Durham University

[EwwSprouts]

To quote @kingscotestaff The continuation thread for those with DC at Durham, or applying to Durham, or alumni, or staff!

June 2023 End of term for all. Hopefully young people are brim full of plans for summer fun and jobs to pay for it!

Link to old thread
]Previous thread (fingers crossed!)

I think dd had a nice dress and dark trousers and pale blouse to choose from. She was in a gowned college, so basically most of what you could see was gown. I think from what she said there was a huge variety for the girls, from those who had really gone to town to dress up and those who were much more casual.

Thanks, I think she’d prefer a dress rather than trousers. She was a bit disappointed not to be allocated a gowned college, but is mainly just glad to be going at all.

@Openup
I was surprised dd wanted a dress.
We went down to the charity shop in town and she tried a number on and came out with two or three that would do for various formal wear, costing about £30 total.
Dd doesn't really mind about being fashionable though; her first thing is comfort!

Dd is massively excited at the prospect of dressing up for matriculation and formals etc. She has just announced that she intends to Durham so hard (Durham is now a verb she’s decided).

Does anyone know what the vintage / charity shopping is like for both formal / non formal wear?

Also we are soft southerners but does it get particularly cold in Durham? Ds is at Manchester and whikst that’s wet I don’t think it’s significantly colder then here.

We’ll definitely be checking the charity shops for a few ‘smarter’ things.

@KittyMcKitty

Dd really struggled with the cold but she didn't find it too bad. She did take some good costs though, and She normally lives in furry boots all winter.

Once the College stash is on sale she will get a massive puffa jacket which keeps the Northern cold out!

Sadly free parking after 2pm has now stopped in the city - don't want anyone to get caught by the very committed traffic wardens ...

Really? Elvet Hill Road by Trevelyan? It was still free after 2pm when I was there in June. It’s a shame if they’ve stopped even that small concession.

We are from the south east of England and it’s definitely colder. Decent coat is useful but then once stash comes out they live in their college stash black puffa for the rest of the year 😂😂

DD had a couple of straight mid calf length dresses with straps in black and navy she wore under her gown. She wore a platform heel shoe with an ankle strap - most wear a heel when they are having gowned dinners but she forgot she was walking to the cathedral and back 😂 so had rather sore feet. ( She now has padded gel pads to protect those feet 🦶)

For day to day they need a good pair of trainers, boots or Vans as they walk a lot! Plus a waterproof coat which will only get used on the wettest of days as they live in the college puffa! 😂

@KittyMcKitty all of the girls in my experience buy the college puffer jackets (and have skinny scarves)!

@Openup make sure your DD knows that for matriculation the colleges take great delight in waking them at the crack of dawn with the bashing of pots and pans. So she shouldn't over do it the night before

Converse do a waterproof baseball boot which Ds lived in. Don't forget hat, scarf and gloves on your shopping list. Ds carries a laptop in his rucksack for lectures etc and has both a waterproof cover for that plus an umbrella.

Ah so college stash is a thing! I fear we have so much to learn!

Formals must have changed since I was there: we had formal Sunday lunch every week and had to wear gowns, which everyone did over PJs!!

Evening formals: definitely a couple of black dresses get you by. Best bit was going to formals at other colleges. I had mates at Castle and their formals were always great

Dare I ask but how bad is the finding a house for the 2nd year situation?

The parking is extremely cheap though, something like £3 something for the whole day. Much less of a rip off than where I live where you'd spend that for an hour!

I don't think it's been as bad as some places. They were very full for 2020 and 2021 entry, but dd had no problems finding a house in 2021 (2020 would have effected relatively little as they were mostly in halls).
She also commented that although everyone tries to get their accommodation sorted halfway through the winter term, in real terms there is still some housing, albeit not the most popular, right up to the start of the year. There is (normally, and I think not much in 2020, 2021) some 2nd and 3rd year accommodation available in the college, and she didn't know anyone who asked for it who was refused.
Obviously you don't want to leave it too long, but she always found that a comfort that if things all went pear-shaped then something would be found.

It is relatively expensive though, which I didn't expect with it being up north.

I'm probably repeating myself but pretty stressful for my son. He queued from 2am for the second main release (which I think made it onto BBC news) and houses in vaguely central areas were going for £200-220 per room per week. Think he's ended up paying £190 a week this year in the far end of Gilesgate (up by the retail park).

He's going to start earlier this time, which is easier in your second year when you already know who you want to live with. He's up for pre-season hockey at the moment so will have a look at what's available. He did say that houses came back on after the main rush last year so I guess you live and learn.

It was a tense time for accomodation round about FEb, when DS’s College said he and a flatmate didn’t have a 3rd year place in halls, but they did find somewhere in May - 3 others had signed for a house before Christmas and needed 2 more occupants. It’s not ideal tbh, dirty, broken appliances, not enough keys and I kind of resent paying nearly £700 a month for it on that basis, but it’s a student house so 🤷‍♀️. DS annd lead tenant took lots of photos and aren’t letting up on chasing the agent for assurance that things will be fixed. We are prepared to step in if agent is awkward.Annoyingly, College informed them 2 weeks before the end of term that that was in fact space for them in Halls, but they’d long since signed contract and paid deposit. It would be better if College could tell students before Christmas whether they would be accommodated for the next year.
BUT if students don’t mind compromising (cheeky-fucker rents, distance, area, sharing with people they don’t know ) then private accomodation does seem to be available. It does put pressure on them to sign up in their first term, though, which can be offputting.

The rush for Y2/3 houses started after three weeks last year - which puts the students under massive pressure to decide who they want to live with while they are still working out their friendship groups. Places in the most popular areas (Viaduct) /cheapest areas go very quickly - if they see something they like they have to sign up on the spot as if they don't another group will be waiting to get it. My DD is at the town end of Gilesgate (6 double bed rooms all with tiny en-suites), galley kitchen open to decent sized longe/diner, large garden for (I think) £166 a week.

aargggh that all sounds stressful for them - I wonder if this years freshers will have it slightly better? Do people tend to live with others from their college? Dd has quite a few people she knows from school going to Durham but they’re all across different colleges and non are close friends.

Still good to hear they all seem to sort themselves out even if a bit stressful.

Dd has a couple of plainish black dresses for under gown for formals. Also wears black trousers and plain blouse. She found some great dresses for balls in charity shops. Also Castle has ‘Castle dresses’ - a stock of formal wear / ball dresses that you can hire out. A fantastic initiative. I’m sure other colleges must do it too

@KittyMcKitty I think there’s an equal spread between the two tbh. And that no student should get stressed about making the perfect friendships in the first month. I know that’s easy for me to say (as someone who spent 3 happy years in Halls at a Uni that wasn’t Durham). There’s so many combinations of People In Your Halls/ People On Your Course/ People Who Have Signed Up For A House And Need To Fill It that it will come out right in the end. DS was quite picky had strict criteria for house sharing, plus was looking with an existing flatmate, but there were loads of ok options out there despite leaving it ‘late’ compared to a lot of students.

Hmm, no, it stopped a few months ago as far as I can tell. They put stickers on all the parking meters. I'm thinking of the council-run on street parking i.e., the on-street parking, so perhaps we're talking about different places (apologies if so!). There's the university car park on Elvet Hill road but that's only for university parking permit holders...

https://www.durham.gov.uk/article/3516/Pay-and-display-bays#

Has anyone’s dc had their college allocation confirmed? Dd is assuming she’s been reallocated 🙁 as apparently Chads sent something out on Friday and she’s had nothing. She’s a bit down as she was hoping that as she had firmed Durham and exceeded her offer she wouldn’t be reallocated. Hope we hear something from the Uni soon 🙁