Going to university (2019/20 academic year) - and the fledgling freshers are off!

[NewModelArmyMayhem18]

Previous thread

How are those who are not taking clothes horses going to dry clothes?

Tumbledryer in laundry, I assume. I never had one - we had underfloor heating and just spread things out. Grim or what!? In ds's accommodation they are not allowed to dry things on radiators (according to T&Cs). Pretty sure he won't wash anything anyway.

Ds decided he didn't want any sweets, biscuits or snacks at all. I offered him the freedom of the shop but he didn't add anything - think he is going on a health kick - didn't seem to extend to cider... (or cheese!)

He told me he only ate apples one day apparently, I'm now wondering if that meant fermented apples aka cider.

DS getting tressed by HSBC student account. They want him to bring in proof of address. Like a utility bill. For a student account. Blimey.

He’s thinking to take in a printout or his uni acceptance letter (only emailed, not posted but has his address on), SFE letter which was posted, and his passport. That should be enough, surely?

There's so much that can't be tumble dried!

MrKlaw yes HSBC accepted a printout of the SFE letter for our DS.
Piggywaspushed The halls that our eldest was in wouldn't allow clothes airers in halls at all. Cost of a load of washing and drying was £7. Her solution to this was to buy more and more knickers

DS said his dryer was £5 a go & didn't get the clothes dry. I suspect he put everything he owned in the dryer at once. If I go to visit I quite often take a change of bedding & towels for them & bring theirs home. Those are the worst things to get washed & dried. Then swap over again the next time. Actually, it was more a case of if I did that, I knew they changed the sheets occasionally !

@simbobs and @hopelesschildren

Dd is exactly the same. I actually feel like I'm treading on eggshells when I ask her to do the stuff she needs to do.

Thanks for the thread New

DS is trying to do his online registration for Exeter. It's so glitchy, finally managed to get past the first page without being logged off and it's asking for his halls address. We have looked through everything but although we know the halls he's in, we don't know the flat or room number.
Another phone call in the morning.....

So frustrating especially as they can't buy Freshers tickets until they've registered I don't think

piggywaspushed, bedding, towels, jeans, sweatshirts, undies,all in tumble drier here. I'm more concerned that he has no idea how to separate whites and colours!
I don't think he has properly looked at Freshers tickets/wristbands yet, and we haven't even talked about shopping. By the time he is washed and fed in the morning he is out until the small hours, so I hardly see him. No idea when he thinks all this is going to happen.

Dd seems to have managed her Exeter registration with no glitches. Or maybe it was just that she did it when I was out!

Awaiting final confirmation 're which building dds accommodation is in. But grateful at the same time that it is sorted as her friend did not get into her firm choice but did get her insurance. Whereas dd was straight away allocated uni accommodation a minute or so walk away from the history buildings, her friend has no uni accommodation and is waiting to hear whether she has a place a 45 minute bus journey away.

It's nice to find this thread and see there are other non-UK people on it.

DD1 has already gone to college as we are in the US and they start earlier here. She is at a college 17 hours' drive from here so she flew there with a suitcase and a duffel bag. We're going to ship a few things to her - guitar, keyboard - but other than that she's going to buy stuff there as needed. She already went to Target for a pillow, shampoo, etc.

I completely left all the prep to her, other than working out the financial side. She has two scholarships, a federal loan, work study, money from savings, and we are paying the rest, so it's been pretty complex.

She actually got everything done before she left, to my amazement. She saw the doctor, dentist and optician in the few days before she went. She signed up for her first term's courses, emailed her peer group to say hello, took a load of pre-registration courses in things like 'how not to get drunk' and 'why you shouldn't have sex with strangers'. She also had to take some placement tests in maths, spanish and I think chemistry, and she got these done.

For someone like her, with (I'm pretty sure) undiagnosed ADD and a long history of being incredibly disorganised, I'm really amazed she made it all happen.

Nice to listen to all the chat about the students going to UK universities. I went to Bath about a billion years ago. To give you some idea how long ago it was, my accommodation cost £19 a week

Oooh sims, I'd only do bedding of that list!

@drsausage your DD sounds very organised now. Hope she is enjoying college? I wonder whether how engaged they are with the whole process at this point reflects how really ready they are to fly the nest?

£19 a week sounds ridiculously cheap compared with today's accommodation costs - a positive bargain.

No tumble dryer here but would probably expect DS to use one for most of his drying. Don't they have designated drying areas in the halls' grounds (like council flats tend to have)?

Dd is off on Saturday. I’m a bit worried about her to be honest - she has been packing and organising herself most of this week but has been pretty quiet. She says she is stressed. I’m not worried about her forgetting anything - she has already said she can buy anything when there.

I am also having to leave the former family home following divorce and so I am packing too. Neither kids have been to where I’m moving to.

Ds is currently away and back Monday - he then has two weeks before he is off.

I’m just a bit worried that it is all too much together - dd has also had to pack her room for me to take stuff with me - it’s a big upheaval.

I’m finding it hard going I’m sure they must be too!

@greenberet sorry to hear that you are going through a stressful time, having to pack up and leave your family home :-(. There are big life change stresses going on for your whole family, so hoping you can all support one another through this time of upheaval.

Goodness greenberet, you have a lot on your plate. Good luck with the move

dd away, back 2 days before she has to leave!
and our car is having trouble, ordered the part for DH to fit

I like the idea of letting DCs organise everything themselves. Perhaps because we’ve been pulling together all the lacking stuff DS hasn’t been as engaged which is now biting us on the bum with his lack of action?

Still - hopefully he’ll have his bank account set up today, will actually upload a passport photo to the uni (takes 5 mins to take a selfie and upload but taken him 4 days so far); and we should hear about accommodation today or we’ll call up.

That all then means he can update SFE with back details, we can pay accommodation deposit and set up standing order to his student bank

Don’t think I can properly relax until that next batch of admin is done

Can I join?

The halls that our eldest was in wouldn't allow clothes airers in halls at all. Cost of a load of washing and drying was £7. shock Her solution to this was to buy more and more knickers grin

It says the same in ds's info but his T shirts can't be tumble drier and it's very expensive to use the laundry so I have bought LOADS of socks and pants and plain T-shirts and coat hangers so he will be able to hang shirts up to dry.

Ds has had no input I to buying ANYTHING, I'm really hoping uni is a big learning curve for him and makes him pull his finger out a bit (lot!)

**into buying

@MrsPellegrinoPetrichor welcome! Lots of the boys in particular sound the same - quite chilled (or one could say not engaged?). DS has managed to lose (somewhere in his room) one of the duvet sets we bought for him. He really isn't entering into the spirit of getting ready in an enthused way, despite saying he was very excited a couple of weeks ago. I think a lot of them are experiencing pre going-away jitters.

Yes it will be a steep learning curve but I guess that's why it's good for them to go away to university, rather than going to their local one (and living at home)?

yes, i agree, dd is probably trying to hide her nerves.
she takes advice from friends, she took a year out, so friends have one year under their belt.
still, it seems to be good advice, like getting a bank account and she sees they work part time also.
i shall miss her

Just checking in to new thread, thank you for setting it up.
I’m feeling like we are very untogether, we’ve been away and I feel like I’ve not left enough time to sort everything for DS1, he goes next Sunday and I’ve got a really busy week right up to Saturday and DH is out of the country with work.
Hoping to get to Ikea this afternoon to at least make a start.
Thank you for the link re the discount/meatballs.