Another path- the first year ......

[chopc]

Apologies if I didn't tag anyone. Hopefully have inckueded all current posters

Chopc - Durham-History
@jano69 -Durham -History
@OnTheBenchOfDoom -Durham - Computer science
@Majaso12 -Imperial - Biochemistry
@bendmeoverbackwards -Bristol- History
@Pumpkintopf -Imperial -Physics
@ChimneyPot -Brown (US) - Open
@Stillcrikey -Bristol -MML
@Tenpastseven - Bristol -modern languages
@Longtimenewsee - Durham - Chemistry
@MidLifeCrisis007 - Durham -History
@BigWoollyJumpers - Exeter- History
@SeasonFinale -Bristol- History
@Notagardener LSE
@Revengeofthepangolins UCL - History
@raspberryrippleicecream ? -Maths
@derekthe1adyhamster Birmingham- Computer Science
@Vargas -Durham -Geography
@AvocadoPlant Exeter -History

DD’s blood results came back ok. Just the celiac one they’re waiting for now. Doctor said it’s probably IBS she has.

Good news and fingers crossed for the Celiac result. Now just to find the trigger for the IBS (other than stress!).

Yes stress definitely won’t be helping and she is stressed about her exams. She said it’s so much harder than A levels, so much content and not possible to revise it all. I used to suffer badly with IBS and definitely worse at certain times of my cycle. Never had pain as bad as she had though.

@Majaso12 hoping your DD gets a definitive answer soon.

Well DD is heading back to Exeter today, there’s another week until term starts but several friends have returned already and DD is keen to catch up with them all. Also they are straight back to exams next week and the stress they bring.

Her exams this year are open book essays. Tbh with a subject like History where so much is about researching the topics, and writing essays and reports based on that research it seems a more sensible exam format than simply being able to remember lists of dates and key facts as per GCSEs and A levels.

I will miss her, and the house will be much quieter. But at least there’ll be less laundry- is my DD the only one who seems to feel the need to use a clean towel every day at home but manages perfectly well with 2 bath towels when she’s at uni? 🤷‍♀️😂

Avocado, I don't think DC ever irons his shirts but likes me doing his shirts when at home.
Dc2 also back to uni.
Let's hope last term will be a good one for all of them with not too much stress or illnesses

Wishing everyone’s Dc a good last term of year 1 (😱gone so fast!)
@Majaso12 - Dd has found the first year intense and the workload huge too. Massive step up from A levels I think and certainly not an easy first year at all. So much content. She found term 2 slightly easier and less stressful than term 1 and has been told by older students at her uni that year 2 is less intense so here’s hoping. She puts in a lot of hours. She seemed to be ill for most of term 1 which didn’t help.
I hope your Dd begins to find things less stressful and has a heathy term 3

Dd has been told by second years that next year will be even more intense!

Oh no @Majaso12 ! Dd has loads more labs next year but perhaps the groundwork in terms of content is there from this year and can just be built upon? Let’s hope so!

Just driving home after dropping DC at Durham. He has done very little prep for his exams and I just hope he is able to work through the stress of having left it to the last minute to come up with the goods in his exams.

He admits he enjoyed school and liked being taught and directed rather than being left to his own devices 🙈. DH wonders if he would have been better off doing a straight law degree as that is more structured - he would have enjoyed the subject matter too so it wouldn't have been doing something he doesn't enjoy.

Perhaps the workload is greater than for AL but I do hope he gets the hang of self directed study sooner rather than later. I don't think that lack of structure due to having covid plus strikes in addition to drinking copious amounts of alcohol has helped either .....

@chopc that’s so difficult. I suspect many students find the switch to self-directed learning much harder than they had imagined it would be. He’s obviously very bright and enjoys learning so hopefully it will all come good.

My older DS was a bit like this and had to cut short his summer holiday to go back and re-sit one of his exams at the end of first year. But it all worked out and he graduated with a very respectable 2:1 at the end of his course. It just took him a bit to settle into the new way of working (and this was an engineering not a humanities degree) and to learn when to focus and step away from the many distractions on offer!

On a complete change of tangent, can I say a belated thank you to whoever recommended some specific storage bags last Autumn. I bought 6 (in a range of patterns) and sent DD off with 3. She promptly emptied and returned 1 declaring she wouldn’t use them.

Fast forward to Easter, and DD has sneakily packed up all 6 to take back with her, declaring they are the most useful things ever! This led to DH grumbling that we needed them, until I suggested we get some more, and he then spent a happy time choosing some new ones in a range of patterns including the periodic table and a world map. They have just turned up and DH is looking very pleased!

It’s the little things ………….. 😊

That was me! They are great. We discovered them for DD1, and they are still going strong having been used for her multiple moves in and out of Oxford every term, and then into London. We also used them to move DM into her care home, and for storage under her bed.

We now have a good set of multiple patterns, and yes, like your DD, DD2 is taking some back with her this weekend, in readiness for the big pack up at the end of term.

i think we have those bags .. it’s what Dd bundles all her stuff in and lobs them in the under bed storage at the end of every term.

I think her room was actually used over Easter . It look like it had been extra cleaned when we took her back.

So I see our dc may be affected by UCU marking and assessment boycott now.🙄 Dd (had first exam yesterday) was a bit pissed off when she texted me about it yesterday. She was fortunate in that her modules were barely affected by previous strike action but her friends on humanities courses really were (I remember your Ds’s course was badly affected  @chopc)

i guess they will just have to let them all pass the year if affected? I would be v worried if she was in her final year though!

www.ucu.org.uk/article/12247/Universities-to-be-hit-by-marking-boycott-union-confirms

Yes @Longtimenewsee

Whaaaat? Re UCU !!!!!!

The shit continues 😢

I wonder how many of the 41 universities are the "new" universities? Things is RG unis know they can do this and still get bums on the seat

@Longtimenewsee how did your DD find out that she will be affected?

Hope her exam went well .....

Oh sorry to confuse @chopc …she doesn’t know yet.. she just read the news article and that was enough to get her going!
Perhaps they won’t be affected ... but Durham has been pretty active with industrial action hasn’t it

This from The Tab
thetab.com/uk/2022/04/26/students-may-not-graduate-as-staff-at-41-universities-boycott-marking-work-248484

The numbering has gone awry on C7P but there are 41 on the list.
Here are the 41 universities where students may be unable to graduate because of a marking boycott:

1. Birkbeck, University of London
2. Bournemouth University
3. University of Brighton
4. Cardiff University
5. University of Chester
6. Courtauld Institute of Art
7. The University of Dundee
8. Durham University
9. Edinburgh Napier University

10. University of Edinburgh 11. University of Essex 12. University of Exeter 13. University of Glasgow 14. Goldsmiths, University of London 15. University of Greenwich 16. Heriot-Watt University 17. Keele University 18. King’s College London 19. Kingston University 20. The University of Leeds 21. Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts (LIPA) 22. University of Liverpool 23. Loughborough University 24. Newcastle University 25. The University of Northampton 26. The University of Nottingham 27. Queen Margaret University 28. Queen Mary University of London 29. Queen’s University Belfast 30. Royal College of Art 31. Royal Northern College of Music 32. Sheffield Hallam University 33. The University of Sheffield 34. SOAS, University of London 35. University of Southampton 36. University of St Andrews 37. University of Sussex 38. UCA – University for the Creative Arts 39. Ulster University 40. University of the Arts London 41. University of Westminster

We took dd back to Bristol last Saturday. We managed to book a last minute holiday to Cyprus over Easter for all 5 of us. If anyone remembers the huge issue between dds 1 and 3, it miraculously resolved itself at the start of the holidays, completely out of the blue! Decided to chance a whole family holiday and then regretted it on the first night when they fell out AGAIN! However I refused to let dd3 spoil things, we carried on and after sulking in the room for 1.5 days she eventually came out and had a good time thank goodness!

We now have our holiday to Mexico at Christmas to look forward to but TBH I think we are starting to get to the stage where family holidays are getting to be a thing of the past. Although my older two wouldn't say no to a lovely paid for holiday!

On the work load front, dd has found it very manageable this year. She's been enjoying lots of extra curricular stuff and keeping on top of work. I don't think she's been killing herself with work but if she finishes this year with a secure 2:1 she'll be happy with that.

students may be unable to graduate
great, dc1 had 1 normal term in 3 years. and may now not even graduate in time...

This is outrageous. Surely universities are in breach of their agreement to provide a degree education and the opportunity to gain a degree? If exams are not marked how will grades be awarded?

Belatedly tackling the excitements of second year housing. DS1's proposed landlord (well, actually the agent) has asked us as guarantors for Copy of Passport, Employment Reference & Payslips, Bank Statement [3 months], and Proof of property ownership.
Clearly they aren't getting an employment reference but I have to admit I have some qualms about handing over bank statements and payslips to them - it seems so intrusive and an open door to identify theft.
Is this familiar territory to you chaps who have already sorted this out?

Nope .. not familiar. We weren’t asked for anything like that @Revengeofthepangolins

@chopc i see Durham SU have said they won’t support any action by UCU and Durham lecturers in staging a marking boycott…

www.palatinate.org.uk/durham-students-union-opposes-ucu-marking-boycott/

Don't think I have ever needed to show proof of house ownership. Don't even know where it is. What if we would rent???
When DC applied for year abroad he needed .my bank statement, with proof of having uh, lots of money, thousands.( And got cancelled week after because of covid)

@Longtimenewsee phew!!!! Thanks for this. I was a little upset about this.

@Revengeofthepangolins DH said he had to give name, address and passport details but not bank statements