UEA freshers (2019 starters) part 2

[NewModelArmyMayhem18]

Previous thread and hope you don't mind that I set up the next thread @juicy0. Just did it to ensure that we carry on chatting seamlessly

Took DD back yesterday-she just had so much stuff and I am a sucker.

She quoted Winnie the Pooh to me when she felt a bit teary.

"How lucky am I to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard?"

need crying emoji

She thinks her lecturers will strike Nov 25-Dec 5. Her flatmates lecturer who supervising her essays going while she has lots of essays due. Tricky one...

The University of Westminster has had a campus at Northwick Park for many years now. I'm not sure what used to be based there originally (it was just somewhereI walked past on the way from the tube station to my destination when I occasionally worked in the area), but it now seems to be Journalism, Art and Design and related subjects.
www.westminster.ac.uk/about-us/visit-us/harrow

That is so sweet @mumsiedarlingrevolta!

Clearly I'm very much out of the loop @MarchingFrogs!

Lovely @mumsiedarlingrevolta. The moments to cherish that parenting is all about!

my baby will be home tonight for the weekend - not sure we'll see much of him, he's arranged with all his other mates (various uni's) to meet up this weekend 😂😂

@mumsiedarlingrevolta how lovely, moments like that make all the planning, worrying, blood, sweat and tears worthwhile 😊

@NotSorry - I bet your baby will magically appear at mealtimes.

Regarding Westminster, DS's GF is reading Law, so not particularly niche. There may well be a campus close to Wembley, but the Law faculty is just off Oxford Street! It's not the proximity that bothers her, it's just the fact that the accommodation is a massive anonymous block, containing students from other universities, and there's absolutely no social nucleus. And it takes her about two hours to get home to Surrey at the weekends.

She will stick it out, but will probably move home.

I finally WhatsApped DD1 yesterday, having not heard a peep from her since she caught the bus back to UEA on Sunday. She had just collected the two massive parcels of stuff I sent her that she couldn't carry on the bus, and was off to a pub quiz! Which they didn't win.

Haha yes! The novelty of planning and cooking will have well and truly worn off, I suspect

I messaged ds yesterday to ask if he's coming home before he finishes for Christmas (baring in mind we are only 20 mins on the train from Norwich) he said no ☹️
But I guess that's a good thing really. He did say it was boring round here when he visited us for the weekend after 4 weeks at UEA. We live in a quiet village. I work at the local primary school, as it was raining I took his car today, I usually walk as it's only half a mile. His car looked lonely sitting on the drive. I'm not sure how much he will use it now. Ds2 is 16 next week, so the car will be kept for him to use in a years time if ds1 doesn't need it anymore. We thought he'd be home more often.

@icanbewhatiwant I know it's hard but it's so fab that he is settled so well. The opposite would be much much worse.

I am struggling with the thought of putting up the Christmas tree on my own for the first time.
I miss DD so much as we are so companionable but I am so proud that she is thriving.
We have done our jobs as Mums when they can take on the next challenge.

DS made it! He said he kept asking people to make sure he was on the right train and everyone was helpful. Now he's done it once, it will be easy

It's TRUE, if they weren't all so happy and settled, we would all be out of our minds with worry.

I'm also not looking to having to get the tree down from the loft without a boy to help.

slightly envious of all of you with DCs that have deigned to come home for at least part if not all of their reading weeks. DS2 happy not to which I think wiping a tear or three away overall is a positive thing.

He has a big history soc event next week - glorified pub crawl by the sound of things all year groups involved with each dressing in a specific historical period. Apparently 1st yrs have drawn the Mddle Ages so ruffs all round.

@mumsiedarlingrevolta yes I know you are right. I am happy that he's happy. At least I still have 2 dc's at home. I can't imagine ds3 leaving home to go to university (or for whatever else) but he's only 10 so hopefully a long way off. You can get the trees down knowing they'll come home to a Christmassy home.
Ds said the girls were already decorating their flat kitchen for Christmas. He wasn't impressed 😆

DS told me he’s going to see fireworks at Norwich Castle tonight (at last he’s going out, off campus 👍).
I put our tree up really late so will wait for DS return on 13/14/15??? Dec and do as a family. I think it’s because I worked in retail for several years and Christmas came far to early, so no way did I want it at home too!

Hi you lot! Would you recommend UEA? Thinking of going to the open day for dd2 (English/philosophy/classics/theology- undecided). It's a really long way so wouldnt mind some intel!

@trewser from DS2's experience so far - so not yet 2 mnths :) - 100% yes :) :Lovely campus; relatively dry being so far East, and Norwich is big enough to have everything needed, but not so big like a Leeds or Manchester iykwim

Am i right in thinking you have a DC at Swansea? course there that DS3 (yr 12)likes the look off . That would be a long haul for an open day for us.

Yes i have a dd at Swansea. She absolutely loves it. Would totally recommend.

@trewser just to add UEA have some accommodation on campus that can be booked for visitors. Did that for DS2 applicant day - he never made an open day and until he went UEA was not a favourite. Once he visited, saw the campus, met faculty staff, went into Norwich ok the nice meal out might have helped he was completely sold on it. UEA has not disappointed so far.

@boys3 - it's a big thumbs up for UEA from me too. I have hardly heard from DD1 which is an excellent sign. It is just right for her. Worth making the effort to visit.

I think DD1 also went to the fireworks in central Norwich last night.

@Juicy0 how did your DD's consultation go with the doctor yesterday, re her headaches?

@Trewser ds seems happy so far.
Yes @juicy0 I hope your daughter got on ok.

Ds tried to go to the fireworks but they couldn't get on the bus. There were so many queues, they tried several buses, then it got past the start time for the fireworks. So they gave up. So a lesson learned...go earlier in future, or walk!

Yes @icanbewhatiwant, DS said he was going to go but didn't because of bus issues...

@NewModelArmyMayhem18 @icanbewhatiwant thank you for asking. DD's appointment went well, we had a lengthy consultation and blood tests and she has an MRI scheduled for next week but the Dr said he doesn't expect to find anything and is doing it to put our minds at rest more than anything. I'll still feel better once it's done and we know the results, but I'm hugely appreciative that we have private healthcare to make it possible. He said all of her symptoms point to a combination of migraines and tension headaches. Unfortunately DD has taken painkillers quite regularly in order to get through the first few weeks of term and he's concerned that doing so may have caused the headaches to rebound. He has advised her to only take medication (soluble aspirin) as soon as she feels a bad headache coming on but to try to manage the low level headaches without analgesia for the next 10 days to break the cycle. If she continues to have daily headaches there are preventative medications she can take but he thinks the reassurance that it's nothing serious and the analgesia break will do the trick. He also suggested she can take anti nausea tablets if she continues to feel sick all the time. It won't stop her getting migraines but it should cut out or reduce the tension headaches in between.
I've done a lot of reading around the subject and a few people suggested that seeing a cranial osteopath might help so she also had an appointment this week with a clinic close to the uni. The outcome of that was that the muscles in the back of her head, neck and shoulders are very tight, particularly on one side, which will most likely be contributing to her tension headaches. She had some deep tissue massage, acupuncture in the neck 😲 and some manipulation and has a list of exercises to do twice daily to try to lengthen and loosen the muscles. It's been quite a week for her and although it's early days she said she can feel a difference in the back of her neck and the headaches have reduced to the lowest level of pain in weeks. She needs another 5-6 sessions apparently so let's hope the situation continues to improve.
The migraines won't go away but she can learn to manage them by identifying the triggers and trying to avoid them. The main one seems to be tiredness, hence they were at their most painful during freshers fortnight when she definitely burnt the candle at both ends!
Anyway, apologies for the lengthy answer but I'm pleased that there is light at the end of the tunnel for her. I'm also pleased that I pursued expert advice via our private medical insurance as our GP's first response was to prescribe her Amitryptiline (spelling) an anti depressant and I didn't want to mask the symptoms unless we knew what was causing them.