What to bring

All college rooms contain:

• A bed, mattress (& mattress protector), duvet, 2 pillows
• Desk, chair(s), wardrobe
• Fridge, hob (in the kitchen!)
  
• Pin board fixed to the wall
  

Some college rooms contain:

• Toaster, kettle, microwave (every Cripps kitchen contains these, but those in Chapel & North Court tend not to. Remember though that Chapel & North Court rooms usually share kitchens between 2 people,  so it might be worth waiting before you know what the other person’s buying)
• Desk lamp
• Reading lamp

(and so you may want to hold off buying these until you get here)

College rooms do not contain (and so you should bring):

• Duvet cover, pillowcases, bedsheets
• Hangers for your wardrobe
  
• Towels
  
• Extension leads
  
• Mixed selection of cutlery, crockery and kitchen utensils. Plates, bowls, glasses, mugs, knives (inc. a sharp
  knife), forks, spoons, tin opener, bottle opener, saucepan, frying pan, grater, colander…
  
• Alarm clock or loud smartphone with alarm – I can absolutely assure you won’t be making any 9 o’clock lectures otherwise!
  

When you get here, we’d recommend buying:

• Stationery (i.e. paper, pens, pencils etc) – the Rymans on Sidney Street does good NUS discounts
• Washing up liquid & tea towels
• Shower gel, shampoo, conditioner, deoderant, toothpaste etc
• Basic medications (e.g. paracetamol, ibuprofen, flu relief etc)
• Washing tablets/powder
• Basic foodstuffs such as cereal, milk, tea, coffee etc

Things you might want to wait and see about:

• A printer. There are relatively cheap printing options in the library. You can even set your laptop up to print to the library printer without leaving your room.
• We’d recommend NOT buying Microsoft Office before you get here. You can get a free version of the latest Office from the University Computing Service, so buying it in advance could end up being a bit of a waste of money
  
• Rugs/cushions/lamps and other ‘stuff’. It’s so much easier to buy these sorts of things once you get here and can really assess what you want for your room.
  
• Posters and decorative items (there’s a Picture Rental scheme in the first week). The college does have a rule though that blu (or white) tac, selotape and other adhesives cannot be used on any painted surfaces – so if you want to hang items around other parts of the room, you are only permitted to use adhesive picture hanging strips.
  
• Black-tie evening wear – you’re very unlikely to want anything very formal during Freshers’ Week, so you’ll probably only need these from the second term onwards!
  

Other things to consider:

• The majority of students bring a laptop, it’s recommended although not essential. The College computer rooms are well-stocked and accessible 24/7! If you do buy a laptop, it’s worth getting it within a month of term starting, as you can then claim back half of the cost on the Learning and Research fund .
• Similarly, a lot of people arrive with a bike, but there are plenty of bike shops and second hand sales that will take place in Cambridge (especially during Freshers’ Week!)
• Gowns are available for purchase when you sign in for the first time, but are also available from Ryder & Amies and Ede & Ravenscroft. The latter sells slightly more expensive ones, though realistically the quality is around about the same.
• A form of identification (such as a driving licence or passport) is extremely useful
• UK plug adaptors for EU/ international students.