Week 7 Impressions by Sasha Shybut

Waking up earlier than usual on a Saturday morning, the group of LC kids laced up their shoes for a day of travel to Cambridge, a place that we all know for its academics and small English Town sentiments. It seems that the group has developed their traveling skills, as we didn’t all meet together as one giant loud group. Smaller groups made their ways to the train station with a hope of making it on the earlier train ride to explore Cambridge before the scheduled tour.

As we made it onto the train we all quickly found our seats and admired the changing view from our windows, from the crowded city of London to the smaller suburbs, which were disappointingly similar to home, consisting of large “car parks” and oversized retail stores. As we rode further out the suburbs disappeared, revealing a brief area of countryside. The green grass was impressive but the hills were lacking. The train ride was rather short. The dysfunctional family wandered into town to explore before our much anticipated free lunch with Tom and Mary!

Lunch consisted of Pizza Express, a name that conotates a small generic chain restaurant. To much of our surprise Pizza Express was in a historic building offering large luxurious leather chairs and couches for our hungry bodies. Yet again we were seated at a long table with Tom as the head. We should grant him the head seat considering he is our source of free lunches and per diems. As we looked at the menu I imagine myself looking like a person who had been living in the wilderness for months with little food to eat, as the menu made me look bewildered. The godfather pizza or the garlic bread and chocolate fudge sundaes?! As soon as our much-anticipated food came we quickly realized how quiet the room became. Our mouths were taking in food and conversations dropped.

After lunch we met at the markets in the central downtown area of Cambridge. Some people took a few minutes to explore the markets before meeting up with our tour guide. As we waited in the cold for the last stragglers to make it, some enjoyed a fresh cup of carrot juice, which was surprisingly refreshing. The only odd thing about it was it wasn’t really juice but rather carrot juice with mashed bits. The tour started by walking towards Kings College. Our tour guide began with an overview of the history of Cambridge and its beginnings. She elaborated on the rivalry between Cambridge and Oxford, or as she said “the other place”. On the way we stopped outside of a gift store that had on display all the different colors for the 32 colleges in Cambridge. In the farthest window we saw the much-coveted powder blue sweaters and jackets that only the elite student athletes of Cambridge wear. The store was also the true center of town. Lists of names were in the windows of which people had made which sports teams. At this point I couldn’t help myself but think that Cambridge was living up to the stereotype of being a classist society. Certain colors denoting superiority in academics and sport could be applied to the general hierarchy that I see as a characteristic of Britain. The tour continued to the front of Kings College where we were told about the process in which the buildings were built. The cathedral was high gothic while the building adjacent to it was Victorian. The buildings did not belong together. However, due to lack of money the buildings were constructed whenever funds permitted.

We went into the Chapel, and were amazed by the architecture, especially the fan vault style ceiling. The stained glassed windows were all original, something that most Cathedrals in England cannot claim. During WWII the windows were painstakingly removed in order to preserve them. We learned about the Christmas and Easter celebrations that take place in the Chapel. Young prepubescent choirboys are the main event in the Cathedral during celebrations. They apparently have a very genuine voice at such age that cannot be achieved by older people. Of course because this is a British tradition, there is a hierarchy of 12-year-old boy singers who try out for the solo piece. If they do not make the cut they are sent down to less prestigious Church services.

As we left the Cathedral we walked to the river where people were punting, an odd way of traveling on the river. A small wooden boat with a person who pushes the boat along with a long wooden stick. It all seemed very crude to me, but perhaps that’s because I’m used to rowing a boat, not pushing.

After that we walked around the college grounds. We walked around Trinity College, the most prestigious college in Cambridge where Prince Charles graduated. We even walked outside of the room where he lived.

After that we walked by the old original grounds of Cambridge where the former library stands today. I think at this point our tour guide realized how cold everyone was and let us out into the streets of Cambridge.

After having a nice historical tour of Cambridge the dysfunctional family was ready to rest on the train ride back to London where we would party all night in celebration of Nikki’s birthday.