#peterhouse

Another art meme!

Dusk desk with a view of Peterhouse Chapel, University of Cambridge.

{If you saw this candle lit... no you didn't I would never do that, I'm a responsible renter...

But this is genuinely a lovely candle - Sand and Fog is a woman-owned company, I can definitely recommend the Roses & Sandalwood scent!

I'm also reading The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende for the first time - I'm hooked! Barely any studying has been done.}

Peterhouse, University of Cambridge.

I took these pictures from my room in Michaelmas / Winter term 2021. Looking forward to some more gorgeous study views when I move back very soon!

Here is a little snippet of the home I am leaving behind as I embark on my Year Abroad, so I thought I would share some photos, facts and thoughts on one of the most underrated Cambridge colleges!

1. Peterhouse was founded in 1284, making it the first and, thus, the oldest college at the University of Cambridge.

2. The Dining Hall is the oldest secular building in Europe still used for its original purpose - it reminds me of a miniature Hogwarts Hall!

3. It is the only college usually spoken about/written without the word “college” behind it - others like King’s College or Sidney Sussex College are always officially written with “college”

4. Peterhouse has two courts: the first is called Old Court (seen in first image), and the second is called Gisborne Court (second image: posing in Gisborne next to my second year room windows!) (bonus fact: Gisborne is always 4 degrees Celsius warmer than Old Court!)

5. Peterhouse won University Challenged in 2016, and its application rates drastically increased the following academic year!

6. It is the smallest college in Cambridge! Lucy Cavendish likes the claim this title, but it is (as far as I know) a college only for mature female students, which disqualifies it.

7. Despite its size, Peterhouse is one of the richest colleges in Cambridge, among this wealth is land, like the Deer Park, a lovely green area situated behind the Fitzwilliam Museum - it is a secluded and quiet area with daffodils sprouting in the spring. Its wealth also means it can provide students with grants to aid in college bills, further their studies and even contribute towards travel!

I personally chose to apply to Peterhouse because of its intimate nature (it only has a 75-85 freshers intake!), and because I had previously been in St. Peters House at my Sixth Form - a very happy coincidence, as it has been the perfect college for me!

Two years ago I was accepted into my dream university, I achieved better than I could have hoped for in my A-level exams, and I had the summer of a lifetime with my friends and family. (oh wow, woe is me, I know, my life is so difficult?!?!)

Now, I have finished my second year of studying Modern and Medieval Languages (MML) at Peterhouse, the smallest and oldest college in the university, and am about to embark on a year outside this environment. Before I leave and then return for my fourth and final year, I think it is important to reflect on what I learnt in my time there - it was not all daisies and sunshine!

1. Your dream school/university is, at the end of the day, just another place.

I had built up Cambridge to be this unattainable idea over the two years I spent working toward it - it is flawed, it does not do everything perfectly, and most of all, it is exactly as difficult of an environment to survive in as it was to get in! 

This knowledge would have been particularly useful to myself in an alternate universe, who was rejected by Cambridge and would have studied at a different university - I was so focused on the place that I would have missed out on the general joy and privilege of getting a higher education. Hard work is rewarded wherever you go, and there is a life and another dream, equally as brilliant, beyond the one you have set your sights on.

2. Studying/getting good grades is not a replacement for a personality.

Being someone whose entire sense of self was directed onto my natural interest and talent in academia (only the humanities side, trust me), when I came to Cambridge, I was surrounded by people like me - a blessing and a curse, because everyone seemed to be and, most of the time, was a lot smarter than I was. This meant that I was forced to build a character around non-academic interests on mine, which had proved itself difficult considering how much of my time I had invested in studying and revising and striving for the best - but I did it! 

3. University is tough, and that’s part of the beauty.

After my second lesson of Beginners (ab initio) Italian, we were taught fully in Italian, no English. At the end of the first semester/term, we were handling classic Italian literature in target language. A new tense was taught and tested every week, we had over 200 items of vocabulary to learn every fortnight, along with at least one 2000 word essay with primary and secondary reading EVERY WEEK. This excludes extra grammar work for my other language, German, and translation classes for both languages. News flash - it is tough!

But the supervision style of teaching Cambridge has, where you get regular one-on-one/groups of two/three contact with your professors, makes this workload so worth it - you learn that no question is a stupid one, and that the professors are not out to get you, they are, in fact, there to help! 

If anything, having a class on a topic or grammar section you are particularly struggling with is the best thing to happen to you, because you are likely to leave it less confused than you were before! 

That said, you will have a love/hate relationship with your subject, even if you usually worship the ground it walks on - so make sure that you are either super passionate or super dedicated to your end goal! (very aware it is another big privilege to be able to study what you enjoy)

4. Friends are everything.

Without the countless snacks, cups of tea, crappy film/TV and my friends, I cannot guarantee I would have lasted this long. I was very fortunate to make friends very early on (the benefits of a collegiate system where you and the other 75 freshers are grouped in one lot of housing), and also make friends on my course, and they often put my workload in perspective, or offered their support whenever they could.