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

[NewModelArmyMayhem18]

Previous thread.

That is shocking Ragwort & that it has not been reported widely. Nothing to do with his ethnicity I’m sure

Corona virus at York uni?

That explains why we saw loads of Chinese students in York station all wearing face masks last week.

Hi Rags I only know because I have a friend whose DD went to NTU and she tells me things, if I left it to my DS he wouldnt tell me anything. Then I tell him and he goes and finds out for himself. He has an appointment next week to talk about studying in USA for term, particularly how much it will cost.

I did panic when I heard about the murder, so close to the uni and it is bad that there was so little coverage in the press. He was quite calm about it all, but we do live in London and it is still much safer. I try not to fuss too much but cany help it.

Re the placements - I had two 6-month placements during my degree, one in the UK and one in the US. I had no problem finding jobs - it was a long time ago but the college had a really good placement office. I was paid a proper salary in both jobs so I also repaid quite a bit of student debt during those times.

From my first job I worked out what industry I'd like to work in when I graduated, and from my second job I realised I wanted to live abroad in the future. That sounds minor, but they really shaped my life in an unexpected way.

I don't think my DS knows how soon he will have to start thinking about finding a placement. I had hoped that uni would be helpful in this, but perhaps I expect too much.

Dd had rewarded me the email they all had as students of York about this.
Not reassuring but I'm not worried yet.

Does anyone know if the Chinese student from York uni had been to China or was the virus contracted in the UK?
It’s a worry at uni because of the numbers living in close quarters. DD tells me there are many Chinese students at her college at Durham. I’ve been in Oxford today and many people who are possibly Chinese were wearing masks around the shopping areas.

They had come from China

Thanks @whatagoodidea

Poor DD is staying in on her own tonight because she is too tired to go out. Chronic fatigue is a bastard

That’s such a shame @gin is this chronic fatigue something that you expect to improve?

I have no idea. DD gets invited out, but often stays in because she is just too tired. As a result she rarely parties. She is only 19 and should be out enjoying herself instead of watching Netflix on her own on a Saturday night

I only ask as I had a friend with ME( sorry for my ignorance as not sure if that’s what CF was previously referred to) but got better after a couple of years. Hers followed a virus.

That's OK Benji. It was obvious that DD was really struggling when she was in year 12 at school, so the end of 2016. The only thing I can think of is that she had the swine flu vaccine when we had the epidemic, and I have read that ME/CFS has been linked to that. She does have quite a few friends at university, but she shouldn't be spending Saturday night in on her own at her age.

Wishing her well and that this is not bothering her for too much longer.

FWIW my party loving DD is in the library at the moment. Highly irregular. I only know this from spying, sorry I mean snap chat.

Gin - I immediately thought of your DD when I heard the Coronavirus update yesterday. Can she take medical advice about whether to attend lectures?

DS is monitoring the global situation very closely as he’s due to leave for Australia and SE Asia next week. I have to admit I’m a bit concerned.

The news from york was that the student was not on campus or in college accommodation when taken poorly so the risk is still very low

If you think in terms of the six degrees of separation analogy, I think the horse has already bolted...

DS is back home this weekend. Well staying at gfs but they dropped in after the match yesterday and he said he will be back to see us today.

Must be particularly worrying re coronavirus for your DD Gin, and any others with compromised health. Hopefully they won’t be affected.

Mine is doing the same, home but at gf house. He is coming back way too much. In a chat last week he confessed that he is hating his course and is generally unhappy. Part of the problem is that he is not a natural loner and is spending too much time alone. On his course nobody talks to one another and just leave straight after lectures, so he doesn't know anyone there. He has friends from home at the same place but they all seem to go out very late in the evening, so between each class he goes back to his room, hardly sees his flatmates, though is friends with one of them, and has al couple of days with no classes at all. He has joined a gym, but not a specifically student one, and the only interest group that he joined don't seem to meet at convenient times or places, so he hasn't met anyone through this yet.

He isn't burdened with too much work so far, but has completely messed up one of the modules and will fail it. He doesn't ever seem to know how to access course leaders and obviously I can't help him with this. He did speak to Student Support before Christmas but they were no help at all. I don't want him to drop out but can't really see how he can stay there. Am I the only person with a wobbly DC?

is it better to do a 4 year degree with a year in industry or do 3 years and finish sooner.. I'm not sure, but if you look at somewhere like Bath where nearly all (all?) students have a placement year they have a very good employment rate. Also, they get good input form the career's service in order to get their placement, which means they are well prepared for 'proper' job hunting.

@simbobs. That sounds sad for your son. Which university is he at? I wonder whether courses where they have labs are more sociable?

Aw simbobs that sounds so sad. What subject is he studying? Is it a "nerdy" subject? One of DD's peers at school is doing engineering at Sheffield and says that most of the people on his course are unsociable, and his flatmates were ghosts.

Thank you for the good wishes. DD's good intentions for an early night didn't go to plan, but in a good way. The others came back early as they hadn't enjoyed themselves, and messaged DD to see if she was still awake, and invited over to another flat for cake. So she went to bed at 4 am.

I hate that she has CFS, buy I am so grateful that she has some lovely friends who make allowances for her.

@simbobs how sporty is he? Dd has joined the medics rugby, and is starting the general rugby soc too, as apparently that and football have the best social life attached. I also remember that way back when the works was in black and white, a lot of my social life came from the karate club, rather than class mates.