Did anyone else used to think that teachers only existed at school? That at the ring of the last bell they would go into hibernation under their desk until the next morning? Apologies in advance to anyone who lives here full-time, but that’s how I used to feel about the city of Cambridge. As far as I was concerned, the streets fell silent during the holidays and only came back to life when the first college puffer pulled into the train station. Then came 2021.

“As far as I was concerned, the streets fell silent during the holidays and only came back to life when the first college puffer pulled into the train station. Then came 2021”

I had decided to spend some time in Cambridge after the end of Michaelmas term to finish off my coursework and was planning to fly to Spain to see my parents for Christmas. My boyfriend was in a similar situation, so at first, we spent a few weeks happily enjoying the city and the lack of a queue at Pret. This all seemed fairly harmless since we had both booked our journeys home and were oblivious to the whispers of ‘Tier 4’ that were creeping in from all around us. That is, until the 23rd of December when everything descended into chaos. After a few hectic phone calls, we realised that neither of us could legally go home; suddenly our extended stay seemed a lot more permanent.

We ended up staying in Cambridge for four months before most people returned, a time that felt both like forever and no time at all. I spent most of my teenage years at boarding school, so the thought of staying in one place for that long was already bizarre, even without throwing a global pandemic into the mix. A locked-down college without its student population felt a bit like a ghost town, filled with faded memories of bops and formals gone by. Don’t get me wrong, I had an amazing few months and wouldn’t have had this weird time go any other way, but it did completely change my relationship with Cambridge as a place.

“I was ‘in charge’ of these festivities, of creating my own traditions and deciding how I wanted to spend these special days. I’d always thought of university as the place to delay becoming an adult, but in this case it made me feel more like a grown up than I ever had before”

There wasn’t much to do in lockdown, so a trip to Mainsburies quickly became the highlight of my week. There was one shelf in particular that always caught my eye, the one that changes its contents depending on any upcoming celebrations. Over those four months, I watched that shelf go through a lot of redecorating. From baubles at Christmas to sparklers at New Year’s or chocolate at Easter, it seemed to be my only indicator of the passage of time. These products always go on sale months before they should of course, so most Cambridge students will have seen them in passing, but very few would have had to purchase them. I bought all my stocking fillers, cheap prosecco and mini eggs from that shelf, not for any university recreation of a national holiday but for my actual celebration of it. Moving beyond our beloved Sidney Street, my college’s buttery has now become the place I got a free meal on Christmas Day, while Jesus Green is where I went for my Boxing Day walk. On New Year’s Eve, I picked up a Deliveroo order from Kings Parade then, not long after, spent my 20th birthday in the JCR room. I made pancakes in a tiny gyp on Shrove Tuesday and when Valentine’s Day rolled around I ordered my boyfriend’s gifts to plodge. My yearly milestones now have memories scattered all over the city of Cambridge. This was also the first time I was ‘in charge’ of these festivities, of creating my own traditions and deciding how I wanted to spend these special days. I’d always thought of university as the place to delay becoming an adult, but in this case, it made me feel more like a grown-up than I ever had before. These celebrations were significant in getting me through lockdown, they helped me feel grounded and appreciate the city as much more than just where I go to university.

One of the few silver linings of this pandemic has been the opportunity to grow up and become my own person in a city I never thought I’d become so attached to. For better or for worse, it will always mean more to me than it would have if I hadn’t spent those four months building a new relationship with it. Suddenly, Cambridge isn’t just my term-time university address anymore. It’s become the place where I celebrated a new calendar year, not just an academic one. The place I had my Christmas dinner, not just a Bridgemas one. Most importantly, it became the place where I first felt like a grown-up and made memories that reached beyond the limits of term time. It became my home.