Claire at Cambridge

So, as I'm sure all four of you that read this know, I'm currently involved in a Junior Year Abroad program at Homerton in Cambridge. That tells you little to nothing about what I actually do here. I study, of course, but studying here is a bit different than in the states and I actually do a few other things besides just study (thankfully. I hope it will continue to stay that way)

I think I am going to keep up with putting things under headings. It gives some sort of organization (ahem. organisation) to what is the complete stream-of-consciousness word vomit that is my typical writing style.


Lectures, supervisions, etc.

Alright. So courses are defintely much different here in comparison to Jewell. The 20-30 person semi-interactive classroom does not really exist. Rather, Cambridge splits this idea into two extremes. You have lecture and supervisions.

Lecture, as you may have guessed, is typically a larger class setting where a professor will, well, lecture on a particular subject. You pay attention and take notes. Sometimes questions can be asked at the end, but there is certainly no active dialogue between students and professors during a lecture. My lectures so far have been introductions/brief overviews of a particular subject. They have lasted anywhere from 45 minutes to about 2 hours and occur once or twice a week, depending on the course.

Supervisions, on the other hand, are very interactive sessions with a supervisor (not necessarily the same person as the lecturer...usually not the same person, actually). These occur in a very small group setting, usually 2 or 3 students per supervisor. They last for an hour and you discuss in greater depth the topics introduced in lecture, or whatever you may be independently working on. It's a little bit intimidating, but it hasn't been so bad thus far. Jewell prepares you fairly well in this aspect. Supervisions typically occur once a week, or every other week.

As you might imagine, only having these two "in-class" requirements, I have quite a bit of unscheduled time. Notice I use the word "unscheduled" as opposed to the word "free." While I may not be in-class, much more time is spent out of class studying than compared to the states. I'm assigned essays for each of my supervisions, and most of the research is done on my own. A general reading list may be given, but it's typically large and general enough that there's still plenty of digging to be done. It's quite a bit like tutorials back home...but it's like taking three of them in a semester instead of one. So, it's definitely challenging, but I think it's managable.

As far as grading goes, we Junior Year Abroad students are a bit different. Everyone else here does not get a grade for any of the courses until spring term, when they take exams. Yup. One single, massive exam determines your grade for an entire course. Kind of like a final on steroids. Luckily we are not put through this stress, at least not until senior year. (Although, comps still don't make up our entire grade...so it's still not the same). Apparently, we get our grades from "supervision reports." So, I just have to suck up to my supervisors. Check. I hope they like no-bake cookies!


Extracurriculars

Yes! I have time to have a life outside of studying!! A rare feat for an Oxbridger. I have started to get involved in a couple activities...mainly choir, rowing, and rugby.

I am in the choir at Homerton (you can audition for lots of different college choirs at Cambridge). It is an audition choir that has just been started this year. It's a nice balance of seriousness, without being TOO serious. There's only one rehearsal a week, but we still have a number of performances, and the music we sing is relatively challenging. There are only 16 singers in the choir...so it's a nice chamber-ish sort of size. I'm still a bit surprised that I made it in the first place since quite a few people tried out and I was basically hacking up a lung during my audition. Oh well! Their mistake! Our first performance is at formal hall in a couple of weeks. I'll let you know how it turns out.

I also joined the Homerton rugby and rowing teams. You can do both these things at the university level, but I do not possess the skills--or the desire to sell my soul--to play at this level. Playing at the college level, on the other hand, reminds me a bit of intramural sports back home...except with a couple of practices thrown in. It's not terribly serious.

I've been to one rugby practice where we learned some basics of the game. I still don't think I completely understand everything, but I do know you can't get tackled if you don't have the ball. So if some huge girl is barreling down the field coming after me as I'm running the ball in for a try (synonymous to touchdown) I'll just throw it as far away from me as possible. While I was told by our coach this is not an ideal tactic, I have a feeling it will be farily involuntary...a fight or flight sort of response, if you will.

I've been to about three practices for rowing now. It's pretty fun...but definitely harder then it looks. I thought I would just be Outward Bounding it all over again. Unfortunately, there is quite a difference between a canoe and its accompanying apparatus, and an VIII (typical rowing boat) and its accompanying apparatus. Basically take the canoe and oars and stretch them out. Alot. The relatively short and wide canoe I had become so accustomed to is now quite long and skinny...and feels a bit instable. The five foot oar I was used to is about ten feet long now. Also, there are no longer two people in your boat, but nine (eight rowers and a cox...the person who gives orders). With such stark differences basically the only common trait between Outward Bound and rowing is that you are traveling on water. Nevertheless, it's a pretty good time. I haven't had an early morning outing yet, and they are apparently fairly common...so I will get back to you on how fun rowing reaaally is once those start happening regularly.


Food!

Yeah. There is a section of my blog dedicated to food. It's kind of one of my favorite things, so I figure I'd better tell you at least a little bit about it. I basically get my food from three different places, the Great Hall (college cafeteria), my own kitchen, and restaraunts/pubs. I have previously alluded to the fact that I do not eat much meat, but upon further thought, I really do eat some! Just not when I'm cooking for myself.

The college food? Well. It's alright. As much as it pains me to admit this, I think the cafeteria food at Jewell is a bit better, but I only eat in Great Hall two or three times a week so it isn't so bad. Mainly the food at Jewell is better because as ironic as it may be, it has more choices. Here, you have one or two entrees with meat and one vegetarian entree. A couple of sides. That's it. Therefore, the best strategy for eating in the Great Hall is to check the posted menu at the beginning of each week and go on the nights that seem legit. Curry night is quite good.

My own kitchen is pretty much full of your common, cheap college student fare. Pot noodles (English ramen noodles), pasta, rice, cereal, sandwich fixings, canned goods, and a few fresh fruits and vegetables. Oh....and hummous and pita. I loved hummous before I came here and now I love it even more. I go through a container a week, easily. But yeah, my kitchen is already becoming a bit mundane in food selection. If you have any ideas for jazzing things up, send them my way!

I also do go out for food, on occasion. Maybe twice a week or so. Don't worry though, wherever I go I have coupons in hand! There's a Subway down the road from us, so when I have a craving for a taste of home I grab my coupon book and head there. Okay, it's still different from home, but it's sort of the same. Similar sandwiches...much different chips (ahem. crisps). Cheese and onion, and roasted chicken flavored crisps around here. Not your typical BBQ or sour cream and onion chips. Still good, though. I've also had a few meals in pubs. Fish and chips and a full English breakfast. The fish and chips I've had here are quite good, although quite similar to the fish and chips at home. An English breakfast, however, is fairly different. The breakfast I ate had the typical egg, bacon and toast, but also included mushrooms, baked beans, and a mushy sausage. The Mushrooms were good, and the baked beans were too! They tasted like tomato soup...except with baked beans in it? The mushy sausage was okay, I suppose. It was one of situations where I couldn't decide if I actually liked it or not so I just kept eating it, trying to make up my mind. All in all, however, the full English breakfast is pretty darn good.


Nightlife

On top of studying and other activities I ALSO go out on occasion. Who knew I would actually have time for all of this! People around here say Cambridge nightlife is pretty lame. However, they have not been to Liberty, Missouri...they would then know the true meaning of lame.

Anyway, when you go out here you usually go to a pub or a club...or some combination of both. There are tons of pubs around, and they're a little hard to describe. Most are different from bars...they have a more homey sort of feel. They're quite nice. You can drop in for just a drink or stay there all night. The only downside is most pubs close by 11.

However, the night does not end there! If you want to go out after the pubs, you go to the clubs! Clubs are open until 2 or 3, and remind me a bit more of bars back home, but always have dancing of some sort....cause you know, that's what a club is. They play a wide range of music, depending on what night you go and what club you end up at. However, I would say cheesy techno reigns supreme. In fact, Cambridge is apparently known for its "cheese" and many clubs attempt to shed themselves of this label. Maybe I shouldn't admit this, but I kind of like cheese! I would say besides cheese there is also a decent amount of American top 40 type of music. Also not bad for dancing. Overall nights at Cambridge are good fun.


That's all I can really think of for now. I do other little things here and there...go to the store, ride the bus... ooh I flagged a cab the other night! Basically nothing really worth going into detail about. Anyway, hopefully this has given you a general idea of what I do over here.


Cheers!
xxxx
Claire