It’s now official! The Summer has finally come to an end here in Cambridge. Though as some might argue, just in time for winter to begin. If you find this confusing, then we at the Varsity Hotel Cambridge stand ready to help this topsy turvy world make sense again.
The Academic Year
Cambridge is quite the oddity given the sheer size of the University and its student population next to the size of the city itself. During termtime the resident population of the city can swell by 10-15%. Though since the students tend to congregate in the centre of town, their impact can seem even larger than that.
The Academic year here in Cambridge ends at the end of June, signalling the start of summer. The city has a completely different feel to it in the summer. Gone are the vast majority of students. To be replaced with hoards of tourists and foreign language students. Often these tourists will arrive by the coach load and be herded through the city by their minders. Treating the place we live like an open air museum.
This all changes now. For this week the new Academic year begins. In the next few days vast numbers of students will arrive and swarm all over the city. And if this seems like hyperbole, then try walking down one of the roads between 1st year lecture sites around the hour on certain mornings. You’ll find yourself suddenly confronted with a badly organised Tour de France headed straight for you.
Freshers’ Fair
The change in the city’s ambience is particularly notable when this term begins as opposed to any other, and for one simple reason – none of the newly arrived Freshers know each other yet. As a result, great efforts are made by the Colleges to welcome the new students and try to orient them etc. Introduce them to their peers and their many options and opportunities here.
However, what this often results in is large numbers of students moving together in large herds, paying little attention to what’s going on around them. Given time they will make friends and these larger groups will splinter off into smaller ones. Which is much more manageable for the city’s narrow streets. But this next month may be challenging.
This week is Freshers’ Week. Where new students arrive, are greeted and oriented. Meet their peers and attend their first lectures. The highlight of this is the Freshers’ Fair, held on Parker’s Piece on Tuesday 8th and Wednesday 9th. Hundreds of stalls line the walkways, showcasing every student club you can think of and every local business wishing to be noticed. Which, of course, includes the Varsity Hotel. Though we fully appreciate that our services are more catered towards the parents rather than the students themselves. Though when those parents are in town to pay the bill, that tends to change…
