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

[NewModelArmyMayhem18]

Previous thread

Hi everyone.

@Zandathepanda how is DD2 doing now? A blessing in disguise that she didn't have to do GCSEs when still recovering? Hoping she's getting stronger every day.

UEA announcement about the new academic year (mainly pitched for freshers but still...) - positive.

DS paying full rent on his second year house share from the beginning of August - he will aim to be back up there towards the end of the month. He's spent next to none of his summer term loan, so should start Year 2 with a healthy bank balance. AIBU to have not given him extra for the past three months?

Absolutely not @NewModelArmyMayhem18. DD still has all of her May loan and has had virtually no outgoings since being home.She’s still trying to get work but only interview she’s had is for night shift at Sainsbury’s so she’s waiting to hear.

She’s talking of moving back up to Durham in August. Tenancy starts mid July, full rent. That’s why she wants to get 4-6 weeks of work/pay now.Thanks for the new thread @NewModelArmyMayhem18.

@NewModelArmyMayhem18 when my DD came home in March I told her I was stopping our monthly payments to her because she would have virtually zero outgoings. I gave her a single payment enough to cover mobile phone bills and sundries (about £10 a week really) and she will use her summer term loan to pay her 2nd year house rent from July. It just about works out til her loan comes in in June. And fortunately she working so doesn’t need money from us now.

DD is hoping to move into her second year house in August as well. She is so bored with her own company. Weekly Zoom quizzes and constantly messaging with her friends just aren't enough.
she does see a local friend quite regularly, but none of her other friends are local enough to see each other for just an hour or so.

Mines looking forward to moving into her house in September . She’s had some zoom things with Uni mates and met old school friends who happen to be in London in the park .

Good on those young people who have found jobs. DS hasn't yet and of course having all that extra money sitting in his coffers hasn't helped his motivation to do so.

My food bills have gone up considerably with having everyone around 24/7. Doubled, I would guess?

DD has started meeting up with her 'posse' of school friends (only five of them in total). I am trying to persuade DS to do likewise to get some company from people of his own age.

I imagine all our young people will be starting to get excited to be going back. Looking at my diary, DS should have been still at uni doing exams last week. He's already been off longer than the long vac would usually be. And still a good three months until the start of the next academic year.

We've kept on paying dd, but that means when she does the shopping for us, then we don't need to keep swapping money about.

She's a bit put out that her loan's gone down for next year. She's not sure whether it's mine or dh's fault.
Tbf I'm surprised how much it's gone down as neither of is earning considerably more in the 2019 year. However dh did get a decent raise this year (although not amazing!), so it's likely to drop even further the next year.

A pay rise could tip your DD from one band to the next @Witchend? It probably wouldn't take a huge amount, would it?

My pay actually went down a bit last year but we decided not to bother with the faff of seeing if DS would be entitled to a bit more of a loan (I am sure it wouldn't have made more than a couple of hundred pounds difference). I think the money sitting in his coffers currently more than covers it!

@NewModelArmyMayhem18
Yes, it must have just tipped us from one band to another. Actually we were surprised she got the full loan last year, thinking about it, so it was probably we were just at the top end.
I'll remind her of that and hopefully we'll stay in the same banding even after the pay rise next year.

I think dd's going to meet a friend this afternoon in their garden. She arranged it then was a bit worried on Friday when it started raining. She doesn't do cold and wet!

DD doesn't really have a posse of school friends to meet up with any more as they are so scattered. Two of them are in serious relationships and are prioritising their boyfriends over her, and she isn't that bothered about seeing the third one on her own as all she talks about is how many boys she's slept with.

She can't see the friends she made through her job because they live too far away.

My DD finally finished her last exam on Friday and handed in her last essay yesterday. She's absolutely exhausted.

She's having a week off, then it looks like the job building Covid test kits will start. They had 5 cases of Covid in the production facility recently, which is classed as an outbreak here. They only know they had 5 cases because they test all employees weekly - none of them had any symptoms.

It's looking like her job next year while at college will be math tutoring, which is what she also did at high school.

Waiting still to hear what her college decides about when to bring back students, and how many. Some US colleges are bringing everyone back, but others are either bringing back none initially, or bringing back smaller groups each term.

@HoldMyLobster your DD sounds as if she really does live life to the full (good for her!). Hope a week off is long enough to give her a breather!

She does indeed. I would love DD to have the get up and go that your DD does HoldMyLobster. Sadly her CFS holds her back, plus she is shielding so the current situation means she is just staying at home not doing very much

She does have an enormous enthusiasm for many things in life - she gives 100%. At the same time she can be a total slob when given half a chance, which I find oddly reassuring.

I suspect she has undiagnosed ADHD. Her younger brother is diagnosed with it, and they are so similar, but she has much more drive and is more focused.

When she was younger she was always late for school, and often did badly academically because of disorganisation. Boarding school from 15-18 and university seem to have suited her much better.

She's also luckily not to have any health issues, for which I'm very grateful.

We've had many ups and downs in our relationship, so it's good to have got to a point where we really appreciate each other.

@Zandathepanda thanks for dm. Just replying again now.

@mum2eim same - stopped DS living expenses when he moved back. Loan gets paid into wife’s ‘housing’ account which we’ve put additional money into - then rent is paid from that

Collecting the rest of dad's things on Saturday so today has been clearing shelf space for what she will bring home.

Dd's!!

@DrMadelineMaxwell if you get a chance to post what it’s like it would be helpful. I know my dd is at a different college but I imagine arrangements similar - and also what the parking/directions around uni are like. Thanks if you manage something on here.

Garage full of dd1s and dd1s possessions, cant wait until.they move back into their houses lol! Dd1 has passed 3rd year so 2 more to go and Dd1 is handing her final year 1 assignment on on Friday. She should have a 2 1 on the basis of what she's done so far but the exam she did last week had a very low word count so she's worried she might not have covered all the points she wanted to make well enough. The first term of 2nd year lectures will.all be online but she's hoping they can at least do face to face seminars. Luckily shes got all the modules for next year that she wanted.

Will do @Dunlurking.

Gosh, I hadn't even considered that DD will need to be told that she has passed 3rd Yr! As it is supposed to be her Yr abroad it is not so straightforward. DS knows he has passed 1st Yr despite not having had to sit any exams. Must quiz her...

@DrMadelineMaxwell that’s great, thank you.

Dd1 just foumd out she got 73% and 78% for her last 2 exams which were merits so she passes the year on a merit so celebratory Chinese tonight!!