Thursday 19 January 2012

Photo Diary: A Tour of Selwyn College

I really like the walking tours that Shannon posts about in her blog, so I've decided to do my own little series of tours around Cambridge, with the main challenge being to do a tour of every single college in Cambridge - bear in mind we have 31 colleges!

Song of the day: Nothing To Lose / Let Me Go by Zuno

So today, to start off, here is a tour of Selwyn, my very own college:

Selwyn was founded in 1882 by George Augustus Selwyn. One of his descendants attends this college and I share my lectures with him!

A view of the front of the college. This is the main entrance.

This is a dedication to the founder of the college. As he is from New Zealand, the college's official mascot is the kiwi bird. The unofficial mascot is Gus the cat.

A close up of the main entrance. Since Selwyn is not in the centre of the town, we don't get many tourists so I stood out quite a bit when taking these photos!

A view of Old Court. This is the court that I live in, the oldest part of the college. In the autumn, the vines turn a deep red and it's really beautiful to see.

Our Chapel.

The main hall and the bar. Selwyn is one of the more modest colleges in terms of finance and size, but it still takes a while to walk around the whole of the college grounds!

A closer up view of the steps leading up to the main hall where meals are served.

And some pretty architecture of the top of the building!

This is where the Master lives. Yes, we have someone here with a title of Master. Next I left Old Court, and walked down a path that leads to Ann's Court. To my left is the college library but I couldn't get any nice photos of it - will try again next time I go.

This is the back of Ann's Court, where I lived for the last two years. We had ensuites, huge rooms, really nice kitchens, and some of my best memories of Cambridge. Ann's Court was opened in 2008, so it's really new!

An artsy shot! ^^

I walked through the tunnel, and now come to the inside of Ann's Court.

Early flowers blooming in winter!

The Ann's Court bike sheds.

In the spring, there are some lovely cherry blossoms here. When the weather gets warmer, I'll take you on a tour of the college gardens.

Back to the main entrance.

A few minutes down the road is Cripps Court, the accommodation for all the freshers. It was nice living there as my whole year group lived together so we got to know each other really quickly. Great when we have a reputation for being one of the friendliest colleges! Also, between each pair of rooms, there is a shared shower, so you get to know your "shower buddy" really well too.

At this point, the sun finally came out.

This is a pretty lucrative fast food van that seems to live here. No one knows how the owner makes a living...

And finally, the Cripps Court lawn!


Well, I hope you enjoyed this tour! Today I had my first lectures of the semester, and also managed to fit in a twenty minute run. Since it's pretty late right now, I shall see you in another post! ^^

Yishi xxx

10 comments:

  1. Lovely photos! The architectural just made me go "OOH!" every five minutes -laughs-

    I'm looking forward to the flower tour. /flowerjunkie

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    1. Hehe thanks...although you may have to wait until late spring for that! :)

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  2. Your college campus is so beautiful! The architecture looks amazing and the buildings look like they are full of history :)

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    1. Aww, thanks for your comment! And yes, the buildings definitely all have their own stories and traditions to tell, especially in the much older colleges! ^^

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  3. The front view of the school, reminds me a bit of the Hogwart's School of Ministry.

    Thank you for visiting my blog, I'm now following your blog :)

    Stephipay | The Singing Working Gal
    http://stephipaysuyo.blogspot.com/

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    1. Funny you say that, as this weekend, I was at a college in Oxford where a scene from Harry Potter was filmed! :)

      And thanks for the follow! ^^

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  4. These are such beautiful pictures! I would love to explore this college. I lived in London for six months but I never had a chance to visit Cambridge. I hope I'll get to go on a day like this!

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    1. If you are ever in the UK, definitely come to Cambridge! It's so beautiful, and the weather is usually really nice :)

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  5. Selwyn looks so pretty! I'd never heard of it but now I want to visit!

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