University 2020-2021 Part 11: Final Furlong For First year Freshers..........Then Freedom Follows

[sammyjoanne]

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/higher_education/4058013-University-2020-10-Empty-nests-warm-vests-and-covid-tests-uni-parents-2020?pg=20

This is a follow on from the previous part 10 thread.
Named because its heading into the summer term.
''Freedom follows'' as in end of year for summer break, (hopefully end of covid restrictions too)

Good idea with the early main move. DH dropped off a few things DD forgot on Friday and parking was difficult with wardens everywhere plus no spaces nearby on the parking app. Great that some unis are having in person open days. DD found these useful back in 2019.

DD finding uni job hard going. Not helped that she has been pinged already as a close contact (awaiting PCR results). Food delivery from halls a bit odd. Breakfast was 7 apples, gluten free cereal (akin to the cardboard Amazon use) and soy milk and lunch a kidney bean and margarine wrap. She gave up at this point and got dinner delivered from the pub across the road. Mask wearing seems to be non-existent despite uni mandating masks inside in all public areas. One of DDs jobs is to encourage mask wearing. She's used to doing this in her hospitality job but seems to be getting much more abuse in halls from eye rolling to being sworn at. Difference in hospitality job she just gives security the nod and the punter is out (zero tolerance policy).

Hoping this term isn't going to a series of pings. Not looking good as at least 2 out of 40 who attended training with DD have covid after 5 days (they were asked to have negative PCR before coming on site).

@ClerkMaxwell iirc your dd is an RA? Those "meals" sound like dds when self isolating with covid last year. Random and not terribly appetising. I guess being a contact will be an occupational hazard.

Yes DD an RA. Her flatmate was one last year and DD thought it looked a good job. Not sure she will stick it out though as finding it tough. Good news though is she is negative so can leave her room.

That's something. Dd said many of RAs last year did not stay long. It sounds a pretty thankless task to keep Freshers in order especially during covid measures.

What's an RA?

Resident assistant. In return for 75% off rent (and food as DD is in a catered Hall) DD does varies jobs including arrivals, lockouts, arranging activities. It is quite full on during freshers and lots of time has been dealing with noise issues and trashing of pantries and corridors. It has been an eye opener for DD.

@ClerkMaxwell oh gosh that sounds interesting. Is it for the full year I presume? Good value if they can stick it. What uni is this please?

Yes for the full year. It is Edinburgh but I think some other unis do similar. Let's see if DD can stick it. She is finding some of the freshers hard going plus not helped by the fact Edi is very covid cautious so lots of rules to enforce.

@ClerkMaxwell hope DD can stick it out, odd combination of food delivery. Hopefully the value outweighs the freshers issues and it all calms down once the learning starts.

Hey any name ideas of Part 12, the new thread? As its not final furlong for first year freshers now, and heading into year two, I think we need a new name

DS heads back tomorrow and is planning a full on freshers! His uni have events on for freshers & last years freshers who lost out on the experience.

Timetable published with lots of face to face time.

We travelled back from France yesterday & he raided Dury free for his return!

Just seen on Lancaster fb page for grizedale that second years are not able to go to freshers events due to numbers etc. They are doing separate events for them during the term. Feel abit sad for them, they'll be seeing the first years go to all the clubs etc before them! Luckily ds is a freshers rep so he'll get to go but his friends won't be there. I'm sure the second years will make their own fun. Very glad to see
ds has mainly f2f lectures and seminars this year.

@specialted I saw that as well on FB. Its a shame. DD flatmate planning their own sort of freshers. Just dropped off DD today at the airbnb. Not a bad place to be fair, near the Dukes area. She is meeting up with her physics friends over the next few days, then Wednesday she's taking her suitcase to her new house, and having a few nights going out with her flatmates as Glow and Kanteena are still open. Mid October she's booked with her housemates bongos bingo at the Sugarhouse.
Before we dropped her off we was at the open day at Lancaster for DD2 for Zoology. Had a Sultans for dinner :) Was a lovely warm day and DD2 enjoyed it.

First teaching week done and DD loving the F2F. Real seminars with discussions not just a PhD student working thru the previous weeks quiz questions. She has even made some friends from her course.

Accommodation job still bad. She thought things would calm this week with start of classes but most of the freshers must be all online as they are still partying hard. Most are fine but a small number treat her like their personal concierge/cleaner plus others think it fun to kick her door when they return from the clubs (three times this week at 3am). She has concluded that there are much better ways to make money. I think she needs to leave job and accommodation but there isn't much available in Edinburgh at the moment so she will sit tight in the hope that some of the internationals don't show or others drop out.

How is everyone else getting on.

DD moved into her house on Wednesday.. She took her car but we needed to take my car too. Its a nice house 5 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms and an extra toilet downstairs. She sent me a video and she's got her room all organised.

I think they have arranged to go to some fresher events but the 2nd years will also have some of their own events too.

Extra toilet good. DD was in an all girl 5 bed house last year with 2 bathrooms which wasn't enough!

@clerkmaxwell.. Dd has been quite astute.. She's downstairs sharing one bathroom with one other girl with the extra toilet being downstairs too. She's sharing with 4 girls and 1 boy...

DD stayed at the airbnb. She enjoyed her time there and meeting her friends. Wednesday she moved in to her new place and had met with 3 of her 7 housemates. The letting agency came in and hoovered and polished the communal areas ready for them. Bonus :) She moved her bedroom furniture around since, but this pic was taken when we first dropped off her things 3 weeks ago. She's moved her bed to the opposite corner (she didn't fancy sleeping under a set of shelves of course). Desk now resides in place of the bed. With it being in the city, you open the window in the morning, and the waft of bacon comes in from the cafes.

Dd has also enjoyed having more f2f sessions in one week than she had in the whole of last year (3). She's wracked with nerves about them and was 10mins late to the first as she couldn't get in the building. They are like first years as they had so little f2f last year. Very glad to live just 6 mins from campus when she has f2f in morning then online tutorial (can't really do in library say) then f2f in afternoon.

In other news... one double jagged flatmate tested positive 10 days ago but rest were negative until another was positive on Thursday. With colds around it's hard to tell and all lfd tests were negative. She's awaiting her second pcr result now, but no symptoms so fingers crossed. Has avoided dance classes though just in case as not the way to make friends in a new studio!

@ClerkMaxwell am a bit shocked your dd not getting better backup from accommodation service as RAs save them a lot of work. But then again, the accom office were really poor when dd and friends were trying to rent through Domus - gave up and went private.

@YlangYlangYlangYlang. Good that your DD avoided Domus. DD stayed in a Domus flat over summer. They were really remiss as landlords.

Yes, I said that - if they're not responsive before, they'll not be responsive when you're in. Not sure this one is very responsive either but the flat is cheaper, closer and they got it later (so didn't waste rent), and pretty good overall.

DD pcr still negative. So hopefully they'll all be clear by Thursday. While they are allowed out, they're still avoiding crowds/other people's flats/sports clubs just in case.

We dropped ds off at Lancaster flat yesterday , bit tricky as it's in a pedestrian zone. The flat was not particularly clean but it's in a great location right in the city centre and ds has a good size bedroom . I have no idea how they'll manage in their tiny kitchen but there are enough take aways on their doorstep. I think they have much socialising planned and are keen to explore the nightclubs there for the first time. He was certainly ready to go back, sloth mode had set in at home.

Dd has had a vile cold all week, lost her voice, but tested negative. Her timetable gives her 10 minutes between two f2f tutorials, a 9 minute walk apart! Anxious that Bulb might go under too.

Dd was out clubbing on Friday.. Not ideal that they queued for nearly 2 hrs to get in. She texted me at about 5.30.am to say she has accidentally rang her dad at 4.30am...its good that they finally have some fun.