Category Archives: Cambridge Experience

Where birds shit on your food

One of the very last things I did during my Cambridge year was to visit Brighton. I will try to keep the post as short as possible with lots of pictures (Sorry for the effect-overload. I downloaded a new editing programme and now I need to try every single thing^^). L., F., and I got on the train early in the morning ready with drinks and home-made food (especially L’s food was delicious. She is a master chef!). After a few hours on the train and the tube we finally made it to Brighton. First, as we had no idea what to do in Brighton (the only thing we had kind of planned was to go to the beach and to see the Royal Pavilion) we went straight to the beach where my friends worked on their tan-lines and I tried to shield myself as well as possible from the dangerous sunlight (with little success as I found out the next day).

Fierce SeagullAfter some time we got hungry and went to the pier to buy food. F. bought Fish&Chips which didn’t last long as a seagull decided to shit on it. F. had to buy a new one 🙂 I got a frozen yoghurt and was extremely lucky! Suddenly, I saw something in the corner of my eye, dropping to the ground. It was, of course, another (or possibly the same?) seagull’s excrements. Thankfully, it landed 5 cm next to my shoe without hitting me or my food.

We then went to see the Royal Pavilion. to be honest, it was quite expensive, but absolutely worth it! Beautiful place and interesting history.Royal Pavilion

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nordic RestaurantIn the evening we got hungry from all the sightseeing and stumbled across an extremely cute little Nordic restaurant. Let me tell you: The food was delicious! We ordered a cold plate and (the thing that amazed me most) BLACK BREAD!

DELICIOUS

My friend called this experience “foodgasm”, and I can only agree. 😛

Apart from that, we watched some of the entertainers at the beach (Drag Queen, Salsa Music, a band on a carousel…). There was lots to see. 🙂

Brighton is definitely worth a visit! And if you are not convinced yet, take a look at my pictures 🙂

Finally: Secrets of the Wonderland

Haha. I said soon. Who am I fooling at this point? The Garden Party was amazing. Although my friends and I arrived 2 hours after it had started, there was still free food, drinks, snacks, and other attractions left for us to enjoy.

I will try sum up that amazing evening as unconfusingly as possible. (not guaranteed)

When we arrived the first thing we did was to queue for food. Free hotdogs, burgers, and crepes… what a perfect start of a near perfect night! After successfully eating a hotdog (and when I say successful I mean without getting ketchup and mustard all over our dresses) a friend and I went to try croquet which became quite boring after some time as we were unable to get the ball in the direction be wanted it to go. The live band played great songs everyone knew and we were having a great time enjoying free ice cream,  colourful drinks, and a warm evening. The college also had arranged a chess board with figures 1/2 metres high. Indoors we could not only enjoy  a chocolate fountain with strawberries, marshmallows, and fudges, but also a table full of different sweets, and a corner with all sorts of teas (for those of you who forgot: there was a tea party in Alice in Wonderland 😉 ). In the dining hall they had put up a Casino. I went there twice: first with my friend L. to play Blackjack and the second time with a guy studying veterinary medicine I met at the Party. It was great: You didn’t have to spent money and were provided with a certain amount of poker chips. Every time you weren’t lucky, you could just go and get more of them. The first time I went, L. and I were that good that when we didn’t want to play anymore, we had to go all in.. in a game we were bound to lose.

I am sure you are wondering most about why I spent so much time on the toilet when I don’t drink? It seems that a few people don’t know when they have had enough alcohol… and one of those people happened to be a friend from college. She had been dancing around wildly before, singing at the top of her lungs, and had kissed at least one straight female friend of ours, and one not so straight male friend of ours, which is extremely interesting because usually she dislikes body contact. 😛

Anyway… she ended up sleeping on the toilet. AND NOW KIDS LISTEN CLOSELY, BECAUSE YOU DON’T WANT THAT TO HAPPEN TO YOU! Fortunately, she was able to unlock the door before she doze off; I don’t even want to think about what could have happened if she hadn’t. For a long time we weren’t even sure whether she was conscious or not. She vomited all over the place and I and  few other closer friends who happened to be there tried to keep her as …hmmm… responding as possible. After an hour we called an ambulance, but at that time most of use were already soaked in a pool of sick. We tried to pull up her pants and trousers to keep at least a bit of her dignity for when she was carried out and to the ambulance by two of the stronger guys. I was told that in the morning she called a friend from the hospital: She called her a good friend as was sorry that we missed out on a lot of things at the Party because of her. LET THAT BE A LESSON TO YOU, KIDS! 😉

Later that night we went to the Silent Disco. I had never been to a silent disco, but I can tell you that they are awesome! You get headphones and the music is played only through the headphones. Our headphones had two channels and they played a variety of music genres: pop, rock, oldies,… and the best part is that you can choose the volume yourself! No tinnitus, yay! Normal conversation is also possible, you just have to take of your headphones. I am telling you… this is the future! 😛

At 2 or 3 in the morning, as the music was getting more and more techno and less and less “danceable”, I decided to go home to get some sleep.

It was an incredible night, with all my friends, lots and lots of fantastic attractions, delicious hotdogs, colourful drinks & sweets, and good music. I want to go again… well maybe next year 😉

A week of May in June

At the moment, there are the so-called May Weeks in Cambridge. Yes, you heard me…. MAY.

In May Week, which is not even a week but usually a longer period of time, students celebrate the end of the academic year. The celebrations used to be in May, before exams started,(hence the name) but apparently end of exams is easier to celebrate than the beginning of them.Cupcakes

There are three types if events a college could organise (sometimes annually, sometimes every two years), and that depends on the college itself: is it old, wealthy, with a lot of students,… then it might organise a May Ball. This is the biggest event possible and (non-dining) tickets cost 155 pounds! The dress code differs from college to college. It might be white tie, black tie, formal, or smart-casual. The catch is that sometimes you have to buy two tickets, because they won’t sell single ones. Also, it is apparently very difficult to get tickets, especially if you want to go to a May Ball from a different college. May Balls are themed as far as I know. The one my college was supposed to have was: Down the rabbit hole (Alice in Wonderland). May Balls may include: a firework, big wheels, unlimited food and drinks, popular bands and DJs, balloon rides, etc.

Students, who don’t grow money trees at home, like me, try to crash these huge and expensive parties (unlike me… did not think about trying until it was too late. stupid me). People try to climb over walls, which are often sprayed with anti-burglar sprays leaving green stains on the climbers clothes, swim to the banks behind the colleges and enter from there, or simply pretend you are a performer and part of the band (which a friend of my friend actually managed!). In the morning, a survivor photo is taken, with everyone who stayed until the end. People queue for ages to enter these balls; my friends came two hours early and were around the 100 people mark in the queue.

Garden PartyApart from the May Balls, colleges may hold June Events. They are a bit cheaper than May Balls with a fewer attractions.

The third and cheapest event is  Garden Party. As far as I know, Garden Parties are free, but there are no attraction and you have to pay for food and drinks. Dress-codes don’t exist, my friends went there in jeans and t-shirts.
Clare Hall wanted to have a May Ball, but as our College is so small, they could not sell enough tickets.  They then changed in into a Garden Party, which was more like a small June Event, really. I will tell you about our Garden Party, how I spent about an hour in the toilet, spent no money in the casino, yet won, and a disco that nobody is annoyed by soon, now I have to go punting with my friends…stressful leisure.

 

If you happy and you know it

I have enjoyed the past few days a lot! Well, honestly, I am not sure what to do with myself, but I try to make the best out of all my free afternoons. On Thursday, we all went to the Granta Pub, which is so lovely. It’s right next to the river and I really hate that I haven’t discovered it earlier.traffic jam on the Cam

On Friday, I went to town and met my friends Laura and Elidir. We had a drink on the roof of a hotel with a wonderful view over Cambridge.  After that… I was walking around aimlessly town. I walked from A to B to C and then back to A without having done anything. I just didn’t know what else to do. But as the weather was so nice, I felt it was a good way to waste my time.

All the time, a voice in my head kept telling me: No, you should go back to work. Revise, read,… you are not done yet.  I think this is something I need to get used to again 😉

On Saturday, ma friends and I had afternoon tea at Harriets, a traditional tea room in the centre of Cambridge. Absolutely lovely! Then we decided to just walked around a little bit. There was a huge park that I hadn’t had time to see earlier so we went there. It was extremely nice and I felt like being on holidays. I got an ice cream, saw cows, and ladybirds making out. 🙂so much action ;)

On Sunday, I enjoyed breakfast (at around noon, because seriously,…  who gets up in the morning?) at Autie’s Tea Shop, which is something everyone should visit. After that I got the Hollywood feeling when my friend took me to Grantchester (which is about 10 minutes by car) in his Cabriolet! With the roof down and music blasting we drove there and to walk around a bit. A lot of the houses have a thatched roof and a beautiful garden. I was so impressed.

That was my weekend. It was amazing 🙂

 

Trip to Grantchester