Getting the balance right

So I have failed completely to get the work life balance right this term at Cambridge. It’s the first time that I’ve ever really sat back and realised that I haven’t been focused on what is the most important thing – when you cut away all the other bits and bobs that Cambridge has to offer – i.e. the Degree.

Over Michaelmas term I have become a true pro at taking on and trying out new experiences, all in the name of procrastination. Before ‘coming up’ in September to start trialling with the Cambridge University Women’s Boat Club, I had made the firm decision that I would only trial on top of my degree work for Michaelmas, as training takes up so much time that you need to spend the rest focusing on your lectures and supervision work.

I failed on this within the first week of October when I signed up to the Cambridge Union Society’s Vacation Committee which invites speakers for the following term (Lent 2015). I ended up having such a jolly time with them all that I decided I could handle sending invites for Debates and Speakers in term-time whilst trialling no problem. Clearly I had forgotten that I was no superwoman, I did not have an unnaturally good ability to juggle tasks, and that yes, I was indeed kidding myself if I was to even think momentarily about not watching a gazilion episodes of masterchef every week as standard.

Before I knew it, however, I was promoted. Becoming Deputy Speakers Officer put an extra nail in my degree’s coffin as it meant I now needed to commit more time every week and actually do the important stuff, liaising with agents. And then I became even more distracted…The Union’s Bicentenary Ball Committee – the Union turns 200 next year and is having a big birthday party, essentially – needed a Music Officer, and considering my love of music journalism, the idea of choosing acts for the bash sounded amazing. So I applied…and was accepted…whoops.

Sensible plan out of the window within Week 1.

Since then I’ve failed to recover. Switching to Cambridge University Lightweight Rowing Club from the Women’s should have put my rowing commitment hours down, but I think if anything it increased them. I stopped enjoying the attachments I had to sport and even the Union, because they were no longer things I was just doing for fun, they each had commitments which needed my full attention, which I simply could not give because I was juggling too much all at once. On top of it all, I was no longer connecting with my degree work; no longer was I finding reading Politics at Cambridge University something which excited me. Instead, it was like another burden, another thing which was preventing me from committing myself to everything which I was involved in.

Fundamentally then, what I have learnt from this term is how to not get the balance right. I completely overkilled it. Last week I made the decision to leave the trialling process with CULRC as something had to give and in truth I feel so much better about it now I have dropped the sport. My waistline may disagree, as I now have no weight restrictions and can just bumble along as merry little me through christmas. So much good food, so little time to eat it all – if you know my family, then you know how true this is.

But on to pastures new, turn over a new leaf, all those ridiculous phrases that you get sick of no end when it comes to the new year…they’re all starting a month early for me. Now is my fresh start, with the rowing behind me I can move on to concentrate on spending the Christmas break catching up on the reading that escaped me, pinging off applications for summer work that I had tried to pretend never even existed, and spending time with my family who I have severely neglected over the past 3 months.

Learn the lesson from me kids: Cambridge is not a walk in the park. You do need to concentrate otherwise you will fall behind. Whilst it has so many good things on offer that you can dive straight in to – and I fully recommend that you do – you need to be sensible, and work out what fits well together, what can you realistically fit into a week without feeling like your brain is going to burst from restricting sleep to the bare minimum hours. I can only hope that I can get it right moving forward, and I tell you what, the day my mum doesn’t think I look exhausted when I see her during term time will be an absolute triumph.

Thoughts on 1st Year

I have been recently asked to write an article about life at University and how I’ve changed, so I thought I would share with you my first draft. So often when it comes to writing pieces like these they develop really naturally and you end up following a different thought-path than you might have imagined. Currently I am really happy with the direction this has taken, although I will have to wait until I hear back to see if it does fit the bill. That being said, I am sharing it with you all now so you can see my ‘true’ voice on the subject before it is taken to with a knife.

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Cambridge: A place where dreams are made and broken in equal measure. Whilst this sounds bleak, I think it surmises the attraction of the place. A year after arriving I feel I am no closer to achieving one of the famous mantra – first, blue or husband – but does that concern me? Not really, no.

Instead, I have become a pro at scavenging free food at events; learnt to tolerate wine where necessary; memorise college entry points which avoid the plodge, and let the entire world see how appalling my dancing is by ‘advertising’ the college corridors on YouTube. My average weekly Sainsbury’s shop comes in at £10 and after all that saving I managed to blow it on May Week trotting through 3 May Balls, 1 June Event, 1 Boat Club dinner and 4 Garden Parties.

I did successfully pass first year, I might add, before you think it’s all fun and games.

I almost have to pinch myself when I realise how quickly the past 12 months have gone by, yet at the same time I feel like I have been here for many-a-year. Cambridge seems to operate in it’s own time-bubble. You’re never quite sure how long you have been here, the days merge together and the hours that once belonged to the night are now your own.

As a fresher I didn’t quite believe what I was about to embark upon until I had finally reached the college door and was handed my camcard, complete with a picture taken a year previously when filling out my SAQ – much to my horror. I still haven’t worked out why exactly, but I had kept thinking to myself that I would never actually make it, as if my acceptance letter had been a mistake.

A common misconception about Cambridge students: we do not all arrive as sure-of-ourselves-know-it-alls. If anything, the majority arrive still carrying thoughts of self-doubt. But as I sit here now looking back over the year, they have finally dispelled. Cambridge provides you with that much needed inner confidence. As a woman, Newnham supports this even further.

Newnham is my haven. I can come home and relax, tucked away from the crowds that throng King’s Parade, who are seemingly on a suicide-mission throwing themselves into my bikes path.

My evenings are often spent sitting in the buttery and nattering to friends long after opening hours. I even challenged myself to work there in exam term after the lights dimmed at 11pm, simply because I liked how comfy the round leather chairs are.

Clearly some of my childhood simplicity still remains; long may it continue.