Cambridge - First Impressions

“It must be getting near tea-time, leastways in decent places where there *is* still tea-time”.

 – Samwise Gamgee

Hey Everyone,

Welcome to my half of the blog.  I’m sure that by now you’ve heard enough of Mark’s talk about himself and are thinking to yourself “I really wish David would write about his life, that’s the only reason I’m following this blog in the first place.”  Despite my silence I really have loads to say so I’ll be writing a few posts (hopefully) in the next week or two that focus on different things.  This one took a while to get out because of all the craziness involved with moving to a new country.  Nevertheless, despite melting one alarm clock, locking myself out of my room, getting lost in the city, and looking like an idiot whenever I handle British money, I've been able to put together this post (happy, Mark?). 

Since I’m still newly arrived here, I thought I’d write a bit about some first impression of Cambridge and the UK in general.

The People:

The first thing that struck me was that everyone here is extremely interesting and cultured.  People were eloquent and knowledgeable when they spoke, and seemed to be an expert on the subject of conversation.  The second thing that struck me was that the only person I had talked to was the customs agent and despite him telling me where the baggage claim was, I had only paid attention to his British accent.

In all seriousness, though, the people I’ve met since my arrival have been very welcoming and kind to me.  Even in bustling Heathrow, where I was forced to miss my bus because the luggage compartment was full, the transportation agents were helpful in getting me on the next bus to Cambridge.  When I arrived at King’s College (the college I belong to; watch for a future post on the relationship between King’s College and the University of Cambridge), I received the dedicated attention from a member of the staff who helped me locate my room and find information on the upcoming orientation week. 

Food:

The food in the dining hall here is amazing.  And cheap.  And the portions are huge.  It’s pretty great.

My Building:

At King’s, I live in a building called Spalding Hostel, where it seems that at any given moment it's more likely that you are standing on a staircase than in a hallway.  The building is quite the maze of spiral staircases and narrow halls with random sets of three or four steps sprinkled among the hallways.  

As you can see in the picture at left, my room is one of several that exists all by itself at the top of a stair!  Despite not having next-door neighbors I've enjoyed my corner room that looks over the intersection of streets below.  Although I’m not quite as close to King’s as some of my classmates who literally live above the dining room and bar, the location of Spalding is amazing.  The front gate of King’s is a minute’s walk, and I can get to my lecture building (as well as four or five pubs) within five minutes.  On top of that, the college's brand new gym is opening approximately 50 feet from my front door (I have no idea how many times I'll actually go to said gym - I just mention it to make Mark jealous.  How close is your gym in Nakhon Pathom?).  And last but not least, King’s College itself is located centrally within the historic area of Cambridge, so travel within the city should never be a problem.  

The City and its History:

Speaking of the “historic area,” I should mention one of the first things that jumped out at me when I first got off the bus: everything here is old.  As in, “this church is considered to be in the cradle of the Reformation” and “Isaac Newton lived here” kind of old.  Like most old English cities, everything is packed and jumbled together because of the way the city evolved throughout the centuries.  There are very few roads in central Cambridge that are larger than what would be considered a one-way street in the States, and even less which continue in a straight line for any appreciable distance.  The city is also filled with pedestrian-only “passages” that narrowly cut through the tall buildings.  From experience, I’ve found that these passages can be great shortcuts or great ways to get lost, depending on how well you know the city. 

In addition to the buildings in Cambridge, I’ve been continually impressed by the history of King’s College itself.  Of course the most iconic building of the college, and perhaps even the university, is the King’s College chapel.  The construction of the chapel, begun by King Henry VI and completed under King Henry VIII, spanned ninety years and survived during the concurrent Wars of Roses.  Housing a magnificent fan vault ceiling, beautiful stained-glass windows, and enormous pipe organ, it really is a spectacular building, made all the more impressive by its age.  But despite all of these things, it is still a student chapel.  Upon our arrival, the Chaplain made it clear to us that this amazing building is ours to utilize how we like - from reading or acolyting (altar-serving) during services to simply sitting in quiet reflection while the world-renowned King’s College male voices choir sings at Evensong.  I’ve been to two Evensongs (chapel services) since my arrival, and both have been beautiful experiences.  I wish you all could hear how the choir sounds during the service, but there is really nothing like hearing them sing and take advantage of the chapel's unique acoustics.  At first I couldn’t believe that sixteen of the thirty members (called choristers) were not even teenagers, but it soon became very clear when I saw the procession of schoolchildren in top hats across the college!

Not Pictured: Me questioning what I had
accomplished at their age.

The Tourists:

Another thing I didn’t expect before I left the states – my college is a tourist attraction.  The previous few paragraphs highlight the good reasons why they come, but I still haven’t gotten used to the line (or queue, as the English say) of people lined up for tours outside the main gate.  Thankfully, the college has instituted rules that pretty much give preference to students over tourists in any situation.  For example, while over a hundred people daily will line up for Evensong, King’s students are told to skip the line and inform the usher of their status so that they can be led to the beautiful reserved seating area.  Also, some areas of the college like the courtyards and library are completely closed to tourists, giving us students some nice privacy.

Restaurants and Shops:

Even without noting how old everything is here, its easy to tell that I'm not in America anymore when I try to find the big chain stores that are ubiquitous back home.  So far I've managed to find one Starbucks, one McDonald's and one Subway.  The majority of storefronts, however, belong to small cafes, cozy bookshops, hole-in-the-wall pubs, or restaurants of all varieties.  I suppose the one exception to the "small" rule is that there is an enclosed mall sandwiched in the center of Cambridge that contains many chain clothing, electronics, and jewelry stores - although most companies are UK-centric and not found in the states.  

Unfortunately, even with this great variety of shops I'm hesitant to buy their goods because of how crazily expensive things are in general.  I mentioned above that the food bought in the dining hall is cheap, but getting value for your pound pretty much ends there.  A standard meal out in Cambridge will put you back around 8-10 pounds ($13.50-17.00) and even buying a few basic school supplies cost me over 20 pounds ($34), after the student discount.  Today I'm doing ten days of laundry, which will end up costing another $10.  When I'm out buying something I usually look at the price and think "Oh that's a bit expensive, but not too bad," and then remember that I haven't applied the conversion rate, which is to multiply everything by 1.7.  After that bit of math, I start wishing I was living in Bangkok...

Even still, there are some cheaper places in Cambridge that I'm starting to seek out.  The trick is to go a few blocks away from the main tourist sites to avoid the price hikes that take advantage of them.  I could go out to the pub where Watson & Crick presented their discovery of DNA's structure or where CS Lewis used to grab a pint, but if I feel like having money at the end of the night I'll probably just hit the college bar.

Well, that’s all I have for now.  Check out a few more pictures at the bottom of the post!  I don't pretend to be a good photographer, but with sites like these its hard to take a bad picture.  Look out in the future for a post or two about the academics here in Cambridge.  Although it’s hard to tell by looking at this post, I am actually here to study.  

Cheers,

David

P.S.  Apparently tea-time isn’t a thing here.  I’m more than a little disappointed.

The main gate and part of the chapel,
seen from inside the front court.

And they mean it, even for students.  That is, unless you are
"Accompanied by a senior member of the college"

Market Square butting up against Great St. Mary's Church,
first built on that site in 1205.  Two blocks from my door.