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!

Those of you who have already settled them in, how are you doing? DD moves on Sunday. Too busy to dwell on anything at the moment as she is so last minute about everything.

Mine went on Saturday

No one else has moved in yet so she doesn't know a soul in her current city

She starts on 16th

We were a southern city beginning with B......no parking so had to park in an NCP near by - the accommodation had big containers on wheel to help transport stuff

How is she doing @Blushingm ? And how are you?

@Blushingm Is your DD in university accommodation? Just asking because she moved in a week before starting. I’m wondering if it’s the same place as my DD so am going to PM you!

I'm having a real wobble this evening 🥲
Dd goes on Saturday and is really excited about it with some nerves showing in the evenings but for some reason today I'm really sad and it feels like everything is changing I've been so fine about it but it's just hit now .
She's only going an hour away so we will see lots of her but it's really hit me today.Dh is not sure what to do bless him and I'm definitely not showing dd as that will set her off - it's so hard but I'm so so proud of our amazing girl.

I’m feeling the same. DS going tomorrow (Saturday) and I’m wobbling with the unknown. Also one hour away. You are not alone.

It is such a big change for us. We are lucky though that we live in 2024 with all the connectivity, video calls. texts etc. When I went to uni in 1995, it was use a pay phone if you needed to call home, and if anyone rang you it was a landline in the corridor and everyone could hear what you had to say.

This is a lovely supportive thread, cheers to us all 🥂 emotional time ahead, but what an achievement for our children.

Also, my DS has started getting snappy with me. Anything that I say, he steps in with “yeah, alright!” because I think he is sick of me giving him info. Time to keep calm!

Mine went last Sunday…..although her accommodation isn’t ready until this Saturday so she’s been staying with a family friend this week. There have been some subject based things and also various student union things (both with and without alcohol).

I’ll be going back there with all her belongings on Saturday so at the moment it doesn’t really feel like she’s gone. She’s met up with most of the people she’ll be living with and said they’re all nice so hopefully things will go well.

Only thing for me is that she’s over 4 hours away which feels quite a long way.,,,

I'm also feeling emotional! DD too is off on Saturday - tomorrow!

Lots of big feelings. She had some physical health problems a few years ago that meant that she had to have time out to recover and then do her A levels in a year, and it wasn't always guaranteed health-wise that we'd be at this point. So I'm incredibly proud of her. And grateful that she's now (mostly) healthy and can fly the nest. But sad about her going. Especially since in the last year, with her being an adult and having matured, still living at home but also doing her own thing, our relationship has become stronger and really lovely. I will miss her very much.

Her younger brother on the other hand, like another brother on this thread, has his eyes on the prize that is her bigger bedroom

DD went up to Scotland last Saturday. Two of her three flatmates moved in the same day and her halls put on a pizza party that night. She found a group of friends from that and seems to be thoroughly enjoying freshers week. She has had subject introductory stuff, library and campus tours, picked up lots of freebies at the activity fair, been to a couple of society events, and been clubbing with her new friends. She also found herself in the middle of a film set - filming going on two minutes from her flat and all their vans and equipment outside her front door!

She is a long way from home, but I stayed up there for a couple of days (exploring a different area a couple of hours away from DD) and I think not coming straight back home to an empty house was a good thing. By the time I did get home it was obvious she was settling happily, which made it much easier. We are going to miss her terribly - she is our baby and has been the only one home for several years - but have our own plans to travel so that helps.

Good luck to everyone's DC who are heading off in the next week or so. I know DD was excited to go but also very nervous. She had psyched herself up ready to throw herself into freshers and talk to new people, which doesn't come naturally to her, but it seems to have paid off.

Mine is like this too. He finished his last shift at work and I was straight on him as soon as he entered the door. I need to unclench. He did apologise later though. I'm always saying to him check your emails - doesn't help he's got 4 email addresses.

DD having a wobble. Just taken her out to lunch and she told me she doesn't want to go anymore and she wants to stay home. She said she wished she could have a 'mini me' that she could put in her pocket and take out when she needed me. I told her she can have me, whenever she wants, and she can Facetime me or text me as much as she wants to. I saw glimpses of my vulnerable little girl which was heartbreaking.

We talked it through and she seems a little better and a little more positive about things again. She swings from being super excited because she is excited to get there and meet everyone, to being super nervous and not wanting to leave home and leave her room and her dogs. Thing is I know she will love it once she has settled, and that this is just her last minute nerves and anxiety about leaving her comfort zone and stepping into the unknown. I think this first week will be a tough one for both of us. But I know she loves meeting new people, she loves city life and she will enjoy living there and making it her new home and I feel confident she will thrive. But wow, this is hard!!

It's so hard pushing my own emotions aside when she is having a wobble but I am determined to not cry until I am in the car and I can let go. I won't even allow myself to cry yet because I am still in 'mum mode' washing, organising and packing. But I know it will hit me like a steam train when I say goodbye and walk away from her. The car journey will mostly consist of me sobbing. DH has said he will put me in the boot if I sob all the way home 😂

Good Luck to everyone doing their drop offs tomorrow. xx

DC went 2 weeks ago. It’s been a strange mix of enormous pride and huge sadness that they’ve gone (my own sadness is kept totally private - I’d hope they have no idea). They’ve settled in well and fortunately seem to be enjoying their course. It’s so strange without them here …. I miss them hugely but have refrained from ringing them. It’s lovely when they call me though!

… and yes, I did burst into tears when we dropped DC off. :(

I hope things are better this evening. Life changes like this are so tricky to navigate because we know they will be fine (just as they were on their very first day at school) and will love it and enjoy every moment as they are more mature - and will mature.

This evening we are packing, last minute laundry, and have ordered his favourite take away for a celebration meal.

So, good luck everyone whose children are off this weekend, will be thinking of you and looking forward to the updates.

Just done a whistle stop tour to Belfast and back from Dorset. DC can’t get into halls until this Sunday but has already had to enrol and then had an induction day today, thank fully godfather lives not to far away and has been ferrying DC around

That Sounds a bit unhelpful. Thank goodness for his godfather.

DS has had a great time this week with his new flatmates mostly in the student union bar and the local Wetherspoons. He also had an induction day and I think they put the frighteners on a bit about the need to pass the modules - some of the exams are in January - so the hard work starts next week.

Thank goodness he seems happy - it does make this much easier.

… and a message over night says they’ve got a streaming cold and ‘thank you for the inhaler and Lemsip’ in the medicine box I prepared for them. I think they’re burning the candle at both ends. Ho hum!

Today's the day! York here we come.

Dd seems OK, a bit quiet, but ok. She went a bit ott with the fake tan lastnight, and woke up looking like an umpa lumpa! A good scrub in the shower has toned it down thank goodness.
Dh has taken on the unenviable task of trying to fit everything in the car. It really doesn't look like it will all fit in but he's determined!
See you all on the other side!

Good luck to everyone moving this weekend. We are going tomorrow. Very late night drive after the theatre tonight (bad timing). Almost done packing but have realised there's quite a few things that we have missed so a last minute shopping trip is on the cards. Can't believe it's finally happening.

On the road now. Sat nav says we’ll be 2.5 hrs early as DH ‘planned for all eventualities’ 🤦‍♀️ we’ll get some lunch and wander round. A few tears this morning when he hugged the dogs goodbye.

Good luck to everyone with DC moving in this weekend 😊

Dd also at York! They left at 7am and have arrived so I'm waiting for photos now!! It's been a hard few hours for me

Lots of tears from DD this morning as she said her goodbyes to the boyfriend first thing. He's off to Liverpool.

She's currently sitting in amongst a pile of clothes that need to be packed while we are just waiting around for her to be ready.

4 of us and a suitcase each, with a 2 hour train/tube journey ahead of us. Should be fun.

Good luck to everyone, hope all goes well.