Trinity
Welcome to Trinity College!
Trinity College is one of the bigger colleges at Cambridge, with a greater focus on STEM subjects, particularly Maths. It’s located in the very centre of Cambridge with good access to many locations. It also happens to be the richest college in terms of its endowment (a whopping £1.5 billion!) and has the largest court of any Oxbridge college.
Firstly, congratulations for getting into Trinity, Cambridge’s best college (we are totally not biased!) Our names are Inaas Asad and Aadam Iftikhar and we are Trinity College’s Islamic Society Representatives. Inaas is in second year studying English Literature, and Aadam is in third year studying Engineering. This means we are the first port of call for any Mulims at Trinity (Freshers and current students alike). Our emails are ia413@cam.ac.uk (Inaas) and maai2@cam.ac.uk (Aadam) Feel free to contact us about any questions or concerns you may have with regards to life at Trinity.
Pros
Trinity is at the heart of Cambridge means that you’ll have quick access to many of the main locations in the town, especially the main Sainsbury’s (or Mainsbury’s in Cambridge lingo).
Trinity’s library is quite extensive, meaning people who study essay subjects can get all the information they need. The library and the nearby Wren library are also great places to study by yourself or in a group.
The Wren library holds some of the oldest books and scriptures and is also absolutely stunning
Trinity also has its own set of sports grounds and courts.
Trinity’s servery serves great food at a very reasonable price.
Trinity has beautiful, well-maintained grounds (see Great Court picture above) as well as an amazing Great Hall.
Trinity has MONEYYYY - absolutely great for financial support
The formals are really fancy and Great Hall is beautiful
There’s MANY entrances to various parts of the college, so there’s shortcuts to different places e.g there’s shortcuts from entrances to Blue Bloar accomodation and Wolfson accommodation that lead to Sainbury’s
We have the avenue bridge where you can see people punting through the River Cam
Cons
Trinity’s washing facilities are quite old and there aren’t a large amount of washing machines/dryers.
Trinity’s gym (in the same location as the sports grounds) is quite poorly equipped and does not have any personal trainers.
Trinity does not have the close-knit feel of other smaller colleges.
Trinity’s accommodation often does not come with many cooking facilities, meaning that you will often be reliant on the servery or Mainsbury’s for food.
Washing Facilities
Trinity has free washing facilities. To use the facilities, you would need your camcard to access the rooms, and you’d also need to go to the Porter’s Lodge to get a card for the facilities themselves. This card will typically have 10 credits on it - a washing machine load is 2 credits and a tumble dryer load is 1 credit. Certain washing machines (e.g. the ones located near Wolfson) don’t require cards, but the dryers do. You can then use the facilities by putting the card in the right slot. However, the cards can be unreliable and sometimes don’t work, so you might have to get new ones. The facilities are never that busy but try to go towards the beginning/end of the day to avoid the worst times.
Prayer Space
The prayer room is located in Whewell’s Court Room B3b (called the Reflection Room), but is small and not often used as people tend to just pray in their rooms. You will need your CamCard to access it.
Halal Food
You can request a halal meal for lunch and dinner, but this must be done about a day in advance through Upay. Otherwise, the servery unfortunately does not serve any halal meat, so you will have to stick with the vegetarian option if you want to eat in the main hall. You can also request halal food for formals when you sign up for tickets, which will most likely be chicken, fish or vegetarian. You can then collect pieces of paper at the start of the formal to let the servers know to bring you halal food.
Fridge/Freezer Provision
The college accommodation office should provide you with a fridge/freezer in your room if you ask them for one. However, the accommodation office may not reply to your email requesting one, so you should follow up with them to ensure they’ve provided you with one.
Extra Info
There is a Trinity Muslims Whatsapp group chat - if you’d like to be added, email either of us 🙂
Ensuite
A lot of rooms have an ensuite but it can be difficult to get one even if you ask for it due to the balloting system. For Freshers, most en-suites are found in the Wolfson Building, and for subsequent years, you’ll find en-suites mainly in Burrell's Field, Blue Boar and New Court. Almost every room normally has a sink that you can use to perform wudhu.
Concluding Remark
Trinity is overall a stunning college and has lots of iconic legacies. Trinity also has great financial support provisions (e.g the Trinity Maintenance grant) which helps with accommodation/food costs. The Muslim community is small, but very welcoming and a really nice source of support :)
Relevant college emails:
Accommodation: accomodation@trin.cam.ac.uk
Chaplains: anne.strauss@trin.cam.ac.uk john.summers@trin.cam.ac.uk
Signed,
Inaas (ia413)
Aadam (maai2)