Current Oxford/Cambridge students support/chat continued (2)

[Panicmode1]

The other thread is nearly full so I took the liberty of starting a new one...

@Panicmode1 so far I've parked at the plough OK if early enough, but IIRC there's other parking along the lane (for a charge though).

Not sure about North Cambridge. I tend to look on Just Park for a spot in Chesterton.

Thank you @PermanentTemporary - I don't think we will get there until 12.30...so I will look for a Just park solution! DH is always very blase about these things but DS1 sent us a picture of the riverbank at the Plough from last year and there isn't a spare inch of space so I feel we need to be a bit prepared!

@Panicmode1 There's some residential streets around Howard Road (near the McDonald's on Newmarket rd) that will usually have plenty of unrestricted parking. Just off Howard Rd is a footpath that takes you through to Fen Ditton, it's not a long walk to the Plough from there and you'll be on the correct side of the river to get there.

Amazing, thank you so much @Stuntpilotx - just looking on the map now, and that looks a much better bet. The college gazebo thingy will be easier to access from there too.

Good luck with exams to everyone!
I made it to the bumps, it was very pleasant - as already said, Pimms and sunshine. A dad next to me was also having the rules explained to him so I didn't feel quite so ignorant. I was interested to see the training room in the boathouse - a lot of Ergs! (although it wasn't that exciting).
Nice to see DC engaged and enjoying themselves - they went off to be an umpire and were thrilled to discover they could talk about rowing to passers by for 2 solid hours.

I've never made bumps as they never coincided with school holidays/downtime for me so I'm impressed by those of you who have been. I have tripped over DD's blade from last year which is lying on her bedroom floor at home if that counts!

DD sent a photo of her standing in front of her poster from the conference in S Korea. It looks impressive (but I don't really understand that much of it) and she is having a great time out there. She is most proud of blagging some free stuff and going to a vegan banquet when she was in Seoul.

@Malbecfan no blades here, but i have been informed that we will be buying one if one is ever earned. I can't wait for more clutter in my house😂
I bet South Korea is such an amazing place to be

@sytron indulgent grandpa paid for the blade but muggins had to transport it. She got the whole oar thing too but they do come apart thankfully. It's a good job my car is used to transporting large musical instruments as well as accumulated student clutter.

Conference went well, so now they are doing some sightseeing then heading to Japan. She went to a baseball game and sent us a video of the cheerleading. She said that the cheerleading was the best part of it, but I'm glad she's having some fun too.

DD1 gave me a wooden spoon some years ago. A much cheaper option. DD4's boat was bumped last week but rowing was a great break from finals.

Speaking of which, there are some nasty exams out there. I spoke to DD4 after yesterday's and had to roll out all the cliches along the lines of you just have to forget it and move on etc. She said she was 'lucky' to have two back to back today because it meant she had no time to dwell. Not quite the word I'd use but hey.

Fingers still crossed for all DC undergoing their personal marathons with exams.

On the final countdown now. DS1 is editing his dissertation, hand in date is on Monday. His Viva is booked for 1 July.

DD will be back home on 28 June to start work at the local sporting event, She's in the midst of a lab project involving mice brains.

And DS2 is back from the US today having done well academically in his first year as well as achieving some sporting success!

Can anyone advise: dd has had to come
home due to illness and may not be better in time to return for exams. She is in the process of contacting college and dept but does anyone else have experience of this? Would she be able to take the exams in August with others who would be doing retakes? She's first year. Very worried that it may mean having to repeat the whole year, does anyone have any experience? Thank you

Ilovefatrascals no direct experience but each college has an Academic Administrator and your DD should 100% contact them today as a matter of urgency. They'll then tell her exactly what she needs to do.

HoneyMobster I hope your DD's mice are more co-operative in breeding for the project than DS1's were for his project a few years back. His completely downed tools over the entire summer and showed absolutely no interest in that side of life. No amount of persuasive talking helped, so the whole project took a hit.

Interesting to see that Imperial has nudged Oxbridge down the list in the new QS World University Rankings (Imperial #2, Oxford #3, Cambridge #5).

DD4 is on the home straight: only one more pink carnation to go on Thursday and then the red one on Friday - she just sent a photo of the two of them in a glass on her window saying it's nice to have the red one in sight.

DD finished her last exam yesterday and is not feeling 100% sanguine. Good news in the form of a summer internship, though!

That is good news pepperaunt!

Does anyone on this thread have a DC who has emerged from exams feeling positive about the results? I can't recall any of mine not having had at least a couple of nightmarish papers.

DS is on Day 3 of 8 of exams and thought he was much better prepared than for last year's exams, and this year's mocks. He was very down after Monday, saying it was impossible - but felt better about yesterday, and I assume he's in one now, so hope that goes well....! He's always very hard on himself, and he usually does better than he thinks....🙏

Lovely to hear everyone's updates 😊

DS is on paper 4 of 6 this afternoon. I hope it goes OK - yesterdays was 'weird, not like any of the past papers. 3 questions but spread over 7 sheets of exam booklet (!) and he thinks there were errors on the paper. He's usually fairly upbeat about exams but 2 of the 3 he has taken so far have been beastly

DS finished last week, and although I wouldn’t say he felt positive, the general picture was better than he feared. Two weeks before the first exam, he was feeling v. unwell and not sure he could rally, so not having crashed and burned seems a positive outcome. One of his four exams went middling well and the other three okay, so he is hopeful that he has done enough to meet his conditional offer for the MSt.

Lovely carnation news @Karolinska and best wishes to DD4 for the rest of her papers. Last year DD1's college children bought her the exam set of carnations from the florist in the Covered Market and she sent a great pic of her wearing the red one in slightly dishevelled subfusc, beaming from ear to ear after her last paper.

She has never ever come out of an exam feeling that it went well, during GCSEs we had 28 variations of terrible/awful/nightmare etc. I think the most positive remark was 'I did manage to answer all the questions' and it's been the same ever since.

The Garden in the Covered Market is a fabulous florist. They walked a bunch of beautiful and not expensive pastel coloured stocks around to DD4's college a few days before her first exam, so that if she didn't get out as much as she'd like at the least she had the smell of summer on her desk.

I wonder if it’s easier to feel upbeat in particular subjects?

By which I mean Maths I suppose. But then not being a mathematician beyond an elementary level that could be a very dumb question.

DS was very downhearted after today's exam..he was hoping this paper would be one of his bankers, and it was one where he says he's totally messed up. Bit worried about him but not much we can do other than reassure (and pray).