At the University of Cambridge, the academic year has three eight-week terms. I’m now celebrating a successful conclusion to my first term at Cambridge – a good time to look back and reflect.

A term goes by really fast, but it’s a bit more than eight weeks in practice. In fact, the Cambridge academic calendar is quite confusing! Lectures don’t start at the beginning of term, but rather a week or two later. “Full Term” begins two days before the start of lectures and ends two days after. Students and Fellows must be in residence in Cambridge during the entirety of Full Term, with few exceptions. The days at the beginning of Full Term are time for academic advising and settling in before lectures start. The days at the end are not for exams, as they would be at most US institutions. Instead, they allow for supervision and academic advising meetings after the last lectures are over.

My previous post was published Monday, January 19, the day before the first day of Full Term. As I write today, it’s Thursday, March 26, the day after the last day of Lent Term.

Although there are precisely eight weeks of lectures, the first lectures are on a Thursday and the last are on a Wednesday. Since my workweek is Monday through Friday, I’ll number my weeks as such below – starting, of course, from 0.