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)

[NewModelArmyMayhem18]

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

DS has a double bed at home with everything, but i'm presuming he won't want to bring it all home every time he decides to pop home for a weekend. :)

We have packed DS the steamer as DD said that there can be competition for rings on the hob if everyone is cooking at once. It has 3 sections to it so he will only need one ring.
The only other pan he is taking is a frying pan.
Bedding is green. He has no art/posters for on the walls as he will plaster them with maps of Snowdonia and Angelsey.
I'm sure my lad thinks he is off on a 3 year holiday.
He is actually taking his kayak and canoe and has got permission to store them in a shed for £30 a year.

@Jo4Laurie my DD is off to Cardiff and also did the French Bac (we're British, but live in France). She's going to be in Talybont North.

When DD1 went I had no time or headspace to bake so bought a tub of Heros for the kitchen for them to share instead.

Just in case anyone is in a sweat about yet another task.

I have found DD1’s old pans in garage and I know there is a box with crockery in there somewhere. We still managed to spend a bit in TKMaxx today. The person who served us today is going to Swansea too weirdly.

DD2 gradually getting her around going to Swansea after getting an unexpected offer in last minute clearing. She hadn’t applied and was working and felt fed up. Be careful what you wish for!

@MrKlaw thanks for the recommendation. Did you mean £20? I’ve checked on Argos site and can’t see anything starter pack below £40.

@Chillywhippet lovely Swansea. DS nearly made it to Swansea, it was his insurance. He got into his firm Cardiff instead and I’m still secretly pining for the campus on the beach. I didn’t realise how much I’d been dreaming of walks to the beach every time we visit ...I know, I know! I need a grip.

Hopefully Aldi will have more than what's on the website under Thursday's "Student Tech" section

Ds has gone for similar bed linen that he has at home- black/dark grey sort of colours. He's insistent that he doesn't need rugs etc to make it more homely.

Apple do a student price for laptops. Still not cheap but a mice big fat discount.

Shimey there are lots of lovely places to visit near Cardiff and it’s a great city to be a student. DD particularly liked the course at Swansea and had been there in sixth form for a big schools engineering event so was keen to go. The PR obviously worked.

I am looking forward to cycling around Swansea Bay on one of these though

Shimy I think it's this one - www.argos.co.uk/product/1584460

@JennyWreny @Shimy yep that’s the one. Pretty tiny and cutlery is plasticky but cheap and doesn’t matter if it doesn’t survive

ooh stop it!

That was @Chillywhippet

@JennyWreny & @MrKlaw Sadly it hasn’t got enough saucepans, and some other bits DS will never use, so won’t be worth it buying it. I’ve seen another saucepan set at Argos and just purchased it. Decided to stretch the budget a bit further.

Cardiff is a fabulous city to be a student!
Your DCs will have a good time

Waves at @Jo4Laurie, @LillianGish and @Shimy

DD is now wobbling about her accommodation (I’d got over it). We got her to cook a roast today and said we could leave her with the ingredients do she could cook on for her 3 housemates. Wrong thing to say apparently!! Since this suggestion we’ve had:
But they might all be vegetarian.
But they might all be reclusive.
But there’s no kitchen table.
But there’s no living room.
But I might hate them all.
But they might hate me because it’s a quiet house and I’m not.

This has all been surmised from googling the house and peering at crap photos. The description we know is inaccurate (because I rang up and asked ) but DD is reluctant to contact them herself to ask her questions.

We also discussed the ‘drop off’ at tea time. She is the eldest of 4dc and we asked if she wanted us all to go. We were met with a blank stare and not quite a curled lip of disgust.

It’s going to be a long 3 weeks.

I’m really not sure how I should be playing this at all! If I’m excited I hate her and want her gone, if I try to help I’m interfering and if I show any interest in visiting etc then I’m smothering her...

I've just caught up and have read all the previous threads. My dd is off to Bristol, and thanks to the advice here I think she's now pretty well kitted out. She's remarkably competent and I have no worries about her regarding laundry, cooking etc, and I think she'll be fine with finance and study issues. She is a bit of an odd duck though, and I hope she'll meet people who 'get' her. Very funny, very bright, just a bit weird!

We had a lovely dinner service from Dunelm for only £10. It colour matches her duvet covers, not that they need to, but we realised when we got home that everything is in shades of soft green, except for the £3 red plastic cutlery. She has to slum it a bit

£10 is so cheap! I might trot down there for myself, claim the student discount and give DS all my plat miscellany! I have had some of my plates since 3rd year of uni!

@WaxOnFeckOff ahh good point about them coming back for visits (or between terms) - maybe we can’t just send him off with his usual bedding then.. hmm

@Piggywaspushed I'm sending DS off with the plates that I took with me to York back in 1990. A very fetching off white with a grey and pink flower trim. I remember buying them in BHS - I thought they were so great at the time! At least he will know which are his amongst the Ikea staples...

This has all been surmised from googling the house and peering at crap photos that sounds like a familiar story. DD has been pouring over reviews and focussing on the worst ones. Then trawling through Google Earth shots which I find quite hilarious since she's actually been to Cardiff and walked from where she will be having her lectures to the halls of residence (past your dd's house in fact) and then back into the city and it all feels really lovely (probably even nicer when the place is buzzing with students).

Pretty sure my plates are BHS 1991 numbers! Also flower trim. It was a 90s thing....

B&M is brilliant for uni stuff, I've bought all sorts and most of it is branded.

My ds is left handed so had to get LH scissors and tin opener from amazon