Heading towards year 3 exams (uni 2017)

[Xenia]

Continuation of www.mumsnet.com/Talk/higher_education/3538808-heading-towards-year-2-exams-uni-2017 as we have reached page 40.

Hard to believe they are all in year 3 now and many will finish university in June 2020.

We’re picking DS up tomorrow. All of his housemates are going home too.

Has he asked the company about it, Eve? They might actually be relieved that he was one less thing for them to worry about. With all the disruption to the summer term for other students, I can't imagine the university would hold it against him if he didn't do the full year at his placement.

One of my twqns is home but the other is coming back next week I think at the end of week when normal term would have ended. He says Bristol is like a ghost town (although it will safer than here - London - where we seem to be the epicentre of the virus now with no space even in local hospitals).

I suspect they will both go back on 20 April when term starts even though things are on line as their friends are there and I have paid rent on their two places to 1 July and it is their very last term. Sometimes it helps people feel better to stick to normal routines where lawful and where they can.

The one still up said there were only about 10 other people plus him in the Bristol university library yesterday and they have to keep a very large distance away from each other. However it is not affecting his work - 2 essays and a dissertation due fairly soon.

We called DD to see how her packing is going ahead of being picked up tomorrow by the BFs parents. They were having lunch in Coo Fen in spring sunshine, must have been quite bittersweet.

Apparently the plan now is to have two sets of examination dates, presumably to allow for people being ill or disrupted for the first set. That sounds sensible.

@Xenia there were quite a few people around central Bristol when we picked DD and her mate up on Thurs eve, but DD said the library would be shutting if the pubs etc had to?

@ErrolTheDragon. He’s been told to go in Tues & Weds as he has stuff to do on plant then, but other days he can stay home.

He’s using the off time to research and prepare his dissertation topic for next year and I’m getting daily phone calls to discuss it.

Cambridge shut its libraries on Friday. It's a good thing research journals are all online now

DS is fed up with food shortages (who isn't?! 🙄) but is otherwise ok.
His flatmates who went home earlier left their food for the remainers, so he has enough for about 7-10 days.

He is being sensible and staying in, not using the Metro, etc. There are 3 in the flat, so hopefully keeping a good distance between them.

His library shut earlier in the week; all online assessments now.

The phrase, "A week is a long time in politics", certainly rings true at the moment!
I've been having a catch up read of the last few days and it's good to hear that we're mainly doing ok even with concerns about family near and far.
I ended up working 4 full days to cover absent TAs which is the most work I've had in a single week for ages. I'm on standby next week in case schools don't have enough staff to cover key worker pupils.
Just had a whattsapp call from DS2 and it was good to see him looking ok. He had a headache yesterday but he thinks it was tiredness as he'd been reading until late. 2 people from his flat have returned to the USA but the other 5 are staying so at least he has some company and they are all in the same situation so hopefully can support each other.
Take care, everyone.

DD came in to my room last night and said "I'm feeling sad" and had a little weep about not knowing that last weekend was the last time she'd see her cheer team, saying goodbye to her housemates, not being able to go near gran when we saw her yesterday, not knowing when she's graduating, etc etc.

That's sad.

I think my sons will go back for 20 April start of term but they might change their mind over the Easter holiday. Bristol will currently still be open to students next term and currently the graduations are still on. Actually their older sister graduated and chose a ceremony the February after as she was abroad working during that summer after graduation so doing it a few months later is not necessarily a big issue although I hope they don't cancel the late July ones.

We seem to be living in a coronavirus hotspot in this bit of London with the local hospital full and at crisis level already so I hope we don't get (or any other medical emergency) as I doubt there will be much of an ambulance service or hospital space available.

I'm certainly glad I live in a small town which is of zero interest to tourists, I feel for anybody in tourist cities or London at the moment.
I've been out to the corner shops this morning and managed to get bread and milk, my allergic rhinitis is in full flow now with the trees all producing pollen so I am trying hard to stifle a cough or a sneeze in the shops to avoid the foul glares I get. We're not going out much at all but I am working next week as a key worker.

DH and I had planned to visit our caravan this weekend but on Monday evening after Mr. Johnson's press conference decided that we shouldn't go. A couple of family members thought we were being a bit dramatic but can now see our reasoning.
Our local steam railway society has cancelled all train services and events until further notice.

The steam trains run past the back corner of our garden most Sundays and it is eerily quiet this morning.

I just had a text from a consultant friend, working in a London teaching hospital, saying isolation is the key, even if you feel well. She is about the calmest, most sensible person I know, and her advice will be worth heeding.

We are really in the hot spot, on the apex of the three worst affected London boroughs, and close to the new temporary morgue. We could flee as we have been unable to sell the small flat we used when caring for my mum, but isolation is isolation wherever we are, so we might as well be comfortable.

An antibody test would be really useful, as the milder possible symptoms are so common and exposure is so possible.

DD is now over the temperature spike she had when she first came home. She has started to receive emails from a couple of the Bristol trusts inviting her to back to do things like admin work. But it's all a bit non specific and I think she is hoping that they will allow/encourage her to do something in London instead. Not least she does not see her non medic, and seriously germophobic, flatmate taking kindly to her returning to working in a hospital. An option that allowed her to use her placement accommodation would be easier.

I think they will be having a group Skype tutorial on Monday which should give her some sense of direction. Last week was largely admin and sorting out notes, but there is only so much of that.

Oddly shops round here are well stocked. A few items were missing, but we did head out at around 3.00pm yesterday to a large Waitrose with parking. Smaller supermarkets, relying on pedestrian shoppers, seem fine. Perhaps part of the problem is a significant population movement from London to elsewhere, with supermarkets not yet adjusting their restocking. DD is unimpressed with my earlier bulk purchase of pasta, tins of tomato, and porridge oats. If push came to shove, this would keep us going for a month, and the monotony would not particularly bother me. But we were able to buy lots of fruit and veg, so not a problem. (DH seems to have independently stocked up on Marmite. Presumably his idea of isolation rations.)

Sorry I haven't been on since last weekend. This last week was manic for me and the hardest teaching week I have had since Dunblane, when I was a NQT. It's nice to have both DDs here and they are both just about managing to keep up with work.

The talk about sitting exams at home worries me because our internet connection is dire. We live in a rural hamlet in E Devon with no fibre. Our maximum speed is

Haha Malbec that is superfast for us! Same concerns re finals.

DH seems to have independently stocked up on Marmite. Presumably his idea of isolation rations

He's obviously planning on marmite porridge as his staple.

Malbec - I would think the unis will be thinking through this and realise that they can't expect all students, globally, to be able to do exams connected online. Downloading a paper wouldn't be more than an email. Presumably your DDs DoS knows about her internet constraints?

Good point on wifi. One reason we had my son's student friend here for 4 weeks last summer (eating me out of house and home - lovely boy that he is) is because he has zero wifi at home. The younger siblings watch films on DVD. He also came here when they both had mumps after Easter lat year for 2 weeks.

My son who was only going to have one exam anyway this year says for his subject at Bristol instead they will have a 48 hour to write it essay so presumably given the topic and then have 48 hours to do it. As last year's exams count, his dissertation, countless essays and he is only missing that one supervised exam I am very happy the 48 hour essay is a good substitute and his degree mark will be a fair one. Had he had weeks of only just exams which I think I did for law it would be much harder although even then almost half our marks were from the year 2 exams.

We are lucky here in outer London for food too -loads of supermarkets, lots of ethnic shops with fruit and veg in trays outside the shop within 5 minutes of the house. The downside of all these people and international travel is there will be masses of coronavirus out there. I have been very careful for a few weeks actually. I even cancelled a dental hygienist appointment only just after it started being an issue as I thought waiting rooms might be a place to pick a virus up.

Good luck to all those on the front line. My son who delivers groceries for a living says they all have a temperature check every single day before the shift starts and loads of hands cleaning and not going into people;'s houses any more and they don't even pack the vans so I think it's relatively safe for him and key work (feeding people) not that he has children who need minding.

On internet connections students can stay at and live at university next term - my twins might and probably there may be fast computers there or their lap tops would be quick in the university town. If you have had to pay rent anyway it might be more sensible to get back for next term, see friends, enjoy your last term even socially isolating and do exams in a place with fast internet.

DS is leaving his options open. At the moment four boys are still in the house up in Durham. He says he'll come home then see how he feels about where to take finals - I think he'd rather be back in Durham for social reasons if at all possible. The question is, if they come home, will they be able to get back?

On internet connections students can stay at and live at university next term

Current information suggests that may well not be the case for Cambridge colleges. I don't know about other uni halls. Obviously elsewhere students in private rented accommodation can presumably choose whether to use it or not, if the house has decent broadband but I wouldn't bet on any university facilities being open.

The question is, if they come home, will they be able to get back?

Who knows? It's a concern to us that if DD needs 'rescuing' we might well not be allowed to fetch her.

Errol, that may be so. I think universities where you live all year round and have a tenancy to 1 Jul and can live there all Christmas and Easter holidays are different from short Oxbridge terms and clearing your room out in holidays.

I am often wrong because I am an extreme optimist but I think travel from town to town for something as basic as getting home to your parents or going back to university will probably be okay rather than we will see roadblocks on motorways with the army (as I recently saw on that good series on Sky when the power was down across the NE - forgotten the name - fictional programme - road blocks across the motorway). However my son who came home last week i did tell to bring back anything valuable just in case like passport.

That's my worry too Errol. 🤨

DS insists he'll get more work done in his house than ours and remains adamant he is staying put.

I think it takes us all a while to adjust to how serious this is. DD was on placement in a market town, so saw restricted entry to wards and people in hazmat suits. It was getting so complicated that she could barely find her way round the hospital. When they announced a week ago that the medical school was closed she was just relieved to get home.

She was quite shocked to see University events continuing. She had a ticket for something that Saturday night but had no wish to go. A friend who has had to go to support an ill and recently widowed mother, equally turned down a couple of late invites to Cheltenham the same weekend. She says that several people have since become ill.

That said I am expecting DD to become stir crazy fairly soon. But she, equally, is expecting a clear request to support the NHS in some way. So she might as well take an early Easter break.

Yes, marmite porridge it was going to be. I decided I did not want to buy anything that we would not use up in the normal course of events, so no long life milk. Porridge with water...though as a concession I bought a big bag of sultanas when I spotted them yesterday.