The CDE of University Life (2019/20 cohort) - assignments, flat-hunting, Halloween and the end of their first term fast approaching

[NewModelArmyMayhem18]

Previous thread - Obvs the end of term is looming sooner for some than for others? I guess the Oxbridge posse will finish by the end of November or just into December?

DH dropped out of his first degree at the end of the first term, worked for a few months and then did a different subject at his local uni instead. I'm biased (because that's where we met) but it worked out well in the end.

Today's mishap : broken phone. Can't turn it on. This is the 5th time this has happened to him!!

Grrrrr

@piggy happened to DD last week-was the end of the world after smashing the screen on day 1 at uni. Got it fixed in half an hour at a repair shop so tell him to give it a try. Mind you he’s probably well acquainted by now!

Thanks benji ! No, he isn't acquainted as Tesco actually fixed all his other mishaps for free in the past. But you have to wait about 3 years to get it back.

Dd2 hone for the weekend and I'm waiting for her to finish referencing her eassay before we go shopping. Dd1 coming home tonight so we're all back together as a family ready to make the Christmas cakes and decorate the tree.

Lovely RedHelen I don't know when we will decorate this year, we normally do it at the start of advent but with DD not being there it just seems weird.

It feels ridiculously early but I wont switch the lights on( after testing) until December. The children all have their special.ornaments to put on so they do need to all be there!

and decorate the tree.

It's November!

I know but we won't all be together until 21st Dec otherwise. Have never done it in Nowember before !

@RedHelenB DS not home until mid December but I'm considering decorating our tree this weekend, two weeks before Advent. My excuse is that last year we had frisky kittens who annihilated things to such an extent that in the end, we took it down. I feel as if we are owed an extra couple of weeks of sparkle to compensate.

Have a lovely weekend too.

I know but we won't all be together until 21st Dec otherwise

That's soon enough for a Christmas tree for me

I was going to ask dd if she'd rather come home to find everywhere Christmassy and decorated, or do it on one of the first nights she's home.

I remember the first term I came home. I felt really Christmassy. I'd been to 3 carol services and had at least as many Christmas dinners and arrived home at the start of December to no Christmas stuff at all. It felt really flat.

I will ask DD the same question Witchend

Although DD enjoys decorating the tree herself. It's a job I dislike anyway, so I'm more than happy for her to do it.

Shit ! I'm a terrible mother ... I m not getting a Christmas tree until a couple of weeks before Christmas Day ! ..

Trees can’t go up in autumn imo. I don’t put them up until around 15th Dec. DC don’t get that involved anymore anyway so won’t be doing it early but DD home on 13th so we’ll probably do it that weekend as usual.

@Witchend I’m expecting DD to feel flat anyway. After all the excitement of uni she’ll probably be quite bored apart from catching up with friends. Good job she’s planning on working.

@Benjispruce I think so too. Also I suspect she's going to be sleeping for the first few days. She is very much burning the candle at both ends as my granny used to say.

I remember finding the first holiday really really hard. I felt I didn't belong anywhere. It does make me worry when you get threads on here about taking over their rooms as soon as they go, because I think it would have made me feel much worse.

DCs limits for tree decoration is to put some tinsel on the bit of the tree facing out to the room - the back half just left bare. These days we consider that a tradition now rather than redo it ourselves :)

This year we're off at Chrimbo so probably won't put any decorations up - don't land back until the weekend before DS is back at Uni

I'll put the decs up by myself as usual, probably in the first week of December. It always used to be later but the two weeks before are really busy in work, so I don't want to add that to my to do list. The only issue with dd1 not being around is she was excellent at untangling the fairy lights. I'll probably just have to buy more!

Anyway, dd1 has settled really well, after a bumpy first week. She is a proper socialite though, but is thankfully managing to keep up with an immense workload as well. It really is a lot down to luck. She loves her flatmates, but hasn't gelled with many from her course yet. If she hadn't got on with her flatmates I can't imagine she'd have been having as much of a good time. Dd2 has never really considered university, but based on her sister's first term she's already revised her future plans.

@Witchend we have swapped DD’s rooms but she knew it was happening. We have redecorated and made it nice for her. Wouldn’t be fair on youngest DD to leave it empty so that DD1’s feelings are spared. As she points out, she’s had 15 years of having the big room!

@Benjispruce
Swapping rooms when there's a mismatch of niceness/size or losing the room (or having to share) because otherwise a sibling has to share is absolutely fair enough, and I think that even if that had happened (I had the smallest room anyway!) as an adult I could rationalise it and realise that it was fair enough, even if it had upset me at the time.
However it's the ones who seem to be just waiting for them to move out to take the room for their own or move partner and children in are the ones I find hard to read.

We may end up swapping ds and dd's room. They're similar size but we could do with swapping beds and it could be easier to move the stuff than dd's high sleeper (which she doesn't like).
Dd2 has the big room.

I always put the tree up quite late, so will wait for DS1. & 2 to return before we go and get one probably 16/18th December, that’s plenty long enough for me 😊

Up to now dd has wanted us to wait till she gets back before we put the tree up. But last year our usual supplier only had small trees left by then so we were all a bit disappointed with our tree. So this year I’m planning to get one no later than when ds gets back on the 13th

Tree? Hadn't even thought about it yet, but now that I have I am worrying about how to manage it in the space also occupied by dog. We have reorganised our home and the Christmas tree's previous space, which could be closed off, now houses a non-moveable furniture item. DD hasn't helped decorate the tree since she has been at uni, and DS will almost certainly have other things to do , so I guess I'll be doing it myself - again. I keep threatening not to bother, or to just get a trendy twig with baubles. Tempting, but even more so for dog...

@Benjispruce and @Witchend, I'd love both my two to come back to sleep but I know theyll just continue burning the candle..... [

We usually put the tree up around DHs birthday so likely the weekend they are both? due back.