Every once-fresher has experienced the urge to bring an accumulation of eighteen years of hoarding along to university with them. A sudden sentimental attachment to items that have not seen the light of day since being bought will inevitably form at around three days before departure. However, unless you want to be known as the person who pulled up to freshers week in an enormous moving van, acting on such sentimentality is not advisable. As someone who packed enough for a family of four to go on a month-long holiday, following my advice on what not to take would clearly be futile. I can, however, attest to the necessity of retaining a certain amount of precious suitcase space for the following must-haves.

“An oodie allows you to defy all norms; you can leave your bed and still feel the bliss of being swaddled like a baby”

A library outfit will always be a library outfit. But if you’ve already thrown any attempt at being fashionable out of the window, why stop at a pair of sweatpants and a hoodie? An oodie allows you to defy all norms; you can leave your bed and still feel the bliss of being swaddled like a baby. Except you’re not a baby but a sleep-deprived student in an oversized, wearable blanket. Countless essay-related breakdowns have been placated by the comfort of the oodie’s plush hood that soothes my troubled mind. And trust me, if you’re worried about the reception of your hybrid hoodie-blanket, the two a.m. library walls have certainly seen stranger things…

Crocs may be the marmite of the fashion world but even I, after being a vehement hater for years, caught myself scrolling through the Crocs website with a sense of longing. All Cambridge students want to save time and I save valuable seconds that would be spent tying laces by stomping around college in my indoor-only slippers. I’m not sure whether it’s worse to have ruined my favourite Ugg slippers with rainwater or to have made a spectacle out of my bare feet in front of the whole college. Either way, a pair of Crocs would have prevented both scenarios , and who’s to say that some hot pink Crocs, fully decked out in customisable jibbitz don’t go hard.

No matter how much of an emotional attachment you have to a backpack purchased in year seven, university is a land of tote bags and satchels. You’ve maxed out your Cam card at the library and are now lugging ten books around: a tote bag. You’ve done a monstrous haul at Mainsburys and now have to cycle back: a tote bag. Despite the illogic, the inconvenience and the crippling shoulder pain, for some reason, the answer will always be a tote bag.

“Who’s to say that some hot pink Crocs, fully decked out in customisable jibbitz don’t go hard”

There is nothing that Cambridge loves more than a theme. This was something that I was devastated to find out when I had made what I thought was the responsible decision to leave behind the contents of my childhood dress-up box. No one wants to be seen as that person that is too high and mighty to participate in ‘lowly’ themed festivities. Yet spending money on a pair of cheap sunglasses or a wig that will be trodden on in the Revs toilets as soon as you arrive, does sting a little. Rounding up a few miscellaneous themed items could save you or your friends numerous, unnecessary Amazon orders.

In the whirlwind of excitement and anticipation that comes with preparing for university life, it’s easy to become overwhelmed by the task of consolidating years worth of belongings. Fortunately for you, due to another one of the wonderfully infuriating Cambridge quirks, you will have three rounds of packing and unpacking and repacking under your belt by the end of first year and the art of doing so mastered to perfection.