University 2020 :10: Empty nests warm vests and covid tests: uni parents 2020

[sammyjoanne]

Carry on from MilicentMartha's University 9 thead
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/higher_education/a4025020-University-2020-9-And-theyre-off-making-hay-while-the-sun-shines?msgid=101075411#101075411

Much as I'm looking forward to having DD home for Christmas, I hope her slot is towards the end of the stated window. We're having a new bathroom fitted w/c 7th December and need to use her en-suite!!

@Sostenueto, 'has to leave' in what sense? Her accommodation is being closed down? Just not set foot on campus? I am genuinely curious. In London, presumably there are quite a lot of students living in the parental home anyway, rather than in halls,, even in first year.

If the edict is, 'Your accommodation is no longer available to you after this date', how will that work for London students in intercollegiate / anyone in privately managed halls with contracts with multiple institutions or available to be booked outwith a specific university's accommodation office?

DD (Birmingham) has said that she will wait for an email from the university, but if they have sent one yet, she hasn't let on. She had Covid last month, so as I have said, we regard her as low risk anyway.

As for her postgraduate sibling in Bristol, his words were, Ive been basically a shut in since the start of term but no guarantees about what i might've picked up in transit to my in person teaching. Or might, possibly, on the bus in and back to get tested, his flat probably being just slightly too far out for even him to fancy the return walk...

@choirmumoftwo ideally we would want the weekend as one of my work colleagues is off the friday 4th and monday 7th. Our section of the company is only a group of 3 so 2 or more off does cause issues. And hubby does nights, so it is awkward for him to go in the day time unless its weekend when hes off.

Grizedale college are doing a hot chocolate (pre booked). So messages DD and she comes back to me with a pic of her hot chocolate and says they are allowed to sit in for 20 mins. A welcome change :)

marching frogs her accomodation is paid till January. The edict is that is her window to go home as all teaching will go on line from the 2nd. She would have come home 18th which is official end of semester but would still have accomodation paid till January. So she is coming home 7th.

Marching frogs my DD is first year in London and in a hall managed by an external provider. We pay over the Christmas holidays and there are lots of international students that are not planning on leaving. They are staffed over Christmas. DD told me last night that there is no way she is coming home to the sticks until around the 20th as she is having way too much fun. We had to leave the conversation there as it puts us in a rubbish position for Christmas if she rocks up at home that late and will have to self-isolate. They can't make them leave on the 9th though, can they?

I don't know but I think lockdown could continue right till Xmas so as all dgds practicals and lab work will be completed by 2 nd everything will be on line so she might as well come home.

Ds2 will have a nice time at home to some extent (London suburbs) meeting old friends outdoors (he usually meets people outdoors at the best of times, football being his social resource, stadiums, parks, cafes) so I think coming home on the 9th is a good balance for him, and he won't be bored out of his mind (although I have to say, we are quite dull parents)
Whereas ds1 I'm encouraging to stay put as long as possible, it really will be miserably lonely for him here, whereas uni city is friends, exercise, "nightlife". I'm hoping he only comes home for a week, lockdown was awful and ennervating for him, so I Know what he is up against v domestic security. Luckily his fares cost a fiver single so he can make a snap decision when it suits.

Even if lockdown does continue, outdoor meetups for recreation are still on cards and essential travel has always been guidance not law.

When DD comes back to Notts she will be meeting up outside with her old school friends, meeting her grandma and 2 grandads. I live in a village which has a few public footpaths and a canal and drives to Sherwood forest, and Carsington water so will be continuing with that with the walking like we did in the summer. Her fave is Chiquitos and a pub called the Burntstump, so will end up going there if its allowed to go back to a restaurant hopefully.
Her student accommodation wise is 3 termly installments which covers from end of September right into July, so she could stay there. However, I have asked her yesterday what her friends are doing and they are all coming home, so she doesnt want to be there on her own.

Dd is looking at booking train but no guidance as yet on testing before departure. In theory she could visit gps en route but that assumes they are not put back into tier 3.

So ds has messaged to say he's just signed for a house for next year , with 7 of his flat mates. He's really happy about it, I asked what it was like and he said he'd not seen it but trusted the girls' judgment !! Four boys and four girls in Lancaster city centre. All seems very soon but as long as he's happy!

DD has also signed for a house in Lancaster but only 3 of them. The Lancaster lot seem pretty well organised!!

DD's group of 8 seem to want to wait until January now.She says LUSU wont release their housing contracts until January and theres some they like there. She has said if she doesnt get any joy she will do private halls in town. Ive seen the ones on Luneside, and the ones on Penny Street which look pretty decent. Ive had a look at some of the ones on line and they seem to be gettinf snapped up pretty quickly and my concern is come January there will only be crap ones left.

Dgd will apply in January for same student building she's in as she is quite happy to be there again even if different flatmates.

Lovely moment coming home last night finding DS FaceTiming DD17 - him introducing her to all his household!

@KingscoteStaff thats really nice :D

@KingscoteStaff I love seeing things like that! I shall be v interested to see how the dynamics between ds and dd will change when they come home at Christmas, with both of them being away at uni now. They are good friends but tend to bicker when together for too long!

Manchester Uni are really not doing well are they :

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-54954602

It's disappointing, definitely, from UoM. DS hasn't had any issues, though, luckily, except being pissed off he has to walk further to get to Sainsbury's now some of the external gates are locked. I think some of the students are enjoying organising the protests and getting in the news! I know they have real concerns, but getting political has always been a student strength.

I'm trying not to keep talking about all the things wrong with the situation with DS as that's not going to make it better. Trying to concentrate on the positives. He's getting on really well with his flatmates, despite them being a varied mix of different personalities. He's coping with the work, he's done quite a lot of cooking for himself. They've had a flat takeaway yesterday and went out to the curry mile for a flat curry just before lockdown. I was really worried how he'd cope socially as he's pretty dyspraxic (social deficits as well as physical) but it's going better than I expected so far. The fact that they've been forced to mix only with each other has helped him, really, making him and the others in his flat befriend each other.

Dd (second year medic, imperial) wasn’t sure what would happen with their end of term arrangements as they were due to be on hospital placement for the last two weeks of term - their first year hospital placement was cancelled.

They had an email basically saying the students can decide whether they want to go on placement or not, but there’ll be no penalty for choosing to do done online work instead. So they can choose to work online, get Covid tested, have time to self isolate and know they can have a family Christmas. But if they go on placement there’s the risk that they may test later but if it’s a positive result then they may not be able to travel and need to s/i over Christmas. They’re very clear that the students need to weigh up the risks and options in view of their own personal circumstances. Done international students were planning to stay in London anyway, others might be desperate to get hone and/or have a family member in a high risk category.

No idea what daughter will do. She’s desperate to go on placement 🤷‍♀️

Argh done=some

@HostessTrolley I am not sure whether it is best to give them options or just make the decision for them! How is her mental health doing? Could she cope with not seeing family and BF if she tested positive?

@Monkey2001- it’s a close call! She’s actually settled down and her mental health has been good recently, I think that it’s helped that they’ve been so busy, she’s managing her condition better, alongside doing some voluntary stuff and a bit of tutoring. I think family wise she’d probably manage - but boyfriend might be a different issue - haha we know where we are in the pecking order! They were together full time from March to September so not being allowed to see each other at all has been tough for them both, his term ends on 4/12. I think it’ll come down to their joint decision - but I actually think he’ll encourage her to do the placement as he knows how much she’s been looking forward to it 🤷‍♀️

I think if imperial had made the decision for them, then there would have been unhappy people either way. It’s giving them more work - they’ll have a proportion of students out on their first placement so I’d imagine there’ll be issues to resolve around that, and still need to organise online work for the remainder. They’ve said that depending on numbers they’ll look at consolidating placement locations, particularly bearing in mind minimising the need for public transport

Hi everyone. Just catching up. DS has booked his train ticket home for 6th December, a few days ahead of end of term, but everything is online anyway. He’s also looking at houses for next year.
Meanwhile DC2 submitted UCAS last week and got first offer today, so pleased for them.
Deja vu in spades here