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!

Thanks everyone re the underbed storage,?thats really helpful, am I right in thinking the beds are long, so the Ikea sheets should work?

@Itscoldouthere I have just bought deep single fitted sheets. I could only see white on ikea website. But someone above said the dimensions are bed size so maybe not mattress size. I hope they fit.

I went for the Ikea 200cm length sheets which is the European size.

Oh I am loving reading this
My DD graduated from UEA this year and she has lived every moment
Norwich is such a lovely place, I hope all of your DCs have a wonderful experience too

@TantrumsAndBalloons that's great to hear. Thanks.

I'm another ex-Norwich graduate (although Art School rather than UEA) that never went home. I loved Norwich from the moment I got off the train on my first ever visit.

I bought possibly my best buy so far this morning. Wilko are selling a knife block with five knives, a pair of scissors and a wooden knife block for just £5. It's entirely possible the knives are rubbish but given that DS will probably only ever use them to slice cheese and possibly the occasional bread roll I really don't think I've wasted my money. Someone's going to tell me now that knives aren't allowed/are already supplied....

Just did the Ikea shop for DS1 he showed his old college student ID so got discount. Have to go again for DS2 next week when he comes back from his holiday, can’t believe it’s all happening so quickly, in 2 weeks time they will be gone, just me DH and the dog at home 😳

@Itscoldouthere that will seem an empty home. I feel ok with ds1 going off. I have 2 more dc at home. We are up and about to leave as ds2 is doing his duke of Edinburgh bronze walk today. Got to drop him at the train station. Then he's getting a train (with his group) to Norwich. Then another train to the coast, where they walk coast to another coast.

@Itscoldouthere - that will be odd. How are you feeling about the empty nest? We thought we would be in the same position when ds left but dd graduated in the summer and is at home for a while as she is ill and needs to get back on her feet before she can move to London and live with her friends. It is likely to be the spring before our nest is empty!

I'm in the same boat, both DS's at UEA and just me, DH and cat at home. I think it will be ok but we will wait and see. When DS1 went it was like a little bereavement but I think we are more prepared now. We have booked a holiday in October to have something to look forward to, it's so cheap for just two people out of school holidays (that's one bonus).
Looking forward to a tidy house and no 3am returns too.

@sluj - I was the same went dd went in that it felt like a bereavement. I think I was grieving the end of our family as we knew it. However, 4 years later and I know it is fine and they still come back and you move on to a different (and lovely) way of being a family. Dh and I are quite looking forward to having an empty nest- if we ever get to that stage!

I felt bereaved when DS1 went but gradually got used to a new normal. Will still have grown up DD and DS3 6th former at home when DS2 goes - hopefully I’ll adjust better this time

Luckily for me DS2 is quite self contained and spends a lot of time gaming, netflixing and out with friends so spends far less time in the living room with me and DH than DS1 did. I think his actual physical absence won't he so obvious. He is much more outgoing than DS1 so I won't have that worry about whether or not he has anyone to talk to. I remember that being my biggest worry about DS1 (needlessly as it turned out).
On the plus side, the food shop will be much cheaper, we can eat what we like, the DS's bathroom will be sparkling, no late night coming homes, way less washing, no random socks left in every room, no hideously expensive school trips and no trying to remember his weekly calendar as well as my own.

Silver linings.

DS is our eldest so it is going to be strange without him, although DD will more than fill his void methinks . As with your DS2 @Sluj, DS is very self-contained and doesn't really spend a lot of his time downstairs with us. I do however still have a real sense that it will be the end of an era.

The cheaper 'out of season' hols must be one big positive of becoming empty nesters. Tidy house, cooking more adventurously again, less washing, no overflowing bedroom bins, toothpaste lids left off every day...

Think DS is getting annoyed by my constant chivying so thinking that it is indeed time for him to spread his wings and become his own man.

Good that you could use your DS's college ID for the IKEA trip. Unfortunately, DS doesn't even have that. He seems to think that one does have to buy the Unicard.

We had exactly the same situation @sluj. Dd didn't go out much in sixth form and spent lots of time with dh and I. She has very similar interests to us (books - she studied English and we both work in publishing) and she was born middle-aged! Ds is a much more "normal" teenager - goes out lots with his friends, has a part-time job and also stays in his room on his computer gaming with friends and Skyping them. We are more used to him not being around. Still my heart hurts a little when I think of him not being in his bedroom 🙁

DS is my oldest and it will just be DD, me and the cat at home when he goes. He's close by at the UEA though so I'm expecting him home with bags of washing frequently. I will miss him dreadfully though. He's such good company and we have such sparky dinner table debates. I will find myself talking to the cat even more than I do already I suppose, but he doesn't have much of an opinion on the current political situation which is going to make the conversations a bit one sided.

@CharliesMouse I wondered whether my ds will come home with laundry. He has said he definitely won't. We are only one train stop from Norwich. So I'll wait to see.

My DS has just asked me to buy him a job lot of new pants - I hate to think what this means for his forecast use of the washing machine!

I know there is a launderette at The Village, but does anyone know if there is a postroom there as well? I have got visions of DS forgetting stuff and us having to send up a massive parcel with a week, and him having to traipse with it back to his flat in the lower village. I suppose that is an incentive not to forget anything.

It is going to be weird especially as DH is also travelling a lot at the moment, so I will be on my own sometimes.
We’ve got other things going on though, including a possible relocation abroad, so I think I will be quite busy for the next 6 months.
I do think things have changed so much with being able to do video calls, I know DS1 will keep in touch with me regularly, DS2 not so much (and he’s the one I worry about more) but it’s time for them to do their own thing.
I think it’s the empty quiet house that will feel really weird, so glad I’ve got a dog!

All the post goes to a central Post Room on campus for collection including Amazon parcels. I think it might only be open on certain days and times.

@GoldenRuby job lot of new pants Have to confess same done here, pants and socks, at least two weeks' worth of each.

Blast, I forgot to order socks!

I keep thinking of random stuff; for example, I need to buy a new electric toothbrush because currently DD1 and DD2 share a handle!

I will still have two at home - DS (the oldest - 19) decided university wasn't for him, so has recently started working full time for a finance company, and DD2 is just starting 6th form college. But any parent of three will agree that if even one is missing, it seems so quiet and civilised in comparison. DD1 is the hepful, homely one, so I'll really miss her, but she's also the loudest. And DD2 will be bereft.

@CointreauVersial your dc's are close together in age. Mine are a bit more spread out, older 2 are 2.5 years apart. (Oldest 18 ds2 almost 16) ds3 is only 10. They drive me insane with the constant arguing. The older 2 should really know better. I dread to think what they would be like if they were closer in age.

I was talking to my DD (also almost 16) about her brother leaving for uni. Even though they spend most of their time when at home in their own rooms, she said 'I will really miss him. I've never been apart from him for more than a week in my whole life'. I had to turn away so that she didn't see me starting to well up. The good thing is that she will be kept very busy in Year 11 at school, so that will hopefully take her mind off it. She is coming with us when we drop DS off, as it think it would be harder for her if she couldn't even visualise where he is.