Daily Life in Cambridge (UK)

It is a coincidence that I came from a college town and moved thousands of miles across the ocean to another college town. Here are a few snapshots of daily life in Cambridge. There are a few similarities between my two hometowns, for example, Cambridge University has buildings scattered across the community just like the university I know at home. There are thousands of students here, too, of course. But, here, students are not permitted to work while in school. They are expected to focus on their studies.

However, athletic events don’t take over the entire community when they happen forcing residents to stay inside if they don’t want to participate or be tied up in traffic. In fact, the Cambridge/Oxford rowing race, which was just completed for the 194^th year a few weeks ago, is such a big deal they move it to London (kinda like the UF/GA football game). By the way, Cambridge men’s and women’s teams both won. . . again. Yes, I’m starting to feel a tinge of loyalty.

For info. on another cool, small town read here: Market Town: Visiting Norwich (mrshomefree.com)

Cambridge Half-Marathon

One day in the mail, I got a flyer that reminded residents about the Cambridge Half-Marathon. It included a chart of all the streets in town that would be closed on the big day and which hours they would be closed for. This is not a college event. This is an any-crazy-person-from-anywhere-in-the world-event.

Ten thousand runners streamed past my front door. Yes, my house was on the race route. It was so cool to see! Unfortunately, for the runners, Sunday, March 5^th was also freezing cold. The good news is that it was dry, though.

Daily Life in Cambridge: Graduation Day

Like every university, Cambridge has graduation day too. One Saturday, while exploring the historic section of our city centre, we stumbled upon graduation. We had no idea it was happening. It was January, so we weren’t expecting it. Anyway, the 31 separate colleges within the University meet in one of their buildings and then process through the center of the old city to a building called the Senate building. Here, they graduate. We got lucky and caught one of the processions.

Gonville & Caius College

There are 31 colleges within the university. It has a unique system. There are multiple majors within each college, so they are not broken up into, for example, “the college of journalism” and “the college of education.” It is a student’s responsibility to research each college based on what they want to study and decide which one has the facilities and the faculty that they want access to. Then, when you apply to Cambridge you must pick ONE college to apply to on your application. You don’t get to write down a back-up choice.

The most amazing part, to me, is that when you take your classes, you take some classes with people that are all the same major as you (like the American system), BUT, you also take small seminar classes with others from your college who are different majors. Therefore, when the professor brings up a topic for discussion, you are hearing the perspectives of people from other majors too. Their take on the topic might be totally different. I would imagine this method builds critical thinking and is probably part of the reason why Cambridge and Oxford (who both have the system) are among the greatest schools in the world.

Each college has its own buildings, usually centered around a private courtyard. The general public rarely gets access. On graduation weekend, we got lucky and found Gonville & Caius College (founded in 1348) open to the public. Staff handed us a brochure that explained the significant sites on their grounds and let us walk around on our own.

Fun Fact #1: The name Caius is pronounced “keys.” Nope, I would never have guessed that.

Fun Fact #2: Their courtyard has three gates that students pass through symbolically during their education. Humility – for when they arrive. Virtue – for when they are in residence. The Gate of Honor is opened only once, on graduation day. Then, and only then, are the students permitted to walk through.

Fun Fact #3: Francis Crick attended, and Stephen Hawking worked at Gonville & Caius College.

Many of the colleges have their own private chapels where they hold church services for their own members. I have included some pictures of the incredibly ancient and beautiful one at Gonville & Caius.

For the record, I do still love my American hometown. I have not given up my loyalties there. As for England, London is fine, I guess, but it can’t come close to Cambridge’s charm.

Cambridge. . . well, Cambridge is magic.