Abbey College Cambridge Main Entrance

Krys’s Blog: Returning to Cambridge

24th October 16

Last academic term, I heard from my tutor that we would have a new campus in September. At that moment, I did not really think about it because I had no idea what a new school campus would look like in the UK, I totally forgot about it during the summer holiday.

I arrived Cambridge on the 10th of September. A reminder appeared on my mobile phone’s screen, I had received a new email. “We are going to move to new campus tomorrow”. I began to imagine the outline of our new Abbey College Cambridge.

There are two big blocks, one of them has a striking LED billboard written with ABBEY COLLEGE CAMBRIDGE, and this was the first sight when I crossed the automatic front door. It differed from last year which had 3 separate buildings, they were not situated in the same street. Obviously, we can save time now, avoiding walking from Station Road to Regent Terrace.

When walking through the lobby, you can see there are lots of lockers which are prepared for students who need to place their books and belongings. Now I can get rid of the weight from heavy textbooks and files.

It is absolutely the most intimate setting. Some of my friends think that the best pleasure is sitting in the canteen. Many students went to restaurants last year as there weren’t enough seats for them in Norman House, so we spent at least £8 for lunch. Now, we do not need to be worried as the new canteen is big enough for us all. Indeed, school has hired a team to cooks for us, in order to take care of our health and cater to different tastes of international students from various countries. The team offers different sorts of menus everyday including meats, soups, vegetables, desserts and fruit. There is even a special meal for vegetarians. All of them are highly cost effective.

What’s more, a new coffee bar is open and many kinds of coffee is offered. We have a playground where students can relax and exercise after long period of lessons, school provides us variety of sport equipment for free.

School is not only the place where we study, but it is also our family. I am glad to see my all my friends and teachers again, they have not changed, they care about me just like before, treat me as the same as their own family members. “Abbey is a community energised by the love of learning and the pursuit of outstanding achievement for all.” I intend to enjoy the rest of the year in this lovely new environment and achieve my targets for universities. In Abbey, I can learn and accept love at the same time.

I think I will miss this lovely and fabulous community when I leave it. I will leave with fond memories of my time in Abbey College Cambridge.

Li Yunxi (Krys) is from Sichuan Province in China. Krys joined Abbey College Cambridge in January 2015 and is studying on our 18-month A Level Programme.