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

[OhYouBadBadKitten]

old thread was getting big....

I'm impressed Knitting. Very in vogue too :) I can't imagine our current ones becoming vintage!

Marmite I'm so glad you found the right sofa for recuperating on. You need a chap to deliver grapes as needed while you recline.

I'll suggest that to DH Kitten!

To be fair though he had been brilliant. Off for an exciting chemo talk and ecg today. 

Deep joy! I hope it goes ok. Coffee and cake after?

I will avert my eyes from all this talk of new furniture. We tend towards ebay bargains for our sitting room furniture - 3 DCs, DH, Dog & Cat all take the new feel off furniture quickly. Might as well save ourselves the bother!

DD2 was home for the weekend. She is enjoying the course but is finding it hard work keeping on top of the admin side - two different departments who dont talk to each other to manage. No reading week for her (which she could do with to sort her notes out). Physics are having a reading week but Chemistry have decided a week of tests would be just the thing!

As mentioned before, she is in a course of 1. Apparently Bristol have no ChemPhys students this year. ChemPhys graduates are going to be scarcer than hen's teeth.

Is anyone else's fresher now starting to look for accomm for next year? I thought DD had lost her mind, but it seems to be true - she needs to find somewhere in November....or at latest (and last in the queue) January?! We only just sent her up ffs??!

If you look upthread, janinlondon I think you might be second! Though DS1 had to get his sorted by Nov in his 1st year which meant people having to choose their friends wisely on very little information.

This 'sending them up' expression, I thought that was a1950s phrase for Londoners sending their DC to Oxbridge? Or am I mixing it up with being 'sent down' in disgrace?

My DD has her accommodation sorted for next year jan. And they lost the one they wanted.

rift

DS is viewing houses on Thursday. He had arranged one last week but it had already gone before they'd seen it.

no bookings for ds (if he goes for halls in 2nd year) till Feb 19. That suits me, he might have decided who best to share with (Or whether to share at all) and which part of city he wants to live in, by then. He made what I feel was a mistake to live so far from campus, and once the winter sets in, I think he will see the advantage of other bits of town with halls available. At the moment he is near the nightclubs and shops, but he says bus to lectures takes hours (well 25 mins) and the walk is uphill.

Also he hasn't really made friends in his flat, so again the anonymity of a larger flat may appeal, with limited cooking facilities and more disposable cash to buy meals from the cafeteria on campus.

I am reassured by the power of mumsnet that my child has not taken leave of her senses. Thank you! (we literally sent her up EllenJanes - geographically - London to Durham!)

I am not asking about next year's accommodation, he can sort that out for himself in his own time. If all else fails he can go back where he is this year, they still have places for the current year so I'm assuming that he could get a place next year.

I had a browse of student accommodation when I returned home from the wifi blackspot of Somerset. DD will be paying £110 per week next year. I found some for £85 but that did not include bills and the houses were not as nicely furnished/finished. DD's rent includes all bills, a tv in every bedroom and broadband/wifi. Even if we have to pay for the full 52 weeks it works out slightly cheaper than halls this year and she will still only need to fund food and fun from her minimum loan.

I do think it is very early though for sorting out who you want to live with. She was moaning last night on facetime about why boys leave the toilet seat up and she doesn't know if she can cope with living with boys next year . I suggested they allocated a bathroom to the boys (2) and the other for the girls (5). I refrained from mentioning that this would mean that the boys would not have to put up with bloody long hairs draped everywhere and clogging up the plugholes.

The flatmate who has distanced herself has apparently asked to be moved. DD is quite upset as they have made a big effort with her. She does moan when they have pre drinks in the flat but the reason she has given is the noise from the bins at the Philharmonic Hall. DD has mentioned that bottles from the bar are noisily emptied into the bins at 6am every morning which disturbs her every day.

I wonder why they have to sort out their second year accommodation when they're not even half way through the first term of the first year. I suppose it started with the good flats/houses getting snapped up early and then just got earlier each year.

It's a shame, because the friendships can be quite fluid this early on. The people I was spending time with in October did not end up being close friends; in fact I barely saw them again. By December I had found my true friends - we ended up sharing a house for the next three years and I'm still good friends with them now.

I had a quick look Ursula and rooms in the block of flats just down the road are more than he's paying now. A room in a shared house five minutes walk in the other direction is £40 a week cheaper but doesn't include bills. His halls now don't look quite as expensive as I initially thought they were.

DS is home. Seems much more grown up than he was when I left him 5 and a half weeks ago.

I've had the run down on who will be sharing with who. One of the girls wants to move her boyfriend who isn't a student in. I have told him to avoid that house share and also quietly mention to who ever wants to live with her that they all might have to pay council tax if there is a non student living there.

It's much too early for friendships to have established but 'c'est la vie.' (Auto correct struggled with that )

Went to visit DS1 in Coventry today. Nice to see the Aldi heated clothes horse earning its keep. Works well as a small radiator when not drying pants and socks!

DS2 today received a letter from his college. Always a bit nerve wracking! This one was gold though, almost literally. The college have decided to give him a bursary of £1000 for choosing to stay there for HE after FE. I have no idea why. It wasn't a bribe to stay on as we knew nothing about it. Free money. DS1 gets a bursary from Warwick due to my income but college don't do that sort of bursary.

starfleet Exactly what I thought about DS, that he seemed so much older

Ellen Great news about the bursary!

Fab news re bursary Ellen. Yes, I wish this business of finding a second year house wasnt so soon, but I have checked the estate agent websites in Durham and yes, indeed, the places are being snapped up overnight. I'd like to think I could leave it all to her, but the parental guarantor thing is now looming large in my google search history....

Ellen that sounds great about the bursary, especially because it was so unexpected.

DD doesn't know when she's supposed to start looking for houses, and thinks it's far too soon to start looking yet because she hasn't had time to find out who her friends are going to be long term. I suppose she'll figure it out herself, I'm pretty good at the "hands off" style of parenting.

We’ve managed to spend a fair amount of time with DD so far this week. It stupidly had not occurred to me that we would have to say goodbye again tonight, and how sad I immediately felt caught me quite by surprise. They get a revision week before their Christmas exams so we are hoping she will come home for at least a bit of that.

She seems quite settled and centred in herself most of the time. She had a slight wobble when she had some disappointing news about a friend from home, but has since gathered herself slightly.

We’re going to a gorgeous cafe for lunch with her today. She seems to be enjoying eating out in nice places with us, because she claims halls food is just beige. I have noticed though that each of her choices when eating out has been quite beige too

She has briefly mentioned that she thinks she’d rather live with friends from halls next year than course friends. Though her halls friends don’t go out much, her course friends go out every night and she really does not want to live in a party flat.

Ellen Free money, what a lovely surprise.

I am taking granny to visit DS mostly because I am sick and tired of her hinting round and round the subject. DS gets an evening meal out of it so he's happy, she's happy and maybe I'll get some respite afterwards.

Knitting I'm taking my mum with me to see DD today for exactly the same reason!
DD is delighted though - she has always had a special bond with her Nan - I'm just gutted that it means I'll barely get a look in, especially with DD2 there too (had originally been planning a solo visit!)

Ellen hooray to the free money! That's brilliant news, how fab!

Eek, choosing house shares now? That is so early - some dstudents won't really have made friends yet if they started in the first week of October, and those who have made friends may find they aren't particularly friendly with them by this time next month!

Obviously there isn't much the university can do about it if it is private rentals - if lls can agree next year's rentals now, they will obviously want to do so! I suppose the expansion in student numbers over the past few years has made it all more urgent.

But it all sounds - not to overstate it! - a bit horrendous for the quite, shy, less sociable ones who haven't got ensconced in a group within 3 weeks. Way to boost their confidence to find immediately that they're 'failing' at the next hurdle - finding a group for 2nd yr accomm.

Are there any other universities where this happens - might well be a factor in the choosing process for some students I would have thought (if they are lucky enough to have a choice, obviously!).

Ellen great news about the bursary.

Hardwick glad you had a good visit and dd seems quite settled. I find the halls food comment amusing as dd, who really doesn't cope with anything but bland food, is always complaining that everything is accompanied by spicy sauces.

We will apply for halls for dd again next year. I think that given the circumstances she will be allocated a room again.

Ds is coming home for the weekend. It will actually seem odd to have someone else here.