I thought studying in London and Paris was the ultimate privilege. But it is Cambridge that makes me feel I am in the right place. With cows and wild horses around it feels more familiar to my rural home in eastern Poland. Cambridge college and faculty communities make me feel always welcomed. While they certainly challenge me at a personal and academic level, at the same time they create a truly unique environment to flourish. Its all thanks to accessibility, I think. There is hardly a better place to read Tacitus, then discuss my ideas about the rationality of Roman government in an atmospheric dinner hall with a social-anthropologist and a slightly crazy mathematician, and finish the day with a boxing sparring that really brings you down to earth quickly. But Clare graduate formal is always the best. Surrounded by ambitious people, invested in their own fields, it is the best chance to bridge the gap between academic and social life. Often, it boils down to punting at night with a bottle of fun wine from south Italy and sharing secrets in dim light; sometimes I get to listen to friends’ stories how they met Barack Obama and interviewed Gabriel Garcia Marquez.

Pawel, MPhil student