Week 4 highlights

Whew! A lot of time has passed since my last post but I'll try to remember as best I can. Highlights from week 4, the last week of Module 1:

1) Walk to the nearby town of Grantchester with Connie. After a beautiful walk through the verdant English countryside (including the obligatory field of cows!) you arrive at a small town with a very famous tea room called The Orchard, where famous writers from Cambridge came to escape the city and be inspired by the landscape (Rupert Brooke, Bertrand Russell, E.M. Forster, J.M. Keynes, Virginia Woolf). The cream tea is lovely (though there was a major problem with wasps), and I definitely plan on doing it again, if only for the gorgeous walk (there was even a small river with a swan!). See pics :)

2) Last Gothic architecture field trips to the Neo-Gothic chapels of St John's and Corpus Christi. Beautiful, of course, but most of all an incredible display of wealth by the colleges. Not hard to see why town/gown relations in Cambridge were hostile for many centuries...

3) Attended a lecture for the Triennial Classics Celebration, called Will Pompeii Survive?, a topic I discussed fairly extensively in my Roman Architecture class at Yale! Very interesting (and humorous!) debate between a panel of experts on what should and should not be done to preserve this historic site. Hilarious revelations on the ineptitude of Italian "special commissions," cracks about Berlusconi, and reminders that "the English still have a tendency to view all the historic sites of the world as their own...!"

4) Dinner with Nivi and Alex (the Foreign Policy Analysis lecturers!), followed by coffee at the Hotel du Vin. Extremely inspiring and stimulating conversation, and when I got back, I found out I was admitted to the Global Affairs major! Amazing evening :)

5) Cool Britannia BOP at the Hidden Rooms, a local club in Cambridge frequently rented out for student parties. DJ was great, playing a mix of American and British music. I was dressed as Baby Spice! Probably the best costume (worn by a guy) was a wig (the type worn by British judges, etc.) and tailcoat with extremely loud union jack stockings pulled up past the knee. Very fun and memorable night.

Pictures...http://www.flickr.com/photos/donnahorning/sets/72157627224366303/

Cows on walk to Grantchester (yes, we were in with them!)

The Orchard tea garden

Swan on River Cam near Grantchester!

St John's College Chapel

Corpus Christi College

Corpus Christi College Chapel