Blog by: Natasha

Yes, there is a beyond.

Right now, for some of you it may feel like Cambridge is an endpoint; a goal, an accomplishment, your future. It certainly felt like that for me. But now here I stand as a graduate with my academic life behind me, and I have realised that Cambridge is just a beginning.

It’s a beginning for so much of your life. It’s a place where some of your strongest friendships will develop, a time where you’ll discover new hobbies and joys in life, and learn how to live away from home.

Because it’s just a beginnning, university is not the be-all and end-all. I got a 2.1 instead of a first; sure it stung at the time but now I’ve accepted it and moved on. That grade may seem like all you have to show for three years of hard, hard work, but actually it’s everything I have done at university, of which work is only one of many aspects, that is important. My time at Cambridge is so much more than a 2.1 can express.

So as I step out into ‘the real world’, I’m filled with a sense of sadness at the end of my unviersity life, but I’m also feeling positive about everything that is to come. I’ve got a new job, a new location, a couple of new (younger!) housemates, and life is looking pretty exciting. I feel a bit like I did when I first arrived at Cambridge three years ago – nervous, sad and excited all at the same time. It was an end of an era, but the start of a new one. And now here I am, back at a new beginning all over again.

I can’t wait to find out what lies in store …

You’d think that once exams are over, life at Cambridge would slow down. Well it’s completely the opposite! After exams your life gets full to the brim with celebrations with friends, trips home for some much needed home cooking, garden parties and shopping for May Ball and graduation stuff.

In addition to all this craziness I was lucky enough to get highly sought-after tickets to one of the Footlights’ International Tour Show 2011: Pretty Little Panic preview shows at the ADC, which is where most student theatre takes place. A second year friend of mine is the producer of the Footlights’ tour this year, so I had been getting excited about this for a while, listening to all the new developments and the hard work he’s been putting in.

Luckily, I didn’t have to pretend to enjoy it! It really was a great 1 hour show. Sometimes sketch shows can feel a bit random and disconnected, but the Footlights have managed to create one that runs more like a series of interconnected moments as they smoothly link the different sketches with dialogue and themes. It was also very funny. With so many sketches, there is definitely enough to suit to everyone’s sense of humour, and a lot of the sketches are surprisingly original. I laughed like a crazy woman at the knight’s dual sketch. Go see it to find out what was so funny about it!

The Footlights’ show highlights one of the things I really love about Cambridge; everyone is so passionate and driven. It’s not just about working hard at your degree, but rather it’s about working hard at doing all the things you want to do to give yourself the best jumping board into life after graduation. It’s such a great environment to be in, and really makes me driven to take part in as much as I can, to get the most out of all the great opportunities Cambridge has to offer its students – so much more than just an excellent education.

DONE. Dusted. Finito. The end. 3 years of hard work has finally drawn to a close. The exams were a mixed bag as usual, some good, some hideous. And it’s strange to think that all your work over three years is condensed into 4 exams and one dissertation. But what’s even stranger is the thought that I am completely done with Cambridge.

But I didn’t have time to think about that when my exams were done because the minute I left my last exam I headed straight for the airport as I was getting whisked away to Ibiza by O’Neill (swim and sports brand) to participate in their One Way Runway modelling competition! I was one of 12 finalists selected from around the world to take part in what was one of the best experiences of my life. Check out the video here (I’m the one doing the cheeky sailor wink pose before I jump):

[iframe http://www.youtube.com/embed/Qa_TWfgqteA ]

I had the most insane time and it really took my mind off my awful last exam.

I got back three days later and then it was formal for a friend’s birthday and then a well deserved sleep. And waking up the next day is when it hit me – my life at Cambridge is almost over. I’m definitely relieved that all the work is finally finished, but the thought of leaving what has come to be my home and all my friends is pretty sad. But I know that we’ll all stay in touch and some of my friends are staying on in Cambridge for Masters courses so I can always come back and visit what is definitely one of the best places in the world.

And what to do now? Well for the most part, relax, enjoy being in Cambridge with my friends without work, get ready for the May Ball and lots of garden parties. I’ve also got an interview tomorrow for another internship (I’m aiming to get around 4) and I’ll be getting on with writing my book too. But it really is the weirdest feeling not having to revise or write any more essays! I think it’ll be a while before I get used to not planning my days around uni work!

Well, firstly, before I fill you in on all the exciting things Cambridge students get up to over Easter, I thought I should let you know that I have successfully got an internship. It is PAID (rare in the PR industry) and lasts for one month over August. There are ten interns and at the end of it 5 get jobs for a September start, so fingers crossed …

That was a great start to my Easter ‘holidays’. The rest of the holidays have mainly been taken up by my dissertation and, when that was finished, revision. Haven’t properly started yet – a bit difficult as I still have some lectures/supervisions when I get back – but have sorted out what I need to know. It’s A LOT. So not looking forward to the next 7 weeks or so until exams are over!

I have managed to have some fun though during the holidays. For the past couple of days I have been celebrating a uni friend’s 21st birthday, so got to see all my uni friends again and have a good catch up. And next week I’m off to Brighton for a couple of days with my boyfriend for a revision break, as I won’t be seeing him for 6-7 weeks after that. It’s tough having a boyfriend that isn’t at the same uni as you – mine is at Imperial but we’re both so busy we tend to see each other for a couple of days every 2-3 weeks, and in exam term that routine flies out the window. But it’s definitely worth it for my degree and we’ve been together 6 and a half years now so different-uni-relationships can work!

Hope everyone has a lovely Easter and I’ll write again in a few weeks, though hopefully there’ll be more to tell than just revision … !

It’s not all going to be fun and games this year – finals are looming and finding a graduate job is taking up most of my time – but I hope you can get a feel for all the fun (and not so fun) things us Geographers get up to.

This year has been pretty crazy so far. I had so much fun over the summer holidays doing research for my dissertation, the title of which is: ‘Clubbing: The spatialisation of escapism in a sensual landscape’. I tell people this and they don’t believe me, but Geography really is a cool subject with a huge range of interesting topics to explore. I mean, what other course would let you write a dissertation on clubbing! So that took up a lot of my summer, and work on that is just bubbling away in the background until Easter when I’m going to have to write it up. 10,000 words is not so bad (when you write around eight 3,000 word essays a term it doesn’t look so daunting anymore!) but it’s completely based on your own research and so will be quite tricky to get right.
This term and last, most of my time has been spent on job applications. I’m applying for graduate jobs next year in communications, so advertising, PR, marketing etc. I’ve had loads of interviews (most up to the final-round stages) but no job offers as of yet. I have two more final rounds in the next few weeks so let’s hope that changes things! I kind of wish I’d decided to take a gap year now, as applying for jobs whilst balancing uni life and work is tricky, but it’s not in my nature to watch them go by without having a go!

So apart from work and job applications, this term I’m involved with a few societies and social things. I’ve just started going to street dance classes every Friday, which is pretty awesome, and a few of my friends come round a few times a week to play on my Wii! Also, every few weekends my boyfriend comes down from his uni in London or sometimes I go up to London, so I look forward to having a whole weekend off work and spending time with him.

I’ll check back in a week or so to update you on what’s going on, and hopefully I’ll come along with a graduate job offer in tow!