Cambridge at Last!

7-3-11

                Last night we flew into Heathrow from Italy and finally got to the hotel around 12:30am, after the most expensive cab ride of my life.  It turned out that a glitch in the hotel’s computer system caused the hotel to overbook by 38 rooms and after much discussion with my dad and the hotel staff, we were moved to a different hotel, which they comped.  This hotel turned out to be this fabulous 5 star hotel and I wish it wasn’t 2am when I got there, so I could have enjoyed/explored it a little more. 

                After we woke up, we took a cab to the hotel my parents and brother were staying in in London near King’s Cross station.  We ate lunch and then got on the train to Cambridge to start my adventure!  My dad got tickets on the fast train to Cambridge, so the ride was only 45 (no stops!) and it went really quickly because we talked to this very nice woman from England the whole ride.  We took a cab to King’s College, where my check in was for the program.  My parents helped me bring my bags up to my room, which was great because there is no elevator in my building.

                So my dorm room is actually on the King’s College campus and I can see the River Cam from my window!  All of the rooms are singles and include a sink and have a shared bathroom and shared mini-kitchen.  My room is huge!  It also provides great exercise because it’s on the top floor of a tall and narrow spiral staircase, making it feel very medieval.  My parents and I parted ways and I went on a short city tour with one of the PA’s (Program Assistants, kind of like RA’s).  I met more people at dinner that evening and spent the remainder of the evening unpacking and settling in.

Week 1: Cambridge

                This week was definitely very busy!  I’m taking two classes this module (4 week period – there are 2 of them in my program), “Varieties of English” and “Creativity and Business Innovation.”  I like both of my classes, but the Creativity and Business Innovation fellow (what they call professors) expected us to have quite a bit of reading done those first couple days and I really just didn’t have time to do it and so I felt a little lost in some of the lectures/seminars (the equivalent of a discussion).  We had a formal hall on Monday evening which is a formal dinner where everyone sits at long tables and is kind of Harry Potterish.  Tuesday evening held a Plenary Lecture, which is a lecture by a particular person on a given topic.  The topic of this lecture was “Why is Cambridge Unique?” and it was interesting to listen to because I learned some additional history about Cambridge.  On Wednesday afternoon I went on a historical tour of Cambridge, which focused on a handful of colleges.  Cambridge University is composed of 32 (I think) colleges, such as King’s College, Trinity College, St. John’s College, etc. 

                On top of all of these evening events and class, I had laundry to do, a room to fully unpack, food to buy, articles to read, etc.  Needless to say, those first three days were very busy and a little overwhelming, especially because I was trying to meet people and make friends on top of all of this. 

More on our 4 day Scotland trip coming soon!