"Oxford talks, Cambridge publishes"

Tonight I attended the first of several Plenary lectures being offered at the Union Society during my time here at Cambridge. The lecture, entitled "Why is Cambridge Unique?", was given by Dr. Steinberg who, as you know by now, is my professor for my European history class. Just like every class lecture, this plenary lecture was not to be missed. His brilliance and eloquence, coupled with his humility, astound me. How can Cambridge be unique when Oxford is governed and structured in the exact same way? Dr. Steinberg explained that Oxford has always been literary and political while Cambridge is scientific and technical. It was here at Cambridge that Isaac Newton, a member of Trinity College, discovered the laws of motion. It was here that Charles Darwin, a graduate of Christ's College, was a "champion nerd" who collected beetles and later returned to 22 Fitzwilliam Street after his voyage on the Beagle to write The Origin of Species. In The Eagle pub Watson and Crick announced that they had discovered the secret of life- DNA- while working in the Cavendish Laboratory. The Cavendish Laboratory is also where Rutherford did his work on the atom. The scientific greatness that exudes from Cambridge cannot even be tarnished by the fact that Paradise Lost (a.k.a. the worst thing ever written) was written by John Milton who studied at Christ's.

Oxford is urban and Cambridge is rural. Oxford talks and Cambridge publishes. Unlike at Cambridge, for many years Oxford scholars sat around and talked and rarely produced any publishable results. This is why Oxford was not even within the top 5 in the first few years of the Research Assessment Exercise. But now Cambridge and Oxford are on a more level playing field in this area. So what is it that makes Cambridge unique? It is the unique set of circumstances in which it was founded and the unique scientific spirit that is found here.

In the few days I have been at Cambridge, I have become a "Cambridge person". Yet I have also become a "King's person". Being a "Cambridge person" is unique in the sense that you feel a loyalty to the University, but the University is something of a ghost-like entity that is everywhere and nowhere all at once. Students feel a stronger loyalty to their college. Although the programme is a joint one between Pembroke and King's, I am living in King's so I have quickly become a "King's person". It is impossible not to fall in love with this place. I cannot fathom how anyone would choose to live somewhere other than King's (of course if you are not admitted by King's you wouldn't have a choice, but I can't see how anyone would even put anything else down as their first choice). I visited Corpus Christi College briefly yesterday and was less than impressed (especially because of the hideous Corpus clock that I see everyday when I walk down King's Parade). King's was founded as a royal college and its beauty and grandeur are astounding. I have absolutely decided that I need to come to grad school here because I will always be a "King's person."

Now that I have bored you with all that, I do have more interesting stories to tell. After our Scotland orientation yesterday, I grabbed dinner at Gardenia's with some friends and we went down to the river to eat. We ended up meeting three guys who go to Cambridge and are members of King's. All three of them sing in the choir here at King's which is incredibly impressive since there are only 15 members and it is very competitive to get into. They tour all around the world...US, Australia, Japan, France, Singapore. We had a lovely time talking to them and hearing their stories about life at King's. It was particularly interesting to hear about the types of initiation they have for new choir members during their first term....basically it's like hazing, but a bit less intense (except for the person who cracked a rib after they pushed him off a low bridge into the river). I really enjoyed all their British words (DJ=dinner jacket not disc jockey). After hearing what we have to do for work this summer they claim that we have more work than they do during term. Today I signed everyone in the Arcadia group up for hiking in the Trossachs on Saturday. I think it's going to be a lot of fun and I know the view will be spectacular. I opted out of the trip to Rosslyn Chapel (made relatively more famous recently by it's use in The Da Vinci Code movie) because I think I would rather explore Edinburgh on my own. So tomorrow at 8 am I will be on my way to Scotland for 4 days which will include stops at Fountains Abbey and Hadrian's Wall, hiking in the Trossachs to Loch Lomond, a 4th of July party starting on the 3rd of July and a day exploring beautiful Edinburgh.

Cheers!