You asked - we answered. Here at Violet, we decided to take on the nitty-gritty-bitty questions that you had about Cambridge. No please, it was a pleasure. These were all submitted anonymously but we picked the best of the bunch. In order to get a fully diverse range of responses, the Violet team took on each question individually: there's Danny (2nd year MML at Clare), Ellie (2nd year History at Clare) and Sienna (3rd year HSPS at Corpus). Apart from being totally biased towards central colleges beginning with a "C", we have you fully covered. 

Q: Is Cambridge really as hectic as everyone makes it out to be or is it more manageable than one would think? At what point is it acceptable to turn up to lectures in pyjamas? Do you need a bike if your college is in the city centre?

Right - let's split this one into three questions:

Is Cambridge really as hectic as everyone makes it out to be or is it more manageable than one would think?

Sienna: Way more manageable. I worked pretty much all the time in first term of first year because I had created such an expectation of perfection in my head. In reality, you can take days off, go out and not work 24/7. Supervisors are a lot more chill than you'd think, most of them are fine with giving extensions and give lots of help if you get in a crisis. Remember, you're not weak for asking.

Ellie: It's definitely hectic - the end of term will come around sooner than you can ever imagine -  but also definitely manageable. Learn the art of time management and self discipline (I know it's hard, but do your washing up), but also to accept that perfection is impossible. So when it gets to Friday night, don't feel guilty about getting wasted and going to Life.  

Danny: There are so many variables here. Each degree subject is its own special snowflake, but the good news is no one is really here to judge you except for you. Do however much you feel comfortable doing and that's got to do!

At what point is it acceptable to turn up to lectures in pyjamas?

Danny: I’ve never seen it done, but then most of my lectures last year were between 3pm and 5pm on Thursdays. (Cindies-goers probably hadn’t woken up yet.) If Week Five blues do their worst and you can’t make it out without your PJ protective shell, however, I would rate you for it. 

Sienna: 100% acceptable. Just you wait until halfway through term - no one will even bat an eyelid at you. 

Ellie: I guess it depends what you class as pyjamas... turning up to lectures in nothing but an oversized T-shirt is probably not the best idea, but towards the end of term, the tracksuit bottoms you rolled out of bed wearing will most likely go unnoticed.

Do you need a bike if your college is in the city centre? 

Danny: The first thing which happens when you come to Cambridge is your perception of time and space gets completely warped. Even if you’ve come from a city, you suddenly envisage 20-minute walks as wading through the fifth circle of hell. They key question is how close your college is to your lectures: every second counts leading up to 9ams.

Sienna: I am of the strong belief that you don't need a bike - but then again, I'm in a central college and my lectures are about a 5 minute walk away. Depending on which college you're at (bless you Girton students) it completely varies. But it's certainly not a requirement.

Ellie: This is definitely subject dependent. Arts students don't usually have that many places to be during the day, so you can saunter between your college and lectures. But for science students, most faculty buildings are further away from the centre, and your schedule is more full-on, so you might find a bike makes life easier for you.  

"...accept that perfection is impossible. So when it gets to Friday night, don't feel guilty about getting wasted and going to Life"

Q. What are the best extracurriculars to do if you'd like to meet lots of people and spend lots of time socialising? :)

Danny: I’m not exactly a walking advert for the game (or any kind of exercise for that matter) but mixed netball is definitely the way forward. The ratio of sport to socialising is spot-on – team spirit levels are high in the college league and you get to meet new opponents every week, if only to argue with them about footwork. What’s brilliant is that the girls are a million times better: proof that all women’s sport needs is proper coaching.

Sienna: Hmm this is a tricky one...I would say that pretty much all the societies in Cambridge are really great for socialising - most of them hold 'fresher squashes' which is basically where the current committee mingle with any freshers who are interested in joining, with no commitment attached. Would definitely recommend a sport - sporting societies are a great way to meet people through initiations/swaps/socials.

Ellie: I can't give a specific activity from experience (but Varsity is lots of fun and you should 100% write for us), but I can recommend taking up any opportunities that come your way. Make friends with friends of your friends, go to college mixers, and test out societies that you think you will be interested in, and you'll be meeting loads of new people in no time. 

Q. Is Cambridge an especially expensive place to live in (roughly?) 

Danny: In a word, yes – but that doesn’t mean there aren’t ways of making the costs manageable. As we’ve outlined on our website, what student life takes away in tuition fees, it gives back in fractional but still satisfying discounts. Also, learn the importance of pres. Look for shifts on your college bar. Trek up to Aldi. Some of us have even quit Deliveroo.

Ellie: Slightly expensive, yes, but especially expensive? I don't think so. Our annual rent is actually marginally lower than the nation average, you don't ever have to pay for transport within the city centre, and colleges have lots of pots of money available to help you with various academic costs. If you can set yourself a budget and stick to it, you'll be just fine. 

Sienna: Honestly, yes it is. When I was a fresher, I remember ordering a double vodka and redbull from The Eagle, all bright eyed and eager, a fiver ready in my hand. The bartender looked me straight in the eye and said "That will be £9 please." I had to go home and lie down from the shock of it. Someone had to actually bring me an inhalor.

Q. It's not that major, but a lot of Cambridge terms confuse me. What exactly is a 'bop'? My college JCR website doesn't mention one. 

Danny: Cambridge loves an anachronism and ‘bop’ probably beats the lot in terms of cringe factor. I haven’t read up on its etymology, but that has never stopped me writing my linguistics essays, so I’m quite certain ‘bops’ are simply what Cantabs started calling parties in about 1993. (These days they are held inside colleges and basically glorified pres.)

Ellie: Bops are (usually) themed and/or fancy dress parties organised by the college JCR. They are good fun and a typical staple of freshers week, so they are a good way to scout out your party pals for the rest of the year. Just because they aren't on your college's website doesn't necessarily mean there won't be any: they might call bops by an alternative name, or they might just have forgotten to put it on the website altogether.  

Sienna: Bops are just college parties. They're a great way to meet other years. Have a look at our guide to Cambridge slang which covers pretty much everything:

Q. What are the best club nights?

Danny: Friday Life is love; Friday Life is life. I mean, what isn’t to like about spending your night in the basement of Waterstones at the place we only ironically call Kuda Club Cambridge? Really, though, hardly any club nights here are considered cool – and the threshold is pretty low – so you and your mates might as well enjoy the least pretentious one.

Sienna: Wednesday Cindies. 100%. I used to hate it, like actively despise it but my god, everyone in Cambridge goes to Cindies on a Wednesday. That guy who smiled at you outside your lecture hall? By Cindies bar. The hot but kinda aloof third year Bio-natsci who you've had your eye on? Cindies smoking area. Wednesday Cindies is the place to be.

Ellie: It's got to be Friday Life for me too. Or maybe Sunday Life. Or maybe both, because I am Life's biggest fan. If you can go to the same club fifteen times in one term, it's got to be good, right? The music is pretty similar to Cindies, and the drinks are the almost the same price, but there's just something about going out on a Friday that feels so right. 

Q. What is the one piece of advice you would give to someone starting Cambridge?

Ellie: Don't live to work. Especially as an arts students, there's always something else you could be reading, but you have to draw the line somewhere. Do things you enjoy, spend time with people you like, don't forget to sleep. You'll probably still get a 2.1 anyway

Danny: Three words: take it slow. A week is a really long time at Cambridge and there's plenty of room to do everything, even if a considerable part of that is spent on your bed watching Chelsea or Made in Chelsea

Sienna: Cambridge has this worldwide reputation of being elite, the home of the most incredibly intelligent people. Sometimes it's very hard to feel like you belong - especially if you're a person of colour, from a lower socio-economic class or, you know, basically just not a white rich male whose Dad is an ambassador to Qatar. My advice is just to realise that your existence here is pretty spectacular. Don't forget it