Oxford/Cambridge - current students support/chat thread 2022 - cont

[Panicmode1]

@petitebleu - so sorry to hear about your DS. I hope that some time out over Christmas may help to give him some space and time to think about his next steps.

@Malbecfan massive congratulations to your DD and the rest of the C dance team! What a star! You must be very proud of her.

Well done, Malbec’s dd!

Dd was also there with C, despite the ongoing battles of chronic fatigue. Possibly not her wisest move, but it’s so hard to even suggest that she should deny herself yet more of the enjoyable parts of university life in favour of devoting her few functioning hours each day solely to the huge demands of her course.

Brilliant news Malbecfan. Can't your DD has as much need to get a balance between fun & academics as everyone else. They all find it careful balancing act and I'm so pleased to hear she's having fun.

I have a photo of DD with the Varsity match cup she helped a team win at the weekend. She still hasn't managed to play for the team she actually captains. One last attempt this summer.

HeWas - I agree about the balance.

Department staff aren’t as sure….. She probably has 1/3 ‘normal’ capacity when at her very best (usually less, some days 0) and her course is notorious for its need for 100% working hours commitment …..

@Malbecfan - congratulations to your DD!

@Panicmode1 I hope all the work is getting done ... a week is a long time in O & C and I find they peak and trough so quickly . Being ill and still rowing seems the norm with my DS. Good though they are committed to their crew.... At least DS is now more phlegmatic about Bumps - not the end of the world being bumped as it seemed in 1st year. A useful life lesson...

I'm not sure DS is coming back much this Easter vac. He has his flat straight through, GF also in O and says he wants to focus on dissertation prep. Hopefully we will see him for Easter weekend...

@Malbecfan all the ballroom dancing sounds v exciting - 30 years ago Oxford had a really keen ballroom dancing team so not sure what happened.

@cantkeepawayforever I hope your DD isn't too excited by the trip away and can keep on top of the work. Chronic fatigue sounds both debilitating and frustrating.

@HewasH20 your DD sounds like a complete star being the Captain and giving of her organisational skills while not quite making the 1st team...

Thanks all. Actually it's not ballroom dancing, it's acrobatic rock & roll, but ballroom was also on the card. She has danced since just before her 3rd birthday, although ballet & tap when she was at home rather than anything more energetic.

Before DD went to C, we visited her college and spoke to a lad who was in the year above her at school. He studied Engineering, so a pretty full-on course. His advice was that you could do 2 activities beyond your course, but 3 was too much. In her 5.5 years there, DD has done orchestra, chapel choir, rowing/coxing and dance, but also lots of one-off things like helping a musical friend from home by doing some assistant stage managing when he was MD'ing a musical. She has always believed in work hard, play hard, but her health has thankfully been pretty robust. I know she's lucky in that regard and I am in awe of those DC who manage long-term conditions along with their courses.

As far as I know, she's not coming home at Easter, but DD2 and I may well go & visit her. I saw DD2 on Saturday for a couple of hours which was lovely. I need her to sign DF's LPA papers and given the unreliability of the post, taking them to her in person & getting a housemate to witness is probably the safest bet. I just need my bloody annoying sister to send them back from Europe.

Great news re your DD @Malbecfan!

Well done to your DD @cantkeepawayforever for striving to do "other stuff" too despite the restrictions of her health condition.

Despite having graduated, DD was helping backstage and cheering Oxford on at Varsity dance (classical ballet and contemporary) last weekend. No problem with her allegiance despite now taking dance classes with the Cambridge squad during the week!

Great to hear all the fun stuff DC are doing.

DS is in the final stages of his dissertation - luckily he has an extension as he missed so much time with covid last term and over the Xmas vac. He has been much more social this term with various societies. He keeps texting me to say he is happy, which is a first. I'm getting slightly concerned that his dissertation is taking a back seat (he is very much on for a first and it would be sad to falter at this penultimate hurdle). He has three weeks left, two of them at home, so I hope he'll really get focussed in the end straits. (He works so much harder and more efficiently than I did as a student, and I pulled it off, so I expect he will too!)

DD's exam timetable is out. 8 examsover 15 days with her final 3 in the last 1.5 days. Gulp.

That's intense @HewasH20

@HewasH20 - sounds tough, very similar to my experience 30 years ago. I can remember the huge relief when it finished. Are they still hand written exams in the Exams School?

@HewasH20 wow, that sounds super intense..!

DS did manage to get all his projects and assignments etc handed in last week (5 I think) and is now happily rowing stroke in a college boat for the next 4 days (Lent bumps I guess?)....he sounds much happier anyway. Just as DD starts having complete meltdowns over A level exam stress. Fun fun fun 😁

PPE is switching over to computer based exams in the exam hall. Unfortunately she has spent the last 15 or so years listening to me describing CBE disasters I encounter regularly. Her entire degree is based on these 8 papers to add to the pressure.

@HewasH2O interesting (good I think) they will be typed - does Oxford provide the laptops for the exams? What is CBE?

DS thought he'd picked up an intercostal injury playing tennis last week but it turned out he was coming down with shingles. He is now feeling rather unwell and miserable. Awful timing as he has a lot of "final" year deadlines as term ends.
Cannot fault the responsiveness of his college and GP practice. He contacted the college nurse on Sunday and she referred him to his GP who saw him on Monday. The blisters appeared last night and the GP saw him again today to start the antiviral treatment. Hoping that it will be super effective as caught early.

D1 has been ill (again -she really seems to be ill for a good part of every term) and looking forward to coming home. She's finished her last paper, so just her dissertation to finish and submit.

We are driving down to Oxford on Saturday to pick her and her worldly goods up. Hope to get to the Ashmolean to see the Knossos exhibition before coming home on Sunday.

She's planning to have 3 weeks off (on hol with friends for one of those weeks) and then back to Oxford to start exam prep. Her exams are a mixture of 3 hr papers in the Examination Schools and 8 hr online papers.

Honestly, where has the time gone? Seems like no time at all since we were all posting about interviews and offers etc.

Yep. The time has flown!

DD1 is ready to move on.

@ofteninaspin hope he feels better soon, it can cause fatigue for at least a couple of weeks even in young healthy people.

DS briefly glimpsed some snow today.

In non-Oxbridge news, I found out today that I successfully passed the re-audition process to remain in the choir I sing with (which is a relief), and even got promoted to the semi-chorus.

Congratulations @Ironoaks

CBE = computer based exams with full blown desktop set ups in the exam hall @Juja

DD is aiming to play Varsity tennis for the first & last time over her final weekend. In her first year she had Covid along with the rest of the teams. Last year it clashed with college ball and the start of her summer school. She must be one of the few captains who can take the glory never having hit a shot. Hope your DS feels better soon @ofteninaspin as shingles can be nasty.

She goes to Portugal for tennis camp on Saturday, back for a revision class mid week, then flying to Venice to see the BF the next day. Back to Oxford for a night, then going away with us for a couple of nights. She swears she will be revising throughout, just in beautiful surroundings.

Thank you @ironoaks and well done on your choir promotion!

I'm pretty sure DS's shingles has been triggered by stress. He has been working very long days this term on the data for his dissertation. His dissertation presentation is on Friday but he's meeting with his DoS today to decide what to do.
@HewasH20 I hope your DD gets to play Varsity tennis this year. DS played Varsity at the end of last year and literally travelled straight from his last match (in tennis gear with his racquet bags and nothing else) to central London for his summer internship.

@HewasH20 Thanks for the info on computer exams - given most I suspect do all their note taking and essays typed it seems sensible to move to computer based exams but in a formal setting.

@Ironoaks - enjoy your new status in the Choir; reminds us we all have lives apart from our DC, how ever much we love and worry about them!

@ofteninaspin shingles sounds horrible and I've heard it can be brought on / exacerbated by stress. Let's hope your DS can make the time to get fully better.

Just listening to Lent Bumps on Cam FM (as I watch the snow falling here!) and DS got bumped today after rowing over yesterday...shame. Still he's enjoying the week and is really hoping not to get spoons. And I'm learning a whole new language 😂

Cam FM!! Never considered that! Wondering if I can secretly have an earbud in at work...