Michaelmas Term 2014

I'm back! The nine weeks of clubbing with strangers, vomiting in friends bathrooms, and nervous breakdowns in the Library are finally drawing to a close.

Okay, I'll admit the only times I have ever stepped foot in a nightclub have been when there's been a church service on, but I have spent a lot of time in the Library. And even felt nervous once when someone approached me with social intent. So all in all, a pretty wild term.

Time for a look back. What has happened? Expectations vs Reality. Helpfully I wrote a blog post about my expectations the week prior to leaving to go to University so this exercise is at least partially objective. Though said post is my least viewed blog to date. So if you could check that out. That'd be great.

Freshers week was pretty much as expected. There was less pressure to drink than I imagined, but it was also harder to decline alcohol than I envisioned, which was disconcerting. The workload definitely took a couple of week to get going, contrary to what I feared. But weeks four to six were more intense than I foresaw. Having said that, I love maths enough to find the long hours very enjoyable and it's been great to make friends with those with a similar passion to me.

I had the impression, as surely most prospective undergraduates do, that I would be actively involved in a range of societies, ranging from - in my case - chess and CU, to rowing and running. It didn't happen. Christian activities took up a good 15 hours a week and on top of that I really only had time for casual socialising (lol, jokes) and a bit of running. Oh, and I still played my geetar quite a lot.

Though I love my course, by far the most exciting thing about my "University experience" is what God is doing in Cambridge. It was so clear to everyone in my friendship group on results day that God was sending us to our respective Universities with specific plans for each of us, and that He had us where He wanted us. That has continued to ring true for me ever since then and though that has at times been hard to accept, it has given me confidence and assurance when things have become difficult.

There are so many undergraduates at Jesus college, and indeed it seems at most colleges, that are strongly rooted in Christ which is so inspiring! The talks at the inter-collegiate Christian Union meetings have been exemplary and it's been great to hear about CICCUs heritage. We had a great Jesuan turnout to the (monthly premature) Christmas service which was great to see, especially has the speaker made the point of preaching Christ crucified. Everyone seems very open to discussing "the big questions" and the academic environment appears to stimulate, rather than stifle, this curiosity.

The geographically oscillatory nature of a students life is difficult to get used to, but it is an opportunity to become resilient, adaptable and faith-filled. It also is teaching me to not take anything, or indeed anybody, for granted. Which is probably a good lesson to learn. Students (myself included) can often feel on top of the world when in reality they are simply focused on the fleeting in a destructive way, so I'll end with a brilliantly sobering passage from James 4. 

"13 Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”— 14 yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes."