On arrival at Cambridge, one must go through formal process of becoming a member of the university, which is called matriculation. At most colleges, matriculation is a pretty formal affair but my college, Hughes Hall, is comparatively informal.

The official part of matriculation involves signing two matriculation forms, one for the college and one for the university, during college registration, between meeting the college president’s secretary and picking up your room key.

The fun part, which is optional, is the dinner. Along with the PGCE students, who matriculated at the same time as us, we attended a pre-dinner drinks reception on the college lawn with the university’s vice-chancellor before heading over to the dining hall for a superb dinner, with copious quantities of wine and port. Once the formal part of the evening ended, we headed down to the college bar, which had one of its more profitable evenings.

I’m still not quite sure of the point of matriculation but it was good fun.