My school went on a trip to Peterhouse college, which was very interesting and beautiful. As we strolled through the charming gardens, we walked into a fancy room with refreshments on a side table. When we sat down for tea and biscuits (and orange juice), a woman walked in and announced herself as the outreach officer. “We are so honoured to have you here today! Welcome to Peterhouse!”. We stood up and thanked her as she beckoned us forwards into another room. When we sat down, she announced that we were doing a quiz. We all looked at each other in shock and nervousness. While it was hard it actually was really fun, but we got a tad competitive. It was about Cambridge and universities, and we learnt so much, like a typical course is 3 years, Cambridge University is 814 years old, and Peterhouse is the oldest, and there are over 8 million books in over 100 hundred universities across Cambridge.

Receiving the first lecture in this beautiful lecture theater, it was incredible. We talked about the experiences, the opportunities, and all the niche courses, such as Anglo-Saxon, Norse, and Celtic, or Theology. It was so interesting and entertaining! We learned a lot especially about opportunities, money, and experiences, and this is only the first lecture. When we went to break, we forgot we’d drunken all the hot water when we had tea and eaten all the good biscuits!

Afterwards, we went back into the lecture theatre, we talked about student life and types of universities. They are campus, city, and collegiate. Campuses provide accommodation, dining hall, library, sports facilities, pastoral support, and clubs and societies. But they do vary throughout colleges. Peterhouse is one of the smallest colleges, with only 80 students per year.

University can be expensive, so most people get out a tuition fee loan from the government. You can also get a living cost loan that encompasses all of your other costs, and you can also get a maintenance loan for all the little things. Usually though after the first year you gave to move out of student accommodation to other accommodation that usually you would share with a friend or roommate. There are also clubs and societies such as the Assassins guild, DJ society, and bubble tea society, and fun fact, people do actually climb the colleges! There is also monetary help and physical help for people with disabilities or who are neurodivergent.

We then heard from some student ambassadors who where all first years, and they were called Emily, who studied English literature, Sarah, who studied history, Betham, who studied English, and Teodor, who studied law. They talked about the food in Peterhouse, most first years don’t have very equipped kitchen, but there is catering on the grounds. Sarah is Muslim, and when there is meat on the menu, she just emails catering team a week in advance and ask for halal meat. They gave some tips such as bring snacks in the first/second week so you can bribe people to be friends with you.

We then had lunch and afterwards we went on a tour, starting with the library. This one is only for Peterhouse students, so we were only allowed in for a minute and we couldn’t go past the front desk. It used to be a museum of archaeology, it’s open to midnight, and it has 60,000 books in it. It was very old fashioned, very beautiful, and very elegant. It also has a computer room and a printer for those who might not have one in their dorm. Afterwards we walked past the theatre building, to the common room, which is open 24/7 and it’s got TVs, gaming consoles, and other appliances. After that we went into the bar that holds events throughout the year and it was quite cool. There was also a gym, but we couldn’t go in because you had to be trained to go in. We then went to the Gibson court, the newer of the two courts. There were lots of pretty flowers and blossoms around. Afterwards we went chapel, which was built in the 1600s, which was very ornate and colourful, full of beautiful stained glass. A short walk later we went to the dining hall, the oldest secular building in Europe still used for its original purpose.

St Peters terrace was built in the 1700s, and its the main building for first years, except for foreign students and disabled students who stay in The William Stone building. Connecting the chapel and dining hall is the old courtyard, which has housing for supervisors. After a minute break, we headed back into the lecture theater and started to learn about A-levels. We learnt how to pick our A-levels, both good and bad methods, such as pick the ones you like, or not deciding onbecause of your grades. We played a slight game about who’s applying for which courses using their A-levels. In general, science courses require science A-levels, arts courses are more relaxed, but some might need a specific subject. However sometimes if you apply for another college, you’ll get pulled into another college. At the end of the last lecture, we were told to explore the subjects we want to take in sixth form, such as read books or listen to them. Overall, it was an amazing trip, thank you so much Peterhouse! Cheers for letting me write this article!