About Us
Hello!
We are six Mount St. Mary's University students. This summer we are studying abroad at Cambridge University's Pembroke-King's Programme, and we're blogging about our experiences.
30
Jun
2015
The First Forty-Eight Hours in Cambridge...
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Hi friends! I’m Anna, and I’m going to walk you through our first
few days in Cambridge. I definitely have a lot to talk about!
The journey to Cambridge was pretty uneventful. The flight
from Dulles to Heathrow took about eight hours (I slept, not very well),
customs took an hour, and then the bus to Cambridge took another two hours (I
slept, very well). Suddenly we had arrived. Just walking from the bus stop to
Pembroke College, where we are staying, was awe-inspiring and was really the
moment I knew okay, I’m in England.
The entire city is a mix of old, very old, and modern buildings that combine
into an impressive sight.
That day and the next consisted of a lot of orientation
activities. I saw Kings Chapel and the River Cam, I met people whose names I
instantly forgot, and I learned where my classes would be and what fire
extinguisher to use if there was ever an emergency. It felt a lot like the
first few days of freshman year, where you are trying to figure out a million
things all at once: how to get from your room to the dining hall, how to use
your student ID, how to mingle and make friends.
I didn’t really feel comfortable or settled until our formal
dining hall, which took place in the evening of our first full day here. We all
put on our best dresses and suits, stood on the otherwise off-limits lawn, and
drank unlimited wine. Very classy! It was so much fun to sit in the ancient
dining hall with my new classmates from all over the world and get to know each
other. The four course meal wasn’t too shabby, either!
Classes began the next day. Everyone in PKP takes three
classes while we are here. Two of mine are philosophy classes, which allows me
to add a double major that I otherwise would not have been able to fit in my
schedule. One of these classes is Metaphysics, which I was a bit nervous for
because it’s a pretty complex and confusing topic. Once the class got started,
though, I loved every minute of it. If you googled “stereotypical philosophy
professor”, I’m pretty sure the professor of this class would pop up. He bumped into the same table at least
ten times, he snuck countless snide little jokes into his lecture that most students
were afraid to laugh at, and he interrupted his explanation of Cartesian
Dualism to complain about the scientific accuracy of BBC programs, especially
the children’s show Peppa Pig. He
told us to go ahead and interrupt him if we were confused at any point, and that
the discussion days were going to be based mostly on the Socratic method. I
have gotten very used to small discussion-based classes at the Mount, so I felt
right at home.
Cambridge is filled with gorgeous architecture
and gardens and it’s steeped with history, but it’s the details that have
really stood out to me so far. Everyone rides bikes here, with bells and wicker
baskets and everything. Hollister is hip for everyone, not just middle school
students. The birds and ducks walk right up to you (which is actually terrifying).
I keep interrupting the flow of traffic because I walk on the right side of the
sidewalk instead of the left, but the locals apologize to me. I am constantly discovering new little gardens and courtyards that
can only be reached through a hole in the hedge or by an ivy-covered gate.
Tonight, we went to dinner at a local pub with a few new friends. We had fish
and chips and talked about how we feel like we’ve been here forever, even
though we’ve only been here two days. Cambridge has already exceeded my
expectations - I can’t wait to see what the rest of the summer has in store!
