Is it Christmas yet?

This week has been pretty up and down.  I think it was inevitable, what with being sandwiched between retreat and the arrival of my family, this was bound to be a drop and change week.

Some highlight include...

1. getting a free (FREE!) pastry from Patisserie Valerie on my way to work the other day
2. learning to knit
3. some pretty nice in situ stainings
4. and the fact that it is currently snowing.

Lowlights include...

1. getting sick after retreat (that was fairly predictable)
2. everyone I know having already gone home for the holidays, causing my to spend a lot of quality time with my computer-turned-television
3. my overexpression constructs not digesting into the right size fragments (i.e., stuff not working)
4. having to stay at work until 2 am to clean up after our institute christmas party.  I thought I was done yelling at and cleaning up after drunk people when I left college. Go figure.

Ye Olde Vicarage of Herefordshire (i.e., Brand Lab Retreat 2010)

So, anyone who's tried to e-mail me in the last week knows that I've basically been MIA.  And that's because I spent the past week (well, Mon to Fri) in the middle of nowhere in England on retreat with my lab. Basically, we all lived in a big house together with, well, questionable, heating, and spent all day talking about science and all night playing games and enjoying "adult" beverages.

In terms of the science, it was a great opportunity to both put my work in a larger context and and learn what other people are doing in the lab.  It was also a great way to get to know the people I work with better.  After you've played multiple games of charades and done multiple tequila shots with someone, you basically are by definition friends.

The weekend wasn't all fun and fuzzy science fellowship.  As I alluded to, the house was in less than perfect working order.  It was a beautiful and huge house, but the heat was a challenge and we ended up huddling around fireplaces trying to stay warm!

Also, one of the new PhD students and I were sharing a room in the attic.  No big deal, it was a nice room. The problem was that the attic toilet had a macerator, which apparently broke the first night we were there. That meant that every 10 minutes there would be this sound that I can only describe as what I imagine it would sound like to put your tennis shoes in the dryer.  It was so bad that we ended up sleeping on a couch on the first floor for the night.  The next day, we learned that the macerator was the culprit.  To see if flushing the toilet would help, we did, and.... well, ended up with sewage on the floor.  In the end, the guy who takes care of the house came and cleaned it up, but it was, let's say, an experience.

We also experienced internet detox while in the middle of nowhere.  Some took it as an opportunity to reconnect with the non-virtual world.  Others went into tech withdrawal.  There was a dragon statue next to the window that we dubbed the "reception dragon" because it was the only place in the house were the holy iphone would get a signal.  Our boss also had something she really needed to get done requiring the internet, so she ended up spending quite a lot of time at the local pub using their wireless (which they were not super happy about!).

All in all though, the challenges just made it an even more hilarious and fun week, and I'm kind of sad that it's over.

Here are some pictures (credit to Kat Gold, who takes amazing ones!):

Making fires to stay warm!

The "reception dragon"

Lab Christmas lunch

Lab photo!

The Fairbairn Cup

Remember when I said the river was frozen and it was too cold to race?  Turns out Jesus Boat Club (which runs the Fairbairn Cup) got a barge to go up and down the river and break up all of the ice so that the novice crews could race today.  However, they did have to shorten the race, which in my opinion is all to the good since this is a really long race (it was 2700 m and I think we actually did something like 2k).  The morning was gorgeous and snowy and the ambiance was really fun, even though it was super super super cold!

The way the race works is different from Clare Regatta that I wrote about last week (and actually a lot less stressful!).  This race you only have to do once, and it isn't a head-to-head (because of how narrow the river is).  Boats start with 30 seconds in between, and you aren't allowed to overtake (well, you are once you reach the open bit, but the race today stopped before then).  If you're really keen and think that you'll overtake, you are supposed to say so in advance and get moved to a different slot.  But I'm getting away from the point.

Basically, this race is an opportunity to show what you've been doing in practice all term and just row against the clock, which is much more relaxed than rowing against another boat.  I was pretty nervous, since our last race was kind of a disaster, but I think we got that out of our system and rowed really well today.

There was one hiccup though.  As we came around a corner I could hear our coach yelling at us "easy there" which basically means stop, which is weird because we were in the middle of a race.  Once we did stop (it took a while to sink in because of the adrenaline. I was sitting there thinking, he said stop but we're still rowing, what do I do!?). It turned out that the two boats in front of us had collided and were just sitting in the middle of the river.  When they moved a little away, we just started up again, but it was quite strange and made the race harder (since it take more energy to get the boat moving from a stop) so we lost some time.  I think that the Marshals will subtract some from our time because of it, hopefully.  Kudos to our cox who was super calm and just had us start up again.  She's very relaxed in the boat, which helps you not panic or quit when you get really exhausted at the end!

All in all, it's been a great term of rowing.  I've loved being a part of something here at Churchill, because I feel like without it I just wouldn't spend any time here.  It's been fun getting to know the girls in my boat, many of whom are undergrads, and actually experience what it's like to be a British student here (most of the MCR, again, are from the US).  I think I'll definitely keep it up next term.  I can't wait for May term when it's warm and lovely on the river!

Here's our boat after we got back to the boathouse, decked out in Churchill pink!!!

Christmas is on the way....

....but Chanukah is already here!

Happy December everyone!  Tonight is the fist night of Chanukah and I hope that everyone has a wonderful beginning to the holiday.  Ironically, I "celebrated" today by going to church.  Well, sort of.  Today a friend and I went to the sing-along carol service at King's.  I sometimes regret being in one of the more modern colleges, and today was one of those times.  King's College chapel is a wonder of gothic architecture (actually, it's fan-like ceiling is a unique style unto itself).  I, despite being jewish, as many of you know, am absolutely crazy about Christmas, and this was a great way to start off the holiday season.  Christmas celebrations start super early here, because the Cambridge term ends this week so everyone wants to celebrate here before going back home.  Each college has a Christmas formal (ours is tomorrow!) and even the Porter's Lodge is decorated with tinsel!  I dont know if things will be different after the students have left, but for now I'm loving the holiday spirit. (PS, I got yelled at by the priest for taking these pictures, so you'd better enjoy them!):

The downside of its being December, of course, is that it is FREEZING (literally, below freezing).  This is problematic as we have a race tomorrow.  The river has been frozen all week, so it is unlikely that we'll be able to race.  It's kind of sad because we've been working up to this the whole term and it would be anti-climactic to not do it.  I'll keep you posted on what happens!

First Cambridge Snowfall!

So, technically the first snowfall was Saturday (actually during our race), but since snowfall is supposed to be joyous and all I felt then was annoyed, I'm saying that one doesn't count.  When I woke up this morning, and looked out my window to see this:

I felt the true joy that one is supposed to feel at the first beautiful dusting of snow!  It did present a problem (to cycle or not to cycle) but made me super happy nonetheless.

Some other pictures of the snow:

King's back.

More King's (see the chapel?)

Queens

Clare Novice Regatta

So, as many of you know, Saturday was my first ever rowing Regatta (or race).  It was a race run only for novices and it was run by Clare College (hence the name).  The way it works is that the race is 800m and it's head-to-head, which is unusual as the Cam is really narrow.  If you win, you move on to the next race, and you keep racing until the final.

We've been doing really well in our practices this week, so we were expecting to do quite well in the race.  However, we lost our first race, which was pretty anti-climactic.  All of the things that we'd been doing well totally went out the window, which was super frustrating.  Now I remember why I don't play competitive sports, because it is so frustrating to have one chance and to totally screw it up.  We have another race on Thursday though (this time it's 2700 m!) so at least we have another chance, and hopefully we've gotten all of the butterflies out of our system!

I sit bow (the FRONT of the boat, but since you face the opposite way it feels like the back), so I get to wear the race number.  This time I really wanted to take it home, for obvious reasons:

Since I was kind of bummed, I didn't do much for the rest of the day.  However, I dragged myself away from reruns of my new favorite British TV show (Downton Abbey) to go the MCR Guest Night in the evening.  The theme was James Bond, and the night comprised of formal hall (with James Bond themed food) and then a bunch of entertainment after.  There was karaoke, a chocolate fountain, and "gambling" run by the Churchill Casino.  So all-in-all it was a nice way to end a pretty frustrating day.

My artsy photo: The reflection in the glass of everyone waiting to get into hall.

The dinner menu with James Bond themed food.

In case anyone was wondering what a syllabub was.  It's basically whipped cream, this time with vodka in it.

Happy (Belated) Thanksgiving!

I was supposed to post this yesterday, but I was in a bit of a food coma...

The title of the post basically speaks for itself.  Happy Thanksgiving to all of you in the US and all around the world.  I hope you all had a fantastic day filled with good food and good friends (wow, that really sounds like a Hallmark card, but it's true!).  Being in another country really makes me appreciate Thanksgiving more than I do when I'm at home.  I miss family and friends, of course, but everyone here made such an effort to make us feel at home today, that I can't help being happy in spite of being far away.

For lunch, the Cambridge in America alumni organization runs a lunch for American students at the University Center, so I went to that with a bunch of friends.  They made an effort to do the traditional staples, and it was nice to have some pumpkin pie.  We also had pumpkin pie at work actually, as the people who cook our food love any and all holidays.  We tried to make people go around the table during tea and say what they were thankful for, but I dont think the British people were really into it.

Then, for dinner there was a formal Thanksgiving hall at Churchill.  Again, attempt at Thanksgiving classics and more pie.  So right now (or when I wrote this last night) I'm hugely full.

I had been pretty apprehensive about today, thinking that I would be super homesick.  I thought that it would be impossible to celebrate without the specific food I'm used to eating and the specific people I usually spend the holiday with.  Again, I do miss all of that.  But at the same time, the Thanksgiving spirit was totally alive here.  It was almost kind of nicer to be able to go to work and say Happy Thanksgiving to all of my co-workers and see them getting happier at how happy I was.  So, I guess my point is that, no matter where you are, I hope you are still able to have a great Thanksgiving.  I know I did!

4. Pembroke College

Hi Everyone!

Gosh, it's been a long time since I've written anything.  My life recently has been pretty mundane.  I go to work and I row and I hang out with friends, but that is mostly it these days.  Except for seeing Harry Potter the other weekend (SO good, especially with everyone dressed up in their academic gowns and college scarves!), my life has been boring.

However, things are going to start getting interesting again (or at least significantly busier) as term comes to an end.  This week I started going to formals again, this time at what is probably my favorite college: Pembroke.

I really like Pembroke.  Number one it is really close to where I work, so it is convenient to get to.  It also has really good food ( student even write a food blog about it).  Sometimes we go there for lunch because it is so near work.  It has beautiful gardens right in the middle of the city and is just all-around gorgeous.

Here's some real information about Pembroke:

Pembroke is the third oldest Cambridge college (founded in 1347).  It is another of the colleges that was founded by a woman (many of them are), in this case, a french woman named Marie St Pol de Valence.  It was originally named for her, but the name was changed to Pembroke because she was married to the Earl of Pembroke.  The story goes that when they married (she was 17, he was 50) she was "a maid, wife, and widow" all in one day because he died during a joust on their wedding day.  Apparently, though, this isn't true and he actually died of apoplexy three years later.

There are two interesting parts of the college statutes:

1. French students who had already studied at an English university were to be given preference

2. college member are supposed to report on each other if they "drank too much, quarrelled, were extravagant or visited disorderly houses."

Also interesting:

1. The gatehouse is the oldest in Cambridge.

2. Mathew Wren who ended up becoming Chaplain to Prince Charles and the Bishop of Ely was a fellow at Pembroke.  He was imprisoned in the Tower of London by Oliver Cromwell.  He vowed that when he was released he would build a chapel in his former college.  He gave the task to his nephew, Christopher, who designed Pembroke Chapel.  It is the first completed work of Cristopher Wren.

One of the things I love most about Pembroke is the atmosphere.  While it is pretty formal at hall (they have their own china and silverware, and the high table has separate food during meals!), it is such a beautiful and warm environment.  It was a really fun hall to be able to attend (I went on a Gates swap).

Here are some pictures:

All of the china has the Pembroke crest on it!

This wasn't even the dessert!  It was after the dessert!

Newly-elected Gates Social Secretaries and President!

The Silverware also says Pembroke College on it!

The Stupidest Thing I've Ever Done for a T-shirt

I said I liked fireworks.  I also like free T-shirts.  I've joined clubs, raised money, volunteered, and done other variously difficult things in order to accumulate some great t-shirts.  Tonight was probably the stupidest though...

Every year Queens, one of the Colleges, hosts a "race" for novice rowers.  It's called Queen's Ergs, and the reason I said race in quotation marks is that it's actually an erging race (i.e., on the rowing machines, not the actual boat).  It's a relay, and each member of a boat does 500 m (500 x 8 people = 4000 k total).  It's in a gym and everyone is screaming and music is on really loud, and it is good fun.  Even though 500s are miserable, it's really only 2 minutes of pain, which would ordinarily be fine.  So, as I was promised a free t-shirt, I of course signed up.

Problem: I am still sick.  Bigger problem: since it is a team competition, if one person drops out, no one in the boat can race.  So I still really wanted to compete to make sure that everyone else had a chance too.  My set was fine, but afterwards I started coughing and couldn't stop for maybe 30 minutes.  I'm good now, but it was pretty scary, and now I'm hoarse and can't talk :(

Plan for the next few days: sleep.  sleep some more.  work (maybe).  sleep. get better (hopefully)!!!

Guy Fawkes

After my week of highly intense formal socializing, I, predictably, have gotten sick again.  However, this did not preclude me attending the fireworks for Guy Fawkes, in the rain, at night, on Friday.  Stupid decision?  Probably.  But I really like fireworks.

Guy Fawkes Night is a strange holiday.  Basically, in 1605, Guy Fawkes tried to blow up Parliament.  But, because he wasn't able to..... we light fireworks to simulate the explosion?  It doesn't really make sense to me, but again, I really like fireworks.  As someone who has attended 4th of July fireworks in both NYC and Boston, I have high expectations.  Cambridge is a small town, and considering, I think the fireworks were pretty good.  There was also, apparently, a bonfire, but I guess I left before that.

The rest of the weekend was really relaxed, which is just how I like it.  Dinner with friends on Saturday night.  One of my friends expressed his frustration that he was never mentioned by name on this blog.  I reminded him that no one is, since I think it is kind of rude to talk about people in a relatively public space without asking their permission.  He suggested we use code names.  So, shout out to "Draco Gibraltar" (his suggestion, not mine...).

Sunday, a friend from Amherst was in town.  It was soooo nice to get to see her and hear how her life is going and what her experience of Cambridge was as a visitor.  I've been meeting so many new (and fantastic!) people here, but it was nice to spend some time with someone who's known me for a while.  Sadly, I was still sick, so I must not have been very much fun to hang out with!

3. Peterhouse

Third and final formal of the week (I think I need to take it easy after all of these!): Peterhouse.

Peterhouse is the oldest college, founded in 1284.  It is very small and is quite close to were I work, but I'd never been inside until tonight.  In general, Peterhouse is a pretty conservative college.  They have formal hall every night (whereas we only have it three times a week at Churchill), and students are required to wear gowns when they attend (we never have to).  So, while really different, it was fun to get to experience a little bit of Medieval Cambridge.

Fun facts about Peterhouse:

1. It was the first college to have electricity, at the turn of the century.  This apparently caused a ruckus with the laundresses who worked near the College, as dirt from the generator would soil their clean clothes.

2. It was the college of poet Thomas Gray ("Elegy Written in a Country Courtyard" anyone?) in the mid 18th century.  Apparently, he was afraid of fire, and had an iron bar attached to his window and a rope and ladder so he could escape in the event of one.  Other students thought this was hilarious, and one night, one yelled "fire," and Gray prepared to hastily exit his room in his nightclothes, until he saw it was a prank.  When the Master refused to do anything about it, Gray moved across the street to Pembroke College.

3. Other notable Peterhouse alumni include:

          Henry Cavendish: measured the density of water, and the first person to weigh the earth at six thousand million million million tons
          Charles Babbage:  invented the first mechanical computer
          Sir Frank Whittle: invented the jet engine
          Sir Christopher Cockerell: invented the hovercraft

The reason I was going to Peterhouse formal was because two of my friends, who incidentally are dating, incidentally happen to have the same birthday.  But, Wednesday wasn't their birthday, it was their half birthday.  So, instead of waiting until May and having a cheesy joint birthday party, they had a joint, two halves made a whole, birthday party.  Since one of them lives in Peterhouse, he decided to host.

The Peterhouse coat of arms. 

Inside the Hall, which is the only building that actually dates back to the 13th Century.  It is lit only by candlelight and has part of the latin grace (I think...) written on the wall above High Table.

 Oh yea, and they make their own wine too...

After dinner, we went on a "stroll" through the gardens, which ended up being more like a trek, especially as I was wearing heels that sunk into the ground. But it was still fun to see more of the college, and see the things that tourists wouldn't.

I've had a lot of fun going to formals at other colleges.  It is nice to see how each college has it's own individual personality and traditions.  Each one really is unique, which I think is a foreign concept to many of us from the States.  I know I say this a lot, but I'm really lucky to have the Gates community, which allows me to have such a great network of friends in other colleges!

2. Sidney Sussex College

So, here goes part number two of my "better know a college" series.  I've started to think that 31 colleges is a little too ambitious for one year, but I'll do the best I can.

Fist, some background on Sidney Sussex:

It was chartered in 1594, with the bequest of Lady Frances Sidney (whose portrait hangs in the hall).  It's a beautiful little college in the center of town (I've heard it called the "Sainsbury's College" since it's across the street from the supermarket).  From the outside you can barely tell there is a college there, but it is really nice inside.

Here's a picture of the Sidney crest.  I wish I had some pictures of the college, but, sadly, formals are at night, and my camera does not do well in low lighting...

The most famous undergraduate to ever attend Sidney has to be Oliver Cromwell.  However, he was only a student there for one year, because he had to go back home to support his family after his father died.  After the Restoration of the monarchy, his body was exhumed and dismembered, and his head was eventually presented to the College and buried in the chapel.  Apparently there are portraits of him in the hall, but I guess I missed them.

This was the first time I went to Hall anywhere besides Churchill, and it was really nice to get to see how another College works.  This was also a Halloween formal, so I got to wear my costume again! This wasn't a normal formal swap, but an event organized by a Gates student at Sidney, so we even got to sit at high table, which was pretty cool.  Anyways, it was lovely to get to visit another college, although I was pretty envious of the gorgeous architecture and pretty little hall (WAY smaller than ours here).  Here are some pictures:

Pre-dinner drinks.  Yes, I was Holly Golightly again...

The inside of the Hall, decorated for Halloween.

This was the menu from the dinner (which, I'll admit, I took, because it was that cool).  On the back, it has a Sideny Sussex themed parable.  Also, the picture on the front is of Lady Sidney.

After the event, I had my first experience cycling home in heels.  It wasn't too bad (and is a very "Cambridge" thing to do), but I'm not aching to try it again... even though I probably will have to (slash, did since writing this on Tuesday) when I go to Peterhouse.

Halloweekend

Happy Halloween Everyone!!!

So, Halloween isn't quite as big here as in the States, probably because there is another holiday coming up, Guy Fawkes, that is bigger.  But in any place with a high concentration of students, any excuse to dress up is welcome.

Friday, a friend and I decided to go to Superhall at Churchill.  Apparently, this was a really big hall for the JCR, because it was the night they were announcing the theme of the Spring Ball (yes, I meant Spring, not May, Ball.  Churchill's is in February).  We were also a little late, which meant that we ended up sitting at the table reserved for the Spring Ball Committee.  Oops.  In case you were curious, the theme is 7 Deadly Sins.  I feel like it's prom all over again.

Ironically, even though Halloween isn't that big here, this is the first year in a long time that I've been able to come up with any sort of a costume.  We had a Halloween party in the MCR on Saturday night, so I even had some place to wear it to.  I'm also going to a formal at Sidney Sussex College tomorrow night, which is "fancy dress (i.e., costume)" so I think I'll wear it there as well.

Pictures of me in costume.  Can you guess who I was?

I was Holly Golightly from Breakfast at Tiffany's!

Then, on Sunday, I went over to a friend's house to carve pumpkins and wait for trick or treaters.  Apparently, though, there are no little children near where they live, so no one came.   But we did end up with some amazing pumpkins:

Gates Gala

So I know, I'm really behind, but try to bear with me.  Last Thursday was the "Gates Gala."  Basically it was a formal event for Gates scholars held at this house to the southwest of Cambridge.  It was a beautiful old estate, and it was so great to see everyone dressed up.  It is easy to lose track of people here because we are all so busy, so I reconnected with a lot of Gates people I hadn't seen since orientation.
Some photos of the house:

The event was really fun as well.  There was a murder mystery, where we were divided into teams and had to try and ferret out and kill members of the opposite team in order to save our respective "queens."  I was on Mary Queen of Scots' team, and although I died quite early, we ended up winning and killing Queen Elizabeth!  YAY!  As part of the game, we all had glowsticks and I ended up using all of the discarded ones to make a skirt, which apparently was a big hit.  I don't think I've ever been called "cool" so many times in one night.  It was pretty awesome, although kind of strange when I would just suddenly feel someone attaching another link to my skirt...



Some of the other things that went on:

A ceilidh: basically Scottish square dancing.  The musicians call out steps and you and a partner do them.  It was really fun and kind of reminded me of the Klezmers at all of the Bat Mitzvahs I used to go to!

A silent disco: everyone gets head  phones, so you are all dancing to music that no one else can hear.  Really funny to watch and just fun over all.

Massages: I missed these.  And after rowing so much I could have used one :(

Cupcakes: dont really need to say anymore.

So all in all I had a great time and got to hang out with some wonderful Gates people!  I know I've said this before, but I feel really lucky to be in such a great community here!

Gates-Churchill

So, moving right along.  Sunday we had a joint dinner for the Gates students and the Churchill Scholarship students.  This begins what is to be the week of formals.  (Sunday, Thursday, Friday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday!).  The best part, though, was that this event basically brought together all of my friends from Gates and all of my friends from College (b/c I'm in Churchill) and they all got to meet each other!  So it was just all-in-all a really nice event, especially because it got all of the spoiled people who live in the city center to venture out to Churchill and come see what my college is like! We had a nice formal dinner in hall and then went to the MCR to relax. Since pictures are always better than words, here are some of the highlights from the night.  I know that you've seen tons of pictures of the Churchill Hall set up for a formal before, so I'll try and focus on people!

Pre-dinner drinks and hanging out at Lucy's.

Everyone listening to speeches by....

.....(from right to left) Sir David Wallace, headmaster of Churchill, Robert Ethbridge, Provost of the Gates, and the head of the Churchill (I forget his name...).

Getting ready to eat!