Well, it
feels like it’s been a lot longer than a week! I’m planning on posting on
Fridays or Saturdays, but I’m not sure how that will work out with various
trips I’m planning on taking over various weekends, so the schedule is kind of
touch-and-go right now. After settling in and sightseeing, though, I’m finally
able to sit back and relax in my room/suite, so I can tell you all about how it’s
been!
Cambridge
is an adorable city full of winding English roads and beautiful architecture.
English cities don’t really follow a grid system, which means that it’s very hard
to go straight to anywhere, but if you keep going long enough, you’ll at least
get back to where you started. There are lots of parks and cute little shops to
go into, and enough beautiful churches and bookstores to sate even my appetite.
One
thing Cambridge doesn’t seem to have very many of, though, is regular stores –
commercial drugstores, grocery stores, and the like. If you want books or body
oils or exotic teas, this is the place. If you want a bottle of shampoo or a
box of granola bars, you have to look a little harder. The food at the college
is really confusing – they have dining halls, but they provide only about half
of your meals, and the rest you have to either buy from them or pay for
elsewhere. I’m still figuring that out; I’ll keep you updated.
There
is a Baptist church in town which I’ll be attending, though I’m planning on at
least touring the others. King’s College, which is the school inside Cambridge
University where I’m studying, has a world-renowned Anglican chapel which I
managed to visit for evensong a couple of days ago. Their choir sings beautifully,
and the church is magnificent, although they don’t allow pictures. The service
was interesting; the singing was all taken from scripture, which means it didn’t
rhyme and was all in King James English, and we recited the Apostles’ Creed. I
had a hard time connecting with it, though; it felt kind of like we the
layman/tourists were just watching as the choir and priests did their own
thing.
I’ve
only had two days of classes so far, but they seem fine. Last week I only attended
lectures; on Monday, though, I have all three of my seminars (they’d be called ‘sections’
at Harvard; they’re small-group discussions on the material). Thursday and Friday
were visit days for prospective high school students, so they tried to get us
off campus and out of the way. On Thursday this mainly included a lot of
lectures. On Friday they let us loose in London for most of the day.
Our bus
was a little late, so I did a lot of dashing to make it to the National Gallery
before their free 11:30 tour started. As it turns out, their tour was a lot
more discussing art than it was actually looking at paintings, so I ended up
tagging along and then wandering off to look at the rest of the gallery a lot
of the time – I only had about an hour, after all. Their collection was
fabulous. I then spent a couple of minutes in Trafalger square before heading
to Baker Street.
The
Sherlock Holmes museum looked cool, but I didn’t have time to stand in line for
over an hour, so instead I headed over to get ice cream at Regent's Park. After
enjoying a walk by the lake, I headed off to the Tower of London, but due to
very cryptic labeling of subway lines, it took me nearly forty-five minutes to
get there – which, since I’d skipped one of my planned stops, put me there
about when I’d originally planned.
I
walked through the Tower of London, saw the Bloody Tower, and stood in line for
forever waiting to see the Crown Jewels, which were actually worth the wait. I
then rushed to Southwark Cathedral, which was breathtaking, and discovered that
I’d gotten there right before evensong (it happens almost every night). The
Cathedral was my last stop, so I was able to stay and enjoy the service. It was
a calming way to end such a hectic day.
As I
was leaving the Cathedral, a timely text from my dad told me that I was only a
few streets over from the Clink, an infamous prison where John Greenwood was
burned at the stake. I had just enough time to visit the museum before heading back
to meet my group. It was a fun combination of museum and haunted house (without
things jumping out at you, but with all the theatrics).
Finally,
I headed back to join my group at the London Eye, where we watched a short 4D
Imax film that was basically a commercial for the London Eye before getting on
the wheel itself. Most of that time was spent taking tons of pictures and
enjoying the view. After we finished, it was a good half-hour before our buses
began to arrive, and it was about midnight by the time I made it to bed, but I
had a great time.
So that’s
been this week – fairly busy, but not overly academic. Starting Monday, though,
work begins. Hope you enjoy the pictures – Happy Independence Day from England!
Pictures:
This is the Cambridge Union Society building, where most of our classes are held.
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