Cambridge pt. 1

So…I’ve never been a fan of blogging. I did once update(operate?) a xanga, something that I haven’t touched or looked at in years, and all things considered it was pretty sad (I think all I really did was post comic strips and pictures) In any event, I figured that given this opportunity I have to study abroad blog posts are probably the easiest way for me tell you all what’s been happening so that I don’t have to keep saying the same things to everyone (but I guess if you’re really curious or want further insights, gchat me) Heads up: this is probably going to be long, so if you are not too keen on scrolling through a bunch of text, feel free to skim, I won’t mind.

I’ve only been at Cambridge for 2 weeks (or a little longer since I started writing this), but thus far it’s been rather grand. It feels really strange though being back in the classroom and being at school in a different country, but I’ve very much enjoyed figuring out how things work and seeing what there is to discover.

General timeline: I arrived in Cambridge by train from London (~45 min.) on 7/2 and stayed at some odd youth hostel where a few other people in the program were also staying. Orientation/welcome day was the next day (7/3) starting at 10am and people trickled in all throughout the day. It really felt like freshman year all over again: people steadily arriving, everyone going through the customary “hi what’s your name?” + school + year/age + home etc. and in the back of your mind you’re wondering if you’ll actually be able to keep track of everyone’s name. We had a long weekend our first week so we all headed out to Scotland, but more on that later.

Lodging and the town of Cambridge: While I’m not actually living in one of the college dorms, I’m living on a street just south of Pembroke College. The street is a short one with houses on both sides, and pretty much every house is inhabited by students whether they be members of this program, Cambridge grad students, or some other variety. There are 6 other people in my house: 1 grad student, and 5 from my program. The house itself is 4 stories + basement/kitchen + small backyard and 1-2 people live on each floor. I’m not sure how things work during the actual school year, but everyone here has a single which is a little excessive because the rooms are really quite large. My own living situation is a strange case because I have 2 rooms that aren’t connected: 1 has my desk and chair, and the other my bed + dressers + table (I guess they didn’t know what to do with the smaller room so they just decided to split one completed room up) Oh and there’s an added luxury which isn’t really isn’t a luxury for people here because it’s a common activity that still fascinates me: every house or dorm has cleaning people that come and change your sheets and towels I think 3 times a week

Cambridge as a whole isn’t exactly what I expected, but it’s all good. It is essentially a college town, except the University of Cambridge is composed of 33 smaller colleges such as Pembroke that are dotted all throughout the city. Mixed in amongst all the school campuses are private residences, a river, churches, and surprisingly, quite a bit of tourist stuff. There’re a bunch of odd restaurants, clothing stores, and things like an indoor mall that really feel out of place. The school itself has been around for 800 years and it’s really cool walking up and down the streets (some of which are of the cobblestone variety) and looking at the different architecture and seeing how everything mixes together. I think my favorite spots so far are the bridges that connect a lot of the colleges to odd trails that run through parks because they give really good views of people punting and trees and ducks. The parks are nice too.

The who’s-who: The program is 340 students not including our staff. Staff is composed of I think 20 individuals all of whom study at Cambridge (but at different colleges) The students come from all over the place but most of them come from the States. There’s a good population of UC people (all campuses accounted for except Merced I think not sure though) with about 35 people coming from Berkeley. The other US students come from a bunch of states (Utah, North Carolina, Indiana, Hawaii etc.) and there’s also a good number of Ivy kids from Harvard and Yale (all the Ivy leagues minus Brown I think are represented here). There is also a good handful of international students: there’s a contingent of Indian people (it’s weird because there are people our age, but then there are also several adults/parents which makes for a really weird experience especially when they’re in your class), couple people from China and Hong Kong, met some guy from the Netherlands, France, and probably a few others that I can’t think of now. In any event going to classes and stuff with all these different people is a really cool and unique experience because each of us brings our own stories, areas of interest and expertise, and knowledge and we learn together. Granted, there are a lot of really smart people here and it’s strange sometimes being in class with them especially since they think differently and act differently in the classroom than what I’m used to at Berkeley. Other than the students and staff there are the people who serve us food in the cafeteria and lunch (some of them are great, some are really cranky) all of whom I’m vaguely familiar with at this point and the porters. I guess the easiest way to describe them is security guys? Dunno their roles are a little weird they’re a staff of I think 12 guys and every college operates a group of porters. They’re not porters in the traditional sense where they take your bags and whatnot rather they chill in their lodge (a room right next to the gate/heavy wooden door that serves as the entrance for every college) and handle everyday things like lock-outs, lightbulb replacements, advise, screening etc. they’re your go-to handy men who are all 50+ years old but they’re really nice and helpful.

Academics:  While I’m here I’m taking 3 courses that count as 3 semester classes (works out perfectly, but kinda sucks because while I’m taking all my classes for letter grades the majority of people here are only getting elective credits so they’re taking classes on a pass/no-pass basis). One class lasts for the entire 8-week and that’s my British Culture class which focuses on the Bloomsbury group: a group of intellectuals who gathered together and became highly influential on writing and theory and all that other intellectual stuff (yeah…); and then two 4-week classes. For the month of July I’m taking Behavioral Ecology: science stuff but it’s been a lot of fun because our experiments involve activities including feeding ducks and surfing through “dating websites” (craigslist) and making observations about animal mating systems. In August I’ll be taking the Development of the City, 1800-1900.

Overall the program offers I think around 40 courses? Rough estimate; but there’s a really wide variety which is cool. There’s your run-of-the-mill econ and finance classes but there’s also stuff like the history of spies, gothic architecture, and drawing classes, but probably the most unfortunate class is this math lab where you apparently just do problems for 4 hours at a time (including Saturday classes which only they have) Each class ranges from 10-35 people and are taught by professors or dr.’s or other people who are all affiliated with Cambridge so it’s a good mix. The schedules are extremely bizarre however as everyday and every week my class schedule is different, so one day I’ll have a lecture starting at 4:50p, but the next day I’ll have a lecture for the same class but at 9am.

All classes are taken either at King’s College (in random rooms with elaborate histories) or at the Cambridge Union Society Building (it’s essentially a big club-house for lack of a better term. The Union Society is Cambridge’s equivalent of the student body, but it’s more serious than our American version). The building itself is pretty old and it’s not really meant for classes but what they’ve done is clear out several of the rooms (dining room, pool room, part of the library) and added desks and chairs and portable screens and there’s your classroom. The Union Society building also has this big debating chamber where we occasionally hear lectures from famous people (so far we’ve heard from some professor from UPenn about Cambridge History and from the ex-head of MI6 who spoke about national security) Good stuff. Oh but their café sandwiches suck.

British Culture (cuisine included): Above all, I still just like listening to them talk. Hehe. But really it’s been really cool just walking around and watching/listening people (as creepy as that might sound). I’m still getting used to the way they say things (quite a few people I’ve ask don’t know where the restroom is, but they know where the toilet is) and I’m still getting used to how much it sucks to pay with stuff in pounds. Still getting used to the weather too (not sure if it’s a universal thing this year seeing as global warming has done weird things to weather) but it’s strange; one some days it will pour for half an hour, then clear up for a few hours, then pour and thunder again. Probably time to invest in a solid umbrella. The Brits also have an odd habit of closing up shop around 5pm everything weekend so it makes for a frustrating time when you need to buy something or say, find something to eat after 5pm.

Food as a whole is really…lacking and unimpressive, but that’s ok because I had zero expectations coming here so I’m not really disappointed. Fish and chips here are good (and you actually do need to add the salt and vinegar because they don’t typically flavor the fish) and the meat pies remind me a lot of stuff I used to eat in South Africa which is awesome, but other than that it’s rather lackluster, especially the food served at the school cafeterias. We are each given a set amount of money for the duration of our stay, and unfortunately at the rate I’m going I’ll likely be done with 3 weeks still to go. Lunch is typically a Panini ordered at the Pembroke Café (a really nice little place tucked in the back of the college amongst the dorms that serves hot sandwiches, coffee, and alcohol if you wish); the alternative being some gross cold sandwich from the union society building. Dinner is served in the Pembroke cafeteria and while the food isn’t bad (selections vary daily: they’ll have fish, local English favorites like toad in the hole: sausages baked in Yorkshire pudding, meatloaf) it’s just not very good, and it’s expensive. Meals are paid per item so things add up pretty quickly.

One awesome occasion though is formal dinner. So apparently it’s a common tradition for the students to get dressed up (suit and tie/dress) and enjoy a nice(er) dinner (candles and clothe napkins and all) in one of the grand dining halls. Before the meal of course you must have drinks: a choice of red or white wine (taken from the college cellars, I’m told that every college has one) or juice, served to you by waiters in glass goblets; and all taken casually on the lawn usually overlooking the entire school around dusk where the students are expected to mingle for a while with their drinks in hand. The English certainly know how to do things right. The meals are taken in a grand hall (think Harry Potter) where a prayer in Latin is said before food is served (and everyone stands up for this) and the meal that commences is usually of the three-course variety with coffee/tea served at the end. Our program makes the first and final dinners mandatory, and then during the program we choose 3 formal halls to attend that are held either at Pembroke or Kings (sad part about Pembroke: their dining hall just started renovations the weekend before we arrived so in the meantime they have set up tents which will have to suffice for our stay)

I remember thinking to myself “what the heck am I doing here…” on the first formal hall (which occurred on day 2) as I stood on the lawn of Queens College. Here we are, an odd mix of students from all over the world, standing on a well kept lawn in Cambridge during the summertime, sipping wine, wearing suits, and making conversation. There is something strangely surreal about being here and there are times where I can’t help but feel out of place. In spite of that though, I try to remind myself of this great privilege and how blessed I am to have this opportunity, and seeing as I’m only here for a few months I might as well try to make the best of it and enjoy.

So I’ve written plenty, but there’s more to tell, but I suppose that will have to wait for another day.

Oh, and it’d be nice to hear from you all. I still very much enjoy getting letters in the mail there’s something extremely satisfying and nostalgic about it all. My address while I’m here is
Jeremy Pi
Pembroke-King’s Programme
King’s College
Cambridge
CB2 1^ST
UK

As an added incentive…if you can find time to write me I can guarantee that I will write back (handwritten letter, stamps, the whole shebang) before I leave