PART I: A–H

Anglia Ruskin 'Cambridge, the home of… Anglia Ruskin University'. Seeing the welcome sign when your train pulls into the railway station is the first sign you've entered the bubble. When you’ve been away, it's a comforting marker of returning home. Who needs Love Actually-style airport arrivals when you have Anglia Ruskin?

The Botanic Garden Going for a walk in your local park at home is nice enough and does the trick of clearing your head, I’m sure. But it’s just not quite the same as checking out how a Vitex negundo var. heterophylla is coming to flower this season or fondling the foliage of the Sorbus decora. I’d also be surprised if your local park had anywhere near the number of Pokéstops and rare Pokémon that lurk around the Botanic Garden!

Cindies Admit it, you’ve been missing that dose of cheese in your life. Haven't been secretly listening to 45 second excerpts of Timber or The Circle of Life on Spotify during your lonely Long Vacation nights? Whatever. As much as you may pretend you prefer your classy big city clubs, there’s nothing like dancing your night away on sticky carpets with equally sticky people. And we love feeling self-destructively naughty about that 9am supervision awaiting us in the morning.

Deadlines Obviously you hate the omnipresent deadlines and the lingering stress in term time… But after a week, or maybe only days, out of the bubble, don’t you find yourself missing the constant goals and sense of productivity? If you thought your procrastination habits were bad in the college library with four essays due in the next two hours, the guilt of getting nothing done in the vacation is sometimes unbearable.

English students Got out of bed just in time for a late dinner? Spent the day stalking people from primary school on every social media platform? Failed to tick a single box on that To Do list three days in a row? Well, at least in Cambridge you can still relieve your guilt with the knowledge that your English student friends probably did even less. Stereotype? Maybe, but what a comforting one!

Formals Life's pretty boring when three course candlelit meals aren’t the go-to option of hanging out with your friends on a Thursday night and you don’t get to prance about in your gown pretending to be Harry Potter. Daily Mail if you're reading: a quotation proving all your Oxbridge stereotypes are correct!

Girton Moaning about how somewhere is a twenty minute bike ride away in The Real World earns you weird looks. At least in Cambridge we can all agree on Girton being the definition of very far away, and collectively groan about distances by using it as a reference point.

Hall Some call it hall, for others it is the Buttery, and for others it's called the cafeteria. Whatever the name, there is certainly never as much gossip going on at your standard home dinner as there is during communal meals in college. Furthermore, lamenting over the soggy roasted potatoes and measly portion sizes always provides an opportunity for bonding with peers. 

Stay tuned for Part 2 of 'The A to Z of missing Cambridge'.