The ABC of university life (2019/20 cohort) - Will NewModelArmyMayhem18 forgive me?

[MrKlaw]

previous thread www.mumsnet.com/Talk/higher_education/3701968-The-ABC-of-university-life-2019-20-cohort-settling-in-we-hope

Hope you don't mind - people have pent up comments about cheese graters and traffic cones to get out of their system!

@bigTillyMint @Jano69 Ah, thank you! I know what question to ask now, I guess I had assumed enrolment equalled matriculation but obviously not!

@Tinseltrauma
Dd's was paid in last week. Probably worth them checking.

@Ingles2 Never going to be easy. I remember with doing maths, some of the Analysis went over my head by the end of first year. I loved wave motion and maths modelling, which was the mechanics I'd hated at A-level, so I've told dd that she may find what she thinks she'd love she may find something else.

yes ds2 had his maintenance loan last week too... no invoice from the uni yet though...

And that last sentence doesn't make sense at all.
"What she thinks she'd love she may find she loves something else instead."

My meeting with the rowing club was about 10 seconds long.

"Are you interested in rowing?"
"I don't know, I've never done it."
"Lot's of us haven't. We usually meet at 6am..."
"Stop there... I'm not interested."

@witchend that would be my response too. It’s taken me 30 years to be quite good at getting up at 6.30. Never been a morning person and neither is DD1. DD2 takes after DH and has the morning gene.
Got a “Miss you” text from DD1 today unexpectedly. Still hasn’t replied to tell me whether she’s got her loan yet.

"Lot's of us haven't. We usually meet at 6am..."

That's another thing about crew. They practice at the crack of dawn because that's when the water is the calmest. The meets and regattas also start at obscenely early times, so they're on the bus even earlier.

Rowing is not for the faint of heart.

OMgosh! He’s even more perfect for rowing than I thought ! Ds1 is regularly up and running / working out at 6.30am!

@Ingles2

If dd is up at 6:30am then it's because she hasn't gone to bed yet.

I happily take my label as a member of the "faint of heart". [grin[

@Ingles2 @Witchend I think the shock of having to work after 3 months off might have something to do with the exhaustion plus the aftermath of freshers. My DD told me tonight that everyone is ill - all coughing in lectures. She's not ill but expects to be next week although she sounds like she's overdosing a bit on vitamins! She's facetimed me from her bed the past two days so I'm glad she's resting up a bit. I'm sure they will get into the swing of it :-)

Definitely. Bit of a shock to the system to actually work!

Hopefully dd will avoid illness. She's very rarely ill, but when she is, she really does do it properly. Last time she was ill enough to take days off school was in 2009 when she had pneumonia badly enough to have to take 3 lots of antibiotics concurrently.

My DS seems to have recovered from his bout of feeling unwell at the weekend, so I doubt it was freshers flu. He has confirmed that they have been given some actual work but not whether he is managing it. He has joined a gym at last, but one nearest his accommodation rather than a student one. Progress of sorts anyway. I want to feel he is doing something in his spare time, though he could probably do with finding a job. Too much money being spent on socialising.

Getting the grey cells into gear after a long break will be a challenge and mentally taxing/tiring.

DS so far seems well so far but DD has had a stonker of a cold, so hoping she doesn't pass it on to him when he comes home briefly this weekend.

@Witchend your poor DD getting pneumonia and having to take three lots of antibiotics. She wasn't very old then either?

DS WhatsApp’d last night to say he has mild freshers flu. He went to Reading Festival after his GCSEs and was ill for a month afterwards - awful at the time but seems to have served him well for immunity now. He says he’s enjoying his lectures and the workload is still light.

@Witchend, DS said he might try rowing. I said they train at 6am or even earlier (my BFF at uni was a rower) and he said he thought not in the winter...

He said he is going to try a new sport today - decides he would rather play his main sport at college level as the uni team was too serious and he's like to try something new after 12 years of it. Which I think is a great idea

Yay!!!
There was a getting to know each other meeting yesterday and DD actually went, stayed late, enjoyed herself and made some contacts!!!!!
Again yay!!!!
And she is joining a choir - not the philarmonic one (too much work for a first semster - Brahms) but a more fun one.
Again yay, yay!!!!

@Ingles2 @Witchend turns out some of his modules hadn't set up quite right, so this is delaying registration and therefore the loan. Hopefully he will sort it today. Thanks for pointing me in the right direction!
As far as I can tell the accommodation invoice doesn't come for a few weeks yet. They ask for direct debit to cut down on credit card fees so I think I will set that up now just to make sure we don't miss it.

When I was at uni in the days before all this technology my parents knew nothing about the kinds things we discuss here and I don't remember any of it being as complicated as it is now. So much for progress.

@simbobs I totally agree. I think the whole university experience, certainly admin-wise, has got way over complicated and does no favours to those who are not naturally very organised. Having a 'hard copy' student booklet point of reference is far simpler, although clearly not cost effective or very eco-friendly.

DS is still experiencing difficulties trying to make his accommodation payment via online banking (he keeps getting a system error message), after the initial issue with his security number was finally resolved only late last week. I told him to write a cheque and take it into the Accommodation Office as the more easily achievable alternative (to my mind!), until I was reminded that they don't issue cheque books as a matter of course these days, so he doesn't have one!

DS2 has now been away for nearly 6 weeks, he came home last weekend and said the inside of our fridge looked weird...

He's been really unwell and still has a cold. He's lost weight too but was looking really happy. The 4 boys in the flat seem to have bonded well but the girl seems to do her own thing. Some communal cooking, one boy's parents run an oriental take away and he has a rice cooker with him so that is proving popular.so

It costs around £10 for a laundry wash and dry, he brought virtually everything he owns home with him so it probably worked out a similar saving to the cost of his train fare.... I might see him more often..

@WaxOnFeckOff, nearly six weeks is a long time. Is he at a Scottish university?

Hope some home cooking is helping restore him!

Yes, I'm imagining a similar scenario with a huge amount of washing to process for DS this weekend. Slightly worried about getting hoodies dry in such a short time-frame though, as we neither have a tumble-dryer nor a heated airer.

Yes, he is Aberdeen, he has a Friday afternoon free so came down after his last lecture and went home Sunday afternoon.

Did most of the washing on Friday night and didn't need the tumble drier, we have a pulley and a warm utility room. The bedding goes over the balcony at the top of the stairs to benefit from the warm updraft. He didn't bring a goody as I don't think he's been wearing it much, but did have 4 pairs of jeans. He's taken a few more pairs back with him. I also managed to get everything he'd been wearing done too so he's a lucky boy.

Well done @WaxOnFeckOff. Hope we're as lucky with getting DS's laundry processed! Yes we put washing over the balcony at the top of the stairs too some canny student living ways are never forgotten

He even made his bed and popped his dirty pjs in the wash before he left but reverted to type in the way home and lost his wallet in the bus back to halls from the train station!

He had a fair bit of cash in it as well as all his cards and driving licence, he cancelled his bank card straight away but when he went to get a replacement student card, someone had handed it in, fully intact, he's been a lucky boy.

I must ask my DS whether he has attempted any laundry yet.I know that is is a lot cheaper than £10 where he is, but he won't know what to do with those of his t-shirts that can't be tumbled. He has a convection heater rather than a radiator in his room, so can't use that. I suggested he buy am airer but I imagine that has not happened.