During my gap year, my aunt gave me some advice: she said life was about finding ‘small pops of joy’ in difficult times, and that would be enough to get me through. She was right, and I spent my year learning how to create those moments for myself. In the midst of a COVID-19 outbreak at college, the residual January blues, and the workload of Lent term hitting hard, the start of this year has felt rocky, and I know I’m not alone in that. During isolation, I reflected on those pops of joy which characterise my life here: things which make me fall in love with being at Cambridge.

I’ve also been looking ahead to the first big thing coming up after I leave isolation: Valentine’s Day. So this is a love letter to Cambridge: something I would have loved to read one year ago, before I knew what my life here would be like. In it, you’ll find fragments both great and small; some I had anticipated and hoped for, and some I never saw coming. So come in, sit down, have some tea with me; I invite you to write a love letter to your own life, and to untangle the strands of the hectic Cambridge way of living which you’re most grateful for. This is mine.

Cycling:

I love cycling over Silver Street Bridge when the sun hits just right, and solo bike rides around Cambridge generally. These are the moments when I remember how beautiful the city is and how lucky I am to live here. Wherever I’ve lived, I’ve loved cycling to get around, and now my love of cycling has been transposed to a new place.

“I invite you to write a love letter to your own life”

My college:

Saturday brunch is a highlight of my week which I rarely miss, and the gardens at my college are also a hidden gem — we’re encouraged to walk on the grass and to pick the flowers and fresh vegetables, and I love starting my days by walking through the flora and fauna.

Friends who live within arm’s reach:

As an only child, I’d never experienced living with people my age before coming to Cambridge, and had always considered myself someone who was addicted to having their own space. Yet I’ve watched myself grow into someone who genuinely gains energy from being around others — a phrase which always baffled me when I heard it used by self-described extroverts. It turns out I simply had never felt the spontaneous joy of my flatmate’s nocturnal Bacardi bananas, or a late-night journalling session on a college friend’s bedroom floor, or gentle, quiet evenings spent in the kitchen revelling in aimless, rambling conversation.

Imperfect relationships:

As an offshoot from that, I’ve started getting comfortable with having relationships which aren’t always perfect. Living in college means you can’t hide the parts of yourself which feel ‘too much’: the moments of exhaustion, panic, or uncontainable stress. The people who I spend the most time with see me in a variety of moods, and it feels like an important life lesson to learn that you don’t have to be in high spirits all of the time. That being said, I am hugely grateful to my flatmates and friends for being there around the clock!

“My sexuality feels genuinely celebrated for the first time”

Being surrounded by a queer community:

Fortunately, I grew up in a city which is reasonably tolerant towards those who share my identity, yet I’ve never felt part of a community as strongly as I do now. I feel so lucky to have happened upon a place where I feel so seen in my identity; my sexuality feels genuinely celebrated for the first time.

New music:

All discovered from people I’ve met. From Elton John to Steely Dan; Black Pumas to Mabel; my playlists have never looked healthier and more joyful, and everything I listen to is connected to a happy memory.

The Arc Café:

Specifically the triple chocolate cookies and the paninis (we shall not dwell upon the recent changes to the vegetarian panini recipe).

Swimming:

This term my friend and I resolved to try the swimming pool at Parker’s Piece, and it’s become something I try to do every week. It’s been nice to return to an activity I loved when I was tiny, and so relaxing to simply plunge in and forget about the outside world.

My room:

Particularly my pin board. Before I came to Cambridge, I spent weeks deliberating over how I would decorate my room, and the day I moved in, I was amazed by how colossal my pinboard looked and how empty it felt; there were so many unknowns in how my life would change during my time here. Over the weeks and months, I’ve added to it with tickets, post-it notes, photos, ribbons, and even one delightfully decorated sock. The colours have layered to create a kaleidoscope that feels like the inside of my brain, and it’s a space I love to be in.

Finally, the Cambridge skies:

Is it just me, or have sunsets in CB3 been popping off recently? I love that the first thing I see when I open my eyes each morning is usually a clean, fresh sky; I am convinced that Cambridge skies are simply bluer than anywhere else.