Thread 53 - Covid GCSE Cohort - Happy New Year 2025 to our fab young people

[Delphigirl]

New thread! Looking forward to traversing 2025 with this fantastic group 🎉😘

Great news re exams etc!

Well done @Oblomov24 ds! Were these ACA exams? They're so hard - I remember getting the pass mark on one of my final ones!

Good luck to your ds @Piggywaspushed ! Hopefully something will come good soon.

Is the secretive one GCHQ?!! (obviously you can't confirm!) My brother worked for them after uni in intelligence and couldn't tell us anything about his job, or where he was travelling to. I couldn't have done it, I'm terrible at keeping secrets!

Sort of...

@crazycrofter That sounds like great news, DD's marks and her moving onto the integrated Masters and good to know you'll still be here next yr.
Very good news too to @Oblomov24 re: accounting paper; congratulations to OblomovJnr.
@Piggywaspushed Wonderful development! it sounds very covert (MI5?) just asking out loud not expecting a reply. Prayers all the way that he gets through successfully. Momma heart pounding here as I'm sure yours is.

Thanks all! I’m hoping it won’t just be those of us with late-graduating offspring left on this thread! I’d like everyone else to keep us company and let us know what your dc are doing….

Mine graduates next year (as he is doing a 4 year course)

I'm sure I'll still be here, DD will hopefully start uni in September and I seem to chat as much about her on here as I do about DS. I will also want to stay in touch with how all the rest of the thread DCs are doing whether it's ongoing study, jobhunting, work, travel whatever. Plus a bit of general midlife solidarity .

As things stand we’ll have two at uni next year too @ExpensiveDecoration ! Can’t believe it really, dd was hating her course this time last year and ds has been adamant since about 14 that uni was a waste of time and money 🤣

I hope those graduating this yr will stay on the thread as I'd love to keep up with what everyone is doing. I think those of us graduating next yr are in the minority so we won't destabilise the group whilst also benefiting from the experience of the fresh graduates re: dissertations, job hunting etc.

Your two never fail to impress me with their resilience @crazycrofter

DD is still not totally sure about going, or which to choose but she is still waiting for one offer/refusal (could definitely go either way). At the moment Royal Holloway is in pole position.

This thread will must never end! It's too nice. We'll all be here in 10 years. Discussing our dc's lives, careers, our grandchildren.

DD still has another year, and at the moment she is seriously considering some form of post grad after that, so it looks like I'm going nowhere 😁. I love this thread - for some reason it's the only place on MN where I see people and families more like ours! Maybe we're just more honest here!

Oh - @Oblomov24 I'm not ready for grandchildren yet 😲

You know it’s weird, for so many years I had to avoid year group threads because they were too full of super high-performing DCs, anything less than a 6 in SATs (or whatever) was unacceptable, it was too upsetting when DS (and DD to a lesser extent) was struggling with everything. I hid the primary school board and only looked in when I needed specific information. I was wary of joining these threads for a time for the same reason. But now I’m here I can’t imagine not having these threads. It seems we all have some challenges, all different, all respected on here. There’s another thread that I have been on for 16 years now so I’m sure I will be staying put on this one too.

@ExpensiveDecoration its weird but I almost feel like I know the kids on here - and I can totally imagine (from what you’ve said about her!) your dd fitting in at Royal Holloway! Hope she gets some clarity over the next few months. Would it be close enough to come home regularly?

I’m up for sticking around til we all have grandchildren 🤣

Meanwhile Ds (currently doing church work on one of the Polynesian islands) has just told us he won’t actually be back till June (we were expecting him in April) because he’s got too many different people wanting to travel with him and he might as well do it all now whilst he’s already out there! So he will just choose UEA without seeing it! 😩 Having extolled the virtues of visiting unis on that Nottingham thread, I’m not sure about the wisdom of this 🤔

@crazycrofter If you your DS has any questions on UEA I can do my best to answer them! Sorry - which subject would it be?

Yes, I think RHUL will be a good fit too. It takes about 1.5 hours on the train plus 15 mins walk at each end. Or 45 mins drive if one of us picks her up (she doesn't drive yet). A friend's
DC who lives nearby and goes there comes home every weekend for her part time job,

Rather off-topic but I thought i'd share because i know some of you have some health difficulties...I've mentioned on prev. threads that i have chronic pain (Fibromyalgia) anyways, the fibro group advertised a study being conducted into chronic pain and asked for volunteers, so i volunteered to be part of the study group, if one doesn't share experiences, how are we supposed to find a cure or discover better ways to manage it. This was in January. not long after I got an email from Nuffield Health centre to attend an assessment in conjunction with the study i signed up for.

Never been to the centre, just thought it was another bog-standard gym. Anyway it turned out to be an interview with a physio who carefully took down all my health challenges after which he said right, 'You will be given full membership to the centre here, for 12 weeks upon completion of the classes, you will be entitled to a further 12 weeks to carry on doing all the exercise and availing yourself of the gym, also free. You will take part in physio classes twice a week, a combination of gentle exercises targeting all your pain areas, including Pilates and aqua aerobics, for free.
Before i could catch my breath, I was on a tour of the whole centre and told to return to get my membership card done.

I'm now 3 weeks into the classes. Last week, we had our first aqua aerobics class. To be honest i was terrified of attending but it couldn't have been better. Warm pool, not overcrowded like the local sports centre. Water lowered so we don't have to worry about 'swimming' great exercises. Right next to it is a bubbling hot tub, we all jumped in, then, exiting, we headed for the steam room! then sauna before showering and heading home. We can do this every day if we want. It's so great the best part is my throbbing elbows (had tennis elbow since 2019) has significantly reduced. I'm also singing up for swimming lessons.

Sorry for the long essay but wanted to share and encourage anyone who has a chance to take part in a study. there seems to be loads of them popping up on support group pages, to join. You just never know.

That sounds ideal @ExpensiveDecoration . It's much easier to commit to giving uni a try if you know it will only be five days at a time before you can come home!

@seeline thank you! It's Philosophy, Politics and Economics. I've heard lots of good things about UEA, but I just know how important 'feel/vibe' is and I'm wary of him never having visited. Ds does really like historic cities like York and Oxford though, so Norwich might fit the bill. It will need to have a really good gym for serious weight lifters though! 😂He's convinced he'll get something even better in clearing, because his friend says so! I don't think so with only BBC....

@shimy that's amazing! Glad you're seeing some results too! I've had tennis elbow since last summer and I'd thought it was improving, until I tried doing some strenuous arm exercises in the gym and it's got worse again.

@crazycrofter Loads of MN kids went off to UEA in 2019 and there was a thread and i think that thread has carried on too. Maybe you can find it to glean some more info.
Tennis elbow doesn't seem to just disappear but keeps flaring up if triggered. I tried 'pushing through it' by doing press ups and its flared up like fire and stiffened so i couldn't straighten my arm for 2 weeks! ever since then, i bear no weight on it at all except to carry shopping, but its got to the point that eve being it to brush teeth is difficult. I've now been taught that the trick is to only put so much pressure on it and specific excercises to calm it down. I'm now lifting some gentle weights (2kg in each hand) and its massively improved after only 3weeks.

That makes sense @shimy as I had been doing some exercises using it over the last six months and i think they'd helped. It was just one specific exercise that was obviously too much.

@Shimy that sounds amazing!

@crazycrofter can't help with the course I'm afraid, but DD is very happy there. It is a very friendly campus. Fairly relaxed, and with a bit of an alternative vibe. But definitely the full range there.
Sports facilities on campus are great - it has its own gym which seems popular but I have no idea about its contents - not DDs thing. There are several other gyms in town though.
Huge range of sports and social clubs. The uni/SU put on lots of activities too. Welcome 'week' activities last throughout the first semester to help with making friends.
DD has had support from student services in getting adjustments in place for exams etc and they seem keen to help. DD was able to contact them through a form on line after she firmed, and all her things were sorted before she started there.
Fair range of accommodation - plenty of hall space available. DD liked her time in The Village, just outside campus (much preferred it to her first year attempt in the newest accommodation on campus). Post Y1 accommodation seems plentiful and mid range in price. There doesn't seem the manic rush to get somewhere like other places (although I think the new rental laws may put a stop to that anyway...) The SU runs 'ready to rent' events in February each year.
Norwich is a bit like York, less touristy. It is small, but seems to offer everything you need.
Campus is a bit out of town and buses are less frequent in the evenings. It is walkable, and definitely cyclable (but DD has chronic pain issues so does tend to rely on the buses). There are no Ubers, but taxis are available. There is a nightclub on campus which offers regular nights each week as well as some decent gigs.
Travel to and from Norwich can be lengthy - it is just a bit out of the way! So worth checking that if your DS wants to be coming home frequently.

The UEA website is good - I think they have a virtual tour. Also their social media is good, as is the SU Insta. The Sportspark have their own as well. Give a good idea of life there. All the clubs/societies have their own socials too if there is anything your DS is particularly interested in.

Thanks @Seeline, that's really helpful!

He has a car and would really want to take it with him, but I know lots of campus unis don't allow them/don't give permits to students. I don't think this should be a deciding factor, but I know it will make a difference - if only because he'll want to have a full choice of different weight lifting gyms and churches, being two very important things to him, and relying on buses/walking will restrict his choices!

That sounds amazing @Shimy - I'm struggling with sciatica at the moment. Most painful thing I've ever had i think!

@craggyrat There are a few in the group with sciatica, I also get it off on on, I try not to test it as you said, the pain is excruciating even to the point of feeling nauseous. Do you do anything that relieves it at the moment?