Room
You will either live "in College" in a dorm or in College-owned houses that are outside the main
College grounds. You will not have a roommate, as roommates are very rare at Cambridge (they only exist in some Colleges and even there, only upon request or special arrangement). Your room will come equipped with basic furniture: a bed, closet, dresser, desk and chair. Some rooms may also have sinks, basic bedding, and en suite bathrooms.
Kitchen
In general, rooms have a kitchenette (if not a full kitchen) nearby, with a shared refrigerator, a hob with two burners, a microwave, and a sink. The setup is comparable to McGregor kitchens. You can cook pasta, soup and stir-fry easily, but anything else might be cramped. Some Colleges put small fridges in each room. The off-College houses and some of the nicer rooms might have more extensive facilities, like an oven or full stovetop.
Laundry
Laundry facilities will either be located somewhere on College grounds or in your off-College
houseCollege house. Prices vary from free to £2.40 per wash and dry cycle. Some Colleges also offer to clean
your clean your laundry for free (within a given weight limit per week), returning it about a week later.
Internet Access
Your room should have both WIFI and Ethernet access. Eduroam is the cross-Cambridge WIFI network. Old buildings with stone are not great for WIFI connectivity so there are lots of places around the city and likely within your colleges with no coverage.
Decorating
Historic preservation is an important principle at Cambridge and in the UK in general so the rules about room decoration are fairly strict. You can hang posters etc with blue tac (cheapest place to buy it is Pound Land). Great places to find decorations at low costs are at the charity shops around town or in the Cambridge Market. For example, buy a set of old postcards for 20p each to decorate your walls or print and hang up pictures of family and friends from home.
Security
CCTV (Closed Circuit TV) cameras monitor many parts of College and University buildings and
surroundings and surroundings (including off-College housing). In addition, College porters are monitoring
College monitoring College surroundings most of the time, if not all of the time. Nonetheless, Cambridge University
is University is by no means a closed campus; in fact, it is much less so than MIT, as there is no defined
University defined University "campus", with Colleges and departments scattered throughout the city. College
groundsCollege grounds, however, are usually fenced off and gated, and those gates are locked at night. Thus,
generally generally speaking, College grounds are more protected than MIT's campus. However, there
have there have been rare incidents of muggings and beatings around Cambridge (just like in Cambridge, MA).
The The best advice, when you're out at night, is to walk in groups and well-lit areas.
Moving out
You will most likely be asked to move out of your room during vacation times because many of
the of the Colleges rent out space for conferences and other functions. Generally you'll be allowed to
leave to leave posters on the wall, but everything else must go. Most Colleges do provide a limited
amount limited amount storage space, but you may have to apply for it ahead of time. Or you can opt to stay in
your in your room during vacation (a fair number of MIT students do this over the break between Lent
and Lent and Easter terms), but you will probably have to request permission ahead of time and pay extra
rent extra rent for this period, £7-£15 a night depending on your room and your college. Also, staying over
vacation over vacation doesn't necessarily guarantee that you'll be able to keep your room. If your college
requests college requests you to move out during this period, though, try talking to your tutor or the CME office,
especially if you think taking time out to move might interrupt your study schedule. As a general
rule general rule to follow for the year, sometimes you'll be amazed at what you can get if you just ask.