Mathias Bellaiche: A Weekend Getaway

As the end of winter holiday draws dreadfully close, I’ve gotten a chance to reflect on all the great experiences I’ve had this Michaelmas term (the first of the three trimesters) at Cambridge. I have loved my time here from the first few days I got to the United Kingdom. Though the culture shock took a while getting used to (I upset a few bus drivers a bit by cycling on the right side of the road, and there are still times where I have no idea what certain idioms mean), I’ve definitely come to think of Girton (the college that I’m at) as my home. Cambridge is split up into thirty or so different colleges, each of which is more or less autonomous. Colleges are roughly like dorms in that they are where you sleep, eat and study, but they are also responsible for administrative things such as organizing supervisions and making sure you’re registered for classes. Also, most of the extracurricular activities are centered around colleges – for example if you are on a sports team you most likely represent your college, as opposed to the university (unless you’re ridiculously good, in which case you join the “Cambridge Blues” for the main purpose of beating Oxford at whichever sport). More than that, though, colleges provide a strong sense of community, and there’s a sense of amicable rivalry between students of different colleges.

Entrance to Girton College

I am taking second year physical science courses here, with concentrations in physical and theoretical chemistry and physics. The academic system is much different than at the U of A, with lectures being totally impersonal (most lectures have at least 100 students in them), but with supervisions every week. In supervision, you and one or two other students meet with a professor to go over assigned problems and lecture material. The incredibly personal nature of the supervision system means that no student gets lost or forgotten, and even the smallest question gets answered. The long history of science at Cambridge is overwhelming; for example I still can’t believe that I’m in the same city as where Newton worked about three centuries ago.

Me in front of an old voltage generator in the old Cavendish, the original Cambridge department of physics, where Thompson discovered the electron, Watson and Crick cracked the structure of DNA and Maxwell unified the laws of electromagnetism.

But academics is just one side of Cambridge. Girton is one of the more sociable colleges, and everyone is so friendly that it’s been easy to make friends and assimilate. Before term started, there was an international student orientation during which I met people from literally all over the world and was introduced to English life and the such. The organizers also made sure everyone was equipped with a bike, one of the most important tools for Girtonians. Girton is the furthest college from the city centre, meaning I get to cycle about five miles six times a week.   As far as extracirriculars go, there’s literally an organization for every interest, such as wine-tasting or vegetable-growing. I chose to get into rowing though, and it’s been great fun! The boat club is a fantastic way to meet people, and the River Cam is beautiful (though it can get a bit cold for outings at 7.30 in the morning). I’m very much looking forward to the highlight of Lent term (the second trimester) in the rowing world: Lent Bumps, a race in which each boat tries to run into the boat ahead of them without getting “bumped” by the boat behind.

Michaelmas Boat Club Dinner – every trimester the boat club gets together for a yummy meal and good times. Picture courtesy of Andy Marsh.

Besides all this, the actual city of Cambridge has so much history; it’s amazing cycling through it every day! It’s crazy to think that many of the buildings have been around much longer than has the United States, and you can pretty much see the evolution of architecture through the different styles of buildings. One of my favourite buildings in the city (besides Girton College, of course) is King’s College, which was founded in 1441 by Henry VI and was not completely finished until 1544 by Henry VIII. Its chapel boasts the world’s largest fan vault ceiling!

Me standing awkwardly in front of King’s College.

I am so lucky to be able to study abroad in the UK, and this is an experience that I will remember for the rest of my life, as cheesy as it sounds. I am so incredibly grateful to the Libby Finch study abroad grant, the Sturgis fellowship and the Honors College in general, without which there’d be no way I would have been able to come on this program.

Honors biophysics student Mathias Bellaiche is spending the 2012-2013 year studying abroad as a Libby Finch scholar at Cambridge University, in Cambridge, England.

 February 18, 2013

Last week marked the exact middle of my stay here in the UK – I can’t believe how quickly time has flown by!  This past month has been so busy but I finally made it out of Cambridge to visit around.

One week, physics practical (the eight hour bane of my existence spread over Friday and Monday afternoons) was cancelled, so I decided to celebrate my freedom by taking a weekend trip to Luxembourg to meet one of my friends from the U of A, Jessie Hargis, who is currently studying abroad at the University of Edinburgh. I left Friday morning and made my way to London Gatwick airport (don’t be fooled as I was when ordering tickets; London Gatwick is nowhere near London, so I got the full experience of the English railway system), where I got on a worrisomely cheap flight and before I knew it I was in Luxembourg.  The city was beautiful and steeped in so much history, and it was great to experience a different European culture.  The country has a mix of French and German influences, and everyone there pretty much speaks four languages (French, German, Luxembourgish and English).  It was great to use my French, and the food was so yummy!   On Saturday morning we walked around the markets in the city centre and then did a walking tour that guided us through the history of the city and took us from the bottom of the Pétrusse Valley (the valley that divides the city in two) to the Wenzel, a walk along the (very high up) ancient city wall that defended the city from invaders in the Middle Ages.  Being ridiculously scared of heights, that was admittedly not my favourite part of the visit.  The next day we visited the Luxembourg City History Museum, before heading back to the UK.

Then the next Sunday I met up in London with an exchange student at Girton from MIT to do the typical touristy activities.  In order to get around, I had to take the Tube (the London metro system), which, given my absolute lack of a sense of direction, I’m very proud to have accomplished without getting hopelessly lost forever deep under the city. Anyway, we started off the day at the British Museum, which was absolutely incredible.  Unfortunately, we only had a couple of hours to spend there, so we had to race through the Top 10.  We saw pieces from all periods of history and from all over the world!  There were Egyptian hieroglyphs, Greco-Roman marble sculptures, Aztec artifacts, Sri Lankan Buddhas, Medieval weapons, Chinese jade, African contemporary art and so much more.  I’ll definitely be going back there before my trip is over!  My favourite was probably seeing the Rosetta Stone; it was amazing standing so close to the object that decoded the alphabet of the ancient Egyptians.  After the museum, we walked to Covent Garden, which is one of the biggest markets in London.  On our way there we stopped to get the quintessential British meal:  fish and chips.  The portions we got were unbelievably huge, but so so good.  Then in an effort to fight off the food coma, we walked around the market and saw loads of awesome street performers and artisanal stalls.  Then we had to say bye to London and head back to Cambridge, as there was a supper party with the Mistress of Girton that night.

In the rowing world, our crew had our first race last Saturday.  Our valiant efforts proved ultimately fruitless though, and we lost to the Jesus college crew, which was to be expected as Jesusans are practically bred for rowing.  It was still a wonderful day, as the weather was fantastic (i.e. we could see the sun) and it was a great break from the heavy course workload.  Plus it gave us much needed practice for bumps next week!