The other place ain't that bad.

Ok. OOOOK. Cambridge was gorgeous. The students from the US there are staying in Kings College, which is like the BIG DEAL college there...like Christs Church at Oxford. BEAUTIFUL!!! But, mwahaha, they don't have Bodleian library cards.. So I think the Oxbridge competition is silly-- both places are absurdly gorgeous, fulllll of history, and dripping with intelligence. We had an amazing time there.. we stayed in the room of an American student in Paris for the weekend. A lot of the students there are living IN Kings College (WOW) in ancient rooms.. IN FACT (emotional, all of you Econ people will love this) we had a party under the room where KEYNES lived while he was at Kings. I had a moment. I went and touched the door...thought about fiscal policy. WOW...!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Other famous Cambridge grads are Isaac Newton (the descendant of the original apple tree is said to still be in Trinity), Francis Bacon, NINE prime ministers, and THIRTY ONE Nobel Prize winners. Crazy.


This is a Trinity College, founded by the infamous Henry VIII (the statue above the door)! He is supposed to have a scepter in his hand, but students replaced it with a table leg in the early 1900s and no one changed it back.



This, THIS, is Kings College...this cathedral was phenomenal inside (see pic below)...the Americans live to the other side of the cathedral.


This is the front of Kings College, where you enter the quad. Since we were staying with people inside, we could walk past the tourists and hang out INSIDE the college. At night, we went to the Kings College bar, with all these well-dressed Kings College-ians sipping Pimms and fine wine.

WOOO!! Since Chris (in black) was studying at Kings for the summer, we were able to sit on our own private river bank and watch the punters go by. Probably one of the best-spent afternoons of my life.

Bachelorette punt. Why not?


Hahahaha, this was the best part...watching all of the tourists crash into one another... the later in the afternoon/evening it got, the drunker all of the punters got... so by 7/8 we saw some great collisions.

Yes, watching punting was goood fun. :) This guy was a pro.

The Round Church, built by the Knights Templars in the 1200s..ooooh


Wow, this is the inside of the Kings College Cathedral. GASP. At night when we were walking through the quad we heard angelic (not an exaggeration) music floating out of the cathedral. The Cambridge Orchestra was performing Brahms. We sat for an hour or so just listening to this incredibly beautiful music drift out of this ancient building with a view of the Kings College Quad. Again, one of the best moments of my life.

Well, Cambridge was good to us, but it's good to be back. Tonight we have a BBQ on our quad, and then I've gotta start on the essay I've been avoiding. This one is about coastal sea level rise and its impacts on Bangladesh, San Fran, the Thames, and the Outerbanks of the Carolinas (interesting since we go to the beach near there every year).

I'll let you know what I discover!
Love,
Emily