Preparations, College Parents and Forms

Preparations for uni and uni life continue apace, punctured by far too much listening to Sky Sailing (a side-project from Adam Young, a.k.a. Owl City). We went to Ikea the other week and bought some of the essentials - after all, who wouldn't enjoy shopping for plates and cutlery?

Most of the actual work that I've been doing so far, though, relates to just two of the papers: for my ab initio Use of Spanish paper I have to complete exercises from nine separate chapters of a grammar book, while for my post A-Level French Literature, Film, Linguistics and Thought paper I've got five books and a film to digest. At the moment I'm about halfway through the grammar exercises; even with a GCSE in Spanish the intensity with which some of the grammar is thrown at you is a little surprising. As far as the French goes, I've seen the film (Cléo de 5 à 7, 1962) and it does provoke some interesting questions. I'm almost done with the first novel, Thérèse Raquin, which I'm finding more of a challenge. Although I studied film at A-Level in the form of François Truffaut, I've got no real experience of French literature, and even though the paper's designed to be introductory, I'll be quite proud of myself, I suspect, when I've finished reading a full-length novel in French!

Apart from the course, one of the reasons I applied to Cambridge was the strength of the collegiate system. This was brought home to me the other day when I received an email from a second-year student at Clare who is to be one of my college "parents" for the year (older students who look out for you; you also have a "sibling" in your year). This really made me feel more relaxed about the "whole university thing", since it's nice to know that there is someone you can talk to and ask questions about any part of the university experience.

That's not to say, though, that Clare College hasn't been in contact. I've had to return an awful lot of forms recently, both to them and to the wider University, covering everything from music arrangements to student health. I also received welcome packs from both Cambridgeshire Police and the UCS (Union of Clare Students), both of which have genuinely been interesting reading. What I haven't heard about yet is accommodation: I understand that I'll find out about my room when I arrive.

So, all things considered, I'm getting there. There are just three weeks to go until I leave, but I'm confident that I'll be ready when it's time to go.