New flatmates
Oct. 5th, 2009 04:09 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dolorosa_12But first, a couple of links: a post on A Song of Ice and Fire by George R. R. Martin. It's a bit spoilerish if you haven't read the whole series. Here's a new character study on my Longvision blog. It's about Dama, and is also spoilery.
The last of my new housemates have trickled this week. It's an interesting mix of people - four fourth-year undergrads, quite a few first-, second- and third-year PhD students (including yours truly) and about five new MPhils. It's a very different dynamic to last year, which makes me realise how much the composition of housemates determines a house's character.
Last year, there were 10 new, international MPhils or first-year PhD students in our house. Then we had an English medicine student (in his fifth year, I think), a German second-year PhD student and three fourth-year undergrads. The fact that the house was mainly made up of newbies meant that there was a lot of desperate socialising going on in the first few days. None of us knew anyone else, and none of us knew how Cambridge worked. Luckily, the 'locals' in our house were also very friendly, and keen to make friends with us and introduce us to Cambridge. I ended up being very good friends with many of my housemates, and getting on pretty well with most of the rest.
This year, however, things are different. There are too many old hands and not enough new people. I was worried we were going to turn into one of those horror houses, filled with phantom flatmates who never spoke to one another and barely ever spent time at home. Luckily, one of my other new housemates had similar fears and organised a meet-and-greet afternoon tea (with homemade chocolate chip cookies) in the common room, so I now know all my new housemates and everyone's a bit more friendly. But I don't think things will ever be as good as they were last year, and that makes me a bit sad. Home was an oasis of calm, a shelter from the insanity (both drunken and academic) that characterised my life among the ASNaCs. I hope I can find something approaching that in my house this year.
The last of my new housemates have trickled this week. It's an interesting mix of people - four fourth-year undergrads, quite a few first-, second- and third-year PhD students (including yours truly) and about five new MPhils. It's a very different dynamic to last year, which makes me realise how much the composition of housemates determines a house's character.
Last year, there were 10 new, international MPhils or first-year PhD students in our house. Then we had an English medicine student (in his fifth year, I think), a German second-year PhD student and three fourth-year undergrads. The fact that the house was mainly made up of newbies meant that there was a lot of desperate socialising going on in the first few days. None of us knew anyone else, and none of us knew how Cambridge worked. Luckily, the 'locals' in our house were also very friendly, and keen to make friends with us and introduce us to Cambridge. I ended up being very good friends with many of my housemates, and getting on pretty well with most of the rest.
This year, however, things are different. There are too many old hands and not enough new people. I was worried we were going to turn into one of those horror houses, filled with phantom flatmates who never spoke to one another and barely ever spent time at home. Luckily, one of my other new housemates had similar fears and organised a meet-and-greet afternoon tea (with homemade chocolate chip cookies) in the common room, so I now know all my new housemates and everyone's a bit more friendly. But I don't think things will ever be as good as they were last year, and that makes me a bit sad. Home was an oasis of calm, a shelter from the insanity (both drunken and academic) that characterised my life among the ASNaCs. I hope I can find something approaching that in my house this year.
