New Uni starters 2015 (continued from Preparing for Uni)

[circular]

Thought we needed a new thread to continue from preparation.

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/higher_education/2466997-Preparing-for-Uni-in-2015-continues

Suspect all have arrived by now...

muffin I laughed as well, we had a happy chat with dd last night and today I questioned , was she hiding something.!!!. I am telling myself I have to let go and trust :)

We saw our dn this weekend, he is a lovely lad, bright and sporty. He was saying how busy he is and that he lived on sandwiches last week as he did not have time to cook and was concerned about cash flow. He was very keen to fill up on lots of meat as it is so expensive to buy :) We sent him off with a bag of lovely food.

I suspect that many who are questioning if they will return at christmas may be lured by the thought of someone else doing all the cooking and buying of food. Maybe now is the time to start dropping hints about food options for over the festive period.

Hope all have a better week. As others have said this is a big transition and there will be ups and downs along the way. I believe my dd is going to try out the laundry facilities this morning…… hopefully I wont have to explain about colour run sachets today.

Re laundry, sounds like facilities more sophisticated than expected.
DD tells me machines have 30 and 40 degree programs, so able to separate delicates but needs to save them up for a full load.

Re laundry - instructions for DS were to do sheets/towels one load and everything else at 40c - apart from his nice wool jumpers, which he is not to wash, but bring home at Christmas. I think so far he has bunged everything in together, but most of his clothes are blue/grey anyway.

seimum DDs machines must be smaller. We suggested adding towels to make up a load (but stick with 40 deg). She said only enough space for her clothes. And seems her single bedding and a bath sheet and hand towel make up a full load too.
But she will be following the 2/3ds full rule.

decorhate and hellsbells You mentioned reading week in first week of November. Be aware that not every course has one - ds's course ploughs straight on through. DS is a bit miffed that most of his new chums will be away for the week whereas he has tests.

Perhaps he'll actually get some work done

Hello Haffdonga. All DD's flatmates will be away that week but she has 2 days in that week (she thinks) so is coming home towards the end of the week to go to a party

decorhate reading week where our dds are begins Monday 9 November. However, dd still has some lectures that week but no seminars, so it's not a clear week. She has been invited to an 18th on the first Saturday so will come home and then see what her friends are doing for the rest of the week, she could just commute in for lectures. I think her boyfriend is planning a visit though so I don't think we will see her too much!!

Mumslife that sounds a massive amount of washing for one load.
But I think you did say the machines were twice the cost of my DD's.
Though, could get single bedding and towels alone in my home machine, an would expect laundry to have bigger machines than that. Maybe DD can't judge 2/3 full very well.

I am LOL at mumslife's DD's washing load!!!

DS rang home at 11.30 last night to tell us he'd lost his driving licence and he needed another form of ID for an interview this morning! Luckily it was for the University Air Squadron, not a job, so I was able to send a scan of his birth cert.

Then he rang me in work to ask where his white shirt was

He's hopeless.

Thanks mrsr I am actually going up to see her on the 7th. At least she should be able to tear herself away from her studies while I am there if she has a quiet week following!

Phew ... I just had a call from a very chirpy ds who's managed to sort out most of his list by himself

He's discovered that he hasn't missed too much stuff and his missing sessions are now on his online timetable so he knows where he's supposed to be

He's made contact with his tutor and has gone to see the access team - he said the office was full of sheepish boys who'd missed their meetings with their mentor - he was able to appreciate the irony of all these students who need extra help with organisation not being organised enough to see their mentor at the right time

So all in all much more positive- phew

Great news Noits

That's good to hear NoIts. It is early days and he obviously isn't the only one taking his time to get his act together. I get the impression that the universities are used to it and are, mostly, ok at dealing with it.

That's all positive news NoIts . I think the admin stuff at the beginning is very daunting and even the best organisers can get bogged down by it.

That is great Noits!

That's great news, noits. Seems things weren't half as bad as he thought once he actually started to deal with them!

Noits
I bet he's pleased he managed to sort this out himself. Hope this gives him more confidence for the future

the irony of all these students who need extra help with organisation not being organised enough to see their mentor

...so true. May I add DS's dyslexic friend who was given a lengthy brochure to read about how to access his help?

kitties THST not helpful is IT! . My dd is dyslexic and she managed to get approved DSA Support and has a programme that turns text into audio files so she can listen to it instead! Amazing what technology is available to help our dyslexic children achieve their best

I think my daughter is struggling a bit now with an intense schedule and her own expectations - if that makes sense. I rang up because we hadn't heard anything for a few days. She was rather stand-offish and not very communicative at first - I felt she was stressed and didn't really want to talk to me.

Which is difficult, as I can't really flap round. It's as if I have to leave her to it.

i recognise that stand offish signal marianne! I found my DD is either up or down. It's as if they are holding it all together and if they say too much they'll crack. I think it gets harder for some in the next few weeks, especially if they had a good time in freshers, whereas for some others get better.

Mine is much better at recognising it, and there is no expectation to stay there every weekend this year, less pressure somehow. Hope its just a blip and you caught her at a bad moment.