Home or just a place to study?

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Reply 20

Zoedotdot

Original post by kashiya

have you considered writing novels?

Haha, it was actually my greatest ambition when I was six! Why?

Reply 21

kashiya

Original post by Zoedotdot

Haha, it was actually my greatest ambition when I was six! Why?

If your novel was written like the little description above I'd read it. Was the most inspiring and well written post i've ever seen on TSR.

Reply 22

Zoedotdot

Original post by kashiya

If your novel was written like the little description above I'd read it. Was the most inspiring and well written post i've ever seen on TSR.

Thanks!

Reply 23

kashiya

i have so mixed feelings about going to Cambridge, on the one hand i am really looking forward to it - I just love the program and the whole education system, but at the same time i am afraid that the workload will be just too much for me and that i wont be able to feel at home in Cam. did you also panic a little before going?

Reply 24

Zoedotdot

I actually had a mini breakdown of sorts in the middle of a shopping centre when my mum was trying to buy me new towels two weeks before I went. Needless to say, two weeks later I couldn't imagine how I'd ever felt like I didn't want to go or why I was scared. It'll be fine :smile:

Reply 25

chai wallah

Such a fabulous thread!

Reply 26

kashiya

Original post by chai wallah

Such a fabulous thread!

well, thank you :biggrin:

(or was it meant with irony?)

chai wallah are you an applicant or a student?

Reply 27

chai wallah

Original post by kashiya

well, thank you :biggrin:

(or was it meant with irony?)

chai wallah are you an applicant or a student?

hehe meant sincerely! I've got unconditional entry to MML (French/German) at King's this October on the cards, only I'm currently in the doldrums with self-directed study (OU), so it's really reassuring to hear that it's easy and supportive to get swept along in term-time.

Obviously I still have to buck up and be prepared, but still! Aaahhh.

Reply 28

kashiya

Original post by chai wallah

what is OU? (i'm not form the UK :redface:

)

Reply 29

chai wallah

Original post by kashiya

what is OU? (i'm not form the UK :redface:

)

Oh right! Open University - really brilliant distance-learning, a wonderful institution and pretty socially radical from the start (1970s) as anyone can enrol. You can get a whole degree from them, or choose to pick individual courses just to suit your interests as you go along (and sometimes end up with a degree by accident :smile:

). I've been taking courses just to get back into study, and there are group tutorials every month or so, but other than that it does get a bit like wandering slowly up a mountain without any company... The courses are fab though, great materials, sent to you in the post at regular intervals - it's joyous getting a parcel of new textbooks!

Reply 30

gethsemane342

Original post by kashiya

did you also panic a little before going?

I think most people do. I was excited but I was incredibly worried about getting there and not being able to cope, or not making friends etc. I think i found it tougher than Zoe - i got homesick a lot in the first few weeks but everyone genuinely is lovely. I think in my third week when i went to breakfast, i was sat by two people in my year who i'd spoken to a bit and opposite a third year i'd never met. One of the other freshers commented that I looked down and I said i felt homesick and kind of lonely. Instantly, the third year looked up and just said "Right, i'm going to make sure you don't feel homesick from today on in. Now, let's go through exactly what's getting you down!", listened to it and told me how it was normal and how it'd improve, and the other two freshers were saying how they sometimes felt exactly the same way. So even if you do feel down, people are definitely willing to listen and talk to you. And by the end of term, i absolutely loved it there :smile:

Reply 31

Zoedotdot

I probably should have clarified that it does take people different amounts of time to get into it and it depends on personal circumstances. I think I was lucky in that I was on a staircase full of people who I happened to get on with extremely well and that I'd just been through a pretty traumatic break up with someone I'd been with a long time so was actually very glad to get away from home and throw myself into something new. But I only know a couple of people who've not ended up loving Cambridge, and that was due to their own personal problems rather than university life. It's such a supportive and friendly atmosphere, like gethsemane said, and the college system creates a real camaraderie and an instant pool of friends from the outset. And possibly the best thing: you're suddenly surrounded by loads and loads of people who are just as intelligent, motivated and excited about their subject as you are. It's a brilliant feeling, and I think the thing that has most contributed to me feeling at home at Cambridge - at school i always felt like a little bit of an outsider even within my group of friends because my interests were so different, whereas arriving at Cambridge I immediately felt like I had a group of really similar people around me and I loved it :smile:

Reply 32

jjarvis

Original post by Zoedotdot

It's such a supportive and friendly atmosphere, like gethsemane said, and the college system creates a real camaraderie and an instant pool of friends from the outset. And possibly the best thing: you're suddenly surrounded by loads and loads of people who are just as intelligent, motivated and excited about their subject as you are. It's a brilliant feeling, and I think the thing that has most contributed to me feeling at home at Cambridge - at school i always felt like a little bit of an outsider even within my group of friends because my interests were so different, whereas arriving at Cambridge I immediately felt like I had a group of really similar people around me and I loved it :smile:

I'll echo all of this.

Reply 33

kerily

This thread should be prescribed as STEP motivation! Even in the couple of days I've spent in Cambridge so far, everyone there has just seemed absolutely lovely :smile: