Voting for TSRs Ultimate Study Playlist is NOW OPEN >>

Moving to Newcastle - Northumbria for Law in Camden Court!

Hey! Thought I'd make one of these as I was reading them last year whilst applying and obsessing over uni and would have loved to have found one that matched with what I was applying for - hence fitting everything into the title! I also think I'd like to read back on this at the end of first year and won't keep it up if it's private, and I also hope that if I have to post back on here every now and again then I'll actually do some packing so I don't have to say "3 days to go and still done nowt" haha.

So I'll start with results day - couldn't sleep all night, college published the results online at something like 6am and I found I'd met my offer of ABB exactly. I announced it on Facebook and cooked myself some breakfast, told my Dad when he came down and then looked at the UMS marks to see I was only 2 UMS away from an A in Psychology. I contemplated a remark but decided it wasn't worth the risk. Track updated at around 7am and then I remembered I needed to order a Freshers wristband so did that straight away. I then fell asleep and woke up to find I had congrats cards, texts and Facebook replies and that Mum had been to Matalan to buy me the main kitchen stuff (plates, cutlery, baking trays etc).

I later logged onto my accommodation application and found I'd been made an offer for Camden Court but I hadn't received an email so didn't know how to accept it. I emailed the accommodation office asking but didn't get a reply until the next day saying the email had been delayed, a few hours after receiving said email. I read through the forms, printed them off, signed and got my Mum to sign as the guarantor, though I didn't fill in the direct debit mandate as I hadn't opened a student account yet. I didn't send them though as I needed to transfer the £250 deposit from my savings first (well, thought I needed to but that £250 is still sitting in my bank account waiting to be taken). As well as setting this up I made a list of what else I needed to get, searched online for the cheapest places to get them and compared the student bank accounts. I went into town to get the stuff over two visits (to get Dad's and then Mum's birthday presents) and had to ring Dad for a lift on his way home from work on the latter visit (town isn't on his way home from work, but that's not the point) because the 'under the sink organiser' from Argos came in a bigger box than I expected and there was no way I was going to get on a bus with it, especially when the nearest bus stop to my house is a good 15-20 minute walk away.

My welcome pack also came in the post the day after results day with info about the first week, there was a letter welcoming me to the School of Law and info on what would be happening on the first day - a 9am start on the Monday for the intro to the course, followed by an introductory lecture on the sources of law which would finish at 1pm. There's then a 3 hour break for lunch (or the Fresher's fair, which I've been told often features free food) when we get the uni welcome at Sports Central at 4pm. It said that the first 2 weeks for Law would be more full-on than other courses (or something like that) which sounded a bit disappointing as I did want to join in with the daytime events as well but at least I'll still have all the night ones to look forward to and I'm sure there'll be time to do some of the day stuff too. I also looked up the societies and have decided I want to join the Grey Society (the name for the Law Society), the Debating Society and Stage Right. I'm hoping I'll get to go to Stage Right's first meeting in Freshers' Week and that I won't have something Law-related I have to do but since I've only got a timetable for the first day I suppose I'll have to wait and see.

Also in the pack was a list of suggested prior reading if you wanted to, so I decided to take the list to the library when I went into town and see if they had any of the books. Unfortunately they didn't have any of them so I've decided to wait until I get there since they're not necessary, and it does also say in the letter not to buy any books yet.

I found 2 of my fellow flatmates on here and added them on Facebook (one girl and one boy) as well as finding one girl and one boy from the flat next door on Facebook. The girl in the flat next door is also studying Law and we've talked quite a lot through messages, still haven't found any other flatmates but it's now less than a week until I meet them so I'm not as bothered about not knowing anymore, I just hope they got a Freshers band (and the usual that they're nice and don't steal food etc)! If not, I'll be knocking on the flat next door to make up the numbers to go out with, or I may just do that anyway tbh, the more the merrier!

I also enrolled online and received my student ID card a few days later. Just as a word of warning to future Northumbria students even though you get to upload your own picture for your student ID that doesn't mean that it will look just like the one you upload. Mine arrived and the tone at the top is lighter than the tone at the bottom making my top half really pale and the bottom half of my face red in comparison. I've also seen on Facebook people posting things like their face was squashed or really zoomed in on. But it doesn't really look that bad (certainly better than my college ID, which was cut into tiny pieces and disposed of when my Northumbria one came through) and everyone will probably have some complaint about their photo.

Now with less than a week to go I really need to get started with my packing! I need it all done by early Friday afternoon at the very latest. My contract actually starts on the Saturday but I'm staying in a hotel with my parents on the Friday night as that way we can get there early and they can still help me unpack and take me food shopping without me spending time with them right up until it's time to go out. I've decided I'm going to pack the things I am definitely taking first, then everything else is going in bin liners. I will then label these bin liners 1 - whatever and that's the order they'll go in the car after the stuff I definitely want until the car is full. My parents will also then bring some bags when they visit and will again start with the lowest number up to highest they can fit. It sounds like a great plan but I'm sure the stuff I definitely want will end up being too much to fit in the car! :frown:

I'm now going to log off and go to sleep. When I wake up in the morning I'm going to seperate things into what I definitely want to take and what I don't and start some packing. Let's see if posting that here makes me do it! :tongue:

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 1

StacFace

Just under 48 hours later and I've done some of it! Got a suitcase packed with booze...going to have to leave the rest behind but my parents will be bringing it in October when they come to visit and I doubt I'll get through a suitcase full of booze in one month anyway. I've also made a start on clothes as stuff I do and don't wear has got mixed up again so I need to seperate it all and pack the stuff I'm keeping.

My parents have told me that I need to only pack some stuff for uni, then leave some items at home which they can bring when they visit if I want and then the stuff I don't want has to go. However, there's no way I can leave anything I actually still wear/use behind because I'm going there to live not just for a week's holiday so I'm taking everything anyway. I'm then going to leave things behind that I really cannot bear to just give away (eg a BNWT skirt that I grew out of before the weather turned warm enough to wear it, luckily I got it cheaper than the main tag price in the sale and the sale sticker peeled off easily so I may get my money back on it) and say that's the stuff to take if there's extra room and then depending on how much other stuff there is I may see if I can get away with keeping that as stuff to leave at home for now and tell my parents I had my bags of stuff to chuck picked up by a charity collector whilst they were at work. There is quite a lot of stuff in my room that can be chucked (like old college work and free stuff I got a while back when I was ordering free things from companies and reselling them online before I got a proper part-time job) so I'm hoping that if I clear all that then it'll look like I've actually got rid of all my old stuff and really the 'definite keep' stuff is a lot less than they seem to think so I can see it working.

Unfortunately though I still haven't found my phone, despite raiding my room and having my Dad and my sister raid my room and the rest of the house. I know it's here somewhere because I remember the last time I had it was a week ago on Saturday night - I was getting ready to go out and picked up my phone, pressed the top button to check the time which turned it on (on my phone if you press the top button when the phone is turned on it lights up the screen, but if you do it when the phone is turned off it turns it on) so I knew it needed charging as the only time it's switched off is when it switches itself off because the battery power is too low. I was then being told to hurry up as it was time to leave so I just put it on the floor on top of a pile of stuff I'd been sorting and went out locking my room behind me. I was sure it'd be under a pile of stuff as I knocked the pile of stuff over that it was on top of when I came in and remember seeing the phone on the floor when I glanced at the pile I'd knocked over, then when I got up to go to the toilet in the middle of the night I pushed over a pile blocking the bathroom door and that fell on top so I thought that when I moved that stuff I'd find it underneath but no luck yet! :frown:

Reply 2

StacFace

I've had better luck since my last post, found my phone at the back of the top shelf in my wardrobe a couple of days ago! Currenty staying at a hotel a few miles off from Newcastle, then moving in tomorrow! Everything did manage to fit into the car (just!) and I've discovered that vacuum seal bags are awful! All fully sealed when we left, steadily rose whilst driving and after an hour or so my Dad could no longer see out the back window so we had to pull over at a service station and rearrange, and yes we checked it was fully sealed before we left but could soon hear air starting to come out. As for the stuff I was told to chuck out in fairness some has gone to charity. I used small bin bags for that stuff to make it look like more, then bigger bags that fit in as much stuff as those 6 smaller bags to put in stuff I'm keeping. I left 10 bags for charity (all free stuff or from years ago and feel I've worn enough times) and have 4 of those bigger bags to keep mainly to sell, though some things are in there like my hoodie for a group I'm a member of at home (and now a "part-time member" of so still need the hoodie) and things like my leaver's shirt etc so it's not as bad as it sounds. I also gave a really nice pair of shoes to my sister that I no longer wear instead of trying to sell them, because she used to always nick them off me and is always asking to borrow black heels and these are black with silver on for nights out.

My cat also climbed into a box I was part way through packing when I went to help Mum get the Dreamcast down (yes, I've also brought a PS2, I don't like modern games) and looked sooo cute when he looked up and meowed at me. I just wanted to keep him there and smuggle him to uni with me but I know he wouldn't like it because he's scared of loud noises and loves being outside. :frown:

Whilst in the hotel I also realised I'd forgotten the extension lead from my bedroom at home, so need to buy one when I go shopping tomorrow (unless it turns out there's at least 3-4 plug sockets in the room, which I somehow doubt).

Now off for tea with my parents, probably won't post now until after I move in. :biggrin:

Reply 3

StacFace

I've now moved in and settled into my halls. :smile:

Left the hotel just after 10am which was later than we planned but I got up later than planned because I couldn't get to sleep for ages and by the time I did it was something like 4-5am so I slept through the alarm and got woken up by my parents knocking on the hotel door telling me it was time for breakfast. Oops. Updated my Facebook status as we passed the Angel of the North and got a few more good luck messages, then once we reached the Tyne Bridge I had to direct Dad the rest of the way as there were a few turn-offs close to each other and they didn't know which was the one 300 yards away to turn down. Once we got there I got out the car and went to check in with my student ID whilst my parents parked the car. It was around 10.30ish maybe just gone and the car park was full so they were having to get people to park along the road leading to the car park and then had a student volunteer directing cars as it effectively turned it into a one-way street.

I went in and queued for my keys, got given a welcome pack with info about the internet and student insurance etc and then my parents had met me in reception so we could go to the car and start moving in stuff. One of the student volunteers helped us to carry things in and then her and my Dad continued bringing stuff up whilst me and my Mum checked the room and found several things they hadn't included on the form such as further marks on the wall and some paint on the side of the wardrobe. After that me and my Mum went down to help too and found even more people were now there so there were queues for the elevators, some people took the stairs instead but we waited since I'm on the 7th floor. We also found it was really awkward to move stuff in as the flat door opens inwards and has to be shut before you can get past to get to the kitchen or rooms 1-4 (I got room 4) so we had to get all of us in outside rooms 5 & 6 and then shut the door and open mine to put the stuff in there. There was more space in the room than I thought and even without anything being unpacked I still had plenty of space with the boxes etc put either under the bed, under the desk or against one of the walls. So anyone in Camden Court don't worry about lack of space because I literally did bring everything (50 pairs of shoes, my entire wardrobe, 2 games consoles etc) and it all fits fine. We also all got a box that was on our desk ready for when we moved in with a small box of Krave, a can of Dr. Pepper and Diet Dr. Pepper, a little tube of Sudocrem, a notebook, a perfume sample with a coupon for money off that perfume and there were a couple of other bits too that I can't remember.

Once all the stuff was in I decided to set up my laptop to the internet, which didn't work so I went down to reception and was given a new ethernet cable to try. Again it didn't work so rang a number on the student internet leaflet and they told me to try some things and we found it wouldn't even find the network, which meant it was a problem with one of the ethernet ports (either in the room or with my laptop). They asked if anyone else had trouble with it and I knew at least one flatmate had already connected because she'd moved in earlier and had put on Facebook that she'd got on the internet in her new room so they suggested trying to connect in her room instead. So I went to the kitchen and asked if I could try connecting in someone else's room and when I tried that it still wouldn't work, which meant a problem with my laptop. :frown:

So after all that we went shopping to Morrisons for some stuff and then went round looking for computer shops to ask about the problem. We couldn't find anywhere that could fix it and were told the nearest place was about 2 miles away and it'd be around £100 to do, so with that we went to Asda to see if we could get a basic laptop for around that instead so I could just keep my old one for games. They didn't sell them even though they did sell TVs etc however there was an Argos in the shopping park Asda was in so we went there and searched for laptops cheapest to more expensive. Tried the first 5 but they were all out of stock before finding one for just under £300 that had 1 left, so bought that one. I had £150 from an old savings account from when I was younger which Mum was going to give to me so she kept that for half and the other half is an early Christmas present. Got it and the shoping back, put it away in the kitchen then put my laptop on charge, said goodbye to my parents and went across to the students' union to pick up my wristband.

After that I found nobody was in the kitchen so went in my room and started getting some stuff unpacked, had a shower and got dressed then took my make-up and mirror with me to the kitchen so I could put some food in the oven and do my make-up whilst I was waiting along with some alcohol and my bottle opener. There I found the others who had gone out exploring Newcastle whilst I was out and had food out which is why there was nobody in the kitchen when I looked before. I was introduced to my flatmates properly and also to a girl who was in a studio down the corridor who had made friends with the others and was joining in predrinks. One of my flatmates showed me how the oven worked and I put my food in and sat at the table chatting to them whilst doing my make-up and predrinking. It turns out I'm rubbish at estimating how many chips to put in as I had quite a few left over so put them in a plastic box I'd bought to store leftover food and put it in the fridge to warm up at some point. After that I put my stuff away and chatted some more before we all decided to walk to Bargain Booze. I put some flats and a coat on and we went, though we found it actually really wasn't a bargain and some of it was actually more expensive, so we went to the Sainsbury's local near our halls instead. On the way back we were talking about whether it was maintenance on the 8th floor or if there were actual flats there, so when we got back decided to have a look. We found two flats and knocked on the door of one and said hi, there was a group of Malaysian students in there, some who were from different halls but had been out together in the day. Introduced ourselves and asked pretty much everything about them like if they were freshers, what course they studied etc but forgot to ask names. Then we did offer to introduce them to the other flat on that floor opposite them as they said they hadn't met them but nobody answered so we went back. Then we went to the flat opposite us and spent some time chatting to them and drinking before coming back to ours just before 10pm. I then headed back out as I had a wristband and the only other person in the flat with one didn't want to go to that night's event, though I did get the number of one of my flatmates first as they were then planning on going to something they'd heard was on at the o2 arena and suggested I meet up when the event at the union ended. The student volunteers who had helped us move in where in fancy dress and had told everyone to meet in reception to walk across to the union, which I did. On the way got talking to a girl and guy from the same flat and we sang "Poly Til I Die" walking to the union, though I lost them when we went in. Went to the bar and found the people I'd met in the flat opposite there so spent the rest of the night with them, until I lost them too a few hours later. I then texted my flatmate and they said they'd just rang a taxi and were going to Digital so I could join them. By this point I'd had several doubles because I was trying to work my way up to trebles ready for 3 for £5 trebles and had predrank for a few hours too so thought I could run in high wedges, however I only just got past the union before faceplanting. A couple of people came over to check I was alright but it was just a grazed knee so I continued without the shoes. When I got to the flat one of the others suggested putting on some of the sudocrem we got in the welcome box so I did that and changed the tights, before eating the leftover chips from earlier whilst we waited for a taxi. We went outside when it was due to come and just as it did I saw the girl and guy I'd walked across the bridge with earlier going home along with a lot of others coming back across so the union event must have finished. They shouted to me and I told them I was going to Digital but they said they were going back to their flat. In the taxi there I saw more police than I've ever seen in one place and unlike back at home I actually saw them doing something - chasing a couple of guys once of which they pretty much rugby tackled to the ground. I also saw a girl who seemed to be stuck sat on top of a statue and a guy was trying to get her down, which she did whilst flashing her knickers. My flatmate told me, "Welcome to Newcastle".

We queued to get into Digital and one of my flatmates got his coat put in the cloakroom whilst another put her bag in there and just kept out her purse, which I found really weird as back at home nowhere has a cloakroom you just take a small bag and no coat. I also guess I find it weird to take something out then pay to store it somewhere, but then again I also find paying for parking weird (considering they always say cars are left there at your own risk) so I guess it's along similar lines really. The place was bigger than any club I've ever been in, we were dancing in what I thought was the whole club but then I discovered there was an upstairs that wasn't just the toilets and then we went into another room later on and it was the size of some of the bars where I come from. I also discovered you sit down less inbetween songs as at home there's lots of seating so you sit and drink whilst chatting then get up when a really good song comes on, but then after a couple you sit down again. I've been told in Newcastle if it's not a really good song you just change rooms, which is something new to me as you can only do that in Flares/Reflex at home and it's only 2 parts there. By the end of the night it was just the guys and the two girls who brought flats on the dance floor as me and my other flatmate in heels sat down and danced from the sofa next to where the others were stood.

When we got out we found there a massive queue for taxis and were told it would be something like an hour wait, so decided to walk instead as it's 20 minutes by foot and we could always carry shoes. The streets were actually suprisingly clean I kept looking out for bits of glass or other dirt to avoid and there was none, only a couple of chips but they were directly outside an open takeaway with drunk people in so that's to be expected really. By the time I got back near the flat I'd sobered up and found that the bridge to get back to the halls had a very uncomfortable floor/paving so put my shoes on for that bit as I was nearly there and could always take them off again once I got into halls. Once we got up to the flat I went to bed pretty much straight away and didn't wake up until around 3pm. I had a text from my Mum saying she hoped I'd had a good night and I replied back to her, then got a knock on my door from one of the girls I'd been to the union with checking I'd had a good night since I'd left before her and asking what I was doing tonight, chatted for a bit about starting on Monday and if other flatmates had similar start times before she left to get food and I turned on my new laptop to check internet worked, went on Facebook and checked emails etc and then went to the kitchen and had breakfast too. On my way there I noticed the empty room was open and our last flatmate was unpacking, said hi to him and we chatted a bit before I left him to it and had my breakfast. Got in the kitchen and found someone had washed up my stuff from the previous night with their's that I'd been planning to do after breakfast so put that away, then afterwards washed up my breakfast stuff, dried it and put it all away except one glass as fluff kept coming off the tea towels if I rubbed instead of dabbed and couldn't dab the glass dry as when I put my hand in the tea towel was pressed against the side and rubbed anyway leaving fluff. I could do it with my bowl and spoon fine though so put them away.

As for now I've updated this post and am now going to get dressed ready to go to a hypnotist show (Lo Reid normally performs each year on the Sunday night I've been told) with my flatmate who also has a wristband as we have the same ticket times of 9pm. Then I think that finishes around 11ish so will go to bed then to make sure I'm up in time for a 9am induction on Monday morning.