University life for our soon to be Year 2 undergrads (2019 intake): social bubbles (bursting?), the new normal and hopefully no second wave

[NewModelArmyMayhem18]

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Gin my DS would text or WhatsApp a few times a week ... no set times & often to show a picture of what he'd cooked for dinner . He probably also called for a chat about once a week which quite surprised us.

I remember when I was at Uni I would write letters home and had to queue to use the pay phone once a week which was often broken .... different times .

Totally agree that they’ve got to get on with things now. The evidence shows that this age group doesn’t suffer much if otherwise healthy if they do get the virus. Isolating their “household” for 2 weeks will be a pain but they will cope. I’m not so worried about numbers of infections, it’s the rate of hospitalisation that is more important in my view. If one goes up but the other stays steady or even reduced then we will learn to live with this in our society.

However, I get the concerns of the staff and/or those kids who are in higher risk categories. I don’t know what the answer is for them.

Yes, DS is someone who only keeps in touch very sporadically and usually when he wants something!

Yes, @Ragwort another one who loved receiving/writing letters home and the weekly phone call.

@MrKlaw I am sure your son will be fine. I think boys in particular can be quite lazy so happy to default to parents doing most things for them (if their help is offered). Hopefully, when he gets back he can track down his missing stuff. Hope it's not been unceremoniously dumped - did you read the story of the girl who was at Brighton University who found all her kit (including passport!) dumped in bin bags in the basement of private halls?

Yes, and agree it's absolutely the right thing for students to be going back rather than studying from their parental homes. Student life is as much about the friendships, socialising and becoming an adult as it is about the degree and expanded professional opportunities in the future (hopefully).

Yes, I totally agree, they need to get back to life again. Shutting young people away for months is something which should never be allowed to happen again. They need to be able to access testing, support and to be provided with sensible measures to help them to get back to as normal a life as possible.

Re contact, DS when he wants something, or sends me pics of food occasionally. He also popped home a few times as his uni is not very far away and he went to a few events in the city in between, stayed up till the first train and came home to sleep.
DD, only to let us know when to pick up at the end of term, other than when we visit relatives in a nearby town when she will come over to see the dogs. I find this sad but was exactly the same at her age.

aking DD back this week - her term starts 3 weeks earlier than main uni - medicine and starts with the deferred end of first year exam! No idea what they do if don’t pass as will already be into 2nd year! She is very excited about going back, agree absolutely with PPs that they need to return. Am very cross with this am”s media coverage suggesting they all study from home. So much more about uni than just studying. Seems crazy that all schools are encouraged to return - those kids will have many more contacts with older higher risk folk than uni students will.
Re contact: DD would say I text her too often but there was usually some short message most days but voice calls only every couple of weeks. When she was ill I did ask her for her flat mates number only to be used if I couldn’t reach her in case she was really ill and that seems sensible given the current situation.
I know I’m going to miss her but her life has been on hold and much more disrupted than mine so head overruling heart here 😂

I'm nervous about dd going back, but that's partially that we're at a very low area-Durham is approximately 10x the numbers that we are!

But she needs to get back, or I think she'll lose her nerve and not want to go back ever.
She was just really settling in when she came home, and although she had a couple of sad days mid summer term when she realised that they weren't going back that year, she really is a home bod and would prefer to stay at home.

She did suggest she could stay at home as lectures are online, and I've said she needs to go back as the longer she stays off the harder it will be. She does seem a bit depressed to me though she won't admit it.

She's only in a house of 3 people, and they're all doing maths, so the risk should be fairly low between them. I've suggested she takes a huge bag of rice and a number of pasta sauces back so if they do get put in lockdown they can survive a couple of weeks of not going out!

I am glad though that they're relatively late back, because it does mean we may be able to see if any effect is coming through and make decisions accordingly.

My DS was really only just knuckling down to study properly when they got sent home and has done nothing since. I think it is going to be hard enough to get back into the swing of it without everything being online.

I do not want to put any lecturers at risk . However, I do also think DS will do no work whatsoever if everything is online. His problem, I guess.

My concern about everything being online is after a summer of having to get organised and get out to work, DD will be up in Durham with no incentive to go out if the house. Or even get out of bed! I’m suggesting she builds in a walk or a rum each day and gets some time booked in at the library at college several times a week.
As for coronavirus spreading, if it’s all online and they are confined to houses the risk is lower than we might imagine.
I’m definitely in the camp of ‘let’s start to get on with our lives’. The Coronavirus risk to most young people is ridiculously small, but the mental health toll is significant.

I think they just need to get on with it now .. we can't live in fear ! .. DS will probably be safer in Nottingham than at home in Brum ! ... read an article this morning saying Birmingham has 80,000 students arriving .. they may breathe some life back to the city .. I'm now going into my office 3 days a week and it's still deserted with so many business closed

They should be living their best life so they need to get back as close to normal as possible. The teaching staff should be able to protect themselves through a combination of distancing and masks/face shields. They don't need to get that close to students, surely. My DS needs structure and he doesn't have the ability to really impose this on himself. It will be worse this year as he is living with a group of mates rather than strangers who stayed in their rooms.

@mum2eim

My concern about everything being online is after a summer of having to get organised and get out to work, DD will be up in Durham with no incentive to go out if the house. Or even get out of bed! I’m suggesting she builds in a walk or a rum each day and gets some time booked in at the library at college several times a week. As for coronavirus spreading, if it’s all online and they are confined to houses the risk is lower than we might imagine. I’m definitely in the camp of ‘let’s start to get on with our lives’. The Coronavirus risk to most young people is ridiculously small, but the mental health toll is significant.

I'm hoping that with 3 maths students in the house they might decide to watch the lectures together, otherwise I can see dd watching them while half asleep in bed.

DS will probably be safer in Nottingham than at home in Brum !

DD goes back to her 'new' house in Selly Oak on the 9th...

They could just roll out the flippin' vaccines in 'student' areas first, I suppose? Although I would be out there reminding the powers that be that we do have a University of Essex campus here and can I get in the queue as well, please?

I've told dd to get the vaccine if it comes out and I'll pay if she has to get it privately. I am having second thoughts about not having changed her GP from down here, but we do have a lovely GP, so if it's an issue I'll ask them if they can arrange for her to have it done up there, and I suspect that will be no problems.

Boots and Lloyds chemists have the flu vaccine in soon - you can already book slots online. Definitely worth having this year as don’t want Dd to get a Covid flu double whammy.

Yes must remind both younger DSs to get the flu jab. Contact with Ds4 was sporadic last year, a run of texts and messages several days on the trot, then nothing for a week or more. He is working one more week in the warehouse, then having a couple of weeks at home before going back to Sheffield on 19 or 20 of September.

Is it recommended for students to get the flu jab? We have never had one and DH and I aren’t sure if we will this year as we have never - touch wood- had flu

I thought the flu jab was for certain groups such as over 60, diabetic, asthma etc. We’ve never had it.

@bigTillyMint

I was talking about the Covid-19 vaccination if it comes through. However they have been saying that if you are vulnerable then it's doubly important to get the flu jab this year as if you get flu then you'll be weak and more likely to get Covid-19 badly.
I think that's the basic gist.

I wouldn't be telling dd to have the flu jab. She's not vulnerable, doesn't tend to get flu, and I feel that there may be a shortage this year so I'd rather it went to the vulnerable rather than panicked well if that makes sense.

If they then recommend students to, then I would tell her to have it.

@MarchingFrogs ... welcome back to your DD !! .. honestly it's fine here in Brum .. my DD gone back to her office .. DS going to the gym and getting the bus etc ... sadly Birmingham has its share of deprived areas/ multi occupancy housing etc... which have been hotspots ..
I'm only in Harborne if your DD ever needs any help from a fellow Mumsnet mum !!!

Dd had every cold/flu thing going in the first term at Newcastle. It’s a good idea for her to get the flu vaccine so that she can protect herself against some of the viruses going around. I can imagine there will be a certain amount of fear when flatmates get ill. Last year they would all bunker up with each other. This year they may keep their distance.

Thank you @Alicatz66. A friend of DD's from home has relatives in Harborne, so she has ventured over once to 'see how the other half lives' - also, DS1 was sharing a house last year in a road which almost makes it into Harborne, whilst retaining a gritty B29 postcode(!). Meanwhile, since you have the nearest Waitrose, I think and DD says she intends to get into cooking more this year, so I am trying to encourage her to sign up for a My Waitrose card, so that she can come over and get the free Food magazines for herself.

Ha ha @MarchingFrogs ... yes , Harborne is naice!! ..... we do have a nice Waitrose but I'm more a Big Sainsbury’s girl ... or Aldi in Bearwood !!!

I think it will be hard enough to get needle phobic DS to have a covid jab when and if one becomes available, never mind the flu jab as well.