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.

I can hardly keep track of who is coming and going. The one who was here left today to stay with his girl friend's family for 3 weeks (after 12 weeks apart) as they feel it will be safer than if he and she come and go between the 2 houses. That means he cannot collect his twin in Bristol in their car which means muggins is lumbered [ obviously other mothers would be utterly delighted to enjoy the experience etc.... anyway I have agreed to do it and he staying for the landlord's check of the property so I need to arrive around 8am at the weekend so he can load the car including a large easy chair which he was calling a sofa at first which cost £140 and must come but I think will fit in my volvo estate people never understand why I need that car but week in week out I seem to have masses of stuff in it....and he has the group's TV too which he is looking after over the summer. Anyway it will be nice to see him and he will overlap wit his sister who is here I think until middle of next week. So I think these 4 days( rather than as planned before CV19 the summer term) are the only time I would have had alone but don't have it because daughter 2 is here, before the 4 years of having at least one living back home again... oh well I will get my splendid isolation in due course. No one will understand this post because most people don't like being alone. It would be a boring world if we were all the same.

Twin still in Bristol still not heard from his tutor about being the law school referee. This is probably the only thing he has ever asked his tutor in 3 years of being at university and he cannot apply until he has the consent so I hope he is able to get in chase him politely.

Good luck to the Haffdonga son on moving house.

Well I understand completely Xenia but also haven't a clue who's coming or going so am playing it by ear on a daily basis.

The only two completely fixtures additional to myself are the dogs but the current tally of DC is three, moving to four at the end on next weekend or sometime in the few days after plus a fifth in the last week of July with three floating voters (plus partner/s potentially) as soon as the rules formally permit.

This time next year I should be living on a Scottish island, house sale permitting, so likely to get a bit more notice.

The only two completely fixtures additional to myself are the dogs (Conker the Parsons Jack Russell and Johnny the Cocker Spaniel)

that's a big move goodbyestranger! long planned?
and xennia is there a 'head of department or 'deputy ' tutor you could chase for the reference?

Well done on the results coming in.

And horsemad , must be lovely to have him back.

DS1 finishes his placement this week and went back onsite yesterday to clear his desk. As his team aren’t back in work til beg July he’s left thank you cards and chocolates on desks for people who have helped him ( his idea though he did phone to ask were Lindt ok to get!) And his team have sent him £40 as a leaving present as they can’t go out for leaving drinks!

DS2 has gone to stay with him this week to help pack up the flat so just DH and I at home which is very odd!

I would imagine the £40 is very welcome, Eve. They must have been impressed with the way he has worked around the practicalities of completing his project with them.

My mum very much likes her own space. She even likes to spend Christmas alone. We used to persuade her to spend a few hours with us on Christmas Eve but she stopped that 3 years ago.
When it was announced that people living alone could have visitors I said I would visit but she immediately fobbed me off and said to give it a few more weeks! I think she is enjoying having a reason to keep me at arms length.

I'm intrigued about the Scottish island too, Goodbyestranger. There's something about islands.

Safe trip, Xenia. My ancient zafira has the same use as your volvo. It can fit in DS2's cello.

Just read back, also meant to say hope the move goes ok for your DS Haffdonga.

It's long planned Carriemac and latedecember, yes, and I have four DC in favour and four very unhappy about my selling their home but on the basis that I'll never please everyone....

The £40 is a decent gesture Eve!

What a nice gesture from your DS's team @Eve! 🙂 And nice of him to leave chocolate too - good choice. 🙂

I am envious @goodbyestranger, I'd love to live on a small island. We visited Lundy years ago and that was fab.

is that 8 children altogether goodbye?

Yes, that's the total Carriemac. So half for and half against isn't a bad tally :)

I've given myself the casting vote.

of course - you're the one that has to live there!

Gosh @goodbyestranger - both to 8 children, and moving to an island

My DD is v happily in her bubble with her housemates (think they are off to the beach today!) though v unhappy with her diss mark from her tutor who was unavailable through the whole strike and only gave positive feedback on all her preliminary work

bigTillyMint that seems rough - will it make a big impact on her final mark or is the diss protected by the no detriment policy? (not quite the point I know).

I only have 5 children and I had an island in Panama (Pacific side) for 10 years now sold so I am an the alsoran in comparison......

On the law school application his tutor has replied (and was simply on 2 weeks leave until this week) and will do the reference so now I just need my son to put the application in to the Central Applications Board (a sort of UCAS for law) which I suspect he will not do until he is home next week as these are the last days of the best years of his life so far he says before it all ends so he is staying to the very last second on Saturday which seems to be why I am the only parent lumbered with having to conincide it with when the landlord arrives for check out which is now 9am not 10am so probably a 5.30am start for me.... (his friend who will also be there has his own car there so doesn't need a parent for collection)...

Anyway he's happy being there and also yesterday I think was signing up for a 2 bed flat with a friend for next year in Bristol. The bed rooms look much smaller than this year and it is £600 a month each, but it is central and near their other friends and available. I said surely rents have gone down as people pull out but he rightly said most people signed up for September 2020 in Dec 2019 ... anyway it should be my last year of paying anyone's rent ever and his twin will be living at home.

At least he is now settled on law school in Bristol and I found out he can join university clubs too for a small fee (IF they may operate in the Autumn). His big problem is not being able to use the university library (particularly with a very small flat only to work on the bed) but there is a law school library. Currently I think he goes with friends (or did before CV19 I should say) all day most days to work and he won't be able to do that with his Bristol masters friends next year as he will be at BPP not B Un. I am sure he can cope with it.

I am sorry about the diss mark, BTM. I don't know what my twins have got or if their marks are out yet. I think both twins will probably get a 2/1 overall and possibly one might get a first but if I had to bet on it I would think he is too borderline so probably a 2/1. I believe they obtain the final results before end of July. One who was at home is working on a law firm training contract application or he was until he left to stay with his girl friend - may be he finished it there.

Meanwhile daughter 2 (living here) says she may be away this weekend which will mean I will get one night (Friday) on my own .... although I have to get up at 5 the next day for the drive to Bristol so hardly relaxed free time I suppose. Anyway as my neighbour whose children are just about never there says, I am very lucky to have them all.

My twins' dissertations are not protected by the no detriment policy so one was worried it might pull him down to a 2/1 but then he got a high essay mark and put a lot of work into the final essay/exam so he is probably okay.

@goodbyestranger, the “safety net” policy is all smoke and mirrors. It probably isn’t protected, so she probably won’t get the higher classification she worked so hard for

@Xenia, DDs graduation should have been 17th July, so final marks should be put a bit ahead of that? Were your boys affected by the strikes too? I think it’s really poor practice by Bristol. But as I wasn’t a fly on the wall at all times, I only have DDs side of it

I think one of my sons, the one still in Bristol, said marks were out near end of July but I might have not heard that correctly. I am not too worried as I am not expecting first and I think they are both likely to get 2/1 and their older brother set the bar very low with his third class degree (which is actually pretty hard to achieve in a perverse sense)..

One did his diss hard to do without all the books and he finds looking at a screen all days hurts his eyes - we are not sure what the issue is but glasses have not solved it so he usually tries to work from books most of the day but could not for the dissertation but even so i think he did it okay. I don't think strikes were too big a problem as they tend to watch the lectures on line anyway even before CV19, We shall see - it is nearly all over now. I feel much sorries for younger ones - my niece who missed all her GCSEs and had been due to do very well indeed I think. I am sorry all those people like one of my twins who always do last minute work and then get good results as plenty will have not taken mocks at school seriously and the rules were changed later in a very unfair way.I am sorry for those doing GCSE next year and those going to university this September although hopefully some kind of freshers' weeks can be arranged. My main leisuyre activity at university was singing and even that is currently banned in churches. My children's father plays the organ at weddings and much else actually I suppose now weddings are back on from 4 July there may be even more call of organists if you are not allowed singers.

DS has had his diss mark and has calculated he will finish on a 2:1. He got his highest ever mark in the whole 3 years for his dissertation!

His graduation was planned for 17th July and last night he got a strange email which looked as if no guests were allowed! I was gutted for about 5 mins until it transpired that it had been sent in error and he has now received a further email regarding a virtual graduation, with a physical graduation (ooh err!! 😆😆) on a date yet to be arranged. Phew - I do want to see him have his moment! 😃

We are waiting for the Bristol results too Xenia and have
GCSEs next year. I'll be glad when the government decide if the exams will be delayed until July or not. Personally my DC would be happy if it was teacher assessment next year as their predictions are 8-9.

Errol it's not a good time to be job hunting but I guess it depends on the field, my Dd got her job for the year before her clinical course, she's been there three weeks now, it helped being in a health related field of course.

@Horsemad ds. Congratulations! An amazing score on his dissertation too. Well done that man.

And @goodbyestranger - what an exciting life plan! Apart from your dogs (lovely names and there's a special place in my heart for cockers and terriers ) will any of your dc be within easy travelling distance? I can imagine that there will be many very special and beautiful family visits.

Good luck to all still waiting for results. Strange days for everyone.

Thank you @Haffdonga, he's not a natural writer, so I'm thrilled for him. I am going to get it printed and bound as he didn't have to get that done because of Covid restrictions.

@Horsemad well done to your DS!