Class of '18 Best foot forward through the autumn leaves.

[OhYouBadBadKitten]

old thread was getting big....

I almost sent something to DD by mistake as it defaulted to her address.

Did your child have an NUS card last year (it is now a Totem card)? Have they looked at the expiry date on it recently?

I have resolved not to let the words "I told you so" pass my lips but it is so hard some days.

I'm not sure she did. She had a Uni days app thing that got her discounts. But discounts don't really matter to DD.

DS didn't have one last year - he got one in September. Ordered it online and picked it up when he registered. They only last for a year don't they? I remember queuing up at the SU at the start of every year to get mine renewed.

I have sent random parcels to DS and I send him a postcard every week. Mainly stills from a film that he likes. Although I have got a set of Modern Toss ones when the others run out.

He has just booked a trip to Budapest in January with the Geography society. I am funding as it will be his Christmas present.

Ursula did you know that you can buy companion cards for Sainsbury's? You keep one card and put money on it and your DD uses the other card to buy her shopping. I think £110 is a good amount for her to live on. My DD is managing on £75 a week but she isn't bothered about buying new clothes. I did buy her a lot before she went.

I agree that £110 should be plenty to live on.

Her expensive make up habit and clothes obsession clearly do not come within those parameters though!

More shockingly, she has taken to buying pies . She was heating up a steak and ale pie for her tea last night. All those years of home cooking from the Aga, and her A for her Food Tech GCSE have come to naught. Her Grandfather has a lot to answer for.

DS1 was able to attend every lecture and seminar this week! 🎉
The week at home must have done him good.

at the shop bought pie outrage. She's clearly looking for comfort food.
I think dd may be discovering one cannot live on pasta alone. In the meantime our diet has got healthier as we've not been buying treats that were purportedly for her lunch box.

That's brilliant First :) has he managed to improve his eating?

"Her expensive make up habit and clothes obsession clearly do not come within those parameters though!"

DD's boyfriend thinks nothing of forking out £40 for a bottle of rum.

When DD goes to university I think her major outlay will be food. She isn't that into clothes and hardly ever wears make up, but she is a bit of a foodie.

thefirst good news.

Dd managed to oversleep by over an hour this morning. She made her tutorial by skipping breakfast and probably other things. It does show how tired she is as she is normally very conscientious about her classes.
She has had one long assignment but she has bits of work to do for each of her subjects almost every day so there isn't really down time.
On top of that she is struggling with everyday living because everything takes her so much longer than average.
I don't think either of us had realised how all the little bits I did for her added up.

TheFirst that is good news. Is it down to an improvement in his sleeping?

I think I mentioned that DS was timetabled for classes A and B where it should have been one or the other. He was overjoyed (not) to find that the essay he was set was for the class he's not supposed to be in until the second rotation and as a result he handed it in five months early. Oh how we laughed (no, not really)

That's great progress the first! Well done that boy! 🍾

NoHaudin it must be really hard for her. Is there anything that can be done to make everyday living any easier? Are support services available for anything in that category?

knitting that must be a record for early submission.

msdragon Most of it comes under social care. As you can imagine, almost impossible to get, especially as it is her home local authority that is responsible. We have put in place what we can in terms of gadgets etc and the halls are pretty helpful on the whole.
She definitely wants to be there and is making the best of it. At least she has exams before Christmas and should be able to have a proper break over the holidays.

That is quite funny Knitting.

I think it's quite normal for them to be feeling really tired at this point or thereabouts in term, it must be much more so for your dd NoHaudin.

You must be chuffed thefirst. Bit of family TLC always does the trick

nohaudin your DD is great to be getting on with it. Tiredness is going to be there for them all but your DD Has it harder love her. She must be proud though!

knitting he's been working extra hard!! Am sure he'll be telling that story for years. Is funny!

ursula posh make-up. Know that one. We took a largish box of make up to uni!

I think DD2 is managing on her money. We send her £50/week but pay for her phone, train tickets home, bus pass for Sheffield area. She is home now so I will check that debt isnt mounting up.

So far so good with the course. 25 contact hours plus lab prep/write up etc mean that she doent get too much opportunity for high living during the week.

It seems that hers is now the party flat. I hadnt realised how normalised drug taking has become. Lots of talk last night of flatmates plus friends from other flats coming into hers getting out of their trees on MDMA & coke.

I havent asked DD2 if she has ever tried anything but get the feeling that if she has she isnt a regular (low budget probably helps). She has had MH problems in the past and knows that mood altering while fun in the moment has consequences.

Gnome my friend's son was shocked at how normalised drug taking is in Sheffield, especially coke.

LoniceraJaponica was that specifically at the university or in the city?

It's the routineness of it. It makes me wonder how people keep up with course work.

How do they afford to take such drugs regularly? It's a different world from the one I'm used to.

DS1 says that one of his flatmates (that he gets on really well with) seems to be relying on alcohol and cannabis in order to be able to function.

DD is “talking to” a boy in third year. He is bipolar so takes medication for that, but also does drugs. Avoid avoid avoid I scream internally but smile sweetly and say ‘poor lad’.

"LoniceraJaponica was that specifically at the university or in the city?"

Students/young people in the city. I couldn't say from which university. My friend's son is doing an apprenticeship degree so commutes from home to work and does a day a week at Sheffield university. He doesn't really do nights out in town, but when he did he was shocked at how openly these people were sniffing up lines of coke.

DD's BF is at university in Glasgow and it seems that the whole of his block of flats party all the time. Several of the students ingest illegal substances, and IMO the BF's drinking is out of control.

My local village has become very popular for weekend evenings. Apparently it is commonplace for lines of coke to be sniffed in the toilets. I rarely go out so don’t come across it. But when I was at University in the 70s cannabis and marijuana were fairly abundant.

I find the drugs stuff really scary but am not worried about dd who thinks taking anything drug related that you don't need to medically is completely stupid.