They settle in and we miss them. Uni Starters 2023 - Thread 2

[spamm]

I wanted to get a news thread ready for everyone as you wake up in the Uk.

We are settling into a routine of talking to DS on FaceTime on Sunday mornings after our breakfast, which is early pm his time. It is so nice to see his smile and catch up on how he is doing. I know at some point he will have a bad day, but so far he seems to be doing so well, I am ridiculously proud.

Hope you all have a good week!

Huge sympathies @ZittiEBuoni and @MTistheDB for the tech cock ups. As DD has email confirmation proof she submitted her assignment and course choices for 2nd year @ZittiEBuoni they will have to sort it their end brooking no arguments as it's their tech issue not your DD's . Stress she so doesn't need poor love.

DD has 3 weeks left which is spent at her school placement and she has her observation on Tuesday by her uni supervisor teaching her 1st class so she's a bit nervous but sorting all the lesson plans this week as it's a reading week. She's had a dreadful cold, cough and lost her voice after only 1 week at her school placement and is still not 100% so she's limping towards June 21st.

Good luck to your DD’s observation @AnneOfCleavage
Jeez that’s flipping annoying @ZittiEBuoni - thank heavens she has the email confirmations regarding her essays! She can absolutely do without the hassle but it should be an easy fix 🤞🏼
Did she get a confirmation that she’d made her 2nd year choices? If so, could she be VERY assertive & insist they are honoured? I know that’s very difficult for a 19yr old but it is well out of order and needs to be their problem to fix and not hers to put up with.

I’ve just taken DD back up to her uni town for surgery. She’s been on the waitlist in our home town for 3 years, finally got to the front of the list literally weeks before starting uni 200 miles away so transferred to uni town. Finally makes the top of the list after she’d returned home for summer 🤣 Anyway, managed to get all her essays in before the surgery (deadlines not til next week) & the surgery went ok. Spent a few days with her in an Airbnb recovering and she’s staying in halls for next week as there’s lots of socials. Luckily she’s catered as she brought all her kitchen stuff home and pretty much emptied her room several weeks ago. I still can not believe the first year is almost over!

Thank you @NotDonna and I'm so glad your DD has had her surgery now and all is okay. What an absolute palaver having to change areas for it resulting in 4 years waiting in total. DD has a minor op booked in all ready for when she returns home as she has to return for check ups a couple of times after so thought she'd wait for home and for me to drive her and look after her.

@AnneOfCleavage yes, DD will need ongoing checks every 6 weeks or so for the next 2yrs so the surgery had to be done in her uni town as she can attend those without me. We were told she’d go to the top of the list at uni town so assumed it’d be before she’d finished her first year. It’s actually fine though and meant I could bump into a few of her mates and drive by the 2nd year house!

@NotDonna I'm so glad it's all worked out in the end and she can attend check ups on her own. Lovely you could meet her flatmates too as a uni 200 miles away I'm guessing you've not had many opportunities.

@AnneOfCleavage no I dropped her off in September and this is the only time I’ve been up there since! Her dad collected her with all her stuff a few weeks ago and that was his 1st time up there as he was overseas at drop off. She’s been home October - 4 days; xmas 3 weeks; Feb 1 week; Easter 2 weeks, so we’ve seen her plenty!

@NotDonna wow she must have spent a day travelling there and another day back when coming home. Even though DD is only 1.5 hours away by car it's still 3 trains home when she's done the journey herself. All works fine when the train connections work but a pain when they don't. Hopefully the trains have been working well when your DD needed to get home/back to uni.
And thank goodness for social media to keep in touch eh!!

Best of luck, @NotDonna and @AnneOfCleavage , to your dds with their surgery/recovery/lesson observation. It's a lot to contend with on top of normal uni/young adult stuff.

Thanks for the shoulders to cry on re dd's tech woes. She is heading back to Bristol this afternoon for 'party week' and I've suggested she try and see her tutor face to face to thrash out what is going on at some point. She is getting more assertive, but I think this will still be a challenge for her, so we'll see...

@AnneOfCleavage its not too bad a journey. A bus from uni to train station, 2hr train to London, tube across London (which she hates with her case), then a one hour train to home. So around a 4hr journey. Driving is similar if we don’t stop (we always do). The only bit she dislikes is the tube & the endless walking & escalators/stairs with her case etc.
@ZittiEBuoni party party! Hopefully she picks up the courage to have a chat as it’s really out of order!

@ZittiEBuoni I also find that once something goes wrong, it's really hard to get it corrected. I hope she can.

Ds is staying at uni over summer. He went to hand his keys in and asked if they had any summer rooms in halls. And they did. I was literally on my way to collect him! He's in his old room for now but will move in a few days when the cleaning crews have been in. He has loads of work in London and the commuting would be expensive and hard. Plus he has a girlfriend there! So that's it! No ds!

Oh gosh @stilldumdedumming. I bet that's taken some adjusting to!

My DS has finished his exams this week and we should be picking him up next weekend. No idea what he's got planned for this week but pretty sure it's not working...

I hope you get to see your DS face at some point @stilldumdedumming . I would find that so difficult.

DD is back from party week and she got the tech fail sorted out and her assignment accepted, so well done to her. She has a summer of rushing here there and everywhere ahead, and nowhere near enough money to finance it all...

Cracking my knuckles for round 2 with SFE now...

@stilldumdedumming that is so hard. DS has given us a heads up that he might be staying in uni town next summer. There is a society that he should join as part of his degree that enters into competition in July and they would need to be there until then working on their entry (his actual course finishes in April). He will be in private accommodation, so signed up for 12 months. He would then be looking to start his placement.

He is currently home pretty much working full-time to refill his bank account. Not sure what he will do about work next summer. He had worked before uni so we didn’t have to help with finances much at all this year m, but assume that might change going forward

Yes ds didn't realise you have to apply for year 2!

@ZittiEBuoni that's great news that your dd has been able to resolve things. And well done to her. It takes a lot of perseverance.

When I say ds works a lot he has at least 4 jobs. All in stuff he wants to do. He is in political comms and also PR (some political and some arts). He has a little job teaching debate in schools and universities, that he really loves. And he has some free lance PR clients. He does not have time for uni but got a big PR job in April so he will have to give something up. I speak to him every day but yes, seeing his face will be another matter altogether. And his health needs a little bit of mothering!

Dd hasn't applied for yr2 finance yet. After the first year horror story of being in the party house, she's still not sure if she wants to live out by herself (expensive), or at home and commute.
I had an email from student finance advising me the deadline for application is June 29th.

Oh I thought it was 21st! Best ds sticks to that date (he'll be late)

Yes well done your DD @ZittiEBuoni thats great news!
And flipping heck @stilldumdedumming what an enterprising young man you have there. Very impressive!
DD’s last night tonight (partying). Driving home tomorrow afternoon. I’ve given her a lecture about drinking tonight and driving tomorrow. So she better be sensible! She’s been able to transfer her job from her uni town to home town so that’s a bit of a win. Can’t believe the first year is over! After tomorrow I’ll have a full house from 3 to 5 again! 😊

Bugger, you are correct. Thanks, I'd better let dd know.

Ds has pretty much finished his exams now and is trying to find accommodation for next year (London). Part of me hopes he gets something from September, which would save at least a couple of thousand over summer, but also I’d like him to have it sorted and know he has somewhere to live, so understand if he gets something from the end of June. I’m not sure if he’s seeing many flats come on at the moment which are from September. Anyone with London students think it’s still a bit early?

@LittleRedRidingSnood my ds is in school. He isn't sorted yet. They were told not to even start til June. I really don't know how it works. I am going to have to leave him to it or I'll be nagging. I do think he will probably find somewhere - even if he has to lodge for a while. I'd rather it was sorted asap too.

I do wonder if he could get back in halls. I'm sure rooms come up.

@stilldumdedumming ds has applied for halls as well as looking for flats. I think a few of them have applied for halls which are available for non-first years, but they don't let them know if they have a place until well in to summer. Something like August!

@stilldumdedumming oh I thought your DS was given summer halls when he went to hand his keys in?

Oh sorry- lazy writing by me @NotDonna

He has. Bug that ends in September. I meant for next academic year!

And yes I think at his uni they would find out in August for returning students which feels a bit late to get something else. I don't think he really wants to live in halls again. In fact he was offered one in Wood Green but turned it down .

@LittleRedRidingSnood have you seen the London housing association. I can't figure out how it works.