Nice People Thread No. 15, a Cyber Summer

zagubov

GDB2222 wrote: »

I found that there was a lot of student-produced entertainment, so maybe I wouldn't worry too much about cinemas.

How about starting with the course the lad wants to study? There's nothing worse than being on a course you don't like. Even with the same course title at different unis, the course content can vary a lot.

Then look at practicalities, like whether halls are available? How easy is it to get to? Living costs whilst there?

I don't see how you'll know in advance whether you'll like the place?

Some universities do an excellent job of keeping their students entertained. I attended one that did that was in a small city anyway, so there was stuff to do. I then attended one that didn't, which was in a large town. The difference was quite a shock.

The relative student social scenes of the two locations are discussed a fair bit online at a range of websites. The bigger cities tend to have older universities and have had time to develop a good social scene. Smaller towns with newer universities may not. Nowadays a quick google would have saved a lot of wasted time.

There's no substitute for visiting a place yourself though.

ukmaggie45

Yesterday morning OH got a text from DWP to "remind" me that my DLA to PIP assessment is on Tuesday. At a private physiotherapy clinic in Liverpool. I don't understand why they are sending me there when there's 2 ATOS assessment centres in Liverpool and 1 in Birkenhead. I know the central Liverpool one is wheelchair accessible. So tomorrow we make a flying visit home, as the appt is at 9am! :eek: A time of day I might be awake at, but not out of the house ready. We hope to drive straight back here after assessment on Tuesday for a further week.

I'm not happy over the short notice (long story) and will be complaining to ATOS and my MP if I have sufficient energy. The letter they sent was dated 2nd August - daughter called in on her way beck from here to London and found letter and photographed it and sent to OH so we could read the 6 pages of it.

Anyway, today we went to Tyddyn Sachau Garden Centre the other side of Pwllheli to purchase bird food for the greedy little b**g**s. We have our eyes on a few plants for a bit of fun here for the rest of summer and autumn. We hope to call in and purchase on our way back here on Tuesday. Then barbie time.


John barbecuing by Maggie, on Flickr


Kebabs Yum! by Maggie, on Flickr


Looking over to the mountains by Maggie, on Flickr


Tomorrow looks as if it'll be the best day in August, and Tuesday the second best day. So I'm not a happy bunny at having to spend those days driving from and to Abersoch! Grrr! A curse on the DWP and all their agents! Mwaaa haaa haaa!

SingleSue

zagubov wrote: »

I lived in a small town without loads to do and it was boring as anything. It depends how big the student population is and how friendly they are. At my uni the students very few were of the same age as me (they were all about 10 years older).

Three years is a very long time to be somewhere you don't much like. I'd get on one of those student review websites and find out what people reckon about the place. Hope he makes his choice after a it of research.

Apparently there is next to no entertainment in the town, the only place where they can get anything like that is in the SU....needless to say, it doesn't score well on that front in the reviews.

It's a very specialised niche uni so the student numbers are very low compared to most places but the reviews for the quality of the particular course he wants to study are extremely good with lots of industry contacts.

SingleSue

GDB2222 wrote: »

I found that there was a lot of student-produced entertainment, so maybe I wouldn't worry too much about cinemas.

How about starting with the course the lad wants to study? There's nothing worse than being on a course you don't like. Even with the same course title at different unis, the course content can vary a lot.

Then look at practicalities, like whether halls are available? How easy is it to get to? Living costs whilst there?

I don't see how you'll know in advance whether you'll like the place?

Oh don't worry, we are looking at all those things, 3rd child off to uni and I am most def learning from our previous mistakes. We couldn't believe the differences in the same titled degree over the different universities when Josh was looking around or how others viewed them.

When he went to Northampton for his interview, everyone else was saying how much they preferred Anglia Ruskin in Cambridge yet when he went there the following week for his interview/audition, we really didn't like the buildings, their equipment or how they ran the course...it wasn't the same all around degree that Northampton were doing despite it being the same degree.

Youngest knows exactly the course he wants to do, is happy with his choice and has been working towards getting there for the last 2 years although he has tweaked it a little in the last 6 months to a slightly more defined area than before as he discovered a particular area he not only enjoyed but excelled at.

He (and I) also google maps every uni checking transport links, how far the halls are away from campus, prices, train tickets and ease of getting there and back...one thing that is going to be very important is fast internet access, so a smaller town might not always be the best thing.

To be honest, I still can't get my head around the fact that we are planning all of this, the prognosis for him was that he wouldn't even be able to go to a main stream school let alone sit GCSEs, A levels or a degree...that was just not on the cards according to those supposedly in the know! Ok, it hasn't been the smoothest of rides but by goodness he is a stubborn and determined young man.

SingleSue

We had similar Maggie, we had waited for ages for a date to come through, it finally came through for a few days later and then on the day, literally minutes before we were going to leave the house they rang and cancelled!

Doozergirl

I need to book a hotel for myself for some quiet.

I fell asleep towards the end of Murray's match, so 12.15ish? was so tired, trying to stay awake. Doozer hadn't come to bed.

He must have come in 5-10 minutes later and woke me up. Bam, awake. Still awake.

The dog's snoring is unbearable in the room. If I lock him out, he barks instead.

I don't eat all day, not hungry until evening. Hungry now as well.

vivatifosi

Sorry you didn't get to sleep Doozer. Did you get to see Bolt instead? Hopefully tonight will be better.

vivatifosi

Good luck today Maggie.

Doozergirl

vivatifosi wrote: »

Sorry you didn't get to sleep Doozer. Did you get to see Bolt instead? Hopefully tonight will be better.

I did. Good fun. Disappointed that they didn't show Murray's medal ceremony on BBC1. They left it on BBC4.

Fell asleep at 5.15 and then slept like the dead until nearly 12 when I had to be woken. Not much work getting done here, my head feels like steel wool.

I was up for 17 hours yesterday after 6 hours sleep the night before. I think was the previous record since last Monday.

They say it takes a day to adjust to each hour time zone. I've managed about two hours since Wednesday. Miserable. Everyone else is close to fine.

I think it is disruption. This house is so noisy. The smallest thing will jolt me from the more delicate earlier hours of trying to sleep.

hjd

Doozergirl wrote: »

They say it takes a day to adjust to each hour time zone. I've managed about two hours since Wednesday. Miserable. Everyone else is close to fine.

I think it is disruption. This house is so noisy. The smallest thing will jolt me from the more delicate earlier hours of trying to sleep.

We came back last Monday, 8 hours time difference, and last night was the first time I fell asleep not far off the normal time. Hopefully tomorrow will be back to (what passes for) normal. Unfortunately, even when dog-tired, I have never been able to sleep beyond 7.30am so can't catch up that way.