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

[OhYouBadBadKitten]

old thread was getting big....

Well done on the offer lonerica and to starfleet's ds for coping in such a caring way.

Well done to your daughter Lonerica!
Ds and three friends have started to look at houses for next year and will probably move to Leamington. He finishes on Friday and be home on Monday 10th - hurrah!

That's a lovely start to Christmas Lonerica

Well done Lonerica. Have fun planning.
Ds1 asked for a hairdryer for Christmas.

Thank you for the messages everyone. It does feel that DD can focus on her future now.

I know we can only talk from our own experience and I'm sure that having a sibling home from University dramatically changes the atmosphere in the house, but when your child is an only, my goodness the difference it makes.

That will be us next year Ursula

We are two DC down in our house, so youngest is enjoying our individual attention. Looking forward to Christmas and having both back together, the older two haven't been back at the same time all term.

DD has exam weeks this week and next, but is coming home for a few days in between so I can do Greek flashcards with her.

raspberry my dd is doing Greek too. She is struggling with vocabulary learning although she enjoys it on the whole.
I might suggest flashcards although she will have to do them on her own.

I definitely concur that having dd back makes a big difference to our house. It's lovely - just different.

Nohaudin DD seems to think. She can teach me enough to manage - will see how we get on. It will be different to the hours spent on Tudors and American history in May/June.

I actually did Greek myself, it is the distance that is the problem.
Though I could do it by Skype I suppose.....

This morning I am going to put together a yellow ikea wardrobe. which will contain the tsunami of mess that will sweep into the house when ds1 returns in two weeks.

feeling a bit rough in a middle aged menopausal sort of way this morning, cannot imagine what it is like to feel rough in a teenage way, looking back to be young would be heavenly of course you only realise this when you are in your 50's..

Went to see Translations by Friel at NT in summer, and felt sad I didn't understand any of the Greek tags, although the Latin just about meant something.

I put a pot plant in the front room and some family member said it looks like a dentist's waiting room!!

And my life has shrunk down to the information that the Hamilton ticket line was unendurably long and dull (and they told me my expired card would still work, after all that) and that Dr Who last night was really very good, and quite funny (which is what matters most)

seeing ds in two days.

Dh learnt a language from scratch in his 20's and he said that the way to learn vocab is to read something (very interesting like a novel, not that Greeks had novels)you don't understand, and then look up every second word in a dictionary..slowly you can guess some of the words and it is a better way round than learning the vocab first..That is English mind you, he is EU.

Nettles the Hamilton queue wasn't too bad for us but we got there early. If you do go early head straight for the bar and try and get a seat. Seating is very limited and standing around is annoying if you have gone early. Will you be seeing the new cast?

Newcastle have already emailed DD with offer holders days. They don't hang around.

DS1 came back for the weekend as he managed to get tickets for a small Circa Waves gig at a local(ish) pub.

He seemed reasonably well but had a wobble about going back to university at the end of the weekend. I was 150 miles away from home at that point so couldn't easily give him a shovepep talk. Thankfully he was able to pull himself together and got the coach back.

His grades are really good but his health is not 100%. He is finding it difficult to do proper self-care while living in halls.

Dd claims she has lost weight.

She can’t afford food apparently.

It sounds like he needs a proper break TheFirst. dd seems a bit run down. I think she's been eating ok, but doesn't quite get enough sleep.

I'd love to see Hamilton.

First I know it is worrying but working hard academically is a sort of self care isn't it, valuing yourself enough to concentrate and be interested. when ds is doing well in his singing I think it is literally a canary in the coal mine (well a sort of reverse one if you get my drift] just bothering is a good sign.

marmite oh it is not the real queue I was worried about, more the fear I wasn't going to be able to update my expired credit card on the ticketmaster's long and winding customers service department ds2 was getting more and more hysterical about it and kept nagging me and moving the expired credit card from one secret hiding place to the next like a squirrel with a precious acorn and insisting I ring up..but good point, yes we need to get there really early, so I need to warn ds1 to leave uni much earlier than I thought.

I@VE PUT THE IKEA WARDROBE TOGETHER! It is a bit wobbly but my reward was to be able to chuck most of downstairs in it. I've set up a desk and made a pile of christmas cards and some stamps. bliss. The only person in the house without a desk, to date.

the selfcare thing is really difficult in halls isn it though, i fyou are part of a large sociable flat, which is good in a way, but then it is diffiuclt to stop or sleep at regular times and there isn't necessarily shared meals of any nutritional value. But I've heard it can be lonelier in shared houses if they are too large a group. I know that ds would sink like a stone in a studio set up as he wouldn't see anyone or get up in the morning or eat meals at all, but maybe he would do better in a very small flat with just two people if such a flat exists. His halls is keeping him sane on one level cos it is sociable, but on the other quite distorting self care wise as no one keeps regular hours, and he doesn't see the others in his flat much or they DO keep regular hours

How is everyone's DC coping with sorting out 2nd year accommodation?
DD's BF told her that tensions are running high in their flat as everyone is splitting into smaller groups for their next year's flat share.

And her best friend is having problems with her flatmates as well.

Dd was first off the mark with next year's accommodation, sorted late October. A good mix really with 4 out of the 5 from her current flat (the other girl has moved out), 2 boys (one of whom she was at school with) and a girl from one of her flatmate's courses (nursing).

I can imagine it must be difficult though if factions start appearing.

I'm a bit stressed about accommodation. DD is not at all pushy so has watched as other groups get together to look for housing. Her hall mates are not that friendly either. So she has one girl she wants to share with. I hope they can find a nice central flat. Bristol uni has it's accommodation fair tomorrow and have tried to get students to wait til Dec/Jan to look which I think is sensible.

Much more sensible but DD does not have a 'wait' button.