For me, one of the best things is definitely the location! When I first visited it struck me just how close we are to everything, from being across the road from Sainsburys, to it taking ten minutes max to walk to most departments. However we hardly ever have many tourists wandering around, it’s definitely a hidden treasure slap bang in the middle of Cambridge! The gardens are beautiful but the front of college is fairly unassuming so we can hide away from all the hustle and bustle!

When I first arrived at college, I was made to feel welcome right from the start. You could tell that it’s a really great community, which I think is made a lot by the fact that almost everyone lives on site, and there’s only around 100 people in a year. The student-run college bar is really popular and people are keen to get involved in college events and the Student’s Union, which makes the community strong.

In first year I was randomly allocated a room in college, living with loads of other freshers. About half the freshers live in flats roughly three minutes walk from college, and everyone else is in college. Sidney is great, because the furthest you’ll ever be living from college is three minutes, and there’s a great community in those places. Second and third year rooms are assigned by a ballot system, which is random and reversed for the following year. For me, this meant my room in second year was pretty small (although still near my friends - we lived in a house down the road from college) as I was near the bottom of the ballot, but my room in third year is really nice - I have a set with a ‘living room’ and bedroom that are mine - and great for having friends round! There’s a lot of variety in room choice, with some being in the older parts of college and generally having quite limited cooking facilities along with shared bathrooms, while other rooms are newly renovated and are near well-equipped kitchens, as well as some en-suites.

While there aren’t that many options, the food is always soooooo good! It’s relatively cheap compared to the other colleges, and there’s always a vegetarian option. Another really nice feature is that they tell you the allergens contained in every meal with a convenient, easy-to-identify graphic.The JCR are currently putting forward the idea of ‘Meat-free Mondays’ which would aid the environment, and reduce Kitchen costs slightly - also, if it goes through, we’d be the first college to do this and I think that’s really neat! Also, as well as Hall itself being fab, food at Formal Hall is even better, and there’s always a little homemade chocolate at the end of every meal! Still, if you don’t have much time, or you don’t like what’s available that day, you can always make food for yourself - all accommodation has access to some sort of gyp room - and, for the truly time-stretched, Sainsbury’s is just across the street!

There’s loads of stuff that you can get involved with in college! Sidney has a college team for most sports, which are generally really chilled - you can turn up on the day and play, and it’ll be a good laugh! There’s also societies such as the ‘Tea and Biscuits’ society (yes, you do turn up and just drink tea and eat biscuits!) which are essentially social societies for people who share a common interest. Rowing is very popular, and loads of people have a go when they first arrive. The college bar is a popular place to go and hang out in the evenings, and every now and then the Ents team organises themed nights in the bar (called ‘bops’) when all the cheesy tunes and silly costumes come out!

As a smaller college Sidney is able to support you as an individual, and you’re always welcome to talk to the Chaplain or the Nurse. You don’t need to be religious to talk to the chaplain! He’s open to everyone and extremely lovely - most people I know have seen the chaplain at least once. If you have any academic concerns you can always ask your tutor for advice; I asked my tutor whether or not I should take an extra language paper - we both decided it might be a bit much! While the staff are wonderful, there are also students who deal with welfare matters and help organise events as elected members of the college JCR. The Male and Female Welfare officers coordinate socials, such as an acoustic night or free chocolate in the bar, and can discretely help with other issues. They work in conjunction with the LGBT+ Officer, the Disabled Students’ Officer and the Women’s Officer.

Literally, the only thing I would change about college is that the tiled flooring leading up to the bar can get a little slippy when it’s wet and you’re not wearing the right shoes - I really like pretty much everything else about Sidney!