The ABC of university life (2019/20 cohort) - settling in we hope

[NewModelArmyMayhem18]

Previous thread - sorry about the lame thread title but done in a hurry!

I am very impressed with your DS2 then! Fancy dress outfits aren't really on my DSs radar, but I bet he will ingratiate himself with some organised girls who will sort him out

DC has bloody worked out how to read WhatsApp messages without the blue ticks showing (prob pulls down from top bar I guess). 😠. May have to hire a private detective to keep tabs!

Wheeldecide I'm not sure - looking at the website there appears to be a 50% off deal on orders over £20!

I just want DS unpacked and happy in his new room so we can establish our new routine as a 3 person family - Benjispruce articulated it perfectly for me. It's been a very long summer and feel like we've been in limbo since A Level results day when he didn't get the grades he hoped for. I'm exhausted and feel we all need a fresh start. DS has just driven his sister to a party and now wishing the next 36 hours away so he can finally start the next chapter of his life in Durham. Still have tomorrow to load up the car before setting off at 7am on Sunday morning.

The extra wait must be hard.

@Jano69, I'm excited for DS, and it will be great to not have him coming in at all hours, but he has been very easy to live with over the last year, and has great banter... hopefully we will still get some of that on WA/facetime/calls

Shimy, it's to do with her health, she has to be able to keep some things at the right temperature. She was v organised and spoke to the Uni about it all and got everything properly organised and arranged some months ago. I think she had been really worried about how she was going to manage everything when her health is pretty poor on top of all that, so she had to go for it early in order to get to a point where she could just worry about normal things.

I must say, Exeter have been brilliant wrt her disabilities and making things as easy as they can for her, and ensuring that the right people know so that she gets the help she needs from staff and tutors.

York bound tomorrow- car’s packed and ready to go to Constantine. Bath, bubbles and a Chinese; very excited to get going.

Safe journeys to all those travelling this weekend.

good luck to everyone dropping
off this weekend

thesunwillout my DS has just started 2nd year at Cardiff and lived in Taly North last year. He chose quiet living which was ideal for him and the room was great. He used the Next bikes a lot to get to lectures (50p for 30 minutes) if he couldn't be bothered to walk. Cardiff is a great city to be a student in and relatively cheap. His rent this year in a house share is £370 monthly including bills.
Anyone with dc just starting at Cardiff, get them to join 30 minute society!

Good Luck to Yorkers and Durhamites.

Look out for signs on the A1 warning about document changes for freight after 31st October (first signs of impeding doom)!

@bigTillyMint Dd has a moving in time of 9-10:30am.

Dh says the latest he wants to leave Durham is 2:00pm.
Dd got upset at the idea he might go earlier.
I assumed he would have to go by 10:30.
She assumed at 10:30 he'd go and park elsewhere and stay longer.

I'm kind of hoping when she comes to it that she'll be happy for him to leave earlier. I can understand it if there aren't others in the flat at that point, but I suspect 6 students, 6-12 parents and possible extra hangers on (one of her friends went with entire extended family she says judging by the photos on Instagram) will be far too many in the flat and end up with tempers flaring-especially if there's parents who should have gone earlier as other parents are trying to settle nervous students in.

I have this horrible feeling that if he stays (and dh doesn't always read this sort of thing well) that the other 5 will go off together and she'll stick with dh. If they all say "lets go and find XYZ together" and dh is there she won't go with them. She'd prefer that on the first day, I'm sure, but it might well not be helpful in the long run.

Asparagus is on offer in Tescos this week, so sounds like some of out DC are trying to save their pennies

Safe journeys everyone. Hope drops go well

dd proud since she has worked out, or has a friend who helped her, how much money she has per week. considering thus far she has been out every night, it is quite important, although i had to do the boring reminder about books required that she should buy!

@Witchend, can/have you said all that to your DH? That he could break the ice with any others if your DD is a bit nervous and then let them chat and leave her to it?

I keep remembering last min things - DS and DH are still asleep!

Yes, did say to him. He just says he won't stay too long. Could mean anything with him, but him and DD can be a little stuck to what they've said. So if he's said leaving by 2, that's the time he's leaving whatever!
Hopefully he'll be sensible.

DH and DD are the only ones still asleep. Even dd2's up... We've just started removing all electronics from her room overnight and she has, at the same time, gone from being a grumpy leave me alone in the morning to up with the birds. Hmm.
She says this is just a fluke and never touched them overnight.

Good luck to everyone travelling this weekend.. hope it’s a safe and easy journey 🤞
As for Durhamites, have you checked the college arrangements sheet? Hild bede has drinks and snacks till 3pm, so they’re obviously expecting everyone to leave then. At lboro all the parents left when the reps came to collect them for induction talk at 4.. so your dh might want to hang on for a while @Witchend the time seems to be for unloading, but you can hang around.

Ds is going on Sunday - to Lancaster. There's a meeting for parents. Dh predicts that it is a sod off and go home now meeting. Which we will anyway as we have to get ready for work and school the next day. I'm sure they will say a few more things than just that!

@Clankboing we are going to Lancaster today. It's absolutely chucking it down ! Ds is in County

I'll let you know what the new says

That should say meeting not new !

Just dropping in on the new thread. Good luck to everyone dropping off this weekend.
DD is at the end of week 1 of Freshers (with another week to go 🙄) and is having a great time. She’s been out every night, which surprised us all as she’s usually keen for a good nights sleep, and is really enjoying her flatmates. I’m hoping the nights out/very early mornings calm down a bit next week or she will burn out !

I'm surprised that some universities are doing meetings/talks for parents. It isn't school.

As DD was the last in her flat to arrive she didn't want us hanging around. She just needed help carrying stuff to the kitchen, getting her shopping delivery and someone to vent her frustration on when she couldn't log on the the Wi-Fi.

One week in and I'm worried because dd feels like she's failing already. She hasn't really bonded with her flatmates - they get on well enough but that's all.
She's met people on her course but says they're all very quiet and so she's worried that options for friendships are limited there as well.
At an introductory talk they said make all your friends in the first week so dd feels she's already failed at university.
I know rationally things can and probably will get better but it's really hard, especially when all her school friends she sees on social media are having the best time.