Early days at uni 2017

[HSMMaCM]

How is everyone settling in?

DD starts on Wednesday.

She's emailed me some photos of her room - quite compact but nice. Tray for kettle and mugs added to the list of things for DHs second trip. The pinboard looks very empty, I think I'll try to find a couple of photos of the dog, or his predecessor (we don't have many actual prints from recent years).

We made a Secret Box for ds. I left it in his room telling him it was cleaning materials in case I needed to go over the room when we got there. He swallowed my tale and nearly put the box in a cupboard without opening it... One of the things the box contained was the smelliest, hairiest, dampest dog toy we could find to remind him of home!

A friend of mine had to share a room when he got to university. The room mate seemed a little hostile, but when friend found handwritten prayers asking for God to get rid of friend, friend was somewhat freaked out. When he found himself locked out of room altogether and a group passionately singing inside, he pleaded to be allocated a new room!

That sounds very healthy Eve! We must have spent less than 10 minutes at DD's hall. I am looking forward to teasing her that at least I gave my parents a cup of tea before giving them the boot. I expect she'll point out that DH didn't let his parents drop him off in the first place.

Rogue yes, she is getting a hefty discount at least. All the doubling up must be costing the university a bomb.

Lady at the handwritten prayers! They've both told the accommodation officer that it isn't working out but neither of them have resorted to accosting a 'Higher Power' so far as I know.

Just had a stressed out call from dd. Her student loan arrived at same time as accommodation invoice. The loan covered it with £200 spare for the year. She received her loan in equal instalment, but the accommodation wasn't divided equally, meaning she was £160 short this term? I was able to transfer her the money, but some students may go straight into their overdraft. Bonkers.

QOD I think it's hard for them to admit it was what they wanted when it's hard settling in at first; we get the blame because they know that we can take it and maybe it makes them feel a bit better..I'm not explaining it very well but i hope you know what I mean. Sometimes it's easier to blame somebody else than take the responsibility and they have taken on a whole lot of responsibility without having somebody on hand to pick up the pieces if it all goes wrong.

Your Mum emigrated when you were 18?! That's a bit much IMO.

I know somebody who joined the air force as a boy entrant aged 15 ( many many years ago) and his parents emigrated to Australia AND DIDN'T TELL HIM!!!

Green DD would NOT be happy with that arrangement. I hope it's resolved soon.

I was dispatched before most of the other parents when I dropped her off.

We've been giving her space to make friends, but her boyfriend keeps going to visit. She is of course happy to see him, but he's clearly ignored our suggestions to give her some space.

DD invited DH over last night ( it's a stones throw from work).
Turned out she needed help syncing her printer .

He met the flat mates who are apparently all very friendly and offered him tea, coffee and vodka .

DD was really worried she might have to share initially as the uni sent out an email warning that they might have to due to delayed renovations.

I am going to visit for the day in 2 weeks - she will have been there 4 weeks by then.

Tea, coffee and vodka

I'm hoping to meet some of DD's housemates when we go on the 8th.

Errol I'm. In Cambridge. I've never been into Starbucks (there ae some much nicer independents) but 4G signal is prettty good throughout the city. Which uni is your dd at?

Just had a conversation with ds about one of the boys in his flat who sounds like he's really struggling. He said a couple of days ago that this boy had consumed a litre of spiced rum (!) over 2 evenings. He's very quiet and socially very awkward. Last night he got very drunk before they were going out as a flat (spiced rum again). DS said he was upset and aggressive, accusing them all of not liking him. Apparently there were a couple of older students visiting the flat who confiscated his alcohol and looked after him while he was throwing up (again).

DS has tried to talk to the boy when he's been sober, but says he's really unresponsive. I know ds will have tried hard as at home he's the one amongst his friends who looks after people. Poor kid. I also feel sorry for the rest of them having to deal with this - seems some of the girls were upset by his aggression and shoving of people trying to help him. I've suggested to ds that he contacts Student Welfare to explain the situation and see if he can get some help for him.

Heartbreaking to think of a young man spending most of his time in his room, drinking stupid amounts of alcohol and feeling that everyone dislikes him 🙁

That is sad stone circle. Hopefully these days student welfare would be able to offer some support, and surely would want to know if someone is struggling. Hopefully they can discretely offer some useful support even if that's also to the flat as a whole.
Best of luck to your DS with this x

Thank you HSM How frustrating about your DD's boyfriend. I hope she's still managing to get out and meet other students.

Stone that really is heartbreaking. I do hope student welfare can help that poor boy.

Emma (btw, great name! ) - she's in Cambridge (Murray Edwards).

No news here today so presumably both twins are doing fine. It's their first week of lectures so probably easier and more structure than the frenzy of freshers' week.

I had a message from dd saying she is enjoying her lectures!

She also said she is sleep deprived

Just had a nice long phone call from dd. She's managed to eat for more or less free this first week they've been handing out free burgers and the like at the student's union. Sounds really cheerful and organised.

DS mentioned he'd had burgers free with his Fresher's wristband RedHelen.

DD has joined societies

• LGBTQ 🏳️‍🌈
• Competitive dance
• cheerleading

She should meet some fun people there.

Sounds like they've definitely got their money's worth from the wristband Hirsemad!

Oh dear about the boy with the spiced rum. It seems a particular personality type: attention-seeking misery. I've seen quite a few over my (many!) years. Unfortunately the quiet stiff-upper-lip-mustn't-bother-anybody ones slide under the radar and are in just as much if not more pain.

Not much word from ds except to say he's had a 2-hour seminar thing already (day 2!) which he said was "all good". No news is good news, I think, but I am keen to know if he's joined any societies. If not I will have to go up and join some for him!

Frustration here. All the mail sent to her hall address has failed to arrive within a week, so she needs to cancel stuff, get it resent to home, and then either she comes home, I take it down or its sent to someone with a proper address for her to collect. A bore.

Luckily we held onto the letter with her PIN, meaning to tell her over the phone, so it should not matter that the card may have gone astray.

Errol how fab for her. There is a great minimarket across the road from Murray Edwards (in Histon Road) which used to be called Nasreen Dar but was renamed a couple of years ago to Midan. Everyone still refers to it as the Nasreen Dar though!

If you're visiting, best place to park at the weekend is at the Council staff car park which is open to the public on Sat and Sun. It's relatively cheap for Cambridge. And the Castle pub down the road on Castle Hill does a great pint of Adnams. 😁

Just looking to book our summer holiday thinking we can go any time no need to get back for results and then I thought resits! So we will need to book before 20th Aug just in case! Argh!