Cambridge and Oxford - ongoing chat for those with a student currently studying there

[DadDadDad]

Some of us have found these threads helpful, so I'm starting a new one to take us through

...end-of-year exams (and parties)

...homecoming for the vacation (and hibernation aestivation for this thread?)

...return in the autumn (and more normal college life?)

Posters old and new welcome to join the discussion. Any tips for finding a summer job?

Oh, and for reference, I have a DS just completing his first year in a small humanity in a tiny college.

Congratulations to your DS @beeswain! It sounds like just the confidence boost your DS needed - and a relief for you to know that he is finding his way.
University level stuff is great for getting to know students at other colleges.

@beeswain I'm glad he has found something he enjoys.

We've had a lovely afternoon visiting DS. He is keeping up with his work, has joined a couple of music ensembles, and seems very happy.

We're going to his college's choral evensong, which is something I've wanted to do but which wasn't possible last year.

@Beeswain, I'm very pleased to hear about your DS and congratulations to him on his chess! It's so lovely that he's got an extracurricular thing now.

@Ironoaks, I'm glad you had a great time visiting your DS and that he's enjoying himself.

I too have met up with DS1 and DS2 - in London as it was equidistant between them both and we had a great catch up and meal out. Both seem very happy indeed and getting on well academically and socially.

DS1 has quite a few extracurricular activities and 3 positions of responsibility. DS2 has so very many extracurricular activities that I've actually lost count and eight different positions of responsibility! He was apparently laughing about this with his tutor at the Scholar's Dinner but his tutor thinks it's fine as he's doing well academically too.

This is so different to my years at university and I've no idea how both seem to be balancing work with pleasure. I never could and more or less gave up all my extracurricular stuff after the first couple of terms.

I'm also really pleased both DS1 and DS2 are doing extracurricular things that are more like 'real world' /working world stuff, having to organise events and people, meet deadlines, delegate and be responsible - to some degree - for financial accounts, as they'll need this kind of thing for future employment.

Their time at university seems to be going so quickly now and I still have flashes of memory from when they were just these tiny little, cute, fresh-faced babies that I carried around - one on each hip. Suddenly, seeing them in London yesterday, there were these two men towering over me, who, just for an instance, I barely recognised. I think I'll soon be relegated to the role of benign but slightly dim, doddery old mother dwindling in the shadows!

Great update, @mutterphore.

Talking of dwindling into the shadows, is there much appetite to continue with a new thread when this one is full? We seem to have slowed to about one post per day, but maybe a new thread will renew interest.

A vote to continue from me please.Having visited dd this weekend I have no positions of responsibilty or chess wins to report but have loved reading @beeswain and @mutterphore‘s reports as well as everyone else’s. Quality over quantity for the posts is no bad thing; I expect after the dramas of CAGs and freshers first year horrors, everything just a bit more normal and less to say.
Visit to alleviate week 5 blues, socks, booze, books and a good feed were the order of the day. Also there as DH attending a memorial service for a professor who taught him and co-incidentally our DN at the same college almost 40 years later. The thread of history etc. Was unexpectedly teary when we left her.

I'm very happy to keep cheering people's dc on, but I'll be gently fading away from posting about dd. I feel that its reached a point where she fully needs her own privacy without the risk of being 'outed'. Her choices and next steps are getting more and more specialised now.

Shes very happy, enjoying this years work immensely and is looking at her next steps in life.

I'm always happy to talk about C. maths off the board for anyone interested for their own dc.

I'd like to continue if possible. I'm particularly enjoying hearing about the opportunities they are getting this year after missing out a bit last year.

@DadDadDad, I'd also like this thread to continue as it's good hearing about others in the cohort but also being able to share experiences with those who have Freshers at O & C this year and for future Freshers too.

@OYBBK, I can understand about you stepping back a bit and I wish your DD the very best for her future. I've always appreciated your supportive and wise contributions here and will again if and when you post.

@Hobbema, it's great to hear you've also had a happy and successful visit to your DD. I know what you mean about the emotional parting at the end! I'm only starting now to contemplate the fact the my DCs will actually be leaving home properly in the now not too distant future and can't really yet conceive of not having the intense contrast between term times and then vacations. I'm now in the countdown of preparing for their pending return in about 4 weeks time but it'll feel very weird when they don't come home like that again! Of course they may need to be based back at home for a time, depending on potential jobs/ further training etc.

I hope everyone else's DC has managed the Week 5 hurdle and isn't too exhausted, especially those with Freshers. I think mine are just so very happy to be having a more normal term than their first term when two weeks in, they were each locked away in isolation for 14 days and they'd barely just started. That was a real low point but now things are a lot better and they're really making the most of everything on offer.

I'm still in. DD rowed as a 4 for the first time yesterday and did herself proud. She has been back to the pharmacist as she's still suffering from the side effects of fresher's flu, but I also wonder if having Covid in the summer has generally weakened her immune system. She has to live oitnextctear and has added house hunting to her hectic life. Luckily she only has 2 modules this term.

@DadDadDad I would like the thread to continue too, it's nice to read about the dc and share triumphs/worries.
@hobbema and @mutterphore I am also coming to terms with the prospect of ds leaving home 'properly' in the not too distant future. I have found this year harder than last, I think because of the poignancy of having had ds at home for so long and because his return seemed quite difficult for him. I'm popping up for lunch on Wednesday (feel so lucky I can just do this as we are not a million miles away) and am really looking forward to it.

Well I feel a bit of an interloper on here anyway since DD graduated last summer but I really like the sense of community so am happy to stick around for as long as you'll let me. OYBBK, I quite understand. Feel free to PM me as and when.

DD had a busy weekend. Her bf came to visit and they went to a fireworks party on Friday. She was rowing and doing acrobatic dance on Saturday then yesterday her choir played football before singing a service. She is really enjoying doing supervisions in 2 colleges and it reminds her just how far she has come.

I wish she or her DSis was here. DH has buggered his knee up so is on crutches. My DF is still here and I am exhausted with running round after them both, let alone trying to teach. Roll on Christmas!

Now I have an image of choristers in cassocks (?) running around a football pitch!

Much sympathy though Malbec.

Also hoping the thread continues. I enjoy reading about how the DC are doing. I don't have a lot to say as DS gives very little information and insight into his life! I do know he has a busy term - 7 modules - 6 are maths plus accelerated Russian! So he has lots of work! He is going to a fancy formal on Friday, so will hopefully buy his scholars gown before then although I have my doubts! We are visiting on Saturday, which I am looking forward to!

I would also like to keep this friendly and supportive thread going if possible. As someone going through the "Oxbridge parent" experience for the first time, I've read so many valuable tips on here, and even if I don't post much due to being busy at work and being something of a Mumsnet novice, I catch up with every post when I have chance, and love hearing how everyone is getting on.

OK, it's obviously worth starting a new thread. As we're nearly full here, I'll start one shortly.

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/higher_education/4396895-Oxford-Cambridge-current-students-support-chat-thread

I'd like to keep going. I know it's helpful for fresher parents to have a 'landing page' to join. Maybe I'll be a fresher parent again next year..,

...Oxford

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Cambridge, obvs

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