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!

UEA have a 'Do different ' week which is like a reading week. Not sure when it is though.

So one more person has joined DS's flat group chat, an international student. 2 boys, 5 girls now, plus one to come.

My DD has 6 in her flat, she has been chatting to 4 on the group chat who are all girls, the 2 that haven’t joined I am assuming are boys.
Two of the girls are international students who moved in today...they have told my DD that the flat is really nice (in the village) they sent a couple of photos and the kitchen looks pretty decent with plenty of space.

Dd has about 10 on the group chat for his house. There are 2 international students who are there already and another student has arrived early. They have been sending photos and videos. Ds has suggested they all meet in the kitchen tomorrow night for drinks to get to know one another which the others seem up for. Someone suggested playing Cards Against Humanity and cards which ds was already planning to take with him. I feel happier knowing he has plans made and won't be sitting on his own in his room!

Thanks for the heads up about the glow party - I will tell ds to dig out some old clothes!

I put 2 suitcases in ds's room yesterday while he was at work, that makes it all feel more real, he needs to start packing, I've also left a list of things he needs to do. He finished work yesterday, I get a feeling he will be asleep when I get home at 1.15pm and won't have done anything. But we will see.

I got all DSs stuff ready yesterday so all he’s got left to do is clothes and computer stuff - he’ll probably leave it till last minute though.

Still got a few things arriving today and tomorrow - getting there!

We are having a bit of a wobble as to whether we can carry everything tomorrow.

If BBC weather is correct, it will be warm and sunny all weekend!

We hope so @NotSorry. Hoping it will last into next week as DS will have two field trips to do.

Well, after suggesting DS gets on with the packing all week I have the day off from work and will be doing it with him today. He has done nothing apart from get his hair cut. Tbh, at least that gives me a chance to see if we are missing anything. DS has declined a last night meal as he is going out with school mates who are also leaving for uni tomorrow. He has requested a visit to the Toby carvery at lunchtime though. Could that be the last traditional meat and veg meal he has until he comes home? 😀 Strang choice, I thought

Strange*

@NewModelArmyMayhem18 forecast not too bad next week. Showers about, but not rain all day. They all have things on as well as freshers nights. It would be great to have freshers week first...but at least they'll be kept busy.

Do they have freshers events at the UEA or do they have to travel into Norwich? Ds's boss also works at a nightclub in Norwich and they were doing a freshers event one night. He didn't ask her where it was though.

I think some of the freshers' events are on campus (such as the ball) but others are in town.

@icanbewhatiwant I get the impression that week 1 is primarily campus based, and week 2 is more city centre focused. Although presumably by week 2 courses will have properly started as well. Although DS2 has a week one wristband he was less convinced about the need for week 2 . Said something about more tickets being released for week 2 events yesterday / today.

Up to 11 declared in his flat now - out of 12? - with I think now 5 or maybe 6 doing various nursing degrees. Pretty much every medical base covered :) Seems there is a mix of those who have and have not bought a week one wrist band. I understand they intend going to the Ball en masse so hopefully the final occupant will as well He had a supermarket trip with DH last night as it seems much of the chat is around what drinks people are planning to bring and where they might all head out to on Sunday evening. That said the purchasing was restrained with plenty of soft drink mixers and actually not much alcohol.

@boys3 thanks. I thought some must be on campus.

Ds was saying that his housemates talk a lot about getting drunk and what alcohol to take. Ds isn't really a drinker, he did tell them he wasn't into parties and drinking, a few did say neither are they. So hopefully it won't always involve lots of alcohol. Ds has never been drunk, he saw a friend get very drunk at a small party, they had to call the lads parents, ds said he was quite ill and spoilt the evening, so it put him off drinking a lot.

His housemates are all taking alcohol, ds is taking cakes 😀

cake production still on the to do list here, that aside I think most other stuff (apart from actually packing it) is done and ready. Bit of final washing today, so great weather is fine and sunny where we are.

Norfolk, as opposed to Norwich itself, looked stunning on BBC Breakfast these morning - the beach at Holkham (?) featured every 15 mins or so.

Yes it was Holkham on the coast this morn. The bbc were filming the household Cavalry with their horses.

We have some lovely coast here in east Anglia.

DS has just taken the dog for a long walk. He didn't sleep well last night, I think the reality of leaving home has sunk in, and the nerves are beginning to show. He is off out tonight for a meal with his girlfriend - they've been together for a year and she isn't going to uni (at least not this year), so he has mixed emotions. Good luck to all of your DCs for this weekend, I may see some of you in the car park or the queue for the key!

What do you all have planned for moving in day? Are you going to stay and help unpack and the leave or leave straight away? Maybe unpacking and then heading into the city for lunch then going home?

We will stay and help ds unpack then probably go for lunch on campus somewhere before leaving him to it!

Arrive, help do a bit of unpacking, lunch, trip to a localish supermarket for provisions, a recce to the SU before catching the coach back.

I think stay, unload, partial unpacking - at least to ensure duvet cover on duvet and bed made. :) Also thinking about a possible trip to a supermarket. Don't want to take too much in way of food without really knowing storage space available especially for chilled and / or frozen.

I think there are around 12,000 undergrads at UEA, so probably at least 4,000 freshers arriving over the weekend. Using my rough numbers thats another 1,999 as well as DS2 arriving on Sunday. I have no doubt that whilst there will be some queues, UEA are probably pretty slick at the whole prmocess. Although if all 2,000 turn up at 10:00.........................

I think it will be a case of playing it by ear come Sunday. With DS1 it was an unload and then pretty much we were dismissed, although he did have organised activity starting within a couple of hours of arrival.

I would hope that if we do arrive around 10:00 or not too long thereafter, get DS2 unloaded, then he would want to help others with unloading / carrying stuff arriving in his flat, or indeed Hickling generally as much just to start meeting people.

I'm looking forward to reading reports from those arriving on Saturday as that might give some more thoughts for Sunday

We are planning on getting there about 10 on Sunday, help unpack, have some lunch the drive home.
We did similar for DD1 at another uni 4 years ago...all those students turning up, but it wasn’t too bad, people turn up at different times during the day so didn’t feel too stressful. I felt that time, parents and students turned at mid afternoon, though it was open from 10. Hoping the same this time so we can be on our way before it gets really busy...my memory of the open days at UEA was that the traffic around the city centre can be really busy.

Ds is insisting we get there for 10am he says all his flat mates are getting there then. I hope the whole lot don't all decided to get there for 10am. We don't need to go near the city to get there but I should imagine the whole area gets busy.

I forgot to add that I will help unpack. Just told dh I'll make ds's bed up for him, he tutted and rolled his eyes.
We are taking food and hoping there's room for it. So I'll unpack that too. I'll stay as long as he wants. I think dh would like to come too, but the ds3 would need to come then, he's 10 and won't want to hang about. So I'm a bit undecided.