Medicine 2020 (part 2)

[Monkey2001]

This follows on from the first thread - www.mumsnet.com/Talk/higher_education/3380915-Medicine-2020

Do boys do tea lights? I am not sure whether they are allowed to have candles at their halls, there were pretty draconian rules - you have to hide your kettle!

@Monkey2001

Do boys do tea lights? I am not sure whether they are allowed to have candles at their halls, there were pretty draconian rules - you have to hide your kettle!

I was thinking more as a treat for you for enduring Swedish hell with your DS. Although tea lights are never needed, just an Ikea staple

Yes, in the old days tea lights and those "MOPPE" mini sets of drawers which everybody had.

HI All -- DD got her medicine place. I hope things are settling down for others.

DD was in tears last night about her accommodation offer. I was just relieved to have a decision. It's a building I vaguely know, lived near there for a while. I kind of pity her - she had a vision of much larger bedroom in a nicer building, and is especially distraught about lack of en suite.

I found this packing list... We will raid our own household or go to QD for her stuff. DD's halls are catered for breakfast & evening meals so what is worth bringing for lunches?

None of the online lists says folding clothes airers, but I thought they were staples of halls due to expensive tumble driers.

@yeOldeTrout glad to hear things worked out for your DD. I agree about clothes airer - tumble driers both expensive and bad for environment. Somebody on the main 2020 university thread posted a back-of-the-door clothes airer. DS's university said they don't like them drying clothes in room because it makes things damp.

I wanted to thank everyone on this thread for all the good advice, comfort and support provided during what had been a complete mess of a year. DD is off to Cardiff in 3 weeks but I know others are leaving sooner. Best of luck to all our DC xx

Dd has just done UCAT for the second time and has scored 2750 and band 1 on SJ! So proud of her, fingers crossed this is the start of a more successful medicine application this year.

@emummy that is great news, well-done her! Hope she had a worthwhile gap year.

Well done @emummy's DD - great UCAT score.
We have bought most of what DD will need - including a 5KG bag of pasta for 'bare cupboard emergencies'.
Excited about dropping off day - even if some of us may need to wait in the car due to Covid restriction on numbers. DD2 was promised she could go and she is going!
DD is having lots of long Zoom sessions with groups of people from her course and deciding what to buy from her reading list...wish now I had picked up the Kumar and Clark text I saw in the charity shop for£1 last January but at the time it felt like tempting fate

Oh god, Kumar & Clark, that takes me back! Was in the Edinburgh uni anatomy museum last year with friends, looking at all our old textbooks gave me the shivers!

@PiggyPokkyFool are you sure she needs books? At St A they are all available on line to the medical students, and hard copies are available in the libraries. They have a mentor scheme and DS's 2nd year medic mentor confirmed that they don't need to buy any books.

@Monkey2001 - only two were listed as essential and there are online(but older) versions of one of those.
She managed to get one secondhand and would like the K&C one as they say it is useful throughout the course.
I think these purchases and the multiple zooms and WhatsApp groups are making it 'real'.

Very real here as we dropped DS off on Saturday and orientation starts tomorrow. The medics at St Andrews are lucky - lectures are on line, but it seems that most is face-to-face. Other courses are not expecting any F2F for several weeks.

By "others" I meant non-medicine courses at St A.

Oh well done Monkey. Best of luck to your DS who is off first! DD goes on Saturday to Exeter so we are hitting Ikea tomorrow morning! I may need gin!

Good luck at Ikea, hope Monday mornings are not too bad, our Ikea has been so busy, queuing round the block. I tend to go in the evenings, which has always been the quiet time. I think afternoon is worst.

Ikea was good. We arrived 20 minutes before opening but they were letting us in surely distanced. I was less happy with the £160 receipt! I’m glad I’ve been saving my petrol money while wfh since March!
DD has a final night out with her friends on Thursday then having a night in with family on Friday before we leave for Exeter on Saturday morning. She has Booked a slot to move in as they only allow a few at a time due to distancing. We have 20 minutes onsite to unload the car then have a max of 1 hour for 1 person to help her carry things to her room on 3rd floor. We’ve decided DH would be more useful than me so I’ll be waiting elsewhere in the car with DS. It’s a shame that I won’t be able to see her room when help her unpack but I’ve been promised a FaceTime tour.
She’s got the first moving in slot out of her flat so is planning on bagging some freezer space for her beloved mozzarella sticks before other people fill it up. Priorities 😆

When we moved DS in at St Andrews they only allowed 1 person in with the student at a time, but were happy for us to go in turn. We saw it at the beginning, them a couple of hours later when his GF had helped him to unpack. It turned out better than we had dated to hope. Hope the same happens for you.

Dd dropped off in Edinburgh today. She has already decided she shoehorned too much into the car 😂 don't think unpacking is going as smoothly as it did for your son monkey. Who else is going this weekend? Can't quite believe the day has finally come.

DS was very lucky, I think his GF did most of the unpacking and "home-making" whilst he went out to the corridor to meet people. But he did not have loads of stuff and is catered too.

Is your DD self catered or catered? Has she managed to meet anyone yet?

speedy I was in Edinburgh yesterday showing Dd2 around in the absence of open days. Was lovely watching all the cars arriving at Pollock. Good luck to all your children this year, I hope they all have a great time despite the restrictions and changes.

Thanks emummy. I really hope with her new ucat your dd will do amazingly this year with the benefit of her experience. Dd is in salisbury court so we must have been close yesterday. Monkey Dd is self catered mainly because she's vegan. She's a really good cook. She's in a flat of 9 she just transferred into a couple of days ago. They will be a bubble/household. They are all first years and one a fellow medic. She's very social and was snapchatting them all and in a group chat as soon as she got her transfer confirmed. Fingers crossed they all get along fairly well as they are not allowed anyone else in their flat. Dd is also in contact with another medic in the same buildings but another block. That girl also has another medic in her flat so I think they could meet outdoors as 2 households so a potential small study group of 4. It will all be different this year but it can still be good. Hopefully they don't have to close again. 🤞

Just to say — we’re in! Dropped DD into her hall today (Newcastle) All very relaxed. A 10 minute drop off and 1 hour parental settling in wasn’t enforced in any way. We were advised it wasn’t busy, so just to go as quickly as we could. We were in and out in 90 minutes and the car was able to stay outside the whole time. We had a great weekend. DH’s home town and he qualified there too, so it was a bittersweet trip with lots of catching up with friends and family and some lovely meals.

Home now after an endless (and sniffly 😭) trek south. Much younger DS sobbed the whole time but was happy to FaceTime his sister on our arrival. She’s having a fabulous time with new ‘friends’ and is out with flat mates for a meal tonight and is making plans to meet up with seemingly half of her school who are all off to Durham in the next few weeks - restrictions permitting.

I am going to have a massive glass of wine and hope this euphoric feeling lasts, for a while at least. All the best to all still to set off. It really was so much better than I’d feared. Hope it’s the same for you!

DS1 also in! We dropped off yesterday at UEA - all very efficient, with students directing traffic and offering help/directions. Large wheely cages available and (thankfully) there was a lift in DS' Hall (he is on the third floor).

Both parents allowed in, no time limit, so we were able to help him set up his room. He's in a flat of 12, mixed Med/Nursing/Health Sciences, different ages. He had a chat last night, found 4 medics and thinks they are in the same PBL group (which would make sense if they're a bubble). No time table yet; Welcome week starts today!

Hi everyone - I am thinking of you and your DD today @speedyhedgehog and hoping she is not caught up in the covid crisis. Keeping DD away from all media at the moment as Christmas is her favourite time of the year and will be the first time she sees her grandparents in nearly a year and I think she will be devastated. I know it's not definite but even the thought of it.
How does your DD like UEA so far @242Mummy?