The undergraduate diaries – this week: crumble, camels and Mrs McCann

Robin Irvine, 22, is studying archaeology and anthropology at Corpus Christi College. He was brought up in Scotland where he went to both independent and state schools. Here he describes how a single gap year turned into three as he wrestled with the tricky problem of where his real interests lay. No rhubarb, no golden caster sugar and certainly no self-raising flour. How can you make a good crumble for a rainy day without these ingredients? It was raining but it wasn't Cambridge, where I was meant to be at the start of the Easter term. I was stuck in Istanbul, trapped by a cloud of volcanic debris. What was supposed to have been a quiet few weeks of revision with my mother in Bulgaria had turned into an excuse to explore my love of food with Turkish friends in Istanbul while I waited for the summons back to the airport.