At Home in Cambridge

I have just returned to my room after sitting in the King's Bar for a few hours doing some reading and I have just had one of the most profound experiences I have had since coming to Cambridge. Upon leaving the bar, I stepped outside and found that I was entirely alone. There was not one single person anywhere on the paths near the chapel, library or river which, after a day when the college was, as usual, overwhelmed by hordes of tourists, was a wonderful thing. It was perfectly quiet for a moment until someone, somewhere began to play a calming, soothing piece of music that seemed to perfectly transform every feeling I have been having about PKP coming to an end into musical notes. It was a sweet but sad tune that echoed my bittersweet feelings about the end of PKP- I'm happy to go home and see my friends and family, but incredibly sad to leave my few friends and this amazing place that quickly became a second home for me this summer. I fell in love with this place as soon as I arrived and whenever I was away for the weekend and would talk about going back to Cambridge I would say that I was going home. In my three years at PC I have never referred to it as home. As I walked down towards the river, with the library on my left and the off limits grass on my right, the music faded away and it was totally silent once more. It was a deafening silence. Cambridge is typically quiet, but this silence was overwhelming. There was nobody punting down the river, nobody anywhere around me and I was totally alone with my thoughts. I took the opportunity to just look around and I was astonished by what I saw. I was suddenly filled the same overwhelming awe I had felt the very first time I walked into King's and saw the gorgeous buildings, the river and the perfectly manicured grass. When I first arrived at Cambridge, I had vowed never to let that awe disappear, but after two months here I have found that there are times when I forget what an amazing place I am in. My love for Cambridge has never wavered, but the PA's were right when they said that living here and even eating in the Dining Hall would become just part of a daily routine. As I walked down towards the river, totally aware of the silence and my complete solitude, the wonder I felt as I followed the same path nearly two months ago came flooding back. I think would be perfectly content to live at King's for the rest of my life. I would be quite happy to spend everyday sitting on one of the benches by the river, reading and watching groups of punters pass by. But, alas, PKP is going to end and I will have to leave King's College, Cambridge, but I am certain that I am a far better person for having been here.

With only 3 days left of classes and less than a week left in the programme, I have been doing alot of reflecting about my time here at Cambridge. I came to the conclusion that I have to come back. I have such an absolute loyalty to King's and to Cambridge in general that I can't even imagine going anywhere else for grad school. Not even Harvard can live up to Cambridge in my eyes anymore. I've learned so much from being here and, in particular, I have learned alot about people. The most important thing I have learned about people is that most of them are amazing. My typical "I hate people" attitude has disappeared (although it is still present when speaking of tourists because they are absolutely infuriating). Every person that I have met here, with the exception of maybe two people, has been incredible. There are two schools that are overwhelmingly represented in PKP- the University of California (there are students from all of the UC schools) and Brigham Young. The UC students are great, but the BYU kids are absolutely awesome. The BYU students are a much more distinct group than the UC students because they are constantly together- they eat together, go to church together, do everything together. Being that they go to BYU you may have (correctly) guessed that most of them are Mormon. Despite my belief that religion should not have any role when forming an opinion of a person or group, I still find it necessary to mention that they are Mormon. I think that it's necessary simply because of how important their religion is to them. I also now feel that I must personally defend them from the unjust accusations that are often conferred upon them by popular culture. I had never met a Mormon before coming to PKP, but I fully agree with Sarah's belief that they are possibly the nicest people in the world (right up there with the Duggar's). I know it's not very proper to lump them all into one group as if the individuals were not important, but I feel that there is something significant about the cohesion of their group that allows me to take the liberty to do so. It feels a bit weird to be writing about them like this in my blog, but I felt compelled to talk about them because they have been such an overwhelming presence during PKP. Everyone knows who all the BYU kids are and, as far as I know, most people think they are just as great as I do.

I have been away from Cambridge for the past three weekends so I really enjoyed being here today. I spent some time reading in my favorite place in the world- one of the benches in Bodley's Court right by the river. I also got an inexplicable urge to run out onto the middle of the off limits grass of the Back Lawn, set out a blanket, lay down and read. Knowing full well that such an idea was completely impossible, I still wondered what would happen if, after convincing the Porter's to allow me to fulfill my absurd fantasy, I staked my claim on a portion of the Back Lawn and was able to just lay there and read while telling off anyone else who thought that they might be able to join me. It was a fun moment. When I told my friend Heidi about this idea, she wondered whether any Cambridge students actually do go crazy during exam time and simply ignore the rules and lay on the grass until they get kicked off by a Porter. I would be interested to know if it does happen.

Cheers!