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

I loved Morocco. Hope you're managing to fit in a trip to Marrakech too @sluj.

Good for you @icanbewhatiwant. A £75 shop should last a goodly while. Yes, have heard there's a Co-op not too far away. The Aldi seems quite a distance to walk?

To be fair you wouldn't really expect a student flat to be pristine, would you? I once shared with a group of very 'soignes' students, except when it came to kitchen duties!

Idea about freezing the extra for reserve meals for the DC to take back to university with them is a good one. I actually have a freezer full already.

Yes Morocco sounds great. I can only dream of far away places. Dh refuses to go on a plane. He went once in 1980 and won't go again!

@NewModelArmyMayhem18 yes I knew it would be a mess. I'd hate it. I'm a bit obsessive about a clean worktop in the kitchen and I hate clutter. Ds didn't seem to mind, he pointed out his stuff all washed up, but I expect he did it because I was coming. Yes I've heard Aldi is 40 min walk. There were lots of students on bicycles. But ds hates riding a bike.

@mumsiedarlingrevolta have to confess DH and I have just had a final series of Downton watching again.

We went across, well down I suppose as DS is one of seemingly few from slightly more northern climes, on Sunday. It was not a huge success as Ds2 has been struggling with a lingering cold, not sure it fully counts as freshers flu. However it was good to see him, a chance to stock up on tissues etc, and thankfully he was much brighter yesterday, so a strict "just got to bed" as we were leaving seems to have paid off. So actually whilst the nice lunch planned fell through the fact he is feeling a lot better counts for far more.

Finally managed to have a chat with DS tonight, he told me all about his timetable, what contact hours he has (quite a lot).
He’s not managed to do a washing yet, every time he’s been to try there has been queues, he did an Amazon order for more socks to keep him going.
He planning to join a board game society but hasn’t managed yet, it sounds like he’s getting on well with his flat mates and they often play card games in the kitchen in the evenings, also sounds like they are all reasonably tidy and respectful, ask before borrowing stuff etc.
He’s not spending much money although he said he had a really expensive 5 Guys Deliveroo which was £20, I don’t think he will do that very often!
Hoping to get to see him next weekend, but it’s looking like my DH may be travelling with work, so I will probably just go for the day rather than a weekend as planned.
He doesn’t seem to have a reading week, so has no plans to come home before Christmas.

@mumsiedarlingrevolta my DD is in Barton House. Likewise the radiator in her room is off but the whole flat is like a sauna!

I think it's better to be cold than too hot. I sleep with window open all year round. Cannot stand a stuffy room particularly at night!

It's not actually been cold enough to put heating on yet, IMO, unless to do some emergency laundry drying. Suspect they just have a set day for putting it on (maybe official first day of term?), without actually considering the temperature.

Hope your DD starts to feel much better very soon @juicy0. Is she one for spending time outdoors - maybe she needs to be in fresh air and natural light for an hour or so every day?

@juicy0 that's where DD is as well.

I am surprised it's so hot as must be expensive but with your DD's head and my DD's nosebleeds maybe they'll turn it down??

Back from Morocco, it was fabulous. Both DS's are coming home for the weekend next week-
I remember DS1's first year in the Village was stiflingly hot with the radiators. It was a massive shock in his year 2 house where we had to organise an emergency Amazon delivery of an electric blanket!

Glad you had a wonderful time @sluj! DH and I have booked a holiday to Italy for June. It will be the first holiday we have had without dc in 23 years

We are visiting ds on Sunday and have just found out that there are open days on all weekend. I am very much hoping we will still be ok to drive on to campus. Those of you who have taken dogs to visit - is it allowed? Did you take the dog into dc's accommodation?

Not the same, but just booked DD onto her school trip to Spain for next summer.

Oh, so it will be busy on campus then? I think when we visited, it was late May or early June and it seemed quite devoid of students other than the ones showing prospective students/families around.

@MrsBartlet dogs are usually allowed on campus and there will be plenty enjoying walks around the lake etc if the weather is good. Don't think they're allowed in buildings /halls though.

Ok - thanks @juicy0!

@NewModelArmyMayhem18 yes I think it will be very busy. I seem to remember when we went to the open day last year we had to go to the park and ride rather than drive onto campus.

Several in DS flat have signed up to help on campus for the open day and are allowing viewings in their flat rooms. I asked DS why he didn’t do it, he said because he didn’t want to tidy his room and he didn’t need the money
He doesn’t drink or go out much, currently has twice as much money left, for the rest of term, than his brother !

Also thought it very funny that DS told me yesterday, that in his flat of 8 he has 1 international student from Australia, but of the rest he comes from the most northern place and we live south of Norwich

@MrsBartlet campus very dog friendly. we had a couple of lovely walks round the lake.
I am usually very rule abiding but do admit I smuggled DDog in to Barton.
It was easy though as you could nip up side stairs and straight in to flat.
I would have thought you could try and park on campus but may be tricky. we did park and ride for DD's Open Day but might be difficult with dog.
I'd try and park close by and walk. the exit on the side of campus by Barton seems to have on street parking?

When dh dropped ds back Sunday the car park was full. When I picked him up to shop on weds it had spaces. But I drove right round to the bays outside Paston house. There were no signs saying not to park. Ds said cars often park there all night. So that is useful to know. Ds has 2 friends visiting Saturday and apparently sleeping on his floor. They'll park the car outside, so it'll be interesting to see if they get told not to.

When we dropped Ds the first day there was a dog on a lead in his flat. No one seemed to mind. She did carry it in the lift though.

@icanbewhatiwant @mumsiedarlingrevolta - thanks both - good to know! I have to admit when dd was at university I had to visit her city regularly for work and I took ddog with me on a couple of occasions and dropped him off for a visit with dd while I went to my meetings It wasn't ever a problem and one of dd's tutors kept nagging her that she wanted to meet ddog next time he came. When we met the tutor at graduation she said she was most disappointed we didn't have the dog with us

Am I the only one thinking how nice it would be to go to the Open Day? I quite enjoyed all if that but have no children left

@sluj it's funny when you complete a definite phase in family life, isn't it?

Lovely weekend for seeing UEA at its best!

My ds didn't want to go to university for the first year of 6th form. Then he suddenly decided he might. So we didn't look into universities that much. We looked at the 2 nearest ones (UEA and Essex) I think a lot looking round UEA at the time were pupils in the year below ds. At that point he still wasn't sure if that's what he wanted.
We looked round Essex university when he had his interview. It would be nice to check out the universities properly and look round knowing that he was definitely going. I think we'd have done more research and checked out further afield too. So many people have asked why ds is going to his nearest university. With the last minute decision it just seemed easier. But he may well have still chosen UEA anyway.
He did get an unconditional offer at Harper Adams university. Ds has a farming background which may be why he got the offer as it is mainly an agricultural university. But then they decided to drop the biology degree course. They only told us the day before we going to make the long trip up there to look round.

I ended up going to look at lots of universities with DS because he was retaking Biology and chemistry and self studying at home, so we had an extra year to look. Having all the trips really helped him focus on what he wanted out of university and gave us some lovely days out together.

As there weren't a huge number of Unis offering the course DS wanted he decided to choose 5 for his form then go to Applicant days for ones he got offers from. He got a full suite of offers, visited UEA and said he could see himself there. Went to Birmingham and he just didn't like it. The course was really good but the campus was nowhere near as nice in his view. Decided not to visit the others as they were lower preferences, and because he was doing a Btec he pretty much knew he would meet his UEA offer. It was a bright sunny day when he visited UEA, but a miserable January day when he went to Birmingham, so i do wonder how much that had to do with it, but from our perspectives we know which city we would rather visit. I hope it stays dry next weekend when we go up.

That's nice to know some of you preferred UEA. As I said...we didn't look around much to compare. The accommodation looked nicer at Essex for less money, mainly because it was newer. But apart from that UEA seemed better. The offer for Essex was lower. They wanted BBC. UEA wanted ABB. Ds was tempted to put Essex as firm choice incase he didn't do well in exams even though he wanted to go to UEA. I told him he'd be very disappointed if he did well enough for UEA. So he did put it first. Thank goodness he got the grades. It would have been my fault for suggesting it otherwise.
Yes I can imagine the weather playing a part. Nowhere looks nice on a wet, dreary day.

@icanbewhatiwant UEA DD's first choice. She got all 5 offers-

She is the youngest of 3 and did the most rigorous selection of all-looked at her brothers mistakes/successes and really put a lot of time into choosing.

Loved UEA-the course, the campus, the whole package.
Offer holders day cemented it as she went to some lectures, met professors etc. She could really see herself living there and being happy!!

So definitely first choice

@icanbewhatiwant @mumsiedarlingrevolta UEA was DD's first choice too. We went to Nott and birmingham to look around and she got unconditional offers from all three. We went to the UEA for a second open day, with more focus on the accommodation rather than uni life and the course as she'd already been to those talks and researched the course at each uni meticulously. From the start it was the campus she liked the most and the course offered more modules to suit her interests so it was a no brainer.
I know unconditionals get a lot of bad press but DD didn't take her foot off the gas and was reassured that her offer wasn't dependant on her results, it took the pressure off. She also applied for accommodation early and got her first choice confirmed in late July which meant that she was just excited and looking forward to going.
It's early days I know but she feels it is 100% the right uni and course for her 😊