Christ's
I applied to Christ’s on the logical basis that it had two cats and its own swimming pool. Finch and Baines are gorgeous, and it’s true there’s nothing sweeter than gaslighting your friends into believing the pool isn’t that cold, but even these star qualities pale compared to the community I feel so lucky to have met here. In first year, everything had the thrill of novelty, from early supervisions to inaugural trips to Mainsburys, but I don’t think the excitement of a Christ’s formal will ever properly wear off. After glimpsing our year’s WhatsApp group microcelebrities at Matriculation Dinner, we celebrated Bridgemas, College marriages and Halfway Hall, and saw the Northern Lights illuminate Third Court. We quickly discovered that the real best thing about College was its proximity to Mash – followed, perhaps, by when the wisteria blooms in First Court. The forever-iconic Christ’s May Ball let us twirl around Fellows Garden and get way too invested in the fake casino.
Second year brought JL house parties and kitchen mishaps. In sport, some of us secured Blues, while others, let’s say, confirmed why our College’s reputation for excellence is confined to academics. Another embattled JCR committee began the doomed karmic cycle of ‘resurrecting’ Christ’s bops, and unspeakable quantities of scones were consumed at Tutor’s Tea. So far, third year has imparted the hard-hitting lesson that your real friends are the same seven-ish people you always see in the Lloyd Room. Pre-emptive nostalgia is a finalist’s curse (“Guys, this is our last upper hall brunch ever!”) but I’m looking forward to graduating with you all or coming back to visit next year! Thank you for making my time at Christ’s so special. Ruby Livingston, HSPS
