University life for freshers (2019/20) - Christmas backpacking (or not) and festive homecomings with all the tinseltastic trimmings!

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Previous thread.

Actually, that's true, and it's how we make porridge at home He needs to get his backside down to Tescos and do a big shop! Can't leave milk in the fridge though - it disappears!

Thank you bigTillyMint. DS wanted a catered college and was disappointed to get self catering. Last night they all got cooked together in one of the kitchens for their first meal back. I hope they start doing that more regularly now they're in to their second term as it's a sociable way of eating more healthily. I think he eats Greggs most lunch times.

Benjispruce - hope they have a good journey up today. DS has been treated to a new toothbrush too! 😂

The fridges and freezers in DD's flat have stopped working. So DD has a mountain of food to eat before it goes off. I have suggested that she invites a load of friends round for dinner.

We were up at the relative crack of dawn today. DS had chosen to get an early morning coach back to UEA (to save all of £5!). He's back there now, with time to go and do some food shopping. He went back with much more than he arrived home with! But not foodstuffs!

How is your DD2 getting on @ZandathePanda?

Good to hear that most DC are on the mend as they head back to university.

DS going back to Nottingham in a minute .. DD driving him back and will do a food shop with him ... I feel quite sad 😔...

Hi All. I'm back on the thread as I anticipate sending DS back to Oxford again. I'm sorry to hear so many of your DC have been ill over the holidays. We've managed to avoid it so far (touch wood).

We've had a good break, though the usual exhaustion of seeing lots of different bits of family in different places. DS has insisted that he has much less work next semester than last (true in theory because of the way his joint course has worked out), so he has not being spending as much time on academic work as I'd have liked. He has been settling down to it the last week or so, though, so he should be in an ok position for term starting in a week. We're taking him back on Thursday and he has collections (college exams) for one paper on the Saturday. He was absolutely exhausted for most of the holiday as he has been very much burning the candle at both ends and getting to grips with the pace of work at Oxford. He has plans for ways of structuring his time better, and has been assigned a mentor to work with him on this and other issues caused by his dsypraxia, so I'm hopeful that he will manage ok.

Some of you may remember the issues with my DH's health (a brain lesion found in the summer). It has still not been diagnosed, with another scan planned for the end of the month. His health has been ok for the last month, though, with no new symptoms, so we are managing currently to live in the moment and not worry too much.

After a truly horrendous journey lugging DS's stuff back on public transport at the end of term, this time we are using a coach for half the journey and he'll be taking only about half of the stuff back with him. Really hoping it will be less stressful! Good luck to all of you and your DC for the new term.

Glad to hear your DS has been well and your DH doing ok.

Fingers crossed for you SchrodingersKitty

Love to you @SchrodingersKitty

Fully catered mums, do your DC make the most of all food/meals included? DS very rarely makes it to breakfast bit spent a got one on UberEats and takeaways late nights last term

Mine seems to eat mostly her catered food and has minimal eating out or takeaways. She can eat in any hall on campus that has a dining hall, and use her dining dollars to buy pizzas etc in their equivalent of the Student Union, and she has a cafe in her building that does really good breakfast sandwiches where she can also spend her dining dollars.

She spent maybe $200 in total last term on eating out and other stuff like that?

DD did go to boarding school for four years so I think she's used to eating institutional food

DD is vegetarian and is doing veganuary. She wouldn't even consider catered halls. It was one of the reasons she ruled out Nottingham as most halls for first years are catered.

Welcome back to the thread @SchrodingersKitty - pleased your husband's health situation hasn't presented any new concerns. Good luck with Thursday's journey back to Oxford.

Yes, welcome back @ShrodingersKitty and good to hear that your DH's health is currently stable.

Good luck with taking your DS back. Hopefully a less fraught journey for him and you than the last one.

DD always wanted en suite, and they only offered self catering for that option. The shared kitchen has been a godsend for helping her socialise with others in a safe space.

She cooks for herself. Large salads or stir fries, one pot pasta bakes or similar, and puts spare portions into tubs to reheat for leftovers. There's been a bit of shared cooking like crumbles. There's only one take away place local enough to walk to, and that's a pizza place. She hasn't thought about Just Eat etc thankfully. :)

Originally she was interested in the meals in advance that would have catered dinners for her on weekdays, but she decided against them last minute and has been fine cooking for herself.

One thing she has liked was the Too Good To Go app. It shows what's in the area that restaurants etc are wanting to get rid of at the end of their day. She found that her uni dining room was also listed, so she's had a couple of meals of whatever they had lots of left for only £3 rather than £6.50. Big portions too. You get them boxed to go, but it's very close to her digs so she's been happy with that. It's given her some random dinners, but usually with a load of veg included that she might otherwise not have made for herself, although she does make a mean veg stir fry herself.

Healthy student living at it's finest!

Lots of students are vegetarian. Catered halls cater for them too obviously.

DD is vegetarian.

@DrMadelineMaxwell, great that your DD has found ways of saving money and less waste!

@SchrodingersKitty, glad to hear ypur DH seems stable.

DS didn't have any choice - he was allocated his catered college. DS is happy with it but would like the possibility of cooking the odd thing. He is getting that he might end up cooking for his mate in their house share next year as his mate seems useless - needed help to make his bed

Catered halls cater for them too obviously.

I know that, but as DD is an excellent cook she wouldn't want to eat what she would probably consider substandard food.

She astonishes me with her organisation. She has a planner on her desk and meal plans every week. She shops online and goes to the market for her veg. Her plans for this week have been scuppered because the fridges and freezers in her flat have broken down so she is sharing the meals she had prepared and frozen with some of her friends rather than let them go to waste. She often shares cooking with a couple of her veggie friends,, and they either cook together or take it in turns.

She will be house sharing with these girls later this year.

@DrMadelineMaxwell I've shared the Too Good To go App with DS this evening - thanks for the recommendation.

Zanda so sorry to hear about DD2 and hope she is better soon. You and Ginfordinner have been so helpful about Newcastle related stuff and I follow both your DD1s’ doings with interest!

DS1 is a month away from his grand tour of Australia and SE Asia. We will have to do his Newcastle accommodation application for him while he’s away - and also try to sort out his exam concessions. He’s had an email from the university suggesting that they need an up to date Ed psych report on his dyspraxia ( he only has a diagnosis letter from age 7) but when I rang them it was all a bit unclear. Emailed them on his behalf but they haven’t got back to me yet.

@LaBelleSauvage123 , ds was similar. He needed a post 16 assessment from an EdPsych or qualfied professional then had a Needs Assessment at uni to put access arrangements in place and DSA funding for mentoring, equipment etc (Make sure he ticks the box on SF application). Some unis can arrange this ahead of starting, via Learning Support team, others will outsource it and arrange appointments in first term. If you have the option it is preferable to do it earlier and avoid the wait.

Just to add that the DSA assessments can take some time. DS had a private ed psych assessment for dyspraxia in the spring of his gap year and the university had all the information at the start of the summer. They didn't really get going with the internal needs assessments until late in his first term and we are still in the middle of arranging for the equipment to be supplied (new laptop and software). The exam access arrangements are usually quicker to sort out, but it is definitely good to get moving on things as soon as possible.

Just heard from DS2 that he is back in his 1st lecture. DS1 said last night that he had just completed a Tesco order so he doesn't have to carry big items home on his bike.
Sounds as though is all good for this term.

Thank you Schrodinger and Lizs - time is running out before he goes away so am hoping we can get the assessment done as soon as he gets back in May. Would rather do it before but everyone we’ve contacted has waiting lists.