What It Means to Be A Cambridge Student

Dressing preppy on a daily basis

Having a bedder/ maid clean your room everyday

Receiving free laundry and folding service

Breakdancing at the School of Pythagoras at St. John's College while old, rich alums walk by and stare

Eating at Formal Hall (3 course fancy dinners) multiple times on a weekly basis

Meeting famous classmates, such as Freddie Highmore and talking about football (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freddie_Highmore)

Being ready to eat at Trailer of Life (http://www.yelp.co.uk/biz/the-trailer-of-life-cambridge) at any point during the night

Not studying for exams until May

Listening to dreadful British music and having to educate DJs about real American music

Rowing multiple times a week

Being prepared to eat potatoes on a daily basis if needed

Watching out for pennying during Formal Hall (more to follow on this)

Cambridge: Some Preliminary Thoughts

Cambridge, Cambridgeshire is quite the interesting town.

As one of my fellow CME friends pointed out, this place is way better than the other Cambridge.

For instance, my college, Emma, is right near the center of town, yet there are various school buildings interspersed with stores and restaurants. All of my classes are all within 1 block walking distance (5 minutes at the most). The post office is literally 50m away, and even closer is a huge 4 floor department store, John Lewis, which sells literally everything (random aside, they had ads in GQ UK). Right next to John Lewis is a HUGE shopping center called Grand Arcade with electronics stores, an Apple store, and even a Hollister. A HSBC and several other banks are also on the same street as Emma. I feel like I'm living next to Harvard Square, Newbury St., and MIT all at once.

There are a multitude on restaurants, ranging from Korean and Chinese to Mexican and American (i.e. pizza hut, Subway and burgers!). Best of all is the fact that dining halls serve breakfast, lunch, and dinner, which means that I have so many various options for lunch. Cambridge, UK is so much more different (and fun).

The other day when I woke up and looked out my window, I realized that there were huge grapes growing on one of the walls of the courtyard...seriously wtf? Sometimes, I feel like I'm living in a chateau as there's pretty much a dedicated "concierge" (porters), laundry service, and so many fancy occasions.

Another random fact is that Cambridge students party/ go out Sundays to Thursdays and do work on Friday and Saturdays...which is quite strange. It is justified by the fact that people in the town of Cambridge usually go out during those times and don't want to mingle with us college folk. I actually spent part of last Friday night in the library writing a paper on "Did a scientific revolution occur in the 16th and 17th Centuries." Quite the experience....

Matriculation Dinner

Tuesday 12th October 2010

Grilled artichoke with goats' cheese crumble

Slow cooked scottish salmon with beetroot puree and beurre blanc

Supreme of free range guinea fowl with caramelised shallot puree and herb jus

Baked white chocolate cheesecake with dark chocolate sauce

Coffee and mints

Flamingo Bay Chenin Blanc 2010

Nero d'Avola 2009

Emmanuel College Tawny Port

so filling and good.

Rowing

Woke up at 630 AM...(that's a first in college) to go rowing today. The sun wasn't even up yet and it was fairly chilly outside. After washing up, I went for a quick jog to the boat house (~15 min walk). The members of my boat were all upperclassmen today, including my college "dad." After erging with the proper technique for about 1500m, we took the boat out of the boathouse.

My position on the boat is called stroke (I'm situated at the very front of the boat and set the pace). In total there are 8 seats and room for a cox. Today, we practiced drills of 4 people rowing at a time, while the other 4 stabilized the boat with their oars. Although it was a bit shaky at the beginning, we managed to set a good rhythm. Towards the second half of the outing, we managed to have 6 people rowing at once, while 2 stabilized the boat. We were moving fairly fast, when we were all in rhythm! We even managed to pass by some other novice boats which started before us. After an hour and a half, we put the boat back and had a quick coaching talk.

Afterwards, I ran back to Emma (the Cambridge River is very pretty in the morning!) and grabbed a quick breakfast at about 9am. Luckily, I have no classes or supervisions on Tuesday, so I'll probably do some reading later on. Tonight is Matriculation dinner, which is a very fancy three course dinner with various wines and drinks. It should be fairly exciting as it completes our official enrollment into the University of Cambridge!

Welcome to Emma!

For those who don't know, the University of Cambridge is comprised of 31 independent colleges. Of these colleges, I am a student at Emmanuel College, which is known for its plethora of ducks and friendly atmosphere.

Upon my arrival at Emma, I went to the porter's lodge (the equivalent of the front desk but staffed with professional workers 24/7 in fancy dress and bowler's hats). They weren't able to find my lodging info and told me my university card was being fixed...fail. I ended up going to the registrar and talking with her before finally moving into my room.

My room is located in New Court, which is mostly, if not all third year students. It is HUGE! Not only do I have a living room, but I also have a mini hallway, a private bathroom, a bedroom, and a kitchenette. Freshmen are housed in either North Court or South Court. My room is on the first floor (the one above ground floor) and directly across from the dining hall, which is pretty convenient. Here's a map and pictures of my room:

Famished, I skipped unpacking and went straight to the dining hall. I ended up having mash potatoes, steak, and corn. The food was eh...the meat was fairly salty, while the vegetables were bland.

From Cambridge to Cambridge

After spending 6 hours in the air, 4 hours at the airport, and 2 hours on a bus, I finally arrived in Cambridge, Cambridgeshire!

Thanks to Will who came by and saw me off before I left!

The airplane ride was pretty fast. During the flight, I watched Kickass and attempted to sleep, but wasn't too successful due to the number of people who had their reading lights on...nonetheless the food was decent and there were no anomalies.

Unfortunately, three separate flights all landed into London Heathrow at the same time, so getting through customs took forever! Coincidentally, I met up with the twins and Steph while waiting in line...I may have lied when I checked "no" to "Did you have a cough within the past 6 months," haha oh well. After clearing customs, we met up with other CME students and grabbed a light breakfast. I purchased a tuna wrap and a lemonade for ~8 pounds... Finally, the Cambridge International Office Rep met us after 2.5 hours and directed us onto a shuttle. Operating on one hour of sleep, I instantly dozed off and awoke to green pastures and the countryside of Cambridgeshire. Next, the Office Rep hailed university taxis for us which ended up taking us to our respective colleges; my college is called Emmanuel. My instant first impression of Cambridge University was wow, everything is so green and fancy.