Uni starters 2024

[radiator2]

The countdown is on. Uni move in has started for some unis and is right around the corner for others. How are we all feeling? Wishing the best of luck to all freshers!

Mine goes on Saturday. At the moment I can’t wait- the house looks like an ikea warehouse and in his own words he’s making the most of a funded fridge. I’m sure there will be a tear or two on Saturday evening.

Mine goes on Saturday too!

I was in a London shopping centre todat with DD buying her sports kit and other clothes for university and hilariously saw lots of other mother-daughter sets doing the same. Spoke to two mothers in different shops and yes, their daughters were freshers about to start as well.

If you’re the lovely mother I spoke to in Urban Outfitters whose DD is going to a university beginning with L, hello 👋

DS leaves in a couple of weeks

He's packing the bare minimum so one large bag with essentials and another bag with clothes

He'll buy anything else he needs when he gets there

DD on the other hand will need a lorry for all her things when she goes

DS goes on Saturday. Our lounge is full of boxes and bags ready to fill up the boot, so reassuring we are not the only ones! feel like moving in under cover of darkness would be better as he has so much stuff!

What on earth is all this stuff your DSs are taking that takes up so much space

@SockFluffInTheBath
@BoreOffAboutYerChickensEmma

DS is taking bedding

Kitchen stuff

Cleaning stuff

Bathroom stuff

Clothes

Maybe a TV and PS5 but not sure on that yet

That's it

Not taking any food at all because he'll just buy what he needs at uni

I feel like I need to pack more but DS hates me even fussing over what pans and kitchen utensils to take so I've just taken a step back for now

He's got a nice big room in halls with an en-suite and the shared kitchen looks nice and big too for 8 people.

Booze I should pack alcohol yes and some herbs and spices at least and cooking oil perhaps

Similar to @Stirmish

Kitchen stuff - mugs, plates, bowls x 2, cutlery, utensils, wok, pan for boiling pasta. Glasses. chopping board, knives, tin opener. (None provided in the kitchens). Microwave rice cooker as he eats a lot of rice

Bathroom (ensuite) - bin, shower mat, cleaning stuff, towels, toiletries

Bedding - duvet, mattress protector, pillows x 2, fitted sheet, throw/blanket

TV, PS5 and controllers

Laptop

Extension lead

pins for notice board, some photo frames.

clothes, backpack, gym bag, football boots, tennis racket (for the sports team)

toilet roll and some basic foodstuff in a box - oil, soy sauce, beans, rice and pasta, tea coffee

medication and paracetamol for freshers flu

box of biscuits to share with flatmates on moving in day

😳

Ds brought his PS4 with him and was a great hit. Apparently people were queuing up to play so good icebreaker..
DD bringing sports stuff and music instrument so that takes up some space.

Yes, that's pretty much what everyone takes for first year and, unless you've got a large SUV or estate car, it ends up taking up a lot of space.

Not til end of the month for us. Not a lot of shopping - it's catered so just a few bits of crockery needed for any late night snacks which she will just take from home. So just been buying a few bits like extension lead, some stationary stuff. We don't know the bed size yet and the rooms at her college are not uniform so we will wait to see it before buying a rug or any storage bins. So mostly it's just clothing items like tights and she has been scouring Vinted for that must have skirt or jumper!
She is designing her own poster for the wall and I'm getting her those pet shaped personalised pillows of our pets as a present.
How do I feel? She's my youngest so will miss her of course, and remember all to well the awkwardness of the first few weeks! But I'm excited for her too. I feel a bit of liberation to be honest.
I might go visit during the term of she wants me to, otherwise she'll be back in 11 weeks!

My youngest DD goes on Saturday too. We both feel excited, ready, nervous and its a real round of mixed emotions. I am going to miss her so much and the thought of walking past her empty bedroom makes me feel a bit sad. I will miss not knowing what she is doing every day. It will be strange not having her in the house.

But this is part of life and I have been gearing up for it for a while now. In some ways I don't feel ready to be an empty nester, but in other ways I am excited for this next chapter of her life, and for mine. DH and I have never been on our own (I had a small child when we first met from my ExH) So it will be very new to us.

I know I will hold it together when we drop her off and leave her there but I feel good that she has already made contact with, and chats regularly to her new flatmates, and they are seem to get on and are looking forward to meeting each other in person. I am hoping and praying she settles in quickly. If she is happy then I will be happy and it will make things so much easier.

I think the first few weeks are going to be the worst while we (and she) find our feet.

Good Luck everyone. I am sure we will all be back here for some moral support once the 'drop off' has been done.

We take our DS on Saturday and have a pile of stuff (mainly all that listed above) taking up too much room in our house. We decided to do a big food shop once we arrive but am now doing a click and collect as after a 6+ hr drive the last thing we are going to be wanting to do is trudge around Tesco on a Saturday afternoon. Good luck to all, I'm focusing on the prep and not thinking about the driving away and leaving them part !

Click and collect is a brilliant idea! We are only an hour’s drive away but still might do this as it will help
is plan and we won’t buy impulse items.

Dropping DD off on Saturday. She's my only child, I'm keeping a good lid on it because I'm so excited for her and proud but I know it will be very hard and I feel a bit teary. We haven't been apart more than a couple of days her whole life. Single Mum so we just have had each other to ourselves.

But yes house looks like IKEA currently, she's been very organised and took the lead on lists and what she needs and I've just been the piggy bank.

QUESTION THOUGH.

Where the hell do we drop them off and unload? She's had an email from her accommodation with a time slot to collect keys and register. She's been told not to bring anything with her to get keys and register (which I understand why) but also that there is no parking or drop off zone. It's city centre, northern city beginning with L, that has a one way system I'm not a fan of!

Am I supposed to just drive around until I get a call and then chuck it all out the car at her in a drive by fashion? Or am I destined to lug boxes and bags of stuff miles on what will probably be a wet, windy, busy Saturday morning!

Hi
My DD gets dropped off in a Northern City beginning with L on Saturday too. She had an email from her accommodation to say they can arrive to collect their keys and move in any time after 10am. We have been told to pull up on the road outside, unload her stuff into the Reception area, and then the driver will then need to go and find the nearest car park, park up and then come back and then her stuff can be carted then from Reception up to her flat and room. Also not looking forward to doing this on a busy Saturday morning in the City Centre. It is going to be a rather stressful nightmare!

DD is moving in on Saturday, but it's too far to go there and back in a day, so we're staying over on Friday night and moving in first thing on Saturday. Figure this will give us some time to go and get some shopping and have lunch (if she wants to, of course) before we head off.

DD has been embracing charity shops for things she wants (she refused to go to IKEA) and we've tried to be ruthless in taking the bare minimum, but we still have piles of things round the house. Hard bit will be working how to pack it!

Feeling very teary about her going. It doesn't help that my relationship with my own mother (which wasn't great anyway) basically totally broke down once I went to university. I am worried history will repeat herself and she'll decide she won't want to bother with me either (I know rationally that I am not my mother and have not treated her as my mother treated me, but it's still a worry).

DS moves in on 29th. He has little interest in the practical stuff he needs to take other than for cooking which he enjoys.

Lots of interest in planning what tech he is going to buy/take with him.

We do have almost 3 weeks though so maybe he will put his mind to it soon.

That's what I thought would be the case but her email has in big highlighted letters that they must not arrive for check in with any luggage. Stresses no parking and a list of car parks that are quite a way off. God knows what they are supposed to do if travelling by public transport.

Agreed, it is going to be a nightmare!

Arrive to check in with no luggage? So what are you supposed to do, find somewhere to park, walk to the accommodation, check in, go back to your car, collect some stuff, go back, go back to your car, collect more stuff and repeat until you have taken everything in!! Sounds hideous. Like you say, a proper nightmare in a busy city centre on a Saturday morning. I have to say I am so stressed about this process that at least I am not thinking as far ahead as to how I will feel driving away and leaving her there. It is taking my mind off that part. There is me and my DH taking her up so between the 3 of us we think we may be able to get everything upstairs in one go. But its not the end of the World if we have to make a couple of journeys. I guess this is why uni's say to pack light!

This is what I am starting to think is going to be exactly the case!
And same, it is distracting me from what I am going to feel like when everything is in and its time to say goodbye.

I can't see another solution, and I guess I will just be glad when I've got her settled in.

Luckily she is only about an hour and a half away so there is plenty of scope to come home on weekends if she wants and for me to visit. I think it will take a few days of her empty room for it to sink in 😭

@Ujustcantandwont
Are you on WIWIKAU? This is exactly the sort of question that they are very good at answering!

Mine goes on Saturday, too. A three hour drive for my husband and her - I won't fit in! It's an odd time - still doent quite feel real, to be honest.
It's the second and final leaving to go for us, so it will be very odd

DD off to Aberystwyth a week on Friday.

It's a bit different for us as she's two years post-A Level and lived in a shared house last year. So she has some experience of shared living and we have some of her not being around the house.

A mixed bag - of course we missed her but fortunately found that we still get on perfectly well as a couple. And I did enjoy doing less washing and particularly, being able to eat whatever we liked without feeling pressure to try and cook healthy food which she will actually eat - the linking Venn diagram here is very small!!

She seems to be looking forward to it - she even dragged herself off to the car boot sale on Sunday to find some party wear. I'm not sure I'm glad to have seen what she bought although I'll admit she looked good!

I just hope she's happy and enjoys the course. The uni seems to be adored by its former students but I'm aware she'll be very much stuck there!

Dd3 is off on Saturday too.
She's "met " people on her course and in her flat so she's happy to be meeting them in the flesh etc and has plans with her course friends next week so she is happ and really pushed herself out of her comfort zone.
She's not going far so that's helping with nerves but she's also swinging between so excited and terrified in the same day!
She's organising what she wants for her room and we have had lovely times shopping etc together.
I will miss her so much but I'm fairly sure I will see her lots but we are so proud of her and happy to see her doing so well after real anxiety struggles.
Good luck to all the freshers and they parents

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