Student Profiles – Jen, Modern and Medieval Languages
Jen is a first-year MML (French and Spanish) student from the West Midlands. At A Level, she studied History, Geography, and French.
Why did you choose Trinity Hall?
I liked the location of the college and the friendly nature of the students who gave me a tour.
How did you prepare for the application process and interviews? Was it what you expected?
I had one mock interview with my school and practised admission tests – in all honesty, my real interview was very different to my mock. I wasn’t expecting my interviewers to be as friendly and reassuring as they were. I think it’s important to see the interviews as a practice to see if you like the supervision-style of teaching at Cambridge, rather than being scared for them.
Why did you choose your course?
I’d always known I wanted to study French as it was my favourite subject for all of secondary school, but I chose Spanish much later as Cambridge MML consists of two languages. I chose Spanish because I had enjoyed the Spanish history paper of my A Level History course.
How does your course compare to your expectations?
My course is much more fun than I expected! It’s been really interesting to discover that I really enjoy the new texts, especially ones from periods I would never have expected to encounter before. I love the way that the literature and culture paper of first year French covers such a broad range of texts, from New Wave cinema to medieval poetry.
How are you taught?
I have around 10 contact hours each week, mostly in small groups – I have grammar and translation classes for both languages, with literature, oral and grammar supervisions as well as around 2/3 lectures each week. I’m also looking forward to my year abroad, which I’m hoping to spend in the south of France!
How do you manage your workload?
I love to keep changing locations whilst I study, using my room, faculty libraries, coffee shops and the Jerwood (college library). For me, studying in groups is important during the busiest weeks of term – it still feels like I’m having some social interaction, even when I have to spend most of my time studying.
What do you like to do when you’re not working?
I enjoy rowing and coxing with the Trinity Hall boat club, and I’m the social media secretary for LingSoc (the University Linguistics Society). I also study a Polish open course offered by the university.
