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I’m referring, of course, to the Habsburg Empire but perhaps there’s a case for applying it to Cambridge, too?

Loving lectures at the moment. There were three today: on Ireland in the late 18th century, on British politics in the 19th, and on the position of women in the Victorian era. The latter last was the best, being one of those wonderfully good lectures, and coming with a comprehensive set of notes already (appeals to my lazy side ) so that you could just sit back and listen. Fascinating issues too, examining different explanations for how the position of women was justified, rather than just what it was. Saoirse, that lecture was for you.

Last night was parents’ night, so I thought it was high time I provided a photo of my brilliantly cool college parents, Felix and Rosa. They bought us pizza! (I have a brother and a sister too.) And there was a party, with chocolate cakes and cake and pass the parcel… really, there’s no better way to live.

Quintessentially student

Pass the parcel

Mum and dad!

Essay’s going well, btw, and I’m just back from a great night out at Nando’s and then back at the college bar…

The following sign is not from my building, but from K Block:

Ew

Just felt like blogging a little bit after watching Heroes, something which I’ve rather failed to mention much on this blog. It’s good! Couldn’t just abandon a series halfway through, and even with P2P strictly banned that’s no reason not to indulge in a little creative laptop viewing now and again…

So I’m busy, obviously. If you’re e-mailing, texting, Facebooking or whatever, sorry for not being able to get back to you as quickly as I should, but all contact with ‘the rest of the world’ is much appreciated!

Went to the big Freshers’ Fair today, and did the traditional studenty act of signing up for loads of completely unmanageable things, from Amnesty, to the Labour Party, to rambling. Before you scoff at the Labour party, I felt it was an elegant compromise between the Tory stall handing out (admittedly funky) Boris posters and the SWP \ Respect bunch who optimistically tried to tell me how they weren’t just the Galloway fan club. Never forgiven that man

Aside from that, I’ve pretty much been (gasp!) working! Yup that’s right.. Cambridge has a fairly loose definition of a ‘Freshers’ Week’ and in my supervision yesterday I was set an essay to do for Monday afternoon complete with a mammoth reading list. That, aside from the lectures which begin tomorrow (Cambridge lecture weeks start on a Thursday.. don’t ask..) will be taking up rather a lot of time! However, the topic is really fascinating on who ‘spoke for the people’ between the 1880s and WW1, so I’m enjoying the work.

I’ll leave you with an uber-stereotypical photo of Cambridge of no real relevance to me other than the fact that I walk past it several times a day and find it slightly surreal that I actually live around here now. Cheerio!

Nice architecture, right?

There were whispers, and Joe nudged me to turn around, and it was true: Stephen Hawking had just entered the hall, and went to eat at the high table a few metres away from where I was eating.

Just thought I’d kick off with that

Cambridge is amazing, obviously. It’s also hectically busy – my desk (see below) is already lost underneath paper, there’s a multitude of events running seemingly at the same time, and everyone’s trying to remember as many names and faces as they can. We’ve already had a bop! My room really is luxurious for student halls, with en suite bathroom with shower and a lovely large modern desk to work at. Although my laptop does now have Internet access, the intensity of the first few weeks probably won’t allow for much idle usage! However, here’s a quick photo of a bit of my room

My room!

Because it’s all brand-spankingly new and modern, our university card also acts as a key to our rooms, which also means it’s inevitable you will accidentally lock yourself out at one point. I already have.

Proper lectures kick off on Thursday, though I have supervision tomorrow where I’ll get set an essay for next week, and today we got given stacks of reading lists. Interestingly, us History students seem to be grouping together quite a bit.. the lovely group of people that we are

Must dash! Love to all of you (especially you, and you, and youuu)