Cambridge.

Last Wednesday we took a day trip to the historic college town of Cambridge, which was about a 2 hour bus ride northeast of London. I'm more of an Oxford girl myself, but I found myself liking Cambridge more and more as the day went on. A note on the university system here: Under the overarching umbrella of "Cambridge University" are the separate colleges, which would technically qualify as dinstinct universities in the States. But here, you graduate from Cambridge University, having done your studies at, say, King's or St. John's College. It's a pretty cool system, as is the actual lecture/class time system. They don't actually have to go to any lectures; the students are placed under the tutelage of a single mentor, who suggests readings and lectures he or she should attend, and assigns the student to write an essay on the reading, which will subsequently be torn apart as the student reads it aloud to the mentor the week following. Cool, huh? Talk about actually learning to think and communicate.

Anyway, the day's highlights included seeing a Milton exhibit in the University Library, walking through King's College Chapel, and punting on the Cam. Punting was awesome because the view of the colleges was better from the back than the front, plus most of the Backs were closed to visitors, so it was very subversive and delightful. The atmosphere was pretty heavily academic and awesome and quiet and not at all like the overrun college town I was thinking. Now for the pictures:

King's College Chapel...this is the quintessential Cambridge photo. Or so Talbot tells us.


A view of the King's College quad. Very pretty and very closed to the public right now, as exams are on.


Kristin and I punting down the river Cam.