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....