Heading towards 4th year or post grad/jobs

[Xenia]

Continuation of the previous thread for those of us with children who are just finishing their 3rd year at university (so either "graduating" in 2020 or going into year 4 in Autumn 2020)..........

My twins' degree results will be out in late July. Good luck to everyone else waiting for finals results.

I must admit that I am glad DD2 is going to start having a reasonably ‘normal’ life again. I think it hit DD1 yesterday that she is working from home for the foreseeable and has come back to live at home - she realises she would rather things ‘moved on’ or were more ‘normal’. Luckily a lot of her old friends are also back home at the moment and at least she has job which she is very grateful for.

Yes nice of the the hells daughter to start in a job which is reasonably normal life. My twins start their law course next week - one starts on line at 9am tomorrow. His twin is probably going back to Bristol for his in the middle of the week but not yet decided. They have both been able to access their timetables although week 1 is more just induction lectures, workshops and that kind of thing before next week which is real timetable and they have mock exams fairly soon in half term week so need to keep their eye on that kind of thing. They seem to have had a lot of work set.

One is not happy I gave his full name at registration (I paid) which is hardly a crime and what needs to go on any final certificate and is consistent with his passport he had to send in but he says no one in his group on line has their first and second middle name. Hopefully he can change the "user" name. I don't really see why it matters anyway - no one is going to laugh at him just because he has a middle name and it is hardly a weird one or anything like that.

DS has the details for starting his Masters. He’s moving back to Uni next weekend. DD leaves for Brussels on Friday and now DS on Saturday. We’re having an empty house again although seems more final now that DD is starting work and DS only one year left before he does the same. Now if the travel restrictions to Canada could get lifted we could sort out our move and get house hunting.

Good luck to all those starting their master degrees, Xenia’s twins with their law degree, and to Parker’s DD.

Thanks. It's just a kind of diploma the twins are doing - a law conversion course so only useful if you are then going into law but is what they need. In fact I just heard one up as he has an on line session at 9am today which must be the earliest studying time he will have had probably since March so quite a change. His twin said it was school night last night although that one has nothing until tomorrow.

good luck to the Parker son. the one of mine going back to Bristol fo rhis law course says his main issue is can he study in the university library which normally these law students can be concession (all his friends plan to study there every day as usual) but due to CV19 you have to apply for library access. He's sent 3 emails and a form about it but not heard back yet. I am sure Bristol has much more important things than that particularly for someone who is not a Bristol U student any more but it certainly seems to be his main concern of anything probably because he is going back to be with those friends who will still all be at Bristol U.

Parker, I like an empty house - my daughter was born in 1984 so I have had a long time without one..... there might be chance over this weekend coming up for 3 nights alone as one son is away with his girl friend and the other will probably be back in Bristol but the Bristol one is not sure yet. I think I probably have one or other of mine here for 4 years as it is 2 years study and 2 years training for law and they are unlikely to be self sufficient before then.

DD moved into her house yesterday- just a brief text to say it's very good.

DS has been trying to apply for his course but the uni website is down; either hacked, or attempted hacking. 🤨 Of course, trying to get through his phone is nigh on impossible too!

Today the tracked postage notice came through for his certificate, most of his friends on the course had already received theirs, so he was starting to get a bit twitchy...

Horsemad, at least the certificate is nearly here and I hope he can get on his course.

Thanks Xenia, certificate has arrived 🙂 He's still away at his friend's (and working there too), so asked me to open it to check it was all correct. It was lovely seeing it - had a proud Mum moment. ♥️

He finally got through to the uni by phone and has been given an email address to send his application in, so fingers crossed we hear back soon.

Onward and upward for our students/grads. 🙂

Indeed - its been a tricky year for applicants . just paid DDs course fees and she's settled in in Dublin so hope all of our class of 4th year /post grads/ new jobs settle in in these difficult circumstances.

Dd is back in her uni city and settling in to her flat. She was a bit traumatised by unpacking her new mattress which came in a box - she described it as like the scene in Alien when John Hurt's chest explodes!

Good to hear of students starting to return to some kind of student life. DS is at a first and last summer party with his uni friends this weekend snuck in before the Rule of Six deadline. He hasn't seen them since March and they're mostly going to other places for the next academic year so I think quite important for him to go mental health-wise. (Or as ds put it, his wit and charisma has been totally wasted on his ancient parents for the last 6 months and needs an outlet) His term doesn't start (despite being mainly online) until nearly November.

Hope the application goes smoothly Horsemad.

Feel compelled to add (in light of police warnings against Last Hurrah parties this weekend) that ds was only 'partying' with 11 mates, 2 of whom he's house sharing with, and he has decided to quarantine himself for the next 2 weeks. Hopefully he won't be single-handedly responsible for the looming second wave.

That sounds sensible. Mine have been too. Two school friends of the twins have been at our house in the day an awful lot since end of lock down and end of finals but one has shielded parents and the other is very very careful so I have not felt at risk from them and anything else has been in the garden - BBQ etc and at most with 2 extras and my son's girl friend's father has been shielding so they are an ultra careful family too. Son and she have just gone for 3 nights "glamping" for the first time which again should be fairly safe (and is the girl friend's first holiday of the summer).

The issue for the twins other than their friend who is now in a real graduate job (although on line) and the other friend doing tghe sme law course is everyone else has not started yet so i hope at least the one in Bristol is not too distracted by his friends not having masses of work every day with mocks in October and half the year's final exams in December in a very intense course. The other one living here shouldn't have as many distractions.

Anyway at least everyone is well and getting on with things so I am sure it will all be fine. You just can't get behind on their course as there is so much material and so many workshops every week.

We’re empty nesters again - am hating it already. DD flew off on Friday, excited about starting her first job. She’s visiting my parents on the coast for a few days and then staying with my sister until she finds a flat. DS left yesterday for his Masters year. We loaded everything into his car and off he drove (have arranged to visit him in two weeks time).

House is very quiet with just DH and I rattling around in it. Off to meet friends for our usual Sunday brunch today so at least that’s one normal thing to do!

Have a nice brunch @Parker231. It always feels a bit odd the first few days after they go away again, doesn't it?

Our summer has been unusual as DS has been away staying with his friend and working there too.
Very quiet house this year!

I adore being an empty nester (I had my daughter in 1984 so has been a long haul) but it never seems to last long - 4 nights this time and my son is back tomorrow. I a know I am unusual in liking just my own company and my elderly neighbour says when they do finally all leave I will miss them.

I'm not an empty nester until late evening Oct 3rd, when I get back from dropping the last two DC - DS4 and DD4 - off in Oxford. I'm looking forward enormously to not being tied to school terms any more, twenty six years later. Very exciting :)

Seems very different this year - had three years of them both being away at Uni but this year with DD having her first job and finally getting her visa, DS doing his Masters before taking his graduate job next autumn in Singapore and DH and I planning our move to Canada, too much change for me - I love having us all under the same roof!
Now I understand what my parents and DH’s parents mean about having your DC’s living across the world!

We are looking forward to getting our empty nest back! TBF it hasn’t been bad at all, but it’ll be nice being just DH and me

Now I understand what my parents and DH’s parents mean about having your DC’s living across the world!

@Parker231 - I know! DH is from another country and many years ago MIL said to me as we waved her goodbye you'll only understand when your own dc go to live in another country . With ds1 living in Australia how her words have come back to haunt me!

But, we'll only get a week of our empty nest as DS1 is hoping to come back from Australia in November (temporarily or permanently we don't dare ask) 1 week after ds2 goes back to uni. We might even get all of us together at Christmas for the first time in 4 years. Not counting my fledgling chicks yet though. BA has already cancelled and rebooked 3 of his flights.

Good luck with the enormous moves and changes in your lives.

I would have enjoyed being an empty nester, until Christmas at least, if we had been able to go away as planned once DC back at uni, but alas, you know the rest. My 4th year DD had been intending to live and work in Europe after graduating but who knows what will be possible now?

@simbobs - my DD graduated this summer with a languages degree. She’d had an offer of a job from the EU which she worried wouldn’t happen due to this years events but they still offered the job. The only delay was the time it took to get her visa (she has a Canadian passport). One of her friends has just started a job in Luxembourg as a law graduate in one of the banks there. Employers in Europe are still making job offers although what might happen next year?

@parker231 that's reassuring to know. Mine is a language student. Her year abroad was a bit messed up but fingers crossed.

Yes and one of my daughters got too new job offers this summer in London (lawyer) (tech company is the one she chose) which was much better than we feared.