I have completed the first half of my courses at the University of Cambridge, Pembroke College! The final paper for my Drugs and the Mind neurobiology class only had to be 2500-3000 words long but I think it is easily the longest paper I've ever written. It certainly contained the most references. That bad boy was chock full of scientific evidence, weighing in with a full page containing 14 references. For the final exam, Zoltan provided us with 10 possible essay questions. 6 were on the exam, two of which we had to write essays for. Not to mention that if you knew how to answer one question very well, you could reword it and put the emphasis on different parts of the information and more or less answer all ten of the questions. The only thing I felt unsure about was the fact that we needed to reference a few scientific studies in the essays. To assuage this situation I simply wrote down the names of 5 studies and their leading researcher that I knew the most about. Since all of the information overlapped, I figured no matter which questions I had to answer, those studies could be worked in. I was right. Success! It felt so very good to put that pen down.
So that was the end of my first class. I have already served all of my time for the math class, but I won't be taking the exam for it until the end of August. I will do wretchedly. Really, its undeniable.
It'll the worst two hours of next month. I don't really care though, as if that class doesn't transfer I'll still have the 6 I need for financial aid from Drugs and Art and Satire (next month's course).
As you can imagine, from Tuesday-Friday afternoon was awash with studying. Sarah and I did manage to find some reprieve in a nice little punting trip Wednesday evening though. We set out about 7:45 armed with a pizza, a bottle of Pimm's, some lemonade, and beer. I punted a good ways away from Kings, refining my punting skill quite a bit. We got almost to a clearing area and Sarah and I switched places. There is a video in my pictures under the punting section, it is worth a watch. She had never punted before, and was....well, a bit confused by the whole thing, I suppose. Eventually we found a spot to park the boat and chill, eat our pizza and drink the booze. There is another video in that same section showing my recommendation for mixing Pimms and lemonade. For those of you who don't know what pimms is, it is a gin based fruity spirit. Kinda raspberryish? And still 25% alcohol, so it still has some bang.
Friday night after exams was the BOP. A BOP is basically a British costume party. I'm not sure if it has to be British themed, but the theme for this was simply Britannia. Anything British was allowed. I had a group of people ask me to be Ringo Starr for their Beatles group. I obliged, especially since I had no other plans as to what I was going to do and all it involved was me wearing my suit and buying a white shirt. I also got a union jack tie, and to add a little more festivity I wanted a union jack handkerchief for my pocket. Couldn't find anything the right shade of blue though, like a small flag or anything. So I got a pair of boxers, folded them up, got the same effect.
The programmed had rented out an entire club just for the PKP program. So yes, I have now officially been to a club. It was pretty much exactly what I expected it would be. Extremely hot, with extremely overpriced drinks, and a giant orgy of people moving around in one room. By the time I left I was soaked through with sweat, pretty nasty. I came, I saw, I danced, I don't really want to do it again.
I've been enjoying an excruciatingly lazy weekend these past few days. My new class starts Monday, but I don't expect it to be as hard as the past two. Here's to an easier next month, and to seeing you all soon.
Sunday 31 July 2011
Tuesday 26 July 2011
July 21-26th, MOAR LEARNING
Thursday, Friday, Saturday, it was all a blur of academia and alcohol. There were lectures, there were seminars. The normal things. I spent a good time hanging out with one of my better friends Sarah, attempting to get some work done on the Maths class problems but having very little success. I was in the bar from about 8, she joined about 9:30, we waited for Demetri till about 10:15 and then headed up to her room to work where it was quieter from there.
Friday was math day. Well, minor math day. I had a lecture just a bit later in the morning than usual so I got to sleep in a bit. Math was from 2-6. Another grueling session. I don't wish to really speak of it, as it is truly a painful memory. Afterwards I headed straight to the bar (which, in this case as normal, is a pretty quiet place) and worked on more math problems. Yes, they assigned about 4 problems (solving four problems in class time would take about 4-5 hours) for homework from 6 that evening to 9 the next morning. I got maybe one of the answers right, and the rest that I came up with was just completely wrong. C'est la vie.
Saturday was the day we had all been waiting for; the last grueling day of math. But the last one! By god, we would be under the knife of the Hungarian mathematicians from 9-3, but then we would be free less a final exam. But no, that was not our fates. Around 2:30 we were informed that we would not be getting out at three, but we would be getting out at 5. It was the most tragic news I had heard in the past few months. The few hours seemed like a few extra days. I should mention at this point that the course had turned from mathematics to computer science. It was fairly difficult, as I know no definitions for that subject, such as "What is a program?" or "What is a code?" We managed to painstakingly make it through though, through such questions as, "Prove that most real numbers are useless."
After class Sarah and I had planned to go punting, but there were of course none available at that time. Instead we made a quest to ASDA, where we bought some alcohol and movies. She picked up a bundle of "Forgetting Sarah Marshall" and "Knocked Up" and I purchased "Get him to the Greek." We went back to her dorm and watched "Forgetting Sarah Marshall," drank some Pimms, and had a good evening.
Sunday I met Dr. Stone at the Cambridge train station. We walked around Cambridge, toured Pembroke and Kings College campuses. I hadn't taken the time to truly stop and observe the Pembroke campus, but it really is beautiful. There is a very large variety of different vegetation and trees, things that you don't see back in America. During our talks I also learned that he is a chemist and plays the trombone, enjoying jazz. We had tea in a nice little tea shop, and when we came out there were 6 beautiful Jags. I put up some pictures of them. It was the 50th anniversary of the Jaguar E-Type.
Sunday night I spent many hours working on my Drugs and the Mind class neurobiology paper. The same happened the next morning until Lecture. In the evening Sarah and I attempted to find a DDR machine in Cambridge, but there was no luck. There used to be one here, but it is at least no in the same place that it used to be. I bet there is one somewhere, but I can't find any posting on the internet. Argh!
Today consisted of seminar, buying a present for my sister's birthday and getting it in the mail, and lecture. Later I took an ever so magnificent nap and then went to formal hall. Today was a pretty chill day. Tomorrow I go to seminar early to watch a movie called Trainspotting, and then I'm done with classes for this module, minus an exam Friday.
Hopefully there will be more punting soon. Be sure to look at the few pictures I uploaded as well. I may go to London Sunday, that will hopefully create something interesting to read. I appreciate your continued reading, and I can't wait to see all of my South Carolina friends soon!
Friday was math day. Well, minor math day. I had a lecture just a bit later in the morning than usual so I got to sleep in a bit. Math was from 2-6. Another grueling session. I don't wish to really speak of it, as it is truly a painful memory. Afterwards I headed straight to the bar (which, in this case as normal, is a pretty quiet place) and worked on more math problems. Yes, they assigned about 4 problems (solving four problems in class time would take about 4-5 hours) for homework from 6 that evening to 9 the next morning. I got maybe one of the answers right, and the rest that I came up with was just completely wrong. C'est la vie.
Saturday was the day we had all been waiting for; the last grueling day of math. But the last one! By god, we would be under the knife of the Hungarian mathematicians from 9-3, but then we would be free less a final exam. But no, that was not our fates. Around 2:30 we were informed that we would not be getting out at three, but we would be getting out at 5. It was the most tragic news I had heard in the past few months. The few hours seemed like a few extra days. I should mention at this point that the course had turned from mathematics to computer science. It was fairly difficult, as I know no definitions for that subject, such as "What is a program?" or "What is a code?" We managed to painstakingly make it through though, through such questions as, "Prove that most real numbers are useless."
After class Sarah and I had planned to go punting, but there were of course none available at that time. Instead we made a quest to ASDA, where we bought some alcohol and movies. She picked up a bundle of "Forgetting Sarah Marshall" and "Knocked Up" and I purchased "Get him to the Greek." We went back to her dorm and watched "Forgetting Sarah Marshall," drank some Pimms, and had a good evening.
Sunday I met Dr. Stone at the Cambridge train station. We walked around Cambridge, toured Pembroke and Kings College campuses. I hadn't taken the time to truly stop and observe the Pembroke campus, but it really is beautiful. There is a very large variety of different vegetation and trees, things that you don't see back in America. During our talks I also learned that he is a chemist and plays the trombone, enjoying jazz. We had tea in a nice little tea shop, and when we came out there were 6 beautiful Jags. I put up some pictures of them. It was the 50th anniversary of the Jaguar E-Type.
Sunday night I spent many hours working on my Drugs and the Mind class neurobiology paper. The same happened the next morning until Lecture. In the evening Sarah and I attempted to find a DDR machine in Cambridge, but there was no luck. There used to be one here, but it is at least no in the same place that it used to be. I bet there is one somewhere, but I can't find any posting on the internet. Argh!
Today consisted of seminar, buying a present for my sister's birthday and getting it in the mail, and lecture. Later I took an ever so magnificent nap and then went to formal hall. Today was a pretty chill day. Tomorrow I go to seminar early to watch a movie called Trainspotting, and then I'm done with classes for this module, minus an exam Friday.
Hopefully there will be more punting soon. Be sure to look at the few pictures I uploaded as well. I may go to London Sunday, that will hopefully create something interesting to read. I appreciate your continued reading, and I can't wait to see all of my South Carolina friends soon!
Wednesday 20 July 2011
July 17th-20th, more courses, more Cambridge
As you can probably see from the time I've spent not writing, I've been rather busy. This could be attributed to either an increased work load school wise, or more time spent socializing. I'm (half) happy to say that it is both. I woke up pretty early Sunday and began doing math problems. If you can call them that, they are more like Hungarian bullshit. That's my opinion, anyway. Did those till after lunch and decided to go on a little walk to the North of Cambridge, an area I hadn't been around much. It was pretty, less touristy, but still with nice building. However, the problem of how to catch evil when it moves an arbitrary step value k each second and starts from arbitrary value l plagued my mind for most of the hour or so walk. Bleh.
That night I met up with Sarah and Dmitri at the King's bar to work on more problems. Yes. They are that difficult. We didn't work on problems that much, though, and mainly talked about how much the class is horrible. We planned to meet up the next night at 9 to get some more work done.
Monday I didn't have seminar until 3.25, so I got to sleep in once more. More problems, studying, class. Sarah paid for my dinner in the King's cafeteria (you can only eat off of your own account at the college where you are staying and I'm in Pembroke). We ate and chatted and got started trying to figure out some strategy for the games (in no sense a fun game) around 7. Thirty minutes later we started drinking. Dmitri also joined us about this time. About 9, a few more people showed up. At this point we had developed a strategy and tested it with the newcomers, and decided it was good. I had done the rest of the problems, some of which involved modular arithmetic--something which they hadn't really taught us, but that most non-math majors don't really know. I had spent some time teaching myself the method, so I taught everyone else. About 11 everyone was ready to fall out. Sarah had had 2 Corona Extra and was wasted (impressive I'd say). I helped her upstairs to her room, we chatted for a bit, and I went back to my place and crashed.
Tuesday I had the most class that I will have any day of the program (well except for the drug out 6 hour maths workshops on last and this coming saturday. I still only had 4.5 hours of class but it was divided among three classes). That was enough for it to be exhausting in its own right, but I hadn't slept well the night before. Seminar went by just fine. Went over the effects of nicotine in lecture. And guess what! At the end, I got picked to present AGAIN in the next seminar! It was the third powerpoint I had to make, but the fourth time I had to present because one time someone couldn't make it and asked me to. I don't mind the experience...just the lazy asses that make up excuses when he asks them to present. "I don't have a computer." It's called a computer lab. "It's my birthday." Then grow up. "I have a paper due in another class." That one is just extra pathetic, I don't even have a comeback.
That afternoon was the shortest of the maths class--a two hour session. It was at least made better by the fact that at this point Sarah and I were pretty good friends, and we are both probably at the bottom of the class. Its better doing terribly together. Alright, so one of the questions was this, "You are a secret agent and you have a type writer that you use to send messages back to your country. You have only 1 key that still works, and you need to send a message back to your home country to tell them to send you a new typewriter. You can agree on the code beforehand with your country. What is the message you send?" My answer was, "Code: 1=send new typewriter. Message: 1" The instructor got quite offensive when he read this and said, "These problems are NOT here for you to abuse them." Apparently they wanted a code which could send any message, even though they had said to send a message back home to get a new typewriter. So yeh, thats not the first time the professor has gotten a bit irate with me, so I'm certainly assured a low grade.
Sarah and I picked up a pizza from Sainbury's after and ate it in her dorm. We talked for a bit and then I finished up my presentation. A good evening.
Presentation this morning went well. Just hung around afterwards until making a very long pilgrimage to ASDA. It is 1.6-1.7 miles one way, so the trip back loaded down with goods is pretty tedious. I got a small set of pots and things to cook spahgetti for Sarah and I because she had a midterm that covers the whole time the cafeteria is open. Well, that and I have missed cooking and wouldn't have bought the things to do it if I was the only one eating.
As you can see, not too much exciting going on right now...but I'll keep you posted.
That night I met up with Sarah and Dmitri at the King's bar to work on more problems. Yes. They are that difficult. We didn't work on problems that much, though, and mainly talked about how much the class is horrible. We planned to meet up the next night at 9 to get some more work done.
Monday I didn't have seminar until 3.25, so I got to sleep in once more. More problems, studying, class. Sarah paid for my dinner in the King's cafeteria (you can only eat off of your own account at the college where you are staying and I'm in Pembroke). We ate and chatted and got started trying to figure out some strategy for the games (in no sense a fun game) around 7. Thirty minutes later we started drinking. Dmitri also joined us about this time. About 9, a few more people showed up. At this point we had developed a strategy and tested it with the newcomers, and decided it was good. I had done the rest of the problems, some of which involved modular arithmetic--something which they hadn't really taught us, but that most non-math majors don't really know. I had spent some time teaching myself the method, so I taught everyone else. About 11 everyone was ready to fall out. Sarah had had 2 Corona Extra and was wasted (impressive I'd say). I helped her upstairs to her room, we chatted for a bit, and I went back to my place and crashed.
Tuesday I had the most class that I will have any day of the program (well except for the drug out 6 hour maths workshops on last and this coming saturday. I still only had 4.5 hours of class but it was divided among three classes). That was enough for it to be exhausting in its own right, but I hadn't slept well the night before. Seminar went by just fine. Went over the effects of nicotine in lecture. And guess what! At the end, I got picked to present AGAIN in the next seminar! It was the third powerpoint I had to make, but the fourth time I had to present because one time someone couldn't make it and asked me to. I don't mind the experience...just the lazy asses that make up excuses when he asks them to present. "I don't have a computer." It's called a computer lab. "It's my birthday." Then grow up. "I have a paper due in another class." That one is just extra pathetic, I don't even have a comeback.
That afternoon was the shortest of the maths class--a two hour session. It was at least made better by the fact that at this point Sarah and I were pretty good friends, and we are both probably at the bottom of the class. Its better doing terribly together. Alright, so one of the questions was this, "You are a secret agent and you have a type writer that you use to send messages back to your country. You have only 1 key that still works, and you need to send a message back to your home country to tell them to send you a new typewriter. You can agree on the code beforehand with your country. What is the message you send?" My answer was, "Code: 1=send new typewriter. Message: 1" The instructor got quite offensive when he read this and said, "These problems are NOT here for you to abuse them." Apparently they wanted a code which could send any message, even though they had said to send a message back home to get a new typewriter. So yeh, thats not the first time the professor has gotten a bit irate with me, so I'm certainly assured a low grade.
Sarah and I picked up a pizza from Sainbury's after and ate it in her dorm. We talked for a bit and then I finished up my presentation. A good evening.
Presentation this morning went well. Just hung around afterwards until making a very long pilgrimage to ASDA. It is 1.6-1.7 miles one way, so the trip back loaded down with goods is pretty tedious. I got a small set of pots and things to cook spahgetti for Sarah and I because she had a midterm that covers the whole time the cafeteria is open. Well, that and I have missed cooking and wouldn't have bought the things to do it if I was the only one eating.
As you can see, not too much exciting going on right now...but I'll keep you posted.
Saturday 16 July 2011
July 14-16th, BLEH
The intensity of a student in Cambridge has truly set in. The sad part is that I am taking courses that are not really up to the true potency of that of a normal course, as they are all watered down a bit to accommodate non-majors (though in some cases, I do not believe even the watered down cases are truly enough for a non-major). I believe that in a way we are all by their standards non-majors though. Over here when you are 16 you specialize and you are done with gen-eds...in America I will still be getting rid of the pesky gen-eds at age 21 (though odds are I won't learn anything in the gen-eds at my university, I never really seem to, as my university's gen-eds basically cover high school material). This is just how it measures out though. One of my main desires for coming over here was to see how I measure up to students in a real academic university (lets face it, Lander is easymode...we all know the difficulty isn't anything like a real well-known university). It has been nice in this matter. The students I am attending classes with are the pick of the crop from Harvard, Yale, etc. I feel like I am pairing up well enough with them, but certainly not anywhere near the level of achievement I attain at Lander.
So yes, I suppose I have just spoken poorly of Lander, but I haven't said anything that wasn't true or that anyone didn't really know (if you didn't know it, or you are offended, lol @ you!). It is a good institution, but it does not hold its students to the academic standards of prime universities. I am studious enough to account for this over here, but it is a world more difficult. Part of me is excited by this, it is a challenge, but part of me hates that these courses are going on my gpa and are likely to crush it.
Alright, so that was the nasty gritty bit I needed to get out. So what has happened since Thursday? Not very much at all. On Thursday I had class a bit later than normal so I got to sleep in, then bought groceries for the weekend (simply can't afford to eat out all weekend, and I bought more than enough food for Saturday and Sunday for about 5 quid). My first math class ran from 2-6, a brutal 4 hours. I really do not like this class at all. If they allowed you to drop a course I would have. It is taught by Hungarians, in Hungarian style. On weekends, apparently (yes, from what they have told me they do this extra on weekends for FUCKING FUN), they will all gather at a place and they are given a set of problems. As they solve a problem, they are given the next. Now when I say a set of problems, I mean there are multiple problems from different categories. You might get one from logic, one from game strategy, one from statistics, and one from numbers. After a few hours they give everyone another set of problems. So you are constantly immersed in these problems, drowning with no way to get out.
If that wasn't bad enough, you work alone. Yes, their method could be a bit effective. Once you stare at that problem for hours and figure it out yourself, you know it, and it does help you with solving the next one. I solved 11 problems in 10 hours of classes between today and yesterday. It does help to be forced to figure these things out on your own, but if someone had shown me some examples and let me play with things myself, I think it would have been just as effective. It's like they are giving you blocks, and telling you to build a tower. There are many ways you could build this tower, but only one is right. If perhaps they had shown you the ground level of their building scheme, you could mimic it and expand on the later levels. But no, they want you to figure out the ground level building scheme yourself to build and expand on. While it may work after hours of seriously wanting to crucially injure yourself, I do not think their method is very effective.
"What is this? This is nothing! I don't think you know what a set is!"
"I'M NOT A MATHEMATICIAN. I DON'T REALLY KNOW WHAT A SET IS."
Yeh, that was an actual conversation between me and the professor. I have since tried to only converse with his assistants.
The girl I sat to during this math class, Sarah, was at least pretty awesome. She is a linguistics major, which though it may seem like I have an advantage being a chemistry major, I feel like we are fairly evenly matched in wits (which means we are both feeling like idiots). Just knowing someone else was having as terrible a time as I was was quite nice, and we had a nice lunch.
That's pretty much it. The only other notable thing was the formal hall on Thursday. I sat next to a girl named Joy, who seemed to enjoy the alcohol as much as I did. After the people across from us had left we switched our empty wine glasses with the full or almost full ones they had left. Now that's classy!
I'm done for now. This time next week I will be getting completely obliterated because I will be done with this damn math class. Cheers to then!
So yes, I suppose I have just spoken poorly of Lander, but I haven't said anything that wasn't true or that anyone didn't really know (if you didn't know it, or you are offended, lol @ you!). It is a good institution, but it does not hold its students to the academic standards of prime universities. I am studious enough to account for this over here, but it is a world more difficult. Part of me is excited by this, it is a challenge, but part of me hates that these courses are going on my gpa and are likely to crush it.
Alright, so that was the nasty gritty bit I needed to get out. So what has happened since Thursday? Not very much at all. On Thursday I had class a bit later than normal so I got to sleep in, then bought groceries for the weekend (simply can't afford to eat out all weekend, and I bought more than enough food for Saturday and Sunday for about 5 quid). My first math class ran from 2-6, a brutal 4 hours. I really do not like this class at all. If they allowed you to drop a course I would have. It is taught by Hungarians, in Hungarian style. On weekends, apparently (yes, from what they have told me they do this extra on weekends for FUCKING FUN), they will all gather at a place and they are given a set of problems. As they solve a problem, they are given the next. Now when I say a set of problems, I mean there are multiple problems from different categories. You might get one from logic, one from game strategy, one from statistics, and one from numbers. After a few hours they give everyone another set of problems. So you are constantly immersed in these problems, drowning with no way to get out.
If that wasn't bad enough, you work alone. Yes, their method could be a bit effective. Once you stare at that problem for hours and figure it out yourself, you know it, and it does help you with solving the next one. I solved 11 problems in 10 hours of classes between today and yesterday. It does help to be forced to figure these things out on your own, but if someone had shown me some examples and let me play with things myself, I think it would have been just as effective. It's like they are giving you blocks, and telling you to build a tower. There are many ways you could build this tower, but only one is right. If perhaps they had shown you the ground level of their building scheme, you could mimic it and expand on the later levels. But no, they want you to figure out the ground level building scheme yourself to build and expand on. While it may work after hours of seriously wanting to crucially injure yourself, I do not think their method is very effective.
"What is this? This is nothing! I don't think you know what a set is!"
"I'M NOT A MATHEMATICIAN. I DON'T REALLY KNOW WHAT A SET IS."
Yeh, that was an actual conversation between me and the professor. I have since tried to only converse with his assistants.
The girl I sat to during this math class, Sarah, was at least pretty awesome. She is a linguistics major, which though it may seem like I have an advantage being a chemistry major, I feel like we are fairly evenly matched in wits (which means we are both feeling like idiots). Just knowing someone else was having as terrible a time as I was was quite nice, and we had a nice lunch.
That's pretty much it. The only other notable thing was the formal hall on Thursday. I sat next to a girl named Joy, who seemed to enjoy the alcohol as much as I did. After the people across from us had left we switched our empty wine glasses with the full or almost full ones they had left. Now that's classy!
I'm done for now. This time next week I will be getting completely obliterated because I will be done with this damn math class. Cheers to then!
Wednesday 13 July 2011
July 11th-13th
Two things have occurred thus far since I last posted. The first being that as I suspected, there hasn't been quite as much adventure the past few days, not in the exciting lets post on my blog about it sense anyway. The second is that time is indeed picking up and moving much quicker. I'm not sure if I mentioned it or not, but the first week felt like it was a month long. This week has gone by much quicker; it has still been just as great, but for different reasons.
Monday was certainly the most uneventful day. I had lecture at 9 and that was my only class for the day. I spent the majority of the day in my room skimming through scientific articles on addiction and reviewing notes from lecture. I am here to study, after all. I did purchase a man-purse. My friends have suggested that it is actually a satchel or a "carry-all", though it possibly meets the criteria of a manpurse. It's a manpurse, that's my ruling.
Things got a bit more interesting in Tuesday's lecture. Seminar was earlier in the morning and fairly uneventful. In lecture we finally began covering the specific effects of certain drugs (the first up was psychostimulants-cocaine, amphetamine, methamphetamine). At the end of the class he went to assign presentations for seminar, and it made me a bit ill. Not towards the professor, or the fact that I had to do extra work (I don't mind, it forces me to become even more acquainted with the material and I get more experience presenting). But towards the laziness or lack of devotion of my fellow students. It goes to show that no matter how smart you are, you can still be lazy as a sloth. What he does here is assign an article to two students (two different articles) and they make a powerpoint presentation for seminar and present it and answer questions about it. He had assigned the first one, and then for the second presentation he wanted done he actually wanted two articles presented. He asked if anyone else from group 1 had not presented (Group 1 and Group 2 were originially 15/15 students. There were course conflicts so some people had to switch from 1 to 2, and this opened the door for the particularly lazy students to switch to 2 for the safety of number and to sleep in later. Group 1 now has 8 students and Group 2 has 20 or so). There was one girl who had not presented, but she didn't speak up, so he then assigned the two papers to me. No big, whatever, I can deal, and as I said, more experience for me. He then went through three people in group two who all had excuses that for some reason he accepted. They were "It's my birthday." Then grow up. "I don't have a laptop yet so I can't make a presentation." If only they had a bank of computers where people could just go and make use of them when they needed to work. They might call it a COMPUTER LAB. "I have to work on a midterm for another class." Yeh, which is due Friday, cry me a river. Someone finally volunteered to take it. Talk about things that burn me up.
I went back to my room after grabbing a Hoi Sin Duck baguette (I usually eat some sort of baguette from the cafe for lunch--I can take it back to my room and no matter what kind I get its delicious). I set out reading my two articles. If you know anything about reading scientific articles, it can take a bit of time to truly grasp everything they are saying. I have found that the best method for really getting the articles is to make the painstaking original read of them and then come back an hour or two later and things will just fall into place. It probably took me 30-45 minutes to get a good read through both articles, and at this point after being in my room all day the day before I was ready for an adventure. I got some bearings bout where ASDA was and set off on an adventure.
The store was about 1.7 miles from where I am located. As I am not about to use a taxi or bus while my feet work, it was a bit of a walk when made roundtrip. I found my way to the store with relatively little difficult, but I did end up with a nice little cut in my left forearm about 4 inches long from where I walked too close to a pole and something protruding from it just ripped me open. I liked the area that I got into because it was out of the middle, touristy part of Cambridge. There was a lot of housing, almost suburban areas. The shopping centre with ASDA had several other shops, including a TJMaxx. The ASDA was wonderful though. You see, buying things in Cambridge is more expensive from a quantitative standpoint. That is to say, the amount you pay is more before you figure in the exchange rate. At ASDA it seemed that things were at least quantitatively the same, and in some cases a bit more like equality. It was nice. I didn't really have anything particular in mind to get, I just wanted to see how the prices were and I needed to get out. I did find some q-tip equivalents (gotta clean the ears, man) and snagged a bottle of rum. It was the first litre I've purchased here, most things at the grocery stores in town are 70cl. I actually got carded, and the lady was a bit suspicious of the ID. Go figure.
Once I got back to my housing I began work on my presentation. I was a little over halfway done when Brenden and Sean stopped by to chat for a moment. Brenden told me that he had a friend from Harvard who was staying in his room for a few days that was going around doing shows in pubs and such in England and later Scotland (If I'm up there when he is I'll have to go see him) and the was going to put on a show for friends at 9 in his room if I was interested. Live music in the room above me? Hell yeh I'm interested! I managed to get through most of the rest of the presentation in time to go up there and meet him and all before it started. His name was Dan Masterson, and I think he's got the talent to take it somewhere if he stays with it. There is a video of one song he did in the pictures in the Cambridge album. I bought an album from him, it was one of the first 100 made so it was numbered and he signed it to me. Pretty awesome I think. He mentioned that he would like to get around to Universities and play, so I plan on contacting Jeff Constant sometime soon to let him know about him and hopefully get them in contact.
Today it was really hard to get out of bed. It always is when you know you actually have to do something, like present. Luckily I've realized I need something with a little more sustenance than dry Frosties for mornings when I won't be able to eat until after 1. I acquired some sausage rolls from Sainsbury's and have been eating 3 for breakfast on such mornings. I'm still trying to cut down on my food consumption, I know I was eating too much before I came here. And with the amount of walking I've been doing, I do feel a bit better. But I digress. The presentation and all went pretty well. There was a moment at the beginning of seminar that is worth comedic note, though.
The PA had arrived a bit late to open the room and set up the projector. The projector was on, but he was having no luck in getting it to display the image from the macbook. He was getting quite irritated and hitting buttons mutliple times, and suddenly it displayed the image. "Aha!" he exclaimed with a smile. "Vhat did you do to make it verk?" Asked Zoltan. "I pressed the button 20 times." "Zo you prezzed de button twenty times and den it verked?" "Yes!" And the PA took his leave. Afterwards, someone from the group at the table said, "FR20!" (fixed ratio 20--20 lever or button presses are required for the rewarding effect). Zoltan followed up with, "And you zee how happy it made him vhen it verked? The next time he comes into this room he will immediately go to zat button and prezz it twenty times." This is probably one of the funniest things that has happened since I got here.
After seminar it was time to go punting. If you don't know what punting is, it is where you get into a punt, a fairly flat boat that holds 5 or 6 people, and someone stands on the rear of it and uses a very long pole to maneuver the boat through the water. This was quite fun, as we go to ride for a while to see the backs of several of the colleges, and then we got to try to punt ourselves. If you know me you know I can barely stand on a skateboard, so the initial balancing was not easy at all. It really wasn't bad after you got yourself balanced though. Right after I was given control though there was a huge traffic jam. Jon said I did pretty good in dealing with it, Didn't lose my cool and just kept trying to push through it. We got through it and went a little ways, and then a big punt came up from the rear and gave us quite a nudge. I saw it just as it was happening, so as I began to fall I jumped downwards into the open area below the punting platform and avoided an unintentional swim. Belinda and Jared told me later that it really looked like I was going to lose it and the save was impressive. After that I handed the punt over to Captain Watson, and later both Belinda and Jared gave it a go. It was great fun, and the punts can be rented from the university for 4 pounds an hour. If you have a group of 4 or 5, that's hardly anything. I definitely plan on doing it for fun with some other people later on, and Sean and I plan to rent a canoe at some point and make a bit more exploitative trip on the Cam.
The rest of the day was uneventful. I prepared my midterm a bit, slept, ate, and went to a plenary lecture by a retired head of Mi6 who is now the Master of Pembroke College (the college which I claim as mine). The lecture was interesting, though it just covered issues that I am not particularly familiar with or interested in. I guess that is bad as the lecture was on National Security in the 21st century. Something that I have come to realize is as being a chemistry major I just don't have many interesting things that people want to talk about. I mean I love some chemistry, but I'm one of the few. Compared to the arts students who study the classics, or the economists and social sciences that are up on current events. They do have much more interesting things to speak about or entertain a group with. I don't suppose I should feel bad about this, it is just something that I've begun to realize.
Tomorrow will be filled with mid-term paper writing and a formal hall in the evening. Don't forget to check the pictures, I added a few to Cambridge and made a new album. All albums are also now set to show the newest pictures first. Cheers!
Monday was certainly the most uneventful day. I had lecture at 9 and that was my only class for the day. I spent the majority of the day in my room skimming through scientific articles on addiction and reviewing notes from lecture. I am here to study, after all. I did purchase a man-purse. My friends have suggested that it is actually a satchel or a "carry-all", though it possibly meets the criteria of a manpurse. It's a manpurse, that's my ruling.
Things got a bit more interesting in Tuesday's lecture. Seminar was earlier in the morning and fairly uneventful. In lecture we finally began covering the specific effects of certain drugs (the first up was psychostimulants-cocaine, amphetamine, methamphetamine). At the end of the class he went to assign presentations for seminar, and it made me a bit ill. Not towards the professor, or the fact that I had to do extra work (I don't mind, it forces me to become even more acquainted with the material and I get more experience presenting). But towards the laziness or lack of devotion of my fellow students. It goes to show that no matter how smart you are, you can still be lazy as a sloth. What he does here is assign an article to two students (two different articles) and they make a powerpoint presentation for seminar and present it and answer questions about it. He had assigned the first one, and then for the second presentation he wanted done he actually wanted two articles presented. He asked if anyone else from group 1 had not presented (Group 1 and Group 2 were originially 15/15 students. There were course conflicts so some people had to switch from 1 to 2, and this opened the door for the particularly lazy students to switch to 2 for the safety of number and to sleep in later. Group 1 now has 8 students and Group 2 has 20 or so). There was one girl who had not presented, but she didn't speak up, so he then assigned the two papers to me. No big, whatever, I can deal, and as I said, more experience for me. He then went through three people in group two who all had excuses that for some reason he accepted. They were "It's my birthday." Then grow up. "I don't have a laptop yet so I can't make a presentation." If only they had a bank of computers where people could just go and make use of them when they needed to work. They might call it a COMPUTER LAB. "I have to work on a midterm for another class." Yeh, which is due Friday, cry me a river. Someone finally volunteered to take it. Talk about things that burn me up.
I went back to my room after grabbing a Hoi Sin Duck baguette (I usually eat some sort of baguette from the cafe for lunch--I can take it back to my room and no matter what kind I get its delicious). I set out reading my two articles. If you know anything about reading scientific articles, it can take a bit of time to truly grasp everything they are saying. I have found that the best method for really getting the articles is to make the painstaking original read of them and then come back an hour or two later and things will just fall into place. It probably took me 30-45 minutes to get a good read through both articles, and at this point after being in my room all day the day before I was ready for an adventure. I got some bearings bout where ASDA was and set off on an adventure.
The store was about 1.7 miles from where I am located. As I am not about to use a taxi or bus while my feet work, it was a bit of a walk when made roundtrip. I found my way to the store with relatively little difficult, but I did end up with a nice little cut in my left forearm about 4 inches long from where I walked too close to a pole and something protruding from it just ripped me open. I liked the area that I got into because it was out of the middle, touristy part of Cambridge. There was a lot of housing, almost suburban areas. The shopping centre with ASDA had several other shops, including a TJMaxx. The ASDA was wonderful though. You see, buying things in Cambridge is more expensive from a quantitative standpoint. That is to say, the amount you pay is more before you figure in the exchange rate. At ASDA it seemed that things were at least quantitatively the same, and in some cases a bit more like equality. It was nice. I didn't really have anything particular in mind to get, I just wanted to see how the prices were and I needed to get out. I did find some q-tip equivalents (gotta clean the ears, man) and snagged a bottle of rum. It was the first litre I've purchased here, most things at the grocery stores in town are 70cl. I actually got carded, and the lady was a bit suspicious of the ID. Go figure.
Once I got back to my housing I began work on my presentation. I was a little over halfway done when Brenden and Sean stopped by to chat for a moment. Brenden told me that he had a friend from Harvard who was staying in his room for a few days that was going around doing shows in pubs and such in England and later Scotland (If I'm up there when he is I'll have to go see him) and the was going to put on a show for friends at 9 in his room if I was interested. Live music in the room above me? Hell yeh I'm interested! I managed to get through most of the rest of the presentation in time to go up there and meet him and all before it started. His name was Dan Masterson, and I think he's got the talent to take it somewhere if he stays with it. There is a video of one song he did in the pictures in the Cambridge album. I bought an album from him, it was one of the first 100 made so it was numbered and he signed it to me. Pretty awesome I think. He mentioned that he would like to get around to Universities and play, so I plan on contacting Jeff Constant sometime soon to let him know about him and hopefully get them in contact.
Today it was really hard to get out of bed. It always is when you know you actually have to do something, like present. Luckily I've realized I need something with a little more sustenance than dry Frosties for mornings when I won't be able to eat until after 1. I acquired some sausage rolls from Sainsbury's and have been eating 3 for breakfast on such mornings. I'm still trying to cut down on my food consumption, I know I was eating too much before I came here. And with the amount of walking I've been doing, I do feel a bit better. But I digress. The presentation and all went pretty well. There was a moment at the beginning of seminar that is worth comedic note, though.
The PA had arrived a bit late to open the room and set up the projector. The projector was on, but he was having no luck in getting it to display the image from the macbook. He was getting quite irritated and hitting buttons mutliple times, and suddenly it displayed the image. "Aha!" he exclaimed with a smile. "Vhat did you do to make it verk?" Asked Zoltan. "I pressed the button 20 times." "Zo you prezzed de button twenty times and den it verked?" "Yes!" And the PA took his leave. Afterwards, someone from the group at the table said, "FR20!" (fixed ratio 20--20 lever or button presses are required for the rewarding effect). Zoltan followed up with, "And you zee how happy it made him vhen it verked? The next time he comes into this room he will immediately go to zat button and prezz it twenty times." This is probably one of the funniest things that has happened since I got here.
After seminar it was time to go punting. If you don't know what punting is, it is where you get into a punt, a fairly flat boat that holds 5 or 6 people, and someone stands on the rear of it and uses a very long pole to maneuver the boat through the water. This was quite fun, as we go to ride for a while to see the backs of several of the colleges, and then we got to try to punt ourselves. If you know me you know I can barely stand on a skateboard, so the initial balancing was not easy at all. It really wasn't bad after you got yourself balanced though. Right after I was given control though there was a huge traffic jam. Jon said I did pretty good in dealing with it, Didn't lose my cool and just kept trying to push through it. We got through it and went a little ways, and then a big punt came up from the rear and gave us quite a nudge. I saw it just as it was happening, so as I began to fall I jumped downwards into the open area below the punting platform and avoided an unintentional swim. Belinda and Jared told me later that it really looked like I was going to lose it and the save was impressive. After that I handed the punt over to Captain Watson, and later both Belinda and Jared gave it a go. It was great fun, and the punts can be rented from the university for 4 pounds an hour. If you have a group of 4 or 5, that's hardly anything. I definitely plan on doing it for fun with some other people later on, and Sean and I plan to rent a canoe at some point and make a bit more exploitative trip on the Cam.
The rest of the day was uneventful. I prepared my midterm a bit, slept, ate, and went to a plenary lecture by a retired head of Mi6 who is now the Master of Pembroke College (the college which I claim as mine). The lecture was interesting, though it just covered issues that I am not particularly familiar with or interested in. I guess that is bad as the lecture was on National Security in the 21st century. Something that I have come to realize is as being a chemistry major I just don't have many interesting things that people want to talk about. I mean I love some chemistry, but I'm one of the few. Compared to the arts students who study the classics, or the economists and social sciences that are up on current events. They do have much more interesting things to speak about or entertain a group with. I don't suppose I should feel bad about this, it is just something that I've begun to realize.
Tomorrow will be filled with mid-term paper writing and a formal hall in the evening. Don't forget to check the pictures, I added a few to Cambridge and made a new album. All albums are also now set to show the newest pictures first. Cheers!
Sunday 10 July 2011
July 9th and 10th--The Scottish Capital and the Journey South
I got a fairly decent amount of sleep Friday night. Even though the hike wasn't very strenuous, it still took a good bit out of me. I awoke fairly early and had an absolutely delicious breakfast in me by about nine. There was an itinerary set up for the day to meet in groups to do things, but the group for Arthur's Seat left at 10:30 and I really didn't want to wait that long and decided to trek out myself. I saw Mims at reception and checked with her to get a general idea of the path (I probably would have asked her even if I had known, because I think her accent is my favorite of all of the English I've met so far. I kind've want to just hand her Harry Potter and ask her to read it to me and see what she says). It wasn't hard to find, I mean its a giant hill overlooking the city.
I didn't make it all the way up to Arthur's Seat, through reading maps later I'm pretty sure I just didn't continue far enough to get to that particular path. The path I walked was probably only 75 feet or so lower than the Seat, so I felt pretty satisfied and my feet hurt a good bit. You can see the pictures, they are quite spiffy I think. After walking on the overlook I continued up behind Scottish parliament and on into the city. I stumbled across the Museum of Edinburgh and had a look around it. If you know me you know I've never been a big history fan. I didn't really read much, rather just look at all the shiny and interesting things. Afterwards I set my sights on the Scottish Museum. I spent several hours in this one, it was much more extensive. Check out the pictures of the swords and such. It's pretty intense. I'm guessing the early Scots must have played final fantasy.
I stopped in a sandwich shop on the way out of the museum on the way to Brewdogs. It was really one of the more authentic feeling things I've done thus far (but then again, I don't really know authentic). It was a small sandwich shop with a cute Scottish girl behind the counter. I picked out my bread from where I was and handed it to her, she cut it and made the sandwich (ham, roasted peppers, and mozzarella). She toasted it, brought me tea, and I ate my sandwich whilst drinking tea. It was tasty and relaxing. I then set off for Brewdogs, a bar my friend William informed me was in the area. It was in the lower part of the city and it took me a bit to find, but when I did, a-m-a-z-i-n-g.
Really, it was some tasty beer. It is a "punk bar". The music the play is pretty punky and it has a bit of a punkish theme to it. I told the bartender what I liked and he let me try a few different brews before I settled on Punk IPA for my lunch brew. So tasty. Brewdog is a UK beer maker that makes some different sorta beers. One is about 41 % alcohol, called "Sink the Bismark!" and another is "Nuclear Tactical Penguin" ranking in at 32 % alcohol. These beers are drank by the nip, which is basically a shot. The idea is you sip on it, then sip on another beer which compliments the taste. I was allowed to sniff the cork from the Nuclear Tactical Penguin bottle, and let me just say that it smelled magical. The bartender put the cork back in the bottle and a few drops even splashed on me. I felt honored. Anyway, there was a bit of a sad point to this fabulous bar. This is to the best of my memory what the bartender said, just be sure to read it with a Scottish accent,
"The location is just no good. There are clubs around and there are lots of stag parties. We get some people in here like you looking for good beer, but we get a lot of people that just stumble across it looking to get wasted. They'll order 5 nibs of nuclear tactical penguin and just shoot it. It's just such a waste, but its my job and I have to give it to them. Then they get sick and throw up everywhere and make a bloody mess and we have to clean up after them."
After Brewdogs I bought a few souvenirs and headed back to my housing for a nap. Just as I got settled in the clouds settled in with a nice storm. Some would say I wasted part of my day by sleeping while in Edinburgh, but that was such a blissful nap listening to the rain and thunder. After napping I gathered my things a bit and headed back out in to the city. Where? To Brewdogs, of course. I was really going to meet a family friend, Jacqui King, at Ghillie Dhu for some live music, but I had time and wanted to try another of Brewdog's brews. This time I got the Alice Porter. It was exceptional as well, I've never had a beer so dark that was so drinkable. And by dark I mean this thing was absorbing all the light in the room like a black hole. Afterwards I wandered around downtown Edinburgh, stopped at a subway for a sandwich, and eventually found Ghillie Dhu.
Jacqui met me there, my first time meeting her in person, but she seemed like family I've known for some time. Her long time friend Kevin was there, along with several other fellows and the bounciest lady I've ever seen. The music was great, and I actually got to hang out with some real Scots (I seriously doubt that many people from the programme I'm in can say they did that!). Jacqui is into the music scene and many of her friends play as well (as you may or may not know I am into music a bit myself). The plan is that I will visit Edinburgh again in the fall, and one of the things I want to do for sure is go to the proper jazz club to see some improv and such. The band that played was good, but they were playing what I guess you might call well known American jazz classics. The people in the bar certainly didn't have any shame for dancing either. To be honest if I had had shoes that weren't hiking boots and my feet hadn't been close to blistering I probably would have gotten up too.
The music ended about 12:30 and Jacqui had to go so I did too. I was a bit inebriated, and I have never gone back to my housing the way that I was to go that time. I did have my map, but I found it quite difficult to read. I believe it was about 2 miles away. I really should have just called a cab. I did make it back eventually. I packed a few things and passed out to wake up about 5 hours later. I got everything together and went and enjoyed my last delicious buffet breakfast. All good things must come to an end, I suppose. The coach left shortly after 8.30 and we were on the road again. The trip was filled with good chat or decent sleep. We stopped in Richmond to tour the castle and grab lunch (fish and chips....so delicious) and then I got some cake for the bus. It was absolutely delicious cake. Shivani more or less had to make me stop eating it, as I was approaching sugar coma but my tastebuds just wanted more. We eventually arrived home and I grabbed the washer and a shower as soon as possible to avoid any potential queue. Next week we begin classes in earnest.
Things are likely to slow down a bit now, but I will still keep at least a short tab on things even if it was uneventful. There is still more to come though, as I still have another trip to Edinburgh and two trips to London in the planning.
I didn't make it all the way up to Arthur's Seat, through reading maps later I'm pretty sure I just didn't continue far enough to get to that particular path. The path I walked was probably only 75 feet or so lower than the Seat, so I felt pretty satisfied and my feet hurt a good bit. You can see the pictures, they are quite spiffy I think. After walking on the overlook I continued up behind Scottish parliament and on into the city. I stumbled across the Museum of Edinburgh and had a look around it. If you know me you know I've never been a big history fan. I didn't really read much, rather just look at all the shiny and interesting things. Afterwards I set my sights on the Scottish Museum. I spent several hours in this one, it was much more extensive. Check out the pictures of the swords and such. It's pretty intense. I'm guessing the early Scots must have played final fantasy.
I stopped in a sandwich shop on the way out of the museum on the way to Brewdogs. It was really one of the more authentic feeling things I've done thus far (but then again, I don't really know authentic). It was a small sandwich shop with a cute Scottish girl behind the counter. I picked out my bread from where I was and handed it to her, she cut it and made the sandwich (ham, roasted peppers, and mozzarella). She toasted it, brought me tea, and I ate my sandwich whilst drinking tea. It was tasty and relaxing. I then set off for Brewdogs, a bar my friend William informed me was in the area. It was in the lower part of the city and it took me a bit to find, but when I did, a-m-a-z-i-n-g.
Really, it was some tasty beer. It is a "punk bar". The music the play is pretty punky and it has a bit of a punkish theme to it. I told the bartender what I liked and he let me try a few different brews before I settled on Punk IPA for my lunch brew. So tasty. Brewdog is a UK beer maker that makes some different sorta beers. One is about 41 % alcohol, called "Sink the Bismark!" and another is "Nuclear Tactical Penguin" ranking in at 32 % alcohol. These beers are drank by the nip, which is basically a shot. The idea is you sip on it, then sip on another beer which compliments the taste. I was allowed to sniff the cork from the Nuclear Tactical Penguin bottle, and let me just say that it smelled magical. The bartender put the cork back in the bottle and a few drops even splashed on me. I felt honored. Anyway, there was a bit of a sad point to this fabulous bar. This is to the best of my memory what the bartender said, just be sure to read it with a Scottish accent,
"The location is just no good. There are clubs around and there are lots of stag parties. We get some people in here like you looking for good beer, but we get a lot of people that just stumble across it looking to get wasted. They'll order 5 nibs of nuclear tactical penguin and just shoot it. It's just such a waste, but its my job and I have to give it to them. Then they get sick and throw up everywhere and make a bloody mess and we have to clean up after them."
After Brewdogs I bought a few souvenirs and headed back to my housing for a nap. Just as I got settled in the clouds settled in with a nice storm. Some would say I wasted part of my day by sleeping while in Edinburgh, but that was such a blissful nap listening to the rain and thunder. After napping I gathered my things a bit and headed back out in to the city. Where? To Brewdogs, of course. I was really going to meet a family friend, Jacqui King, at Ghillie Dhu for some live music, but I had time and wanted to try another of Brewdog's brews. This time I got the Alice Porter. It was exceptional as well, I've never had a beer so dark that was so drinkable. And by dark I mean this thing was absorbing all the light in the room like a black hole. Afterwards I wandered around downtown Edinburgh, stopped at a subway for a sandwich, and eventually found Ghillie Dhu.
Jacqui met me there, my first time meeting her in person, but she seemed like family I've known for some time. Her long time friend Kevin was there, along with several other fellows and the bounciest lady I've ever seen. The music was great, and I actually got to hang out with some real Scots (I seriously doubt that many people from the programme I'm in can say they did that!). Jacqui is into the music scene and many of her friends play as well (as you may or may not know I am into music a bit myself). The plan is that I will visit Edinburgh again in the fall, and one of the things I want to do for sure is go to the proper jazz club to see some improv and such. The band that played was good, but they were playing what I guess you might call well known American jazz classics. The people in the bar certainly didn't have any shame for dancing either. To be honest if I had had shoes that weren't hiking boots and my feet hadn't been close to blistering I probably would have gotten up too.
The music ended about 12:30 and Jacqui had to go so I did too. I was a bit inebriated, and I have never gone back to my housing the way that I was to go that time. I did have my map, but I found it quite difficult to read. I believe it was about 2 miles away. I really should have just called a cab. I did make it back eventually. I packed a few things and passed out to wake up about 5 hours later. I got everything together and went and enjoyed my last delicious buffet breakfast. All good things must come to an end, I suppose. The coach left shortly after 8.30 and we were on the road again. The trip was filled with good chat or decent sleep. We stopped in Richmond to tour the castle and grab lunch (fish and chips....so delicious) and then I got some cake for the bus. It was absolutely delicious cake. Shivani more or less had to make me stop eating it, as I was approaching sugar coma but my tastebuds just wanted more. We eventually arrived home and I grabbed the washer and a shower as soon as possible to avoid any potential queue. Next week we begin classes in earnest.
Things are likely to slow down a bit now, but I will still keep at least a short tab on things even if it was uneventful. There is still more to come though, as I still have another trip to Edinburgh and two trips to London in the planning.
Friday 8 July 2011
July 8th, the Valley of the Goblins
I got up early this morning as normal. I like to make sure I have plenty of time and I usually arrive places at least 10 minutes early. I sat with Austin and two of his friends at breakfast. I have no idea at all what their names are. I have learned something about my memory of names during this trip. I remember names through the memory of the image of their named spelled out. When someone tells me their name and it is not a name that I can spell in English I have no chance at all of remembering it. With the number of non-English people on this trip, there are many people's names I have had to ask many many times and still cannot remember.
I was leaving at 10 to go to the Trossachs and hike. At breakfast Austin asked me about this and told me they had told his bus that both of the groups were leaving at 9, instead of one at 9 and one at 10. This was at 8.40. I immediately left breakfast and went back to my room to gather my things and run towards the bus. I made it in plenty of time, but they did both indeed leave at 9. It was supposed to be announced on the bus, but no one bothered to on ours. I am quite grateful that I sat with an inquisitive and helpful group at breakfast, otherwise I would have had no idea.
Now if you'll remember, I was rather irritated about the whole Trossachs sign-up ordeal, what with how I had to fight and only managed to get the very last available seat. Well, in my own little vindictive way I got complete retribution. Those same people that were sitting up there signing up numbers and numbers of people were the same ones that obviously paid no attention to what the trip was going to be like. We were warned that it was actually going to be a hike. That you shouldn't wear shoes that you don't want to get quite muddy. That the trip would involve some steep bits towards the end. For instance, take the girl beside me for example.
"I really hope these shoes don't get too dirty, I just bought them before I left." (She is wearing white tennis shoes.)
"Are you kidding me? They are going to be brown. We are going hiking in the mountains. In SCOTLAND."
People just don't listen. Apparently a lot of them thought it was going to be a nice path all the way up the mountain, which wasn't the case. To be honest, it was unlike any hiking I'd ever done. We were in a group of about 100 people. Once we got to the real trail, well, there wouldn't have been a path, had 100 people not tread on it before me (I was at the end with all of the BYU or BYU+ as the group of us that chooses to associate the most with the BYU people have been deemed). There was more mud than I've ever seen for such a stretch, but I guess that is what you get with the weather. We were told by the hiking guide before we got off the bus that we were likely to experience all four seasons, and he was right. At one point I could see my breath, and at one point it was uncomfortably warm. Be sure to check the pictures from this trip, as they should be brilliant if they capture even half of what I saw.
It was only a 2 mile hike there, and then 2 miles back, but it took 2 hours both way due to the size of the group. The short hike was an all day affair, as the bus ride there also took about 1.5 hours there and then 1.5 hours back. It was totally worth it though, I would much rather see the wilderness and nature of an area than the urban part if given the option, and tomorrow I will have a chance to see a bit of the city anyway.
Though I lost sight of my feet multiple times beneath the mud the dry sanctity of my socks was never violated. I was probably one of about 10 in the group of 100 that had actually worn proper footwear and had such a nice foot haven. I felt no pity for them.
After returning to my housing I found a shower on another floor (many people had gone hiking on my floor and thus there was a large shower queue...only a floor up and on the opposite shower there was no queue). I went to check out the Ceilidh (a traditional Scottish party) after getting washed up. I took advantage of the free drinks and watched a few dances. Not only were my feet tired, but there just wasn't anyone there that I wished to dance with. If my girlfriend or anyone I was closer to had been there I would have loved to try it, but not with the people I didn't really know all that well. This is neglecting the fact that the only shoes I had were hiking boots. All in all, it was fun to watch for a few dances, but I don't regret the fact that I skipped out pretty early. I can say I went to one, even if I didn't dance.
Tomorrow we'll see what the city of Edinburgh is hiding.
I was leaving at 10 to go to the Trossachs and hike. At breakfast Austin asked me about this and told me they had told his bus that both of the groups were leaving at 9, instead of one at 9 and one at 10. This was at 8.40. I immediately left breakfast and went back to my room to gather my things and run towards the bus. I made it in plenty of time, but they did both indeed leave at 9. It was supposed to be announced on the bus, but no one bothered to on ours. I am quite grateful that I sat with an inquisitive and helpful group at breakfast, otherwise I would have had no idea.
Now if you'll remember, I was rather irritated about the whole Trossachs sign-up ordeal, what with how I had to fight and only managed to get the very last available seat. Well, in my own little vindictive way I got complete retribution. Those same people that were sitting up there signing up numbers and numbers of people were the same ones that obviously paid no attention to what the trip was going to be like. We were warned that it was actually going to be a hike. That you shouldn't wear shoes that you don't want to get quite muddy. That the trip would involve some steep bits towards the end. For instance, take the girl beside me for example.
"I really hope these shoes don't get too dirty, I just bought them before I left." (She is wearing white tennis shoes.)
"Are you kidding me? They are going to be brown. We are going hiking in the mountains. In SCOTLAND."
People just don't listen. Apparently a lot of them thought it was going to be a nice path all the way up the mountain, which wasn't the case. To be honest, it was unlike any hiking I'd ever done. We were in a group of about 100 people. Once we got to the real trail, well, there wouldn't have been a path, had 100 people not tread on it before me (I was at the end with all of the BYU or BYU+ as the group of us that chooses to associate the most with the BYU people have been deemed). There was more mud than I've ever seen for such a stretch, but I guess that is what you get with the weather. We were told by the hiking guide before we got off the bus that we were likely to experience all four seasons, and he was right. At one point I could see my breath, and at one point it was uncomfortably warm. Be sure to check the pictures from this trip, as they should be brilliant if they capture even half of what I saw.
It was only a 2 mile hike there, and then 2 miles back, but it took 2 hours both way due to the size of the group. The short hike was an all day affair, as the bus ride there also took about 1.5 hours there and then 1.5 hours back. It was totally worth it though, I would much rather see the wilderness and nature of an area than the urban part if given the option, and tomorrow I will have a chance to see a bit of the city anyway.
Though I lost sight of my feet multiple times beneath the mud the dry sanctity of my socks was never violated. I was probably one of about 10 in the group of 100 that had actually worn proper footwear and had such a nice foot haven. I felt no pity for them.
After returning to my housing I found a shower on another floor (many people had gone hiking on my floor and thus there was a large shower queue...only a floor up and on the opposite shower there was no queue). I went to check out the Ceilidh (a traditional Scottish party) after getting washed up. I took advantage of the free drinks and watched a few dances. Not only were my feet tired, but there just wasn't anyone there that I wished to dance with. If my girlfriend or anyone I was closer to had been there I would have loved to try it, but not with the people I didn't really know all that well. This is neglecting the fact that the only shoes I had were hiking boots. All in all, it was fun to watch for a few dances, but I don't regret the fact that I skipped out pretty early. I can say I went to one, even if I didn't dance.
Tomorrow we'll see what the city of Edinburgh is hiding.
Thursday 7 July 2011
July 7th, The Journey North
Today was the day that everyone was looking forward to--The 10 hour bus trip to Scotland! I was actually quite surprised that the trip went by fairly fast, as was everyone. Our bus left out of Cambridge at 8.30. Sitting next to me was a girl named Annie, and across their aisle was her husband Alex. They were both BYU students. Sitting in front of me was a girl I didn't know and an Indian girl from my drugs class named Shivani. It was in the first few minutes of conversation that I learned/realized that BYU (Brigham Young Universtiy) was indeed a Mormon school. Why does this matter?
I would say at least half, if not a majority of the students that I've met and had significant socialization with have been from BYU. I have been wondering why it seemed that most of the people I was meeting didn't drink or ever mutter a curse word. Now some of those are still because of some of my previous thoughts--they are just too uptight or uppity. But for many of them, its been because they were Mormon! This was indeed an "Ah-ha!" moment for me. There were many good conversation had on the bus to Fountain's Abbey, though they mostly involved the areas we came from, and weren't particularly notable.
As we arrived at Fountain's Abbey a good rain set in. The driver unlocked the back of the bus so I could get my raincoat out of my bag, but of course it was in the very back. I took a dive into the compartment and managed to get it, but it was quite a hassle getting out. I mean, they could have closed it with me in there. Anyway, Fountain's Abbey is the ruins of an old cathedral. It is quite beautiful as you'll be able to see from the pictures when I put them up--I left my card reader in Cambridge. My group of friends wandered around taking pictures, stopped for a bit to eat our food, and then stopped at the cafe for some tea. It is here that I accidentally said an entire phrase with a British accent.
"Excuse me, but where would you like me to place these spoons?"
I brought it up later with Shivani how I had accidentally done this, and she said she had heard it and found it quite amusing, but that it sounded right to her. I don't know how to feel about the situation.
Our group had trekked pretty far in the grounds to see the "Surprise View" marked on the map we had been given. I'll mark it on the pictures when I upload them. It was nice, but not really a surprise (I guess they spoiled that for us). None of us had realized how far we had come and we didn't leave in enough time to get to the bus on time. We cut down a hill and jumped in a window to the cellar of the abbey to cut straight through it instead of having to walk all the way around it. Success.
After getting back on the bus Shivani let me listen to some Above and Beyond. It's electronica/trance. Really good stuff too. We all got to talking about techno and such, when a girl behind me asks if anyone likes dubstep. Well if you know me, you know I love the wub wub. She was asking because there is a dubstep show in London on the 23rd that she wanted to go to but hadn't found anyone else that was interested. Duh, winning. I'm really hoping I get to go, and I should be able to.
Somewhere along the bus ride we hit Scotland, and shortly after I fell asleep for a bit. Scotland looks like England except with more hills. We checked in at the Edinburgh First--college dorms that they rent out in the off season. I had to pay 10 quid for internet for the trip, which isn't terrible but still a pain. The cafeteria food here was amazing, though I think it may have simply been because they had more familiar foods, and it was buffet style. Cheese sticks, pizza, baked pasta. Good stuff. I took a little walk around the town afterwards to enjoy this 55 degree weather before settling in for the evening. Tomorrow I'm going to hike a part of the highlands.
I would say at least half, if not a majority of the students that I've met and had significant socialization with have been from BYU. I have been wondering why it seemed that most of the people I was meeting didn't drink or ever mutter a curse word. Now some of those are still because of some of my previous thoughts--they are just too uptight or uppity. But for many of them, its been because they were Mormon! This was indeed an "Ah-ha!" moment for me. There were many good conversation had on the bus to Fountain's Abbey, though they mostly involved the areas we came from, and weren't particularly notable.
As we arrived at Fountain's Abbey a good rain set in. The driver unlocked the back of the bus so I could get my raincoat out of my bag, but of course it was in the very back. I took a dive into the compartment and managed to get it, but it was quite a hassle getting out. I mean, they could have closed it with me in there. Anyway, Fountain's Abbey is the ruins of an old cathedral. It is quite beautiful as you'll be able to see from the pictures when I put them up--I left my card reader in Cambridge. My group of friends wandered around taking pictures, stopped for a bit to eat our food, and then stopped at the cafe for some tea. It is here that I accidentally said an entire phrase with a British accent.
"Excuse me, but where would you like me to place these spoons?"
I brought it up later with Shivani how I had accidentally done this, and she said she had heard it and found it quite amusing, but that it sounded right to her. I don't know how to feel about the situation.
Our group had trekked pretty far in the grounds to see the "Surprise View" marked on the map we had been given. I'll mark it on the pictures when I upload them. It was nice, but not really a surprise (I guess they spoiled that for us). None of us had realized how far we had come and we didn't leave in enough time to get to the bus on time. We cut down a hill and jumped in a window to the cellar of the abbey to cut straight through it instead of having to walk all the way around it. Success.
After getting back on the bus Shivani let me listen to some Above and Beyond. It's electronica/trance. Really good stuff too. We all got to talking about techno and such, when a girl behind me asks if anyone likes dubstep. Well if you know me, you know I love the wub wub. She was asking because there is a dubstep show in London on the 23rd that she wanted to go to but hadn't found anyone else that was interested. Duh, winning. I'm really hoping I get to go, and I should be able to.
Somewhere along the bus ride we hit Scotland, and shortly after I fell asleep for a bit. Scotland looks like England except with more hills. We checked in at the Edinburgh First--college dorms that they rent out in the off season. I had to pay 10 quid for internet for the trip, which isn't terrible but still a pain. The cafeteria food here was amazing, though I think it may have simply been because they had more familiar foods, and it was buffet style. Cheese sticks, pizza, baked pasta. Good stuff. I took a little walk around the town afterwards to enjoy this 55 degree weather before settling in for the evening. Tomorrow I'm going to hike a part of the highlands.
Wednesday 6 July 2011
July 6th
Since I've gotten to Cambridge I have been neglecting checking my email daily. I have been getting to it at least semi-daily, but that's really not enough. So I check my email at 8.20 (class begins at 9.00) and I have 2 emails from Dan. The first is to the class in general asking if someone would please switch and do the presentation he was supposed to do that morning because he just realized he had a scheduling conflict and had to attend a lecture instead. The second was just to me, with a powerpoint he made attached asking me to present it for him. Of course I emailed him back and told him I would. Speaking in front of people has never bothered me, not to mention it probably helped me gain more favor in the eyes of the Zoltan (prof.). Oh, another note, at the beginning of seminar, Zoltan asked to borrow my pen,
"You zee I ran into him at ze pozt offiz yezterday and borrowed hiz pen there. He is ze keeper of ze pen!"
After seminar I was done with classes for the day. I went to the Pembroke cafe where I met up with Mr. Watson (another student, he calls me "Carolina") and had lunch. It was at this time that he explained to me what "Cambridge" is. It is probably bad that I didn't know this until now, but here it is. The University of Cambridge is not really a single institution. It is the collective body of all of the colleges in Cambridge. That's about as simple and straightforward of an explanation as I can give. A much needed nap was acquired after lunch. Later I spent a few hours working on this blog and talking to my girlfriend, then getting a few items from Sainsbury's. I knew that it was mentioned that I needed a rainjacket ("waterproofs" they call them) to make the highlands trip. After looking around in the outdoors shops the cheapest I found was 22 pounds. That's pretty expensive, so I decided not to get one. Upon returning to my housing I checked my email to find the itinerary which stated that one was required to have waterproofs or they would not be allowed on the trip. I begrudgingly made the trip back out to buy one. I'm not about to miss hiking in Scotland because I wouldn't buy a rainjacket that I will use anyway.
For supper I had BBQ meatloaf, some sort of vegetable stew, and noodles. The food from the cafeteria is ridiculously good. It is also expensive, but I look forward to at least a meal a day there. After supper Mr. Watson and I headed to CUS for the briefing on Scotland. Mims, one of the PA's joined me in seating. She is studying chemical engineering in Cambridge (i.e., she lives there and studies full time). I enjoy talking to her because we often cross subjects where things are completely different from America and she doesn't realize it. For some reason this seems strange to me as she is a PA and has contact with so many of us Americans, but I suppose most of them are too busy asking questions about the English system and don't mention anything about their own. Upon leaving the briefing she invited me to a pub with her friends later, and I told her I would join them.
Leaving the briefing was a bloody mess. We immediately were going to sign up for the Highlands hike. Everyone wanted to go, but there were only 280 spots (and about 350 students). I pushed and tousled and fought to the table and just when the paper was within reach the PA supervising it announced there were only two spots left. Now if people were coming and signing themselves up it would have been one thing, but no, people were sitting at the table, not letting other people get up to it to sign it, and signing their friends names as they shouted them across the room. Total bullshit. I had my own pen, so I struck my name on the paper while she was writing right above it. She was pissed because she had had one other person to sign up but I had taken the last spot. She wrote their name in between some names. Things that piss me off.
After running my errands I met up with Mims at the Panton Arms pub. Turns out all her friends were Asian, and they had filled the table. Mims and I squeezed in at different places and really didn't have any conversation. I instead talked to a few fellows named George and Jimmy. They answered two long standing questions I have had. The first was, why in asian places do you see store signs and advertisements partly in Asian but with a few english words thrown in? The answer was that for one, the shop owners or advertisers want to give off the image that they are smart or better than others because they know another language, or specifically english. The second reason is there are so many visitors to Asian countries than can not read or speak any Asian characters, the familiar english helps to draw customers in. My second question was why do they commonly throw english words into their speech when they are speaking chinese (in their case)? The answer to that was simply that the english word was so much simpler than the Asian counterpart they just preferred to use it. Intriguing.
It was a good day, and tomorrow morning I leave for Scotland.
"You zee I ran into him at ze pozt offiz yezterday and borrowed hiz pen there. He is ze keeper of ze pen!"
After seminar I was done with classes for the day. I went to the Pembroke cafe where I met up with Mr. Watson (another student, he calls me "Carolina") and had lunch. It was at this time that he explained to me what "Cambridge" is. It is probably bad that I didn't know this until now, but here it is. The University of Cambridge is not really a single institution. It is the collective body of all of the colleges in Cambridge. That's about as simple and straightforward of an explanation as I can give. A much needed nap was acquired after lunch. Later I spent a few hours working on this blog and talking to my girlfriend, then getting a few items from Sainsbury's. I knew that it was mentioned that I needed a rainjacket ("waterproofs" they call them) to make the highlands trip. After looking around in the outdoors shops the cheapest I found was 22 pounds. That's pretty expensive, so I decided not to get one. Upon returning to my housing I checked my email to find the itinerary which stated that one was required to have waterproofs or they would not be allowed on the trip. I begrudgingly made the trip back out to buy one. I'm not about to miss hiking in Scotland because I wouldn't buy a rainjacket that I will use anyway.
For supper I had BBQ meatloaf, some sort of vegetable stew, and noodles. The food from the cafeteria is ridiculously good. It is also expensive, but I look forward to at least a meal a day there. After supper Mr. Watson and I headed to CUS for the briefing on Scotland. Mims, one of the PA's joined me in seating. She is studying chemical engineering in Cambridge (i.e., she lives there and studies full time). I enjoy talking to her because we often cross subjects where things are completely different from America and she doesn't realize it. For some reason this seems strange to me as she is a PA and has contact with so many of us Americans, but I suppose most of them are too busy asking questions about the English system and don't mention anything about their own. Upon leaving the briefing she invited me to a pub with her friends later, and I told her I would join them.
Leaving the briefing was a bloody mess. We immediately were going to sign up for the Highlands hike. Everyone wanted to go, but there were only 280 spots (and about 350 students). I pushed and tousled and fought to the table and just when the paper was within reach the PA supervising it announced there were only two spots left. Now if people were coming and signing themselves up it would have been one thing, but no, people were sitting at the table, not letting other people get up to it to sign it, and signing their friends names as they shouted them across the room. Total bullshit. I had my own pen, so I struck my name on the paper while she was writing right above it. She was pissed because she had had one other person to sign up but I had taken the last spot. She wrote their name in between some names. Things that piss me off.
After running my errands I met up with Mims at the Panton Arms pub. Turns out all her friends were Asian, and they had filled the table. Mims and I squeezed in at different places and really didn't have any conversation. I instead talked to a few fellows named George and Jimmy. They answered two long standing questions I have had. The first was, why in asian places do you see store signs and advertisements partly in Asian but with a few english words thrown in? The answer was that for one, the shop owners or advertisers want to give off the image that they are smart or better than others because they know another language, or specifically english. The second reason is there are so many visitors to Asian countries than can not read or speak any Asian characters, the familiar english helps to draw customers in. My second question was why do they commonly throw english words into their speech when they are speaking chinese (in their case)? The answer to that was simply that the english word was so much simpler than the Asian counterpart they just preferred to use it. Intriguing.
It was a good day, and tomorrow morning I leave for Scotland.
July 5th
The morning started of well with a successful presentation in my Drugs and the Mind class. Make a note, however, of the fact that at the beginning of class the professor asked to borrow my pen. Of the four people he asked to present the article I was the only one who actually came up with a powerpoint and all. Afterwards I purchased and umbrella and a cell phone. My number is 07581 697710 if you can call UK mobiles without being gouged. The Drugs in the Mind lecture met soon after. It was a bit of a bore. We were going over basic neurobiology. I had seen a good deal of it before, but what I hadn't seen was mainly just systems and pathways--the reasons that I switched from biology to chemistry.
Afterwards I snagged a "seafood wrap" (still no clue what was in it, but it was tasty, though I preferred the bacon, chicken, and onion sandwhich from the day before) and headed back to my housing. There I began work on this blog and talked to my girlfriend for a bit before she went to bed. Later on I went out on a quest for post-it notes and to the post office. So who do I run into at the post office? Dr. Sarnyai from Drugs and the Mind. He was there with his wife, it sounded like Deutsch but there are several languages that sound a bit like it I believe. Anyway, he asked to borrow my pen. Because he needed to fill out the stuff he needed to mail. I complied, of course.
I headed to supper about 5.45. They began serving at six. If I hadn't been there a bit early, I would have had to wait in a humongous line and been very late to the following plenary lecture. Jonathan, a psych major from Yale joined me at dinner and we went to the CUS for the lecture together. I looked over at him and he looked a bit confused. I noticed his phone was all in Russian.
"Accidentally put it in Russian?"
"Oh no, I can read the Russian just fine, I just can't figure out how to use the phone!"
At least in South Carolina, it's rare to find someone that can read/speak russian. The lecture was on why Cambridge is unique. It was quite interesting and I learned a little background on the historic city.
I have finally caught up with my backlog of events...perhaps the future posts will be a little less what I did, or at least include a little more of that I think or of the things I am learning.
Afterwards I snagged a "seafood wrap" (still no clue what was in it, but it was tasty, though I preferred the bacon, chicken, and onion sandwhich from the day before) and headed back to my housing. There I began work on this blog and talked to my girlfriend for a bit before she went to bed. Later on I went out on a quest for post-it notes and to the post office. So who do I run into at the post office? Dr. Sarnyai from Drugs and the Mind. He was there with his wife, it sounded like Deutsch but there are several languages that sound a bit like it I believe. Anyway, he asked to borrow my pen. Because he needed to fill out the stuff he needed to mail. I complied, of course.
I headed to supper about 5.45. They began serving at six. If I hadn't been there a bit early, I would have had to wait in a humongous line and been very late to the following plenary lecture. Jonathan, a psych major from Yale joined me at dinner and we went to the CUS for the lecture together. I looked over at him and he looked a bit confused. I noticed his phone was all in Russian.
"Accidentally put it in Russian?"
"Oh no, I can read the Russian just fine, I just can't figure out how to use the phone!"
At least in South Carolina, it's rare to find someone that can read/speak russian. The lecture was on why Cambridge is unique. It was quite interesting and I learned a little background on the historic city.
I have finally caught up with my backlog of events...perhaps the future posts will be a little less what I did, or at least include a little more of that I think or of the things I am learning.
July 4th in the Motherland
I started the morning out with a bit of Frosties and a hot shower. We had to meet in the Cambridge Union Society debating chamber at 9:00 for a commencement speech of sorts. Part of it was a welcoming ordeal, part of it was rules and recommendations. This was made much more interesting by the speakers,
"I think that it is most wonderful to see that so many of you have decided to return from the colonies, to the motherland, on this particular day."
"Someone has been telling some of you that you can't drink the water here and so you've been going out and spending money on these bottles of water. Don't do that! The water is perfectly fine to drink here! Don't waste your money on water, waste it on alcohol!"
Afterwards but before class there was time in which I managed to procure an adapter for my computer and a few other sundry items. Back at the CUS class started (for me, anyway) around 3.25. The teacher for the course has a very thick accent. I believe it is something Dutch. Me and a few others I had been speaking to before we could go into the classroom decided to sit up front. At the start of the class the teacher asked to borrow someone's watch. I complied, probably a mistake. The material was not too bad as it was all introductory material. The way the courses are taught here is through two different class meetings: lectures and seminars. In the lectures everyone meets and the teacher presents materials. In the seminar only half the class meets and the students present scientific articles and they are discussed. The first seminar was the next day, and shortly after the end of the first lecture we were required to go to a formal hall, so there wasn't really any time to do much. He picked two people (one for each article) and guess who the very first one was? The one who he remembered because of the watch he had been looking at.
Afterwards I freshened up and donned my coat and tie. I arrived at King's College to meet the group of PKP students to be walked to Queen's college as we had never been there before. We were led out of King's College, down an alley, and into Queen's college to a lawn. It was a bit funny, as the leader of the line led us to the lawn, but no one walked on it at first. Only after being assured that it was ok to walk on the grass at this time did anyone dare set foot on the sacred green turf. Drinks were served and we chatted it up for an hour or so before being led to Queen's great hall for a three course meal consisting of caesar salad and a roll, a steak and vegetables, and apple pie and coffee for desert. The people around me were interesting to talk to when I could hear them. The table was pretty large so it was difficult to hear women sitting on the other side of it. At this point I learned from one of the PA's that Charles Darwin used to live on the same street that I am staying at now. He told me there is a marker somewhere, but I haven't found it yet. We left the dinner about 9.30.
Returning to my room I began working on a powerpoint for the presentation I had to give the next morning. The professor had said that he didn't feel he could require us to have a powerpoint and all done for the article as he knew it was very short notice with no time, but I was determined to get one done anyway. After a couple hours of labor, my presentation on the effect of cocaine on Drosophila was complete.
"I think that it is most wonderful to see that so many of you have decided to return from the colonies, to the motherland, on this particular day."
"Someone has been telling some of you that you can't drink the water here and so you've been going out and spending money on these bottles of water. Don't do that! The water is perfectly fine to drink here! Don't waste your money on water, waste it on alcohol!"
Afterwards but before class there was time in which I managed to procure an adapter for my computer and a few other sundry items. Back at the CUS class started (for me, anyway) around 3.25. The teacher for the course has a very thick accent. I believe it is something Dutch. Me and a few others I had been speaking to before we could go into the classroom decided to sit up front. At the start of the class the teacher asked to borrow someone's watch. I complied, probably a mistake. The material was not too bad as it was all introductory material. The way the courses are taught here is through two different class meetings: lectures and seminars. In the lectures everyone meets and the teacher presents materials. In the seminar only half the class meets and the students present scientific articles and they are discussed. The first seminar was the next day, and shortly after the end of the first lecture we were required to go to a formal hall, so there wasn't really any time to do much. He picked two people (one for each article) and guess who the very first one was? The one who he remembered because of the watch he had been looking at.
Afterwards I freshened up and donned my coat and tie. I arrived at King's College to meet the group of PKP students to be walked to Queen's college as we had never been there before. We were led out of King's College, down an alley, and into Queen's college to a lawn. It was a bit funny, as the leader of the line led us to the lawn, but no one walked on it at first. Only after being assured that it was ok to walk on the grass at this time did anyone dare set foot on the sacred green turf. Drinks were served and we chatted it up for an hour or so before being led to Queen's great hall for a three course meal consisting of caesar salad and a roll, a steak and vegetables, and apple pie and coffee for desert. The people around me were interesting to talk to when I could hear them. The table was pretty large so it was difficult to hear women sitting on the other side of it. At this point I learned from one of the PA's that Charles Darwin used to live on the same street that I am staying at now. He told me there is a marker somewhere, but I haven't found it yet. We left the dinner about 9.30.
Returning to my room I began working on a powerpoint for the presentation I had to give the next morning. The professor had said that he didn't feel he could require us to have a powerpoint and all done for the article as he knew it was very short notice with no time, but I was determined to get one done anyway. After a couple hours of labor, my presentation on the effect of cocaine on Drosophila was complete.
July 3, Post Arrival
After getting in to my room the first challenge I had to accept was that of finding supplies. Toiletries, a few snacks, those things that I couldn't go without but didn't have the room to pack. I had asked the PA that registered me for instructions to get such things, and she showed me two Sainsbury's locations in the area, one of which would actually still be open Sunday evening. After studying the map for a few moments I set out and was able to locate the store without problem, it was about a 10 minute walk (well, it still is a 10 minute walk) from my housing. Once there I realized how ridiculously expensive things where over here, but I had been warned. I picked up shampoo, conditioner, those things, and some snacks. Perhaps one of my favorites being "Frosties". It's really just Frosted Flakes, but the name is intensely better than its American counterpart's.
After shopping it was time to check out the buffet. It was much fancier than I had expected, but any meal that isn't served from a cafe pretty much has been. I can't remember the specifics of what I had, but it was the first food I'd eaten since early that morning and that had been airline food. Delicious! I had met a group of people in line that I was going to sit with, but once we were done fixing our plates all of the tables in the great hall were full and we were forced to migrate to the bar area. I lost track of them at some point, so I sat beside a girl who was by herself. Turns out she was working on her PhD at Cambridge. She was from Amsterdam. I had an interesting talk with her, including explaining to her why all the Americans had suddenly taken over King's College.
After eating I stopped by the porter's lodge to get an ethernet cable. For those of you who don't know what a porter is, imagine a police officer, except they aren't enforcers of the law, aren't out to get you, and are a good bit more jolly. After getting back to my housing I was finally able to get online and contact people to let them know I had arrived safely (yes, this was the first time I had contacted home). The adapter which had been previously purchased to allow me to charge my laptop did not fit, so I only had one battery charge till the next day when electronics shops opened. After letting people know I was alive I laid down to rest until my girlfriend would be on later (she is currently in Korea. See her blog here).
After lying there for just long enough to begin to doze off, there was a knock at my door. I answered it to find a most embarrassed Chinese guy in nothing but a towel. Doors here lock behind you, and he had left his room to shower without the key. I let him in and let him use skype to call around to get a PA to help. Eventually we got someone to go get the spare key from the porter's lodge, and he was on his way. He was fairly upset about the whole ordeal. I tried to convince him that it didn't really matter that much, and he shouldn't worry about it, but I don't believe it worked. Regardless, I don't think after that event that I'll ever forget Chris's name, or that I'll ever forget to have my key with me when leaving the room.
It was an interesting first half of a day.
After shopping it was time to check out the buffet. It was much fancier than I had expected, but any meal that isn't served from a cafe pretty much has been. I can't remember the specifics of what I had, but it was the first food I'd eaten since early that morning and that had been airline food. Delicious! I had met a group of people in line that I was going to sit with, but once we were done fixing our plates all of the tables in the great hall were full and we were forced to migrate to the bar area. I lost track of them at some point, so I sat beside a girl who was by herself. Turns out she was working on her PhD at Cambridge. She was from Amsterdam. I had an interesting talk with her, including explaining to her why all the Americans had suddenly taken over King's College.
After eating I stopped by the porter's lodge to get an ethernet cable. For those of you who don't know what a porter is, imagine a police officer, except they aren't enforcers of the law, aren't out to get you, and are a good bit more jolly. After getting back to my housing I was finally able to get online and contact people to let them know I had arrived safely (yes, this was the first time I had contacted home). The adapter which had been previously purchased to allow me to charge my laptop did not fit, so I only had one battery charge till the next day when electronics shops opened. After letting people know I was alive I laid down to rest until my girlfriend would be on later (she is currently in Korea. See her blog here).
After lying there for just long enough to begin to doze off, there was a knock at my door. I answered it to find a most embarrassed Chinese guy in nothing but a towel. Doors here lock behind you, and he had left his room to shower without the key. I let him in and let him use skype to call around to get a PA to help. Eventually we got someone to go get the spare key from the porter's lodge, and he was on his way. He was fairly upset about the whole ordeal. I tried to convince him that it didn't really matter that much, and he shouldn't worry about it, but I don't believe it worked. Regardless, I don't think after that event that I'll ever forget Chris's name, or that I'll ever forget to have my key with me when leaving the room.
It was an interesting first half of a day.
Tuesday 5 July 2011
The Journey
As I would imagine is fairly normal for someone in my position, my time in Cambridge was completely overshadowed by the travel to my destination. I have traveled to Canada, but it was by car. In Canada I managed to figure out how to use the rail system from point A to point B and back, but I was first able to thoroughly study a map and schedule in an almost completely deserted train stop. I had traveled on the marta train in Atlanta with my science honors course, but I would never have been able to keep up if I hadn't been following other people. I suppose it was natural that the thought of taking a connecting plane to Detroit where I would hook up with a transatlantic flight to London Heathrow, where I would have to travel by tube to King's Cross Station and then catch a train to Cambridge was a bit frightening.
My family drove me to the Columbia airport, about 2 hours from my house. We said our goodbyes, took a few last pictures, and I departed through security. Shortly after taking my seat to wait for boarding it was announced that DL5470 would be slightly delayed, and that anyone with connecting flights 7:10 or later should see their Delta agent. My connecting flight was at 7:00. The agent provided me with a corrected itinerary but left me on the earlier flight in case time was made up. I returned to my seat, now next to the first person I would talk to on this adventure. He was wearing his army fatigues. His family was in the area and he was waiting on someone to pick him up. Topics of our conversation included how terrible the weather in Dubai was, possible ways to harness the power of electricity, and on his part, superman. Something about some gold kryptonite...he talked a good bit about it, I had no idea what he was talking about, so I don't remember. He was a nice fellow though. The plane arrives early! And is then delayed at our airport due to weather. Eventually we board.
Now, the whole time I had been sitting in the terminal I had been eying this person who looked ridiculously familiar from Lander, but I couldn't place him. At some point he accosted me and confirmed he was from Lander. We'd never talked, but we were both making the same flight for different reasons. He studied in Winchester a few semesters ago, and he was going back to visit his now fiance.
The connecting plane was small, it held about 50 people. Of course the person that I sat next to was probably about 1.5 times my size (and I'm not small by any means...). It was a black dude with a fro going to LA to visit family. He ended up being pretty cool, he did specialization of shoes and such. Oh, he also talked about Superman. A good bit. Strange. The flight took off. I think my favorite part was actually on the ground--looking out the window and being able to tell that I was moving faster than I ever had before. The views from the window were pretty awesome too. A short flight, we landed in the Detroit airport about 6:40. I had studied a map of the Detroit airport while on the plane. I had a mission. Unlucky for me, the gate where my plane docked was about at the opposite side from where I needed to be. Detroit is a big airport. It's larger than most of the malls I've ever been in. I covered probably a mile in about 10 minutes (with the aid of the moving floors). I arrived at the proper Delta terminal, and the door was still open! "Did I make it?" "No." "Damn it." The Delta rep was very courteous, and through his conversation with his coworker I could make out that they had just let a last minute person onto the plane and the plane had clearance and had to leave. He then informed me that he was going to bump me up to business class and asked if I would like meal vouchers. "....Yes." Next flight left at 11:25, it was now about 7:10.
According to a map of the airport, a Taco Bell lay hidden in the furthest depths of the A concourse. I wasn't about to pass up another chance for delicious Taco Bell goodness. Since I was eating on Delta's money, I even got the XXL burrito. Now, it is a very large burrito. But it isn't very good. 4 or 5 beefy melts would have been better. Now anyway, back to the Lander student (who I now know as "Wes". however that's all I know and cannot find him on facebook, so I have no way to contact him for the possible meet up we had spoken of). At some point in my search for taco bell I had run in to him while he was in search for a smoking area. We split ways but established we'd meet later at the terminal for our flight. I met up with him probably about an hour and a half before our flight took off, and from there we took turns watching each others things while we went and did things we didn't want our luggage to go do with us.
Time to board finally arrived. With my business class I got to board first. I had no idea business class would be so luxurious. The seats lay down completely flat in your own area, so you don't bother anyone else no matter what position the seat is in. Blanket, pillow, a weird case thing full of random hygiene things that I took with me. An entire other seat full of space to put things...along with a US outlet! This really was a trip saver, as I will explain later. I finished up the last bit of the 7th Harry Potter book, watched several episodes of Durarara!! and put up with the airline supper. At this point I was physically exhausted, but too excited to get good sleep. At some point, about 2 or 3 eastern time, I laid the seat down and passed out for 3 or 4 hours. When I woke up, it was finally starting to hit me how far I was away from home.
I put up with the airline breakfast and pretty soon we were over the land. Foreign land. As we were flying into London, I'm pretty sure I saw Big Ben. If it wasn't, it was probably a close relative. We made our landing, and we got off the plane. I met up with Wes, but since I was in business class I had a fast track through customs. I waited in line about 10 minutes instead of over an hour, claimed my luggage, and headed out.
Not really. I walked out of customs and to the main level of the airport. I went to the elevator and spent about 5 minutes trying to go down one floor. People kept boarding with me and hitting up buttons or such when I needed to go down. Quite annoying. Eventually I made it to the underground. I bought a pass for five pounds and boarded the piccadilly line with complete service to "Cockfosters" (Ok look, it said this at every stop, and yes its perverted, but it made me laugh almost every time). After about 45 minutes I arrived at King's Cross. Sadly I didn't have time to find platform 9 3/4. I still hope to some time on this trip. I bought a one way ticket to Cambridge for 20 pounds. I then asked multiple people where I needed to be going. I figured out it was platform 1 and the train left in about 20 minutes. Well, I needed a bathroom. I found one, but it cost money to use. About 15p. Smallest note I had was 5 pounds. Luckily the machine was out of order and the guy working on it let me in for free. I boarded the train where I found three mates conversing, I asked them if this train was taking me to Cambridge and the confirmed it. Finally, the hard part of my trip was over!
NOT. Online the directions to my program said from London Heathrow to take the tube to King's Cross then a train to Cambridge. Since it ended there, I figured it was right in that area that I would find the College. This....was not the case. I found a map outside the train station, but it didn't help very much. "YOU ARE HERE" markings don't really help. You know why? Because they don't tell you what direction you are facing while you are looking at that sign. You must realize at this point I had all of my luggage with me. I had learned how to use the airports, how to use the tube, and how to use the train. I was not about to learn how to use the bus system. Brain was fried at this point. I walked approximately 2 miles and eventually, after finally enlisting the aid of someone else heading for the same destination located King's College.
Finally, the journey was over. After a quick registration where I received my credentials and cards I was sent to have tea and wait for the bus to Fitzwilliam dorms. Well the tea was wonderful, but the last bus left right before I was ready. They were going to ship us on taxis...I decided to just walk there instead. Compared to all of the walking I would do in the future, it wasn't that far. So I settled in my new abode.
My family drove me to the Columbia airport, about 2 hours from my house. We said our goodbyes, took a few last pictures, and I departed through security. Shortly after taking my seat to wait for boarding it was announced that DL5470 would be slightly delayed, and that anyone with connecting flights 7:10 or later should see their Delta agent. My connecting flight was at 7:00. The agent provided me with a corrected itinerary but left me on the earlier flight in case time was made up. I returned to my seat, now next to the first person I would talk to on this adventure. He was wearing his army fatigues. His family was in the area and he was waiting on someone to pick him up. Topics of our conversation included how terrible the weather in Dubai was, possible ways to harness the power of electricity, and on his part, superman. Something about some gold kryptonite...he talked a good bit about it, I had no idea what he was talking about, so I don't remember. He was a nice fellow though. The plane arrives early! And is then delayed at our airport due to weather. Eventually we board.
Now, the whole time I had been sitting in the terminal I had been eying this person who looked ridiculously familiar from Lander, but I couldn't place him. At some point he accosted me and confirmed he was from Lander. We'd never talked, but we were both making the same flight for different reasons. He studied in Winchester a few semesters ago, and he was going back to visit his now fiance.
The connecting plane was small, it held about 50 people. Of course the person that I sat next to was probably about 1.5 times my size (and I'm not small by any means...). It was a black dude with a fro going to LA to visit family. He ended up being pretty cool, he did specialization of shoes and such. Oh, he also talked about Superman. A good bit. Strange. The flight took off. I think my favorite part was actually on the ground--looking out the window and being able to tell that I was moving faster than I ever had before. The views from the window were pretty awesome too. A short flight, we landed in the Detroit airport about 6:40. I had studied a map of the Detroit airport while on the plane. I had a mission. Unlucky for me, the gate where my plane docked was about at the opposite side from where I needed to be. Detroit is a big airport. It's larger than most of the malls I've ever been in. I covered probably a mile in about 10 minutes (with the aid of the moving floors). I arrived at the proper Delta terminal, and the door was still open! "Did I make it?" "No." "Damn it." The Delta rep was very courteous, and through his conversation with his coworker I could make out that they had just let a last minute person onto the plane and the plane had clearance and had to leave. He then informed me that he was going to bump me up to business class and asked if I would like meal vouchers. "....Yes." Next flight left at 11:25, it was now about 7:10.
According to a map of the airport, a Taco Bell lay hidden in the furthest depths of the A concourse. I wasn't about to pass up another chance for delicious Taco Bell goodness. Since I was eating on Delta's money, I even got the XXL burrito. Now, it is a very large burrito. But it isn't very good. 4 or 5 beefy melts would have been better. Now anyway, back to the Lander student (who I now know as "Wes". however that's all I know and cannot find him on facebook, so I have no way to contact him for the possible meet up we had spoken of). At some point in my search for taco bell I had run in to him while he was in search for a smoking area. We split ways but established we'd meet later at the terminal for our flight. I met up with him probably about an hour and a half before our flight took off, and from there we took turns watching each others things while we went and did things we didn't want our luggage to go do with us.
Time to board finally arrived. With my business class I got to board first. I had no idea business class would be so luxurious. The seats lay down completely flat in your own area, so you don't bother anyone else no matter what position the seat is in. Blanket, pillow, a weird case thing full of random hygiene things that I took with me. An entire other seat full of space to put things...along with a US outlet! This really was a trip saver, as I will explain later. I finished up the last bit of the 7th Harry Potter book, watched several episodes of Durarara!! and put up with the airline supper. At this point I was physically exhausted, but too excited to get good sleep. At some point, about 2 or 3 eastern time, I laid the seat down and passed out for 3 or 4 hours. When I woke up, it was finally starting to hit me how far I was away from home.
I put up with the airline breakfast and pretty soon we were over the land. Foreign land. As we were flying into London, I'm pretty sure I saw Big Ben. If it wasn't, it was probably a close relative. We made our landing, and we got off the plane. I met up with Wes, but since I was in business class I had a fast track through customs. I waited in line about 10 minutes instead of over an hour, claimed my luggage, and headed out.
Not really. I walked out of customs and to the main level of the airport. I went to the elevator and spent about 5 minutes trying to go down one floor. People kept boarding with me and hitting up buttons or such when I needed to go down. Quite annoying. Eventually I made it to the underground. I bought a pass for five pounds and boarded the piccadilly line with complete service to "Cockfosters" (Ok look, it said this at every stop, and yes its perverted, but it made me laugh almost every time). After about 45 minutes I arrived at King's Cross. Sadly I didn't have time to find platform 9 3/4. I still hope to some time on this trip. I bought a one way ticket to Cambridge for 20 pounds. I then asked multiple people where I needed to be going. I figured out it was platform 1 and the train left in about 20 minutes. Well, I needed a bathroom. I found one, but it cost money to use. About 15p. Smallest note I had was 5 pounds. Luckily the machine was out of order and the guy working on it let me in for free. I boarded the train where I found three mates conversing, I asked them if this train was taking me to Cambridge and the confirmed it. Finally, the hard part of my trip was over!
NOT. Online the directions to my program said from London Heathrow to take the tube to King's Cross then a train to Cambridge. Since it ended there, I figured it was right in that area that I would find the College. This....was not the case. I found a map outside the train station, but it didn't help very much. "YOU ARE HERE" markings don't really help. You know why? Because they don't tell you what direction you are facing while you are looking at that sign. You must realize at this point I had all of my luggage with me. I had learned how to use the airports, how to use the tube, and how to use the train. I was not about to learn how to use the bus system. Brain was fried at this point. I walked approximately 2 miles and eventually, after finally enlisting the aid of someone else heading for the same destination located King's College.
Finally, the journey was over. After a quick registration where I received my credentials and cards I was sent to have tea and wait for the bus to Fitzwilliam dorms. Well the tea was wonderful, but the last bus left right before I was ready. They were going to ship us on taxis...I decided to just walk there instead. Compared to all of the walking I would do in the future, it wasn't that far. So I settled in my new abode.
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