Welcome from the Graduate Parlour President
As well as first year undergraduates, we are welcoming a new cohort of graduates this week. GP President Sofia wrote this guest blog to welcome our new graduates to the College.
Dear new members, welcome to Cambridge, Pembroke and the GP!
The GP is the body of graduate students at Pembroke, but it’s also the name we give our common room: the GP is comprised of MBAs, MPhils, PhDs, 4th year undergraduates and Associate Members; the GP rooms are on the ground floor of M staircase in Ivy Court. We hold lots of social events there, but it’s a wonderful space to relax as well as work. The GP is always open and our members are free to help themselves to tea, coffee, snacks, newspapers, journals and magazines (Nature, The New Yorker etc.), at any time.
The GPC (Graduate Parlour Committee) runs the Graduate Parlour (MCR in other colleges) in Pembroke: we organise talks, raise money for charities, help you with welfare and equality issues, and represent you to the College and the University. The GPC also organises an active social schedule: from informal suppers to black-tie dinners, from parties with live music to family events, from out-of-town trips to tea and cake afternoons. We hold regular film nights and cocktail nights in the GP, and in the winter, we have an open fire to sit by and enjoy. An event worth remembering is BA Dinner, a three-course meal for graduates and their guests, held every Thursday during term.
The GPC also supports Pembroke Papers, a college-wide society run by grads. Every week during term time, just before BA dinner, Masters and PhD students give short presentations on their research or other topics of interest: previous talks have covered everything from black holes to queer theory. Pembroke Papers provides you with a great opportunity to become acquainted with your friends’ research and to become accustomed to presenting your own work in a friendly setting. The GP is an engaged academic community, but our members are also involved in a wide range of other activities: sports, musical theatre, choirs and start-ups, among many others.
When you arrive in College please come and meet us! The committee will be running drop-in sessions in the GP every day of Freshers Week, 10:00-12:00, to greet you and answer your questions, and the Freshers Week Schedule will be posted in your pigeonhole. The GP is now your GP and we’re here to help you make the most of it!
Warmest wishes,
Sofia Ropek Hewson (GP President) and the Graduate Parlour Committee.