‘Keeping term’ is a prospect pretty unique to Cambridge and its short, intense eight week terms. The university mostly demands that all students live in Cambridge for the duration of these terms, rather than living elsewhere or commuting. Cambridge University’s website states that ‘keeping term’ is necessary if a student is to be eligible for their degree, and this consists of students spending "at least three terms resident in Cambridge". "For a term to be ‘kept’ a student has to reside in Cambridge for at least 59 nights in Michaelmas and Lent terms and 52 in Easter term" and must live within "10 miles of the centre of Cambridge while carrying out research in the university".

“It hardly felt like enough, and yet simultaneously, eight to nine straight weeks in the Cambridge bubble felt like too much”

As a fresher, moving out every eight weeks made it seem like there was hardly enough time. The terms flew by and before long I was back at home for just as long as I’d been away. Not to mention the lack of ability to stay in accommodation over the breaks or the need to completely move out each term. Well, it hardly felt like enough, and yet simultaneously, eight to nine straight weeks in the Cambridge bubble felt like too much.

We are all busy at this university, and it sometimes feels as though ‘keeping term’ is not a choice, but rather, a necessity. However, spending at least a few nights outside of Cambridge each term does so much good. As a student that lives further away, this hasn’t always been the easiest thing for me to achieve, so sometimes it is relegated to day trips. Anything to simply leave the academic world behind for at least a little while and breathe.

Whilst I don’t quite believe in ‘keeping term’, I am a big fan of ‘keeping (either side of) term’. Returning a week early or so to Cambridge each term, and staying a week or so after the end of term has been immensely helpful to me. Last year, when I followed the short rent contract of my college accommodation, it would leave me having supervisions on a Friday and then packing up all of my things and leaving the very next day. I also got little time to prepare for the term upon my return, spending months at a time away. These feelings only reinforce that Cambridge is too rigorous. Adding a few weeks on to the beginning and end of my term each time helps me to not feel this whiplash. I have time to prepare for, and decompress from, a hectic term without the pressures of deadlines.

“We all need a break sometimes, a chance to escape the labs, seminar rooms, and cobblestones”

Many of us stay in Cambridge through the holidays, but it’s not exactly as common of a practice as at many other universities. Spending time at home is always nice but spending just as much time there as I do in Cambridge unfortunately only makes Cambridge feel more an extension of boarding school than it ought to. I also have no work ethic at all when I’m at home and want nothing less than to write an essay.

Outside of term, Cambridge feels a little emptier - my house here certainly does. But there is still so much going on. If you have the means to, and your rent contract allows it, it can be quite beneficial. The long holidays at home leave me missing a lot. Not to mention that spending the entire holiday at home can be worse for some than others. Home isn’t necessarily the best for everyone and the assumption that everyone has a happy family dynamic to return to is incorrect.

‘Keeping term’ is overrated. We all need a break sometimes, a chance to escape the labs, seminar rooms, and cobblestones. But ‘keeping (either side of) term’ is slightly underrated. It’s a little switch that has made my time in Cambridge more fulfilling, and less overwhelming.

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