Despite the dreaded prospect of weeks of attempted memorisation for those ever-ominous exams, finalists across Cambridge will now begin to feel a pang of nostalgia. With sunny afternoons sitting beside a stack of books and countless cups of tea, it is easy for your mind to wander and the prospect of leaving this intense pressure cooker of stress, tears, laughter, grinding work and extravagant celebrations seems unimaginable. Such mental traipses through the last three years bring a cascade of memories to fill the quiet spaces in the library.

Our memory is one of our most treasured possessions. Artists across the centuries have detailed the importance of life experiences in shaping their creative output. Louise Bourgeois kept meticulous diaries during her childhood, causing memory, both real and imagined, to enter aspects of her architecture. Tracey Emin produced a series of monoprints known as 'Illustrations from Memory' which depicted aspects of her childhood and sexual awakening. Photographer Don McCullin returned to his childhood neighbourhood in North London to take photos exploring his past experiences. Film director Ingmar Bergman, applies themes of family, death, faith, and betrayal that hark back to his childhood and his relationship with his father in his direction and writing.  From these artists, we can learn how memory affects our perception of the present; aiding the construction of our current existence.

To psychologists, memory is defined as the way in which information is encoded, stored and retrieved. A variety of theoretical models exist which seek to provide abstract representations of how memory works. There are different kinds of memory and a variety of techniques to aid recall. Considerable dispute continues as to when children first develop memories, whether during language acquisition or when children gain a sense of self. The hippocampus also aids consolidation of information from short-term to long-term memory. Whilst this is a complex and ever-evolving discipline of study, it is clear that memories are also subjective. Some people will suppress, alter and override memories, whilst others will seek to preserve and re-invoke their memories regularly.

Whilst we students are still struggling to retain the volume of information thrust upon us, we should not forget the value of all those small moments with friends or supervisors that might become forgotten. Trips to the UL, guilty coffee breaks and nights out will instantly become part of our repertoire of anecdotes about our 'student days' as we put down our pens in that final exam. Our disposable snaps, ADC tickets and May Ball wristbands will become valuable mementos. We should therefore cherish not just our graduation certificates but the varied experiences, both painful and ecstatic, that have come to shape us here. As Oscar Wilde once said, “Memory is the diary that we all carry about with us.”