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!

Moved my eldest DS into his halls today. Drive up was a nightmare, hours extra due to traffic. Arrived to find someone else in DS's assigned room due to a mix up, but staff resolved it quickly & we stayed to help him unpack.

Feel a weird mix of pride that he's got to this stage (was very unwell during his early teens, missed more than 50% of his secondary education), excited that's he's on the exact course he wanted & then anxious & nervous about how he is actually going to cope.

Really hoping he settles in well & really hoping I don't worry too much.

I’ve been really busy at work this week so it’s kept my mind occupied.
good luck to all those just moving in!
Ds has had a few wobbly moments but went out tonight to an organised event on campus after initially saying it wasn’t his thing. He has already exceeded what I thought he’d manage.

Good luck to everyone doing the move this weekend. I’m moving DD in on Sunday. Hoping it goes well for us all!

We are up and ready to try and fit everything in my Dad's car 😅 I'm not sure how it's gonna work lol

Good luck to the weekend movers.

DD has been gone a week now. Moving day was so much better than I thought. I ended up sitting in her room whilst she unpacked her kitchen stuff with her flatmates sitting around in the kitchen chatting to her. I left her to it.

Her granda took some stuff she needed on Thursday and she seemed fine. She's now come down with a cold.

I miss her. Every so often something triggers a little weep. It's mostly when her little shadow cat wails at her bedroom door. He looked so disappointed when I returned from dropping her off without her.
I hope they all settle and find their way. I hated it till Christmas then everything changed. It isn't for everyone though and that's OK.

It’s amazing how much there is! Hopd you have a good drive.

Just filled the car, leaving in around an hour. Dog is moping around and trying to get into the car at every opportunity. Not looking forward to returning to the state of this house!

The pets always break my heart, they’ve got no clue what’s happening. Good luck

DD is both our cats favourite human. One of them comes into the lounge in the evening , looks at "their" (DD and the cat) preferred chair, sees she's not there and then walks away and lies in "sad pose" by the front door!

Anyone’s DC heading to Bangor? We’re dropping DD there tomorrow. She’s currently packing the last of her things upstairs. I have no idea how it’s all going to fit in the car. I’m excited but nervous for her. She’s very shy and I’m hoping she manages to cope with the chaos of Freshers Week!

Dropped my youngest at Birmingham today. I wish they’d cleaned his room 😞 Not the best first impression. Going home to mope and drink wine..😂 Job done.

Mine too. You can’t help but worry for them (never showing it). They’ll find their tribe though…🙏

DD sent me a photo of her ingenious drying. Mostly underwear over her shower door. I am assuming she's found the laundry room!

Moved DD into Aberystwyth this morning.

Her accommodation is a student village - looks much like any normal housing estate, to be honest. So no problems with parking or anything. It's all built into a huge hill but luckily DD's house turned out to be one of those near the bottom!

We met one of her housemates - who seemed really nice - before I had to go and DD has just rung to say she spent the afternoon chatting with the others who've now all moved in. And apparently they've all been invited for drinks at one of the other houses tonight.

The town itself was absolutely heaving - it is a remote location but it's so busy and all the main shops are there. We had a snack in a cafe and there was a little girl chatting in Welsh with her mother but just throwing in English phrases at random. It was really fascinating to hear.

It's a long drive back to Oxfordshire so too early for me to feel anything besides exhaustion.

DS goes on Wednesday to Loughborough. It’s been a very long journey to get him
to this point, I did many posts about it last year. It feels like we’ve been in this weird limbo for the last 18 months and now he’s actually going.
Loughborough don’t tell you flat details until move in day so although he knows which hall he is in, he doesn’t know anything else which is making him really anxious (and he’s not the anxious type!)
His Dad and his girlfriend are taking him up there, Im a TA so can’t get the day off and tbh I think I’d probably make it worse. I’ve made plans to go in half term so at least it will only be a few weeks until I see him.

@HPFA being at the bottom of the hill is not necessarily a positive since much of the uni is uphill! If your DD can muster the courage to try a bit of Welsh while she's there it'll go a long way (ditto the new Bangorites)

@mrsconradfisher I remember your story well. Hope he has enjoyed his gap year and that Loughborough will be all he hoped for. So pleased this day has finally come for him. My DS had a gap year too but no dramas so he firmed his place around May 23 and it was confirmed on results day last year. It has been a long gap between the decision and the reality but he seems to be very happy with his choice 2 weeks in.

He’s absolutely loved his Gap Year, it really was the best thing for him. He’s worked full time and has saved so much money. Has been on several holidays and just generally matured all round. He was ready last year but he is really ready now.

She's definitely going to get some exercise.

With the Welsh government providing a third off the bus fare should at least be fairly cheap when she has bags of shopping.

I'll be interested to see how much contact she has with Welsh - I know the Welsh speakers have their own hall so I don't know how much cross socialisation goes on.

Dropped eldest today (ds) - he was really excited, it’s been a journey to get here but I’m sure he’ll be fine. I was okay’ish and had a tear. DH is worse. He is properly distraught bless him - we’ve talked about our own experience when we were dropped at Uni etc … but I really feel for him. I’ve talked to a lot of friends in the same boat but I think it has taken him by surprise ! Any other DH’s like this ?

Yes. My DH was upset on the journey back from dropping DS off. DS is an only so the house is quiet, particularly at night when he was often noisy into the early hours playing PS4 games with his friends online. At 6’3” he was also a significant physical presence, he has never crept around the house.
We currently have a family crisis at the moment which isn’t helping. Although it’s my side of the family it is triggering for all of us. I’m glad that DS is not around to see the impact it is having on me. It’s far easier to maintain a brave face via text. He’s also not that close to the family member it involves.

DS is 20 tomorrow, it’s the first birthday he will celebrate without us. I bought a big cake for him to share with his new flatmates and he is planning a big night out with friends from home, some of whom have travelled down for it. So he will be out out with his mates, just in a new city. I just hope they start the evening off with a decent meal.

Our dog has gone into a deep sulky depression. DS has been working away a few weeks over summer so she has got used to him not being around. But I think she worked out that the huge amount of packing yesterday means that he has gone for a while. She is slumped rather than relaxed in her bed and every time she goes into the garden she stands under DS’s bedroom window sniffing the air to see if he’s up there.

She’s in seasonal the moment so not allowed out of the kitchen. Once she’s through it I may decamp to DS’s bed a couple of nights a week so she doesn’t become too depressed. She’s recovering from a spinal injury so I don’t want her giving up.

She has always been completely devoted to him although being a Labrador I suspect that it has more to do with him being the only one who shared his food with her and that she slept with him every night.

Yes, mine was last year after 1st year drop off. Again, DS is an only child and the three of us truly get on fantastically well - with all the usual minor squabbles of course.

DH was thinking it was going to be like when he went to University in the 90s - a weekly phone call until Christmas break and was struggling to come to terms with this. He also said he was feeling guilty as he had no appreciation of how his parents must have felt once his older sister and him had both left home.

But this isn't the 90s and the regular WhatsApp messages, calls, face times from DS soon started and DH (and I) soon perked up and realised this wasn't the end of life as he knew it.

Just dropped DS off for 2nd year with absolutely no upset at all.

The only thing we both really miss is not being able to watch him play rugby - Wednesday afternoons and flights from NI to Exeter just really aren't doable, especially with no guarantee he'll get on the pitch.

He also said he was feeling guilty as he had no appreciation of how his parents must have felt once his older sister and him had both left home.

I don't think we always appreciate the generational differences here. And also that at one time phone calls etc were expensive!

Right up until she died my mother would ring me on some made up pretext like "I just wanted to ask you if it was OK to get change the position of a chair in the bedroom you haven't inhabited for twenty years".

I would then ask "how are things with you?" which would then produce "Since you ask....." and half an hour later she'd still be chatting.

But it was always necessary to have a "reason" to make the call.

Just done the drop off, went quite well. DD now finishing off putting the packing away as we’re driving home. No tears as we left but DH crying on the way home. Can’t believe it’s done but now I can breathe a sigh of relief. She’ll be ok