Welcome back to Pinenut Plaza Dorms at SimState Uni. This building is currently home to five students, and we have two newcomers:
Nelson and Nellie Newson have just arrived. They were both eager to start studying as soon as possible, not only because they wanted to go to uni anyway, but also because their mother's (Ginger Newson's) lifetime want is to graduate three children from college. So far, only their older brother Nigel has returned home with a diploma.
Upon turning into a Young Adult, Nellie has lost the hairstyle I gave to her when she became a teenager.
That is soon remedied, though, and she seems happier, too.
Nelson gets to know the other dorm residents one by one. Here, he is playing chess with Gerlinde Gavigan, one of Mary and Nathan Gavigans' children. Gerlinde and her twin sister Gesine are both in their Senior year.
This is Freya Hart, nee Furley, adoptive daughter of Matthew Hart and Jane Stacks-Hart who lost her entire family (Fineaus Furley and Alegra Gorey-Furley plus two sisters) in a dramatic house fire caused by a burning Christmas tree when she was a little girl.
Fenya is a Junior and has finished her term paper - the frist of the group for this semester.
Lance Landgraab (right) and his twin sister Lilo Landgraab, children of the late Malcolm Landgraab, are Sophomores. I am not particularly happy about Lance and Nelson having identical hairstyles and outfits; I am going to change that, too.
Nellie moves into one of the downstairs rooms. I know it looks like someone has been sharing the bed with her, but that's only because the bed was still unmade from the previous student occupying this room (yuck!).
Nelson gets a new hairdo from one of my recently acquired extra packs. Is it just me or does he have a slightly... hm... gay look about him?
Maybe that's why he didn't mind me giving him this room with its pink and grey colour scheme.
Fenya is super neat and can always be relied on to clean the girls' toilets and shower room. You know how I play my Sims at uni: I control them until they have all their skills for the current semester and completed their term paper. From then on, it is mostly up to them what they do all day. The only exception is that I let them make phone calls to friends and family back home, so that their relationships won't suffer too much during their being away from New Max.
Sadly, Lilo's aggressive behaviour towards Fenya has not changed. In spite of being half sisters (their Alien father is the same), Lilo has detested Fenya from Day One for no apparent reason.
Nelson is shocked to see the girls fighting.
But it's not only the students living at the dorm who fight - the eternal rivalry between Llama and Cow mascots never seems to change, either. Here, Gesine and Lilo are watching, and it is unclear whether they cheer for the Cow or against her.
After two or three days, the Newson twins decide on their Majors. Nelson chooses Politics, which will serve him well in his future political career (his LTW is to become Mayor). Nellie's choice of Literature will come in handy, too, when she will begin working at being Education Minister one day.
With her twin brother, Lilo is never aggressive.
Nelson and Lance soon become friends.
Fenya is cleaning again.
Lilo corners Fenya in the shower.
Gerlinde and Lance have a chat in the downstairs common room.
The newcomers soon learn the dorms' favourite dance: The Hula.
Queuing for the telephone - a scene that used to be reality in many dorms (also when I went to Librarian School many moons ago!) until everyone started having their own mobile phones!
Sometimes it gets all a bit much for Gerlinde, the quieter of the Gavigan twins, and she retreats to her room to read.
Nelson tries to reason with Fenya and Lilo. "I wish you girls would stop punching each other," he sighs. It suits him, doesn't it, trying to mediate between warring parties. In his future role as Mayor of New Max, he will often have to reconcile opposite interests.
So much for his attempts as a peacemaker!
Nellie and Nelson finish their first semester successfully.
Lance and Nelson sitting together in the cafeteria.
Gesine's pretty face is deceptive - she is not as nice as I thought she'd turn out to be, and almost always cheats when playing chess, even with Lance, who has become her sweetheart autonomously some time in the past.
This semester, Gerlinde is the first to complete her term paper.
A magic lamp is placed on the front porch. Nobody needs it at the moment, so it will just stay where it is.
The campus coach has not been seen yet this "year".
Nelson heeds her advice and starts working out on the exercise bike.
A typical afternoon in the downstairs common room: Fenya is working away at the computer, two of the students have a comfy chat on the floor, and Nelson is talking to his Mum back home about how his studies will help his future career.
Upstairs, Nellie and Gerlinde have fun playing a video game together.
Lilo has been so busy arguing and fighting with poor Fenya that she has badly neglected her personal hygiene. And what does she do instead of heading upstairs for a shower? She shoos everyone out of the cafeteria and has a sponge bath.
I wonder whether Lance and Gesine's relationship will survive once Gesine graduates; Lance is two years behind her, and she may find someone else when she moves back to New Max. The same could be true for him with any future newcomer. (They don't roll wants for each other all year.)
Lance, Fenya, Gerlinde, Lilo and Gesine have all finished the second semester (Nellie and Nelson are a few hours behind). For Gerlinde and Gesine, it was their final exam.
Gerlinde has graduated Summa Cum Laude in Physics. For Gesine, it's Magna Cum Laude in Biology. The twins' parents, Mary and Nathan Gavigan, are here for the graduation party, as are friend and former co-student Deirdre Dreamer and young relative Carl Capp (the girls' older brother, Isaiah, has married into the Capp family).
Another former fellow resident at the dorm, Sirius Swain, has been invited too. And of course Isaiah mustn't miss out on the party, either.
It's a lively party with lots of dancing, telling jokes and family kisses.
Mary is happy to see her daughters graduate with such excellent results.
The daft Cow thinks it is fun to liven up the party a bit by setting one of the sprinklers going.
One of the girls' professors and the dorm cook line up along with Fenya and Sirius to say good-bye to Gesine and Gerlinde.
They board the taxi back to New Maximiliania, where we are eventually going to catch up with them.
Later that evening, Nellie and Nelson return from their final exams for their first year. They are now Sophomores. Fenya is now a Senior, Lance and Lilo have just started their Junior Year.
A funny outtake and something else I've never noticed before in my game: Super-neat Fenya does not sweat when she works out - she has "clean bubbles" around her, and indeed her hygiene level does not drop at all!
There are now five students left at the dorm. Who is going to fill the three empty slots?
The lot itself shows the odd glitch every now and then. Is it time to move the group to a different dorm?
