2017 seems so long ago, now they're fledgling graduates.

[latedecember1963]

4 years since A Levels and the wait for August and confirmation of where our chicks were about to fly the nest to.
It's been 4 years that has sprung a few surprises along the way, not least this lovely series of threads.

Well done! 'Rocky road' sounds very appropriate for anyone studying during the last couple of years.

Well done to your DS @Horsemad

Biscoff rocky road sounds fab - what’s the recipe?!

Well done to your DS too @Haffdonga!

DD has a month to submit

DD got her thesis result -66 so overall masters mark 70. She thinks she needs a first in both thesis and exams did an overall first though .

Yay! Well done to both your lads, Horsemad and Haffdonga. They've done so well to stay focussed this year. 🎉🍾🥂

Good luck to them with the job hunting. DS2 has had his first telephone interview this week. He didn't get the job, but has had some useful feedback. He's spent most of this week helping me at our church jigsaw festival which has been really helpful.

Fingers crossed your daughter has got her 1st, Carriemac. Hope your son's 1st week went ok.

@latedecember1963 church jigsaw festival? Sound fun!

Well done to your DD @Carriemac - 66 is a great mark!

It is good fun, Carriemac, hard work too but a great way to bring the community together. We collect made up puzzles throughout the year to sell. The display constantly changes as we replace each sold jigsaw with another.
There are a lot of puzzlers out there and repeated lockdowns has given them more time to do jigsaws so we had a bumper stock this year.

Thank you for the good wishes for DS. 🙂 We've had word his graduationS will hopefully be in Nov & then Dec for the Masters, so 2 trips but I'm not complaining!

Fingers firmly crossed for a First for your DD @Carriemac. 🤞

We've just about eaten all the Rocky Road, @bigTillyMint the recipe is here

DS omitted the salt & the vanilla extract but I don't think the end result was affected.
Be warned, it is extremely sweet! 🙂

@latedecember1963, I like the sound of a jigsaw festival - DS2 loves a jigsaw, I always buy him one for Christmas. 🙂

DD started work yesterday. All well, apart from a panic this morning when she heard a big clunk while driving and thought she must have clipped something. Long story short it was just a manhole cover, and the damage to the wing mirror had in fact been inflicted many years ago when I was going over a narrow canal bridge.

Bet she felt better when you told her that Errol! 🙂

DS is enjoying his new found freedom and is tackling his washing mountain! 😆

Thanks! @Horsemad

Last day of our family get together in Luxembourg, my birthday and DS has just had an email that he got a distinction (first) for his Masters - life is very good!

Enjoyed hearing about the car @ErrolTheDragon - reminds me of the first time I drove DF’s car on my own !

Hope the new jobs and job hunting is going well and everyone settling into new routines.

Good luck to everyone in new jobs and waiting for exam results. I always feel September is more like a new year than January (although may be that will change once the twins finish this last academic year just started).

I am really pleased with their first week on this law course. There seems to be a lot of good teaching - it is essentially 2 hour long seminars in a group of 13 students and about 5 sessions a week so 10 hours in the class room. Half their group went out for one drink last night after their class ended at 5.45pm so they are actually getting to know people and lecturers this year (last year they didn't meet a single other person on their course). They also think doing the law conversion course last year means they know more than some others who did a law degree (although I am not prepared to concede that as someone with a law degree knowing in 3 year you do more than 1 but at least I agree their knowledge is more current than someone who studied a subject 3 years before).

Well done @Parker231 DS great result. What a clever lot we have produced! @Xenia I hope the twins really enjoy this face to face year, DDs equivalent in Ireland is being delivered online 😔

Thank you @Carriemac. It’s made for a perfect end to the holiday. We’re flying home this weekend and then next weekend travel with DS to Amsterdam for him starting work. His new employer is providing a hotel for the first two weeks so DS has some flats lined up to visit over the weekend we are with him. DD is travelling down to meet us. Travel during Covid times as been more straightforward than I’d anticipated.
DS is continuing to study towards further professional qualifications and DD starts her conference translator qualifications this month - I think it will be a few more years before studying is completed. Thankfully their employers are paying the costs!

Well done to your DS @Carriemac!

Hope your daughter's 1st week has gone smoothly after her car "moment", Errol.
Glad your lads are enjoying their new course, Xenia. Isn't it funny how we are so relieved when they can do normal things such as being in the same room as their coursemates? 2 years ago we had no idea of what lay ahead. Hope your daughter's course relaxes their rules before long, Carriemac.
Happy belated birthday for yesterday, Parker. 🎂 Congratulations to your son for his distinction. 🎉🥂

Good luck to all those with new jobs and to those job hunting. Hope graduations happen for those still waiting.

Loughborough held ceremonies over the summer & official photos arrived yesterday 😁.

DS thanks to dual nationality is now on a year out in Italy on various volunteer projects. The 1 he is on til Nov is EU funded monitoring biodiversity in a National Park south of Rome. This week they have been catching and measuring crabs! Not related at all to his degree or future job but he’s having a great time & meeting loads of people from all over EU. Such a fantastic experience for him.

Oh wow, that sounds great!

@Eve - what a brilliant experience. I’m a big fan of year out and gap year - gives them a chance to grow up and have new experiences. Can be a turning point in helping decide their future- although neither of my DT’s listened to my suggestion!

Your lucky ds Eve. That sounds idyllic.

Ds has been asked provisionally about a graduation date in early 2022 for his masters. He's not bothered about going as he never met anyone on his course (like everyone else this year) but he and ds1 are scheming that ds1 could accept ds2's degree and nobody would ever know seeing as they've never met. They won't actually do that but I wouldn't mind the chance of getting a photo of ds1 in the cap and gown as he skipped his own graduation and I was cheated of my proud mother moment. Ds 2 will hopefully get his chance of another one in 2 years if he pulls his finger out and starts doing a bit of revision for his upcoming BIG exams.

Heard today that ds got an unexpected distinction/first so having my proud mother moment after all

Yaaay, @Haffdonga, well done to your DS!

Well done to Haff DS.
DD will be going to her graduation in October partly because it is the first/last chance to meet others. Parents are not invited, so we will celebrate beforehand and then she is hoping that others will organise a drink after.

We went to Bristol last weekend, mainly to pick DD up and to go to a football match in Cardiff. (We won...we have belief!)

Freshers look very young. DD does not really feel like a student any more. There is a bit of a crisis with societies as the second year, who should be stepping forward, did not join anything last year. As a result some of her friends have stepped up and have taken on committee roles in order to help keep one society going. DD has been co-opted to the D&I role. Thus keeping up a proud family position. Her brother had a similar role in a Society popular with Asian students, on the basis he was the only white male and thus part of an underrepresented group. However her focus is really on getting through her training, passing her finals which will be at the end of this year, and working out what she wants to do for an elective. The latter is complicated, as they don't know whether they will be allowed abroad. Then the big F1/F2 decision.

Though it all feels a bit daunting, generally things are good, and despite the 18 month break things seem to be picking up socially where they left off. I so hope this can continue.

The good news is that we can finally visit our son in the US. Something to plan for.