UEA freshers

[juicy0]

I've never done this before but hopefully I have managed to set up a new thread for UEA specific posts.
Perhaps someone can let me know if it's worked!

No he wasn't up for freshers tickets. He text his boss to say he had something to do at 9am and was then going to go to HSBC with ID and that he's be in ASAP. She text him back this morn to say no he can't have the time off. He must go in at 8am 😩

Ds stayed at home as he had a call to make. He also bought some freshers tickets at the same time. Not all were available. He's now left for work. He isn't going to the bank though. He will have missed an hour and 45 mins of work. I hope he doesn't get into trouble.
I think it's unreasonable if his boss says he can't take more time off to go to the bank. It has to be done.

@icanbewhatiwant your DS' employer doesn't sound very reasonable. According to my DS the ticket website had problems this morning, crashing and no option to buy the Welcome Ball tickets. He thinks it is fixed now, so worth trying again later.

The issue with the passport photo is indeed nothing to do with technical issues - it's simply vanity! To be honest, as she has spent much of the last two weeks slumped on the sofa in her joggers and no makeup it's not surprising she doesn't want her "look "immortalised on her university pass for the next four years.

Ds went online at 9am. It took half an hour to get tickets to 3 events. He decided to buy week 2 armband too. The ball wasn't available to buy at that point. So he didn't bother.

It was quiet at work this morn. when ds got in, they sat around with not much to do, so ds asked if he could go to the bank with his ID. His boss said yes and not to go back today as they were quiet. He knew they were quiet which is why he decided to take the time off (not sure if I've said that he's working in a lab.testing the crop samples as they come in) they had caught up on Saturday and nothing else had come in.
So he's gone to the bank. He's going to see what else he can find on UEA website. He has messaged a lad from school, also doing Biology at UEA this lad says he has got his timetable. He showed it to ds. We don't know where to find it. But this lad isn't living at UEA he's commuting. Perhaps he's been given access to timetable earlier?

ican slightly off topic but presumably your DS should have accrued some (paid) holiday entitlement from where he is working?

@icanbewhatiwant if your DS logs onto the UEA envision site and clicks the student tab, if their timetable has been uploaded there should be an option to view it. I don't think everyone's has been uploaded yet though, but not sure whether they are batching this by course, alphabet or something more random.

@boys3 I don't know if he is entitled to holiday pay. He took on a summer job employing him from July to sept.

Ds went to the bank...computers were down. So they couldn't ID him!

Thanks @GoldenRuby I did read your reply out to ds. He did look a bit blank. He's fed up with me nagging him 🤣

@icanbewhatiwant no worries! I think i made a mistake though, it is evision, not envision. I will have to find a new hobby once DS goes, organising him is almost a full time job!

Ds spent ages this morning refreshing pages until he could get the tickets he wanted. I think he got most of the ones he was keen on including the ball. He has been trying to kickstart some chat on his house WhatsApp group but not really getting much back. There are only 5 out of the 10 on there but he is hoping it will be easier in real life 😀

Do they have anything arranged for the students to do on the Saturday? Obviously the welcome party is not until Sunday as they won't all have arrived until then but it would be good if there was something to keep them busy on the Saturday and stop them feeling homesick. When we dropped dd for her first day at university she only had about half an hour spare after we left before she had a lunch to go to and then various organised activities for the rest of the day to keep them busy and giving them the opportunity to meet lots of different people straight away.

@MrsBartlet yes ds had to keep refreshing. He kept getting page unavailable. It took half hour. But the ball wasn't showing up at 9.30am. He had to leave for work. He decided to buy freshers week 2 instead he says the ball is too expensive. I'll leave it up to him.

As for Saturday. I did notice there were things going on on days leading up to freshers week. But didn't read what as ds arrives Sunday. But I assumed they were for returning students.

@icanbewhatiwant - my ds was lucky he didn't have to work today so had time to spend ages waiting for all the tickets to appear. I'll get him to have a look again and see if there is anything for Saturday. I think he will be quite good at taking the initiative and suggesting things to do with his housemates but it does make it easier when there are things in place for them to do and they don't have to think!

@MrsBartlet my ds could do with someone like your ds in his accommodation. Mines very indecisive.

(I was about to press "post" then realised my phone had changed indecisive to indecent. Good job I read it first)

I do recall seeing something about free golf sessions (maybe pitch and put) over the weekend?

A trip to the SU would be in order, I would have thought .

Yes, the whole 'operation prepare DC for university' seems like a project to manage!

Any DC found any work they've been set to do before they arrive? After having nigh on four months off from academic study, would have thought it would be good for them to challenge their grey cells a bit over the coming fortnight or so.

I am sure a trip to the SU will very much be in order!

Ds still doesn't have his HSBC account open despite having applied on 18th August. He called them and they definitely have the application but said they have been inundated and so things are taking longer than usual. They have not given him any idea how long it will take and I suspect ds was less assertive than I would have been. Not impressed really!

That's a total PITA for your DS re the bank account, @MrsBartlet.

Isn't it? And he is an existing customer so we thought it would be straightforward!

@MrsBartlet my son applied online for HSBC. It was only a few days later that they emailed and asked him to go in to a local branch with ID. He didn't get time off work for a week or so. He finally nipped in yesterday and then their internet was down. So they couldn't ID him. He has to go back Friday.

@icanbewhatiwant oh dear -that is not good. I think if we don't get it sorted by the end of the week ds may start looking at other banks as we are running out of time.

@MrsBartlet yes I would. Bit strange they haven't contacted your ds if he's already got account with them. My ds hadn't. He has a 45 min appointment on fri. so I expect they will set up the account then rather than just doing the ID.
He doesn't need it until his loan comes in. Not sure how long the loans take to come through.

@icanbewhatiwant I think the loans arrive about a week after the start of term (freshers' week for the first years). Sure DS's as per SFE website indicated it would be the 30th for the maintenance one (and about two weeks later for the fees one).

@NewModelArmyMayhem18 thanks, we only applied a couple of weeks ago. We filled out an extra form as well as DH sold his business 2 years ago (typical they had to ask for 2 years ago earnings) he is earning much less now. I'm assuming we will hear if the amount has changed from the basic amount. No idea how long it'll take to hear anything or whether we will.

Still got a couple of weeks for SFE to do their calculations @icanbewhatiwant. Hopefully it will all come right in the end, so your DS isn't disadvantaged by getting his maintenance loan come through late.

There are just so many things to be on top of, aren't there?

I am trying to work out how much ds will need in spending money. It says accommodation is 38 weeks. But looking at the term dates it shows around a month off at Christmas and a month at Easter. So does that mean they are actually living there less than the 38 weeks? It doesn't seem enough weeks if you take the Christmas and Easter weeks off.