Everyone comes to Uni and actually, you start calling your mam and dad more
but not because I miss you but it's sort of, like...
...so if I put this in the oven
or if I put this on the hob
like, how long do I put it on for? Or...
...what colours can I put in the wash together?
There's a part of you where, yes, you're further away home, but...
Everyone's in the same boat
You've a quick family in college
and outside of college on your course
and, yeah, I think it should never be a thing that puts people off:
a fear of being away from home
It's actually 230 miles between Cambridge and Newcastle
I know it from the sat-nav
but it doesn't feel like that distance at all
I love spending time with my parents
I love spending time with my friends from home
But also my friends from home are at different universities
and actually that's one of the benefits of being in Cambridge that...
...it's actually quite connected.
So if you're an hour away from London
I can get straight back to home if need be
I can get to Manchester, Liverpool...
and that's just one of the benefits of being a student
and being in student life
You just get this freedom
and also there's just so much going on
I'm in the library during the day
but then when it's after lecture, after supervisions
I'm thinking about where I'm gonna go with my friends
Thinking about sports practice, or theatre practice
or whatever show you want to go see
So it's just so busy that actually...
I don't even think about, like, home as much
But one thing in Cambridge which people don't really know about before coming
is that it's sort of strict eight-week terms
It's actually such a benefit
knowing you're only gonna be paying for your room for eight weeks and
not only is your rent only paid for eight weeks
Cambridge colleges subsidise their rents quite considerably
I pay £95 for my room
and this is all subsidised by you not being in college afterwards
and there's no need for you to be in college otherwise and
actually I found that whilst I do get a little bit of the Cambridge bursary
that I don't find myself needing to ask my parents for any money
and I can live within my student loan
because you're only paying for 8 weeks
and actually...
once you've got a bike you're not for public transport
You're not paying for the Tube or the bus in and out of town
You're very quick -- in and out
I mean even at Homerton we're the furthest out
and it's only a 10 minute cycle
if that
So I'm usually in town most days
But mainly for lectures and supervisions
Lectures are just a really good way
just to get an overview of a topic
It's usually by people who are writing the textbooks in your field
I also have about three to four hours of supervisions every week
That's a great way to discuss anything that you've been interested in the lecture
or to build upon any struggles that you're coming across in the reading
and it's also just a great way to meet classmates
and other students and just bounce some ideas around.
Work, work, work, work. (laugh)
Some people have to get up like 7am, start at 8am
finish for lunch at 12pm, start again at 1pm
and then finished by 6pm and that's them done for the day
and that's totally fine!
I like to have a little bit more flexibility, if I need a lie-in
if I'm getting worn out, then I'll have the lie-in,
just work a little bit later on
And some people are just total night owls,
who'll probably start at, like, 4pm and then work into the earlier hours of the morning
It doesn't work for everyone
but it's just one of the benefits of being independent with study life
I just get bored of sitting in [the same] location day, after day, after day
I can't be sitting at the same desk
It's just...
...oh, it's just awful to be sat there surrounded by the same books
I find that just even having a different window to look out of,
when I'm stuck in a question or stuck in a bit of text
just a different view helps to clear my mind
and even just taking a different route to a library
or just coming back a different way from a library
and just changing it up, can just make a bit more interesting
So I like to go for the Pomodoro Technique:
that 25 minutes on, five minutes off
because then I can just tell myself it's only 25 minutes' work,
Just breaking it down into that 25 minutes
it seems a lot more manageable than thinking:
Oh, I've got four hours of work ahead!
25 minutes, is easy, it's doable,
that's usually how I step into work.
Homerton comes into its own during summer
and it's a hot spot in summer
but it sort of lacks in other months, if I'm totally honest
We just have so much space here
and when it's all nice and sunny
when the trees are sort of blooming
it's such a pretty space to be
That's when friends love to come visit
We have the tennis courts,
just that open space just to really enjoy,
without sort of that invasion or view from the public
It's just private space all for students to use
And also it's a little bit further out
but it's got all of its amenities
It's got its Sainsbury's, its Tesco, its cinema
almost exclusive to Homerton
You've got so much to choose from,
just to do anything with your day here at Cambridge
Whether you're having a heavy study day, a light study day
or just a day off
and you just got this huge variation to do what you want
how you want to live it
and you've got 3 years to do all that variation,
experience it all, test it all out,
work out what's right for you
and that's why I love being here at Cambridge