Going to university (2019/20 academic year) - wave goodbye to family, say hello to fellow students and key uni staff and they're settling in (hopefully)

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Previous thread. Possibly a little precipitous but for some of our DC their university start date is only just over a fortnight away. Yikes!

Hope your DD is ok @TapasForTwo - though I’m sure it’s the best thing in the long run for her.
DS has just ‘discovered’ that a girl from his form class is on the same course at the same university as him. How did he not know this before now? He is honestly so useless with stuff like this - on the plus side he is never involved in any gossip as he just lets it all slide past him!

Tapas poor Dd. What a shit.
But how nice to have friends like that. And she’s going to a fab uni with great accommodation . x

@TapasForTwo sorry for your DD, break ups are so hard at this age. It's lovely that her friends are rallying around her and with their support and yours I'm sure she will be ok. As you say, a fresh start for her at uni and hopefully she will be so busy it will take her mind off him.
Shame that uni seems to have changed her boyfriend in such a negative way.

Thank you for the sympathy Laniakea and commiserations to your DD. We are all off for a week's holiday to a hot Greek island this weekend, so at least DD won't be moping at home on her own. TBH the timing couldn't be better.

mushroom3 I'm not sure that all halls allow these grills. Wouldn't it have to be PAT tested first?

My DS is at Swansea, but I've been following this thread as I have DD applying this year for 2020. I think a couple of you are going to Swansea, great place. It's useful to have a bike there, there is a safe segregated cycle lane linking the two campuses (they also have a bike hire scheme like a smaller version of the London one). If your DC doesn't want to cycle it's worth them applying on-line now for the young person's discount bus card, it's free.

Cross posted. Thank you everyone.

Something that is worrying me. Sorry to bleed brexit into this thread but my DS is going to study in a city, how will he stockpile if that is what is needed/advised. I am concerned that in his first year things may go tits up for a bit.

Lots of cross posting. Sorry to read about the break ups Tapas and Lanaikea.

They are basically a pair of hot-plates, so safer than a toaster (you can also do toasted sandwiches in them). They do appear this time of year with the kettles, toasters etc in the areas geared up for students in the main supermarkets and in the middle aisles of Lidl/Aldi. We found my DS's hall provided a kettle and there was a collection of toasters in the kitchen (plus each student had brought a bottle of washing up liquid)!

Ifonly4 That's a genius idea about the motorhome! If only they could live in them also
Sorry to hear about the breakups. Poor kids, at what should be a happy exciting time as well.
DDs uni did PAT testing in week one/two. Her hairdryer and straighteners still have the stickers!

After Lincoln saying on their FB pages that move in was pretty flexible, it really is looking like it's a giant hassle to try and arrive on a different date. It really is very annoying that DS's accommodation move in is a work day (for most people). In addition, they expect to send out emails to book arrival slots next Weds , at which point it becomes a bun fight for the slot. First come first served really is not a fair system, must say.

The emails all go to the DCs themselves of course! Not sure how (even if he read them!) he is supposed to communicate with us about times slots when we are both at work...working.

Ah Tapas it hurts but in the long run, she’ll have a better time. Still, she’ll need to lick her wounds.What fab friends she has!

DS moves on a weekday too & i remember DD did. It's a pain but we are fortunate that we can work around it. I imagine it is flexible, they just don't advertise the fact!

justasking I say this kindly, but it’s talk of stockpiling that will cause the shortages of things not Brexit. The sky is not going to fall in and we will not go hungry from 1st November. I agree things are going to be hard but life will go on. Plenty of other things to worry about than availability of super noodles!

Oh that's such a shame with the break ups. DS has already been through his arrogant obnoxious phase (age 12/13ish) and is currently a lovely lad if a bit frustrating at times. I hope he doesn't go backwards. he's completely aware he's been really lucky to get a good Uni offer as at one point (he had a period of depression) he thought he wouldn't make it.

Got him to log into his accommodation portal and I've just paid the first couple of grand but it wasn't due until end September. Next lot is due end of January so i'll get him to sort it out when he is home at Christmas.

Piggy, that's rubbish that moving date is the Friday and bun fight for slots I am worried that DS will miss an email about booking a slot and we will end up with a later one and a long drive back home...

Tapas and Laniakea sorry to hear of break ups - hope it all works out for the best. DS split up with his lovely gf earlier in the summer - she is already at the uni he is going to....

Yep, all the talk of stockpiling drives me mental. You might not be able to get the exact things you want for a while but there will be plenty of food to go round. I'm not doing any more than my usual extra couple of tins and packets in preparation for winter as we can have some difficulties getting to the shops if we get bad snow or flooding.

No-one is going to starve :)

DS just had a trial lunch of a tin of mince and some frozen mash and peas - he quite enjoyed it and it wasn't too taxing on his culinary expertise!

We did not get an e mail about booking slots had to go onto the website to find it blooming hard and book it. Got a good slot on the date and time he wanted because of travel times. I would not wait for an e-mail if you can book it now.

We don't have slots, we've just been warned to expect long waiting times in queuing traffic.

No, you definitely can't book it until you get this email...

Re: Brexit. I'm sending DD with a decent store cupboard anyway (mainly because she's on a rural campus so cheap shops aren't close and she won't have a car although Asda delivers to the halls). She only has limited space in the kitchen, but it's always a good idea to keep the nice stuff (chocolate etc) in their rooms as stuff can go walkies in shared accommodation. Some halls do have locked cupboards in the kitchens but not DDs.

The main thing is she has a decent amount of her repeat meds to take with her.

I have stockpiled but nothing to do with brexit, just to save him money and me piece of mind. Loads of pasta, precooked rice and loads of sauces. It all very reminiscent of my military days as they all resemble ration pack style food.

DS has just ‘discovered’ that a girl from his form class is on the same course at the same university as him.

Admittedly, it was likely that at least one of them had no classes in common with DS1, but when I asked him if he had met up with any of the three girls from his year who were listed in that year's Destinations as having gone to the same university, he couldn't actually think who any of them were.

WaxOnFeckOff, our three were absolutely nuts about Asda's tinned Mild Chicken Curry when they were younger. And (any supplier's) chicken in white sauce. Which I still treat myself to sometimes, as it was my favourite 'treat' tinned food as a child. (I liked tinned mince as well, but have to say my mum's home cooked savoury mince was better. Not a particularly adventurous or enthusiastic cook, my mum, but very good at most of what she did).

My ds also has a girl from 6th form doing the same course as him. I think through clearing or second choice. She was the one who messaged him though, to say she was off to the same place.
Another boy is also doing the same course, but commuting.
So far in the Facebook chat for their flat it's one lad from India and 6 girls. So he will soon get used to girls! I'm assuming there will be more boys they just aren't joining in the Facebook group. Ds isn't joining in the chat really as he's working long hours. 7.30am-9.30pm yesterday. Probably the same hours today. He said the girls had been chatting all day amongst themselves about outfits for threshers week. Not really his sort of conversation 😂

Dd has just received a book from her uni (she is not studying lit) to read and an invite to attend events relating to this. I assume it is a way of getting them talking. Has anyone else come across this?

That's really sweet. What is the book?