my friend padden was in town for a week from SF with his friend sawyer. both of them studied at one point in the UK. sawyer went to the university of cambridge while padden studied in oxford. they mostly returned so that they could watch sawyer graduate from cambridge even though it's been a year since he's finished his program. they invited me along since it would be a good chance to check out cambridge, see a graduation ceremony AND go punting.
we will get to punting in a sec. hold your horses.
cambridge is only a 45 minute express train ride away from london due north. it is a university town with many beautiful buildings. it was very quaint and walkable. the weather has also been gorgeous the last few days so that made the day even more enjoyable!
after arriving in cambridge, we headed to the river to go punting. punting, is the most rudimentary form of boating possible. you sit in this 15ish foot long rowboat and push yourself up and down the river with one extremely long stick that you dig into the ground since it's not very deep. the river runs along the colleges, so it's very picturesque and relaxing...especially because you're also enjoying champagne, beer, pimm's, what have you as this happens. you can either pay someone to punt you around or you can do the punting. we went for the latter.
it took us a while to get the hang of it. grace (sawyer's friend who also came) was the best. sawyer did alright. padden sucked (no offense, dude). we kept turning in circles or ended up perpendicular to the river somehow when padden did it and hit many of the other boats that were heading in either direction. i didn't attempt because it was a very stressful environment! you had tons of people punting each way, it was incredibly warm on the river and i didn't want to fall in! we finally called it quits after 1.5 hours because lois (grace's friend) had to go to the loo.
later that afternoon we headed to sawyer's graduation. this is nothing like how our graduation ceremonies are conducted in america. we filed into the senate house which was a gorgeous room, sat down and were kindly reminded that absolutely no photography was allowed. the graduates then all marched in and lined up in rows of 3 or 4.
the ceremony started with a lot of hat tipping between all the people that i assumed were the educators to this guy who was seated in a plush red chair. then a lady basically read the program that we received verbatim. there were a few collages graduating so there were two before sawyer was up. the lady would announce what their degree was in before each row came up. when it got to your row, you would walk up to the guy in the chair with your praelector who would hold out their hand at which point the four of you, together, would grab one of their fingers and stand there while they say something in latin that was impossible to hear because there were no microphones and they were turned away from you. then the lady reading from the program would read a name and that person who walk up to the homie in the chair, kneel down with their hands in a prayer position, homie in the chair would hold your hands in his hands, say something in latin that differed in length for everyone, you would get up, bow, then walk off and receive your diploma.
this happened one hundred odd times.
then it was all over.
every one has their traditions, but i prefer the way we do it back home! i quite prefer a cheesy speech or two.
we met sawyer out in the courtyard after we all filed out and snapped some pictures. afterwards we hung out and enjoyed the warm weather by the river a bit longer before grabbing some dinner and hopping on a train back to london!
we will get to punting in a sec. hold your horses.
cambridge is only a 45 minute express train ride away from london due north. it is a university town with many beautiful buildings. it was very quaint and walkable. the weather has also been gorgeous the last few days so that made the day even more enjoyable!
thought this sign was neat :)
apparently people don't steal bikes here? people would lock the bike up to itself then lean it against the wall. granted i didn't see any super nice bikes out, but still!
after arriving in cambridge, we headed to the river to go punting. punting, is the most rudimentary form of boating possible. you sit in this 15ish foot long rowboat and push yourself up and down the river with one extremely long stick that you dig into the ground since it's not very deep. the river runs along the colleges, so it's very picturesque and relaxing...especially because you're also enjoying champagne, beer, pimm's, what have you as this happens. you can either pay someone to punt you around or you can do the punting. we went for the latter.
it took us a while to get the hang of it. grace (sawyer's friend who also came) was the best. sawyer did alright. padden sucked (no offense, dude). we kept turning in circles or ended up perpendicular to the river somehow when padden did it and hit many of the other boats that were heading in either direction. i didn't attempt because it was a very stressful environment! you had tons of people punting each way, it was incredibly warm on the river and i didn't want to fall in! we finally called it quits after 1.5 hours because lois (grace's friend) had to go to the loo.
lois and padden
grace in action
padden at work
drink break!
the sights along the way
later that afternoon we headed to sawyer's graduation. this is nothing like how our graduation ceremonies are conducted in america. we filed into the senate house which was a gorgeous room, sat down and were kindly reminded that absolutely no photography was allowed. the graduates then all marched in and lined up in rows of 3 or 4.
the ceremony started with a lot of hat tipping between all the people that i assumed were the educators to this guy who was seated in a plush red chair. then a lady basically read the program that we received verbatim. there were a few collages graduating so there were two before sawyer was up. the lady would announce what their degree was in before each row came up. when it got to your row, you would walk up to the guy in the chair with your praelector who would hold out their hand at which point the four of you, together, would grab one of their fingers and stand there while they say something in latin that was impossible to hear because there were no microphones and they were turned away from you. then the lady reading from the program would read a name and that person who walk up to the homie in the chair, kneel down with their hands in a prayer position, homie in the chair would hold your hands in his hands, say something in latin that differed in length for everyone, you would get up, bow, then walk off and receive your diploma.
this happened one hundred odd times.
then it was all over.
every one has their traditions, but i prefer the way we do it back home! i quite prefer a cheesy speech or two.
we met sawyer out in the courtyard after we all filed out and snapped some pictures. afterwards we hung out and enjoyed the warm weather by the river a bit longer before grabbing some dinner and hopping on a train back to london!
i could not get enough of the hood descriptions...check out the bottom few for veterinary med, surgery and arts. also: what does one need to do to obtain the master of letters?? she is REALLY good at her ABC's...
the graduate
pimm's! a very refreshing british drink made with fresh fruit, cucumbers and mint. excellent on a warm day.
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