now I'm done. It's been fun but I feel like I don't remember half of what happened to each family LOL

    ReplyDelete
  6. Yeah, it's a talent of hers! Who would guess that she's actually very shy?

    This graduation party was ruined. Abigail spun into her grad gown then walked outside and spun into her outerwear. Then, of course, she wouldn't spin back. Getting a picture of her in her grad gown was the only reason I even threw her the party in the first place! I've downloaded extracted grad gowns and hair from TSR now though, so I'll be able to fix that up next time!

    I hope the round summary helped you get a bigger picture of what went on. I think it was a pretty slow round, in terms of big happenings though!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Oh boy. It's always the shy ones. ;) They know how to start trouble!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Yeah, the old adage about the quiet ones definitely holds true with Mina!

    ReplyDelete