Going to university (2019/20 academic year) - finance, flat shares, friends old and new and freshers' week to come...

[NewModelArmyMayhem18]

Following on from thread 8 which filled up in just 72 hours.

Dd's pt job thus summer has been in a cafe/laundrette/dry cleaners.

She's started ironing all her clean laundry.... Inc her bed sheets. And now an iron is on the list for her.

I don't iron.

York just want them to take everything for PAT testing on arrival and does say including extension cables.

@MarchingFrogs they are on the list of things to bring

"Extension lead/plug adapter
For when you're straightening your hair, charging your phone, running your laptop, listening to music all at the same time..."

In fact they are on the 'you might like to bring' list.

Haha his SIL bought him grey towels, now I know why. Wilko had loads of hangers when we were in there today so grabbed a set of 25.

ah laniakea I just toddled off there, only to see a thread entitled something like 'horror stories about flatmates' so decided to exit immediately!

i am hyperventilating now over the mixed wash!

Purchase for DS has been a large laundry bag from Argos that has separate sections for darks and lights! He only has things that are white, and things that are black / very dark (musician, so formal white and black shirts are a necessary part of his wardrobe) , so if the middle 'coloured' section ever gets full I suspect those will be brought home..

My current shopping policy is that university towns have shops.

Yes and in some ways it might be useful to have an 'excuse' to go shopping during the quiet bits of freshers week (I know there are often lectures/library tours etc during the daytime though, so there is a slight risk of ending up without something vital with that policy!)

Does anyone's hall offer 'bedding packs' (or similar enticing name) whereby they deliver a duvet and pillows to your hall (for payment, obviously!) May be useful for overseas students not wanting/able to carry too much stuff.

The bedding etc packs are eyewateringly expensive

Yes I looked up bedding packs. Hugely expensive.

We've had the Physics A OCR scripts back today. I've gone through and checked they add up etc. Paper 2 and 3 have either ticks or crosses against all questions. On Paper 1 some questions have nothing against them. I'm not sure if they've been missed or if that's how that particular marker does it and doesn't put a cross. They've now been sent off to the physics teacher, he needs 5 marks to go up to a B.

@MrKlaw - DS didn't get a reading list before he went (or if he did he kept it well away from me!). He got all info, moodle access (where all the unit handbooks, with readings etc were) in Fresher's Week at the subject sessions. They are guided well through it all at the beginning.

I seem to remember that during FW there was an optional trip to IKEA outside Bristol to pick up anything they might have forgotten and I sent him stuff via Amazon that he collected from wherever they collect parcels (I think he got an email with instructions when he got one).

Wow the bedding pack is £70 more than we spent today. We bought, for kitchen and bedroom for under £200. Plus a flash drive, stationery.

I guess it is essential for overseas students to at least have some of it on arrival.

I suspect my amazon account may be busy for a bit.

Thanks - yeah there is an IKEA trip on the freshers week schedule :)

DS is taking white bedding and towels because that’s our spare stuff. Let’s face it how often are they going to wash them? Separate wash for that will be fine. They’ll learn the first time they have to wear pink socks to lectures :)

Food shopping we will probably fill any spare space in the car (if there is any) with food - like mentioned dried/microwaveable long life and some dried staples and milk

DS's bedding and towels also on a dark blue and grey theme. Great minds think alike!

So @Danglingmod are you saying that trainers are totally 'out' for students? If so I'm breathing a huge sigh of relief. I bought DS a really robust and quite 'on trend' pair or walking boots for going to the U.S. (school history trip) in Year 12 which have only had a week's wear thus far. Clearly doing Geography there will be lots of field trips and the need for good footwear. DS was planning on buying an expensive pair of trainers but I did say that he should wait to see what students wear. Same with the teenage obsession with sportswear...

DD decided yesterday that she would cook her own meals at home for a while to practice. I gave her a sheet from my meal planner pad and she planned meals for the rest of this week. She added some items to my shopping list this morning . . . .

. . . .this evening she's gone to the pub with some friends and is planning to eat at Mcdonalds apparently

Managing disappointment here ( again )
Did not get first choice accomm and sadly second choice has allocated a room without a sink. She agreed that no en-suite was fine ( they do not seem common in Bristol ) but no sink and the second choice seems to have sent her into a spiral of tearfulness.
She will have to make the best of it but alongside the fact we have granny’s funeral on Friday could just have done with being on the right side of the 50:50 chance of first choice accomm.

Oh Ollie, that's a shame.

Mine refused to 'help' me making sausage pasta bake today. DS2 helped instead.

Must say at my school, nearly all of the sixth formers wear trainers. Converse are out. Vans seem to be out for boys. All black or all white trainers are a thing.

Ollie sympathies to dd, no sink is trickier.

Does that maybe mean the bathroom is shared with relatively few people - that might be why they haven't ever got round to installing sinks? Or is it at least cheaper?

Interesting to hear about the differing fashion trends. At DS's school they are all heavily into trainers and sportswear for casual wear (maybe because in school they were suited and booted in the sixth form).

Sorry to hear about your DD's upset and about granny's funeral .

DS1 is an overseas student (from the US) and we have a whole host of extra paperwork to work through, so I am going to fly out with him a few days before term starts to help him wade through it all. He also then gets a second bag allowance on the plane to fill with things he wants to bring. We do have to buy a lot of stuff when we arrive and the hall of residence wont accept deliveries ahead of term. Does anyone have any good ideas where we could get things delivered to that would hold on to the boxes until we arrive, its so difficult to time the deliveries perfectly and things like a computer, he will need right away.

DD has been boarding at her school for two years and has had to do her own washing. Her natural coloured bras do not resemble their original colour, so be warned. Stuff gets lost as well, if they aren't there at end of wash, they're clothes will be tossed aside, so don't take top quality clothing.

DD know sher look, but has said she's not buying any new clothes as she acknowledges her taste will change as she comes across others with others styles. Someone told me last week, they quickly but snow boots as it's a lot colder in Scotland.

Must say I grew up in Scotland and never owned a pair of snow boots!

can't remember who wanted the info... but if you log onto student finance, you can see the maintenance loan allocation and then the payment dates and amounts..
We got a bundle of forms and requests for money from Durham today, but still no idea about the size of the bed!! :D
Also I'm not sure what to do about gp for my younger son, he has an eye condition which is looked after by Kings in London.. They are planning some laser surgery in December, everything is already in place.. I feel reluctant to start changing gp's.. what does everyone else think? should I leave it as is?