Oxford and Cambridge current students discussion thread

[sandybayley]

Starting a new one as we filled it up!

Can't believe DS1 will be home in 2 weeks. Must remember to adjust the Ocado shop for when he's back. I suspect we may end up with a few days of his favourite meals 😊

DD’s college just emailed her telling her they are all welcome to go back for Trinity but it is not required.

DS went for a walk in the university parks today and it was full of students enjoying the early spring sunshine. He kept bumping into people he knew and it cheered me to realise that he's managed to make many friends despite the obstacles. But mostly I was cheered because it sounded, well, normal, and I'll happily take normal at this point. Sorry if this is hard to hear for those with DC sad to be at home, but I'm confident this will be the reality for all our DC very soon. And I wouldn't worry about friendships being hard to reestablish. DS is desperate to see some of the boys he bonded with in the first term.

In other news, The students at DS's college are waiting to find out about rent over Easter. They already know there will be no food.

@SnapSnapDragon Thank you for that wonderfully cheering post. I hope and think that you are right about the future. All the best to your DS.

Yes, @SnapSnapDragon, very hard for DD and her friends who are anxious to get back to their familiar study spaces in time to prepare for Finals. My DC roll their eyes at social media posts of groups of first years (mostly at Keble, Brasenose and Magdalene) gathering as if everything were normal and cannot help but feel the inequity of the situation.

*Magdalen

I really do feel sorry for all students and I think finalists have it particularly hard.

DS not at any of those colleges - his is stricter about socialising outside of bubbles - but he has friends in one of the ones that you mentioned @ofteninaspin and it does seem to be more relaxed there. Hats off to those college authorities I say; I wish they were all as humane.

But if your own DC were back, ofteninaspin, wouldn't they equally try to replicate normal as far as they could?

I don't know the answer on this - about current infections - but my own DD's college, which took a sensibly relaxed view from the start, saw only a tiny number of infections in the Michaelmas Term. On that basis, why the completely mad approach of eg Trinity Cambridge? Worcester was pretty uptight too. It would be interesting to compare the totalitarian colleges to the louche western ones and see how far infections differed.

I worked at a university and every year we lost students due to cycling accidents.

Please parents if your beloved child has a bike make sure it has full set of working lights, they have a good fitting helmet, they have high vis clothing, e.g. thin waistcoat that can fit easily In a pocket or bag, or wrist or ankle crack and snap bands.

Students often dress in dark clothing and think that because they can see easily, other road users are aware of them.

Sliding along a tarmaced road for 20yards even at 10 mph can skin lovely faces and limbs with life changing results. Banging your head on a kerbstone can cause irreversible brain damage. Turning right without looking or signalling can result in death.

Please, please protect your lovely children.

@goodbyestranger, I understand what you are saying but I don’t think third years typically roam Oxford in large groups so, no DD wouldn’t be doing that. If permitted back, DD would be self-catering in her student house, working in the library and running and chatting with her course/house mate - with the bonus of reliable broadband. Really hoping this becomes a reality for her and her friends after Easter.

It's lovely to hear about other students back in college and enjoying themselves. It's also incredibly hard to hear this as a parent with DCs increasingly struggling at home with no contact with peers and fleeting university life fast becoming a distant memory.

The lack of equality between colleges and indeed between universities feels really hard. There are those students stuck at home with no peer contact and only leaving the house once a day for a socially distant, repetitive family walk within 3 to 5 miles of home. There are others at university who seem to have at least a small bubble of social life with peers and a modicum of 'normal' life. There are those at university huddled alone in college rooms with little contact with anyone at all and there are those - at other unis - who seem to be partying, breaking lockdown rules and living it up (and I don't by the way mean anyone on this thread).

If the whole point was to stop any movement of any student-aged DCs away from home, then how does it help that thousands are still at uni and mixing with peers whilst others are 'marking time' in their rooms at home?

I just wish there could be equality across the board and some hope or even certainty for our DCs, as spring comes and they languish in isolation from their peers.

ofteninaspin I think third years can and do roam in packs! There isn't some personality transformation as students go in to third year.

mutterphore I haven't seen these social media posts but I don't think there's 'normality' at Oxford, just that those there who are able to went out this weekend to enjoy the lovely weather, as people did on our beach at home and in all those places where the papers showed large groups gathering (or did camera shots to make parks etc look more crowded than they actually were). By the nature of things 'households' in college are larger than the average family, but it's just as legitimate to go out in the Parks with the whole crowd.

That said, given that I haven't seen the posts myself, perhaps there was something amounting to a rave - no idea.

No raves that I know of, just some green shoots of hope, for all of us.

@mutterphote, well quite. Students were meant to “stay put” at home or wherever they spent the Christmas vac to collectively help prevent the spread of virus (which is why they are also meant to “stay put” over Easter as the message hasn’t changed.)

They were meant to stay put unless they fell within an exemption, ofteninaspin and I'm unconvinced that the stats show that the movement of students even in Hilary term triggered a huge wave of infections among the resident populations of university cities and towns. Has the correlation been proved?

Students are a very easy hit for this government, but how far the restriction of student movement from A to B has helped anything other than really putting the boot into the young people in question, goodness knows.

I am not sure the roaming in packs was limited to students looking at the size and age of the groups wandering around here at the weekend.

Goodbye looking at the COVID dash the rates didn't go up any faster in Oxford than neighbouring areas when the students returned. They also continued to rise when most students returned home for Christmas. What was remarkable around here was how quickly the cases rose along the train commuter routes (disclaimer - I only looked at train routes around where I live).

Students are visible movers, easy to other and less likely to vote for the incumbents. They are an easy target to blame so no one else has to take any responsibility for transmission.

Given the stay put message DD is even more glad that she didn't go back, even though her college (mentioned above) is quite relaxed about student's mixing behind the closed gate. She is looking forward going back in April.

Just bumping this up with a bit of good news, DS has been awarded a book prize for his collections results and a letter from the Master. Very proud of him!

Well done to @HuaShan Jnr!

Well done indeed! Bet his college are pleased they selected him. Lovely boost in these difficult times.

Congratulations to your DS HuaShan! Well done to him. You must be very proud and it's good to get some positive news for a change.

@HuaShan Well done to your son. What an achievement.

That's awesome Huashan well done to your lad!

@HuaShan that is definitely something to be proud of, congratulations to him.

Here you all are! Bizarrely I'd hidden this thread and couldn't work out why you'd gone quiet!

Congratulations to @HuaShan - very well done.

DS1 has, thankfully, been cleared to return home from his Oxford college for Easter as the Government advice changed yesterday. He was really frustrated to be told to stay put and pay rent.we had a lot of WhatsApp ranting.

Whilst he really wanted to go back and be in Oxford it's been a bit tough. He misses his friends who haven't been allowed back and it's quiet and a bit lonely. He has been into the labs for teaching though. This was a special moment for him as the labs were what got him really excited when he first visited.

I'm picking him up next Sunday - Mother's Day treat 😊