Rich Booth
Grammar School,
Bucks
First-year student, reading
Anglo-Saxon, Norse and Celtic
I must admit that I’d
been quite thorough in researching colleges before I came to Clare,
and when I came to Cambridge for the day I had a definite shortlist
of possible options; but when I walked into the Avenue from the
Backs that went straight out the window, I could immediately sense
a friendliness about Clare that I hadn’t felt anywhere else
- it took me ten minutes to get past the guy handing out prospectuses
at the gate, he was so chatty! It’s an established cliché
that Clare is ‘the friendly college’, but the fact is,
it’s true, and I felt sure I’d be happy here. That feeling
proved to be well-founded because I love being here!
What I especially like about Clare is the balance it strikes between
work and play; everyone here naturally wants to do their best academically,
and the college is keen to encourage this, through excellent facilities
such as the Forbes Mellon Library, or through initiatives like the
Academic Assessment Forms, which allow you to have your say on all
kinds of things,
such as supervisions or the college website (on mine I suggested
they update the Student Profiles, which is exactly why I’m
writing this - they do listen to what you have to say!). What’s
more, Clare is excellently positioned (especially for Arts students
like ASNaCs), Memorial Court being just a minute’s walk from
the Sidgwick Site and literally ten seconds from the University
Library.
At the same time, however, there are plenty of ways to escape the
world of work here. Clare Cellars are widely regarded as being one
of the best college bars around, and there’s always lots going
on; bops (cheesy parties involving ingenious fancy-dress, inevitably
a great laugh), film showings, and open mic nights amongst much
else. On top of this the college Ents are
renowned for being of the very highest quality, and a huge crowd
of people from all over Cambridge is guaranteed; whether a drum
‘n’ bass night or a jazz night, they offer a great chance
to meet all kinds of people. There’s also plenty of other
ways to keep busy like sports, playing music, or writing for the
college paper, ‘Clareification’. On a wider scale, Cambridge
is such a student dominated city that you’d be extremely hard
pushed to find nothing of interest to you here.
In terms of ASNaC, it’s a subject I absolutely love; at the
moment there’s only four of us spread across three years at
Clare, but this tends to be a blessing more than a curse since it
means that you know exactly who the people are who you can turn
to in a crisis, or who might have that library book you desperately
need! It also means that in lectures etc. you mix with people from
other colleges a lot more, so within 1 or 2 weeks of Michaelmas
Term starting you have friends from outside Clare, something which
rarely happens so quickly in other subjects. This gives you the
chance to go to Formal Halls and explore accommodation at other
colleges,
while most people are still settling into Memorial Court! There
are also talks to attend by big names in the field (most of whom
were ASNaCs themselves at some point), annual trips (this year we
went to Glastonbury and Chester is on the cards for next year),
and plenty of other social outings.
The subject itself is also great because you are given a range of
papers to choose from (you can be a linguist, a historian, or a
mixture of the two), so straightaway you get to do exactly what
you want to do, and if you find you don’t get on with one
paper it’s easy to swap to another. Indeed it’s unusual
to find someone sitting the same 6 papers (or 5 plus a dissertation)
at the end of the second year as they would have chosen at the beginning
of the first year. You can even borrow papers from other triposes
if you fancy a bit of archaeology, or Medieval French perhaps. On
top of this, the lecturers are brilliant, and getting to know them
is easy because of the small size of the classes. You tend to have
2 lectures per week for languages (one language, one literature)
and 1 per week for history, and added to this is 1 supervision a
week - one hour spent discussing an essay that you have written
on a set topic. At first supervisions can be daunting but once you
get the hang of them they’re a brilliant way to enhance your
understanding of a subject and to really get into the thick of an
argument. What’s more, all the papers are taught from scratch
so everyone is on a level-pegging, whatever A-levels you’ve
done - personally I did Latin at A-level but I often find myself
seeking help from people in the ‘beginners’ classes
because they’re already excellent! That’s another thing;
there’s never any sense of embarrassment at forgetting something
or struggling in ASNaC - if you need help your lecturers and friends
are always at hand to provide it.
So why ASNaC at Clare? For me the course offers some wonderful opportunities
to study a truly unique array of subjects, and while it is challenging,
the rewards are well worth it. As for Clare, I think it’s
THE best place to be if you want to be a member of a respected academic
college, but have fun and enjoy yourself at the same time; like
I said, it’s ‘the friendly college’. I’m
writing this during the Easter holiday of my first year, so I’ve
only really been at Clare for 16 weeks, but I’ve already made
some life-long friends, and I wouldn’t go back on my decision
now for anything.
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