YOU CAN’T SIDGE WITH US
Lily Amory
If you're a humanities student, you’ll know that it can feel as though we spend our lives at Sidgwick. It robs us of our sanity, our sleep, and our social life - but for now, it’s only week one. So we sat down with students and staff in the hope of conjuring some humanity into the apocalyptic brick vistas of Sidge. Here's what we found out: from dragonflies to afternoon pears, this is what's on your mind.
To start on a positive note, we asked what people were lacking in their lives. We found Miranda and Bella armed against the cold with their reusable cups of tea and skinny scarves:
Miranda began: “I would say… producing things. I feel like I am always consuming things, I feel I am reading other people’s ideas, watching or reading everything that other people have written… But I have this desire to create things myself, but I feel I can’t do that because I am so intensely reading and consuming other people’s stuff.”
Bella echoed her sadness over the university’s fixation on efficiency: “I would second that, and also things feeling like they are a waste of time when they are not going towards your degree. Like there are a lot of things I used to get joy out of, like drawing, and now going to life drawing is a ‘two hours that I don't do my degree in’.”
Others took a more practical approach. Hannah said, “I would probably find this whole thing a lot easier with more money… and more time.”
Amidst the chaos of the ARC cafe, surrounded by students scoffing down paninis and caffeine, we asked our friend Fran, If you could make time for one more thing in your day, what would it be? Fran sighed. “I wish I had time to sit and have lunch with people somewhere that wasn’t related to where I am studying. So I don't want to have lunch at Sidge and then go back to the library. I hate working lunches… I would like the funds and time for a nice lunch”.
We agreed, with Lily’s added insight: “like a coffee and actually lunch is so first year”.
While Fran was craving quality social time, many others were already burnt out. As Hannah put it: “I love hanging out with people, but probably me-time, I would like to make time for that… and swimming. Because every term I am like ‘this is the term I am going to become a swimming queen’.” Lily and Aoife felt the same; both wanted time to exercise although, when pushed, Lily also admitted to wanting to call her sister (a bit) more.
When asked where you go when you’re not at Sidgwick, everyone had the same idea: escapism, preferably with alcohol. As Hannah put it: “somewhere where I am drunk. Homerton College or ADC bar because you see everyone, it’s two birds with one stone.” Clearly even fun falls prey to Sidge-style efficiency. Fran felt the same, as maybe we all did: “I don't know, because can you fully relax anywhere if you’ve got in your brain that you have a deadline”. When we mentioned drinking at a club, she suggested “Grandma Groove or Revs”, drunk “so I have to not be present”.
Others were more wholesome, trying to get as far away from anyone as possible. Lily put it eloquently: “I like coming home at the end of the day… and ending the day.” Bella also favours self-isolation: “Shut my door, lock it and go like ahhh… breathe a sigh of relief.”
In case there is ever a day you don't want to come to Sidgwick, we’ve asked around for some alternatives. Fran loves “Waterstones ... I had a Bould Brothers moment but the music was awful. It was too loud, and Pret has the same problem.” Aoife and Lily (your lovely editors-in-chief) also love cafes: the Hot Numbers on Mill Road and ‘A new cafe I love called Stir Cambridge…it’s a 5-minute walk from the Portland Arms…really cool and there’s no one you would ever know there so you are in your own little world.”
That being said, we met someone who knows how to weather the seasons of Sidge. David has worked at the English Library for twenty years. Although he spends as much time as us surrounded by books, he has still managed to find time to pursue his passions, from Gary Snyder poetry to frogs and dragonflies. David is curious about his surroundings, but we wanted to ask him about our natural habitat instead. What has he noticed changing about Sidgwick in the last twenty years?
“When I first worked here people came in and it was sort of seen as a privilege to come here, you know that kind of attitude...nowadays it’s very much perceived as this is part of what we’re paying for and this is what is essential for our learning; ‘We need our stuff and you’re providing a service to us’, which is very, very true by the way… I don’t dispute that by any means. But yeah, that kind of juxtaposition has turned on its head.”
David made us think. Is Sidge soulless? Are we just here to get our money’s worth and get out? We aren’t sure. But there is a sweetness to the small moments here: Lily’s afternoon pear in ARC is her favourite part of every day and Hannah loves ‘Tea at 3’ in the English library. What really brings people to Sidge is connection … a reliable wifi connection, at least.