I think at one point I was in a Russian play. Without even speaking the language. Cambridge is amazing for things like that
to be an open space. And contents of F11 are decidedly different. “I had a huge stereo and loads of tapes,” she says. “That was in the days before iPods, of course. But I don’t remember bringing many books. I ended up buying lots of law books for my course, which were very expensive.” Murray’s bookcase holds many maths and physics textbooks, plus a half-read copy of Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 and Ben Goldacre’s Bad Science. “I’m enjoying Fahrenheit 451 but I’ve had to stop because I just don’t have time to read for fun,” she explains. “I brought a book of Russian poetry and I tried to keep my interest in the country going,” says Husain. “Cambridge is amazing for things like that. I think at one point I was in a Russian play. Without even speaking the language.” An understandable aversion to stripped-down decor isn’t the only thing the two have in common. Neither felt homesick when they first arrived at Cambridge (Husain came up in 1992, to read law). Having been to boarding school, Husain says living away from home wasn’t a problem. She had also spent a gap year living in Russia and in Pakistan, where she did work experience on a newspaper in Islamabad. “I remember being hugely excited because I’d wanted to come here since I was 13,” she says. “I knew that this was where I wanted to study and I felt this tremendous excitement that this was really happening. “And I was far too busy to feel homesick,” says Murray, whose timetable displays a dizzying array of lectures and sports fixtures. “There’s too much going on. I want to fit something into every hour. I want to experience everything.” “That’s exactly how I remember the natural scientists,” says Husain. “They were the ones with the most demanding work schedules but they were also the ones who were rowing at six in the morning. Mind you, I also tried rowing in my first term. I remember getting up early and cycling down the hill to the boathouses. “I had virtually forgotten about it; I hadn’t even told my husband about it. Then when I was covering the 2012 Olympics, I was interviewing the Team GB women’s rowing team. Live on air, I said: ‘Oh yes, I used to row when I was at university.’ And my husband was watching at home and he said: ‘You made that up!’ And I said ‘No, I really didn’t! It is true, honest!’ It was a big feature of my first term here.” Returning to her old room has been a poignant experience, Husain says. “Everything came back as soon as I walked into the room. I remember very well the moment of coming up the stairs for the first time. You open the door. It shuts behind you – and your time at Cambridge has begun.”
The best... chips in Cambridge Gabrielle Schwarz is reading English Literature at Pembroke Its official name is The Gardenia, but everyone knows it familiarly, familially, as Gardies. Indeed, stepping into Gardies often feels like arriving at the home of a relative hosting a family reunion. It’s probably the photos that line the walls from floor to ceiling. These snaps taken of customers – usually caught at 3am wearing bright plastic sunglasses or a stupid hat found on the floor of a club – are updated frequently, continually embracing the latest additions to the clan of Gardies’ regulars. Needless to say, Gardies does great chips: chunky, hearty hunks of potato, poles apart from the lightweight equivalents served nearby. As anyone who cares enough about fried potatoes will know, there are many factors to address when crafting the perfect chip. Gardies succeeds in every respect: shape (substantial but not wedge-like), seasoning (neither overly salty nor bland), and texture (crisp exterior giving way to soft interior). In contrast, the limp, pallid product served elsewhere leave me feeling queasier than the round of
drinks that made chips seem like a good idea in the first place. And then there is the context. Until recently, my only complaint about Gardies was the absence of chicken nuggets on the menu, but Gardies is a great listener. Now you can accompany your chips with the nuggets or burger that always seem so inexplicably desirable on the way home from a night out. I’d personally go further and recommend stepping outside your native comfort zone: Gardies is unique in providing – upstairs – genuinely good Mediterranean cuisine, food that would make my Turkish grandfather proud. Chips with a side of vine leaves, anyone? The hummus, in particular, is far superior to anything Sainsbury’s can offer and provides a much better alternative to drowning your chips in acrid own-brand ketchup. And so, in providing this essential student service, Gardies continues to reign supreme over its competitors, with indoor seating, later opening hours, and – most importantly – the best chips in Cambridge.
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