Oxbridge Freshers 2018

[OhYouBadBadKitten]

old thread

A chat/support thread for parents of undergrads who have entered the quite frankly slightly odd world of Oxbridge.

Apparently we are parents to undergrads now

ahhh Roses. My DD has just been on phone wanting to chat a lot - tired already, she says there's so much to take in. Seperation from the nest is gradual - thankfully.

DH dropped mine off late afternoon. Quite a bit of traffic apparently.
Here's to a happy term for all

Had tears, exams so far hasn't gone well. Wish I could just be there :(

Sorry to hear of wobbles, I think DS is ok, he doesn't reveal much. He has one exam on Wednesday, but as it doesn't count for anything, and is simply a check on understanding so far, he is at least superficial unfazed by it. He also has a report to finish by Friday.

Well, we were over hallway to Cambridge when he suddenly realised he had left his computer monitor still sitting on his desk at home! Thankfully a friend is travelling down tomorrow and has picked it up. We helped him unpack and set up his room, had a cuppa then left, I think he was quite keen for us to be on our way again. I had a bit of a sob when we left, we have tidied his room here a bit since we got back, and discovered he had also left his board games here under the bed. Not essential, but a shame. We can take them down when we go in 4 weeks' time.

Going back was surprisingly easy. College had laid on a formal hall style lunch for freshers and their parents so that was nice to meet a few other parents and students. No tears on leaving but then heaps of sad messages last night!
More positive today thankfully, apparently the Cambridge bug has bitten again and she is alrightish .
This thread is so helpful to realise not all the freshers are confident and eager to leave home. My older two were super confident and it kind of makes me stress more for dd, but then this thread normalises it a bit more, so thanks peeps and glad they are all thrivingish!

It is really helpful isn't it :) it helped dd to know she wasn't the only one wobbling.

We dropped her off today - Sunday's are much easier with central colleges. I helped her sort her room out, we did a bit of shopping, checked her bike didn't need the tyres sorting and went out for a cake lunch. Warning: Fitzbillies on Trumpington street is only half open at the moment, so very few tables.

I miss her already :( I've just stripped her bed and the silence is deafening. She seemed fine when we left I think. Didn't look all lost and lonely like she did on her first day. She's been such lovely company during the hols.

We are visiting in four weeks too. Can't wait to see her!

DS told not to stress about collections. Good thing given his assessment of them.

She was much perkier today. Thankfully.

Sorry others are wobbling too!! DS collections are over and I think nearly the whole of Oxford were out on Saturday night so he's settled back in ok but back here it's far too quiet and I haven't even been in and sorted his room out yet...… But did get an email invitation to formal lunch for 1st year parents on last day of this term which will be nice!

DD went back on Friday and was really excited to see her friends but also terrified about her first exam today. Hope it went OK, I haven’t had a text since so I’m a bit (a lot) worried. Hopefully she’s out celebrating the fact the torment is over.

She did say on Saturday that it was lovely to be back, a bit like the excitement of freshers but without the anxiety of wondering if you’ll make friends. But I suppose they also know just how long the term will be and just how much work there is to get through.

I know what you mean about the deafening silence. There’s no escaping it, however busy you are and without the novelty of them being gone this is hard and slightly mournful. I’m concentrating on the promise of spring and planning on doing some planting in the garden this weekend, if the temperature doesn’t drop too severely.

hmmm watch the planting, early feb could be rather cold.

I'm so stupid, I've got dd all stressed tonight about finding some sort of summer role.

Oh kitten, you are not stupid. Hope she has calmed down a bit.

The downside of buying DS a new bed while he was away first term is that the contrast between his new decent bed at home and bed in college is too great for him to adjust to. He has asked for a mattress topper to be 'primed' to him as he is having trouble sleeping!

she did. She probably calmed down faster than me!

That is the downside of comfy home beds. dd has a mattress topper. Her mattress is awful.

Oh kitten. So tough. Ha ha comfy beds. Sent dd back with the famous Lakeland heated airer.

we are softies aren't we!
dd has her first exam tomorrow. It doesn't count, but it's still quite scary.

First one today was ok evidently. Another tomorrow. Fingers crossed. Bloody empty here. Came home to a v hungry cat !

Glad mini kitten has calmed down. DS's exam is tomorrow, again it doesn't count, he seems pretty chilled about it, he has gone out to his church student work tonight.

Glad he is not the only precious treasure who can't hack his university mattress!!

Haha at the uni mattresses. I moved DD's as underneath it in the bed frame is a great locking cupboard. She had no idea you could stand the mattress up on its short side to access the cupboard - bright girl, bog all common sense!

However, DD was delighted to get back as her room here is not that warm and we are too tight poor to run the oil-fired heating all day for one room. It's tropically warm in her college room, so she is happy.

I hope all has gone well for your DC. It definitely gets easier dropping them off and I did the whole round-trip of 460 miles in the one day, getting home just before it got dark

Our Prince's and Princesses with their peas. Well done Malbec. We are only a 200m round trip but it is a hard drive including many motorways and has been known to take 4 hours! I'll do it in one day when the days are longer but quite enjoy having an overnight chill and the shops

We do round trip in a day - or rather DH does the driving, he doesn't mind it, and is only 2.5- 3 hours each way so no too bad. There is parking almost immediately outside DS's window so unloading doesn't take too long.

DD had control of the telly in the front room this afternoon, and I am really achy after gardening yesterday, so decided to have a lie down and watch the telly in DS's room for an hour after work. I can now tell why he wanted a mattress topper at university, the new mattress we bought him last term is significantly better than mine! If we weren't thinking of upgrading to a king size i would be swapping mattresses pronto, after all why have the best one not in use for 6 months of the year!

DS sent me his only written piece so far to check this afternoon. He hadn't been given any referencing guidance so wanted my opinion...I'm currently studying for a degree too. It was nice to have my opinion wanted, I truly can't be of any use with the rest of it. He thinks his exam went ok...but he still seems not too worried by it.

Haha - DD's first text after first night back in college was "I forgot to bring my home pillow"! She found collections "quite hard in places" but doesn't seem unduly concerned now that they are done.
Parking for drop off was a challenge this time and I got caught out by google maps not recognising a one way street!
Wannabe we had an invitation by post yesterday to formal lunch at College in February. Solves the question of when to visit DD this term!

Week 4 already, almost halfway through term 2! How are all the DC doing?

Is anybody else's DC finding an imbalance of workload this term?
DD's subject has 10-12 essays per term as standard, last term they were set 1/2 per week at fairly regular intervals.
This term however because of the way her tutorials have been organised she's already on essay number 10 in week 4!
No wonder she's been unwell the past few days - she hasn't been able to stop working since she got back after Christmas, she's completely exhausted.
Of course the upside is that she only has 2 essays over the remaining 4 weeks so will have more time to rest, but it seems so illogical not to have them more regularly spaced.

DD got charged this term for four extra days rent. Upon query it seems this was for freshers week. Although I understand that they still need to pay for their rooms, no where were they told they had to pay for their rent as extra for freshers week. We assumed as they had to be there from that date then it would be included in the termly battles.

Just think it’s a bit mean for a college with an endowment of over half a billion pounds...

That does seem odd Lobster!
dd seems to have her work split 1/4 3/4 alternating weeks. Which doesn't seem quite right.

She's been a bit down recently, which is rubbish, she's getting better at talking to me about it though on the phone.

HesMyLobster

Same here! Popped up to see DD (a scientist) for lunch at the weekend & this is exactly what she was saying to me. And I saw her files of work from last term... Thank the Lord for her work ethic - and I'm definitely hearing volume of work rather than difficulty level. What she reeled off in terms of contact hours & set work on top, was brutal. And there's no let up until the end of term. However, she can see the light at the end of the tunnel in that Trinity will be slightly quieter & more focused on Prelims revision. She's also still managing to fit in Uni sport and the v important partying. In a way, it's actually made her find more of a balance & start saying 'no' to every social invite!

Feel for your DD being unwell & in fact my parting shot was all about 'staying well' when so pulled in every direction. Hope your DD feels better v soon.
And yes, totally agree about spacing - apparently DD's course is 'slightly' less intense in year 2 & then goes bananas again in yr 3 & 4.