July 3rd and 4th.

July 3rd, 2012
Weather wise: today there was random drizzling and rain. So I woke up in the morning and headed down to Pembroke Dining Hall at 9AM.  I ended up eating sauteed mushrooms, English bacon (ham), and poached eggs. Yummy :). Afterwards I walked with some of my friends to CUS; however, coming back I got lost.

I ended up making a wrong turn at some point and ended up at Jesus College's back lawn. ok terrible pun: Jesus! University of Cambridge is HUGE.

Anyways, I then had to ask a porter which college I was at, and from there how do I get back to King's College, and for the first lecture I was 30 minutes late. That awkward feeling one gets when everyone in the room stares at you for walking in 30 minutes late into "The Marriage of Spirit and Matter Course."... it's just embarrassing. Anyways, this class was The professor, Thomas Newbolt proceeded to question me and speak about art theoretically. "What is art spiritually? Why is this course called "The Marriage of Spirit and Matter?" What is the act of painting or even the first strokes of a painting etc." 1 hour later he gave us paper and pencils then proceeded to tell us to draw a still life of a tea kettle and a cup. I'm a studio art major, so I was brilliantly impressed at how he approached art theoretically; however, I think the concepts may have been a little bit foreign to non studio art majors, and confusing. I think art terminology and history translation maybe needed for this course.

By the way this is the King's Art room interior.
Note: there are 2 rooms: one for storage
of supplies and one for just painting etc.

(All rights of this photo belongs to King's
College, Cambridge University respectfully.)

Once class was over, I had a lunch break and headed back to Pembroke Dining hall for a quick lunch. One of the things I do love about the dining hall is the fact that there are long tables, so sitting next to strangers and meeting people is made easier and creates a sense of community. 

After lunch, I headed off to CUS dining hall for my first lecture in "Management and Business Ethics." My professor, Raphael Silberzahn pretty much outlined the course his expectations, business plans etc for half an hour. Afterwards he proceeded to lecture about globalization and networks of society etc. My thoughts: I do love connecting globalization to business and so far I like this course, and am interested in seeing where it goes.

Later at night I attended my the first formal, "PKP Welcome Formal Hall." What is a formal? Well it's not a fancy dance. Formals in Cambridge are dinner events that allow students, faculty, professors etc. to meet and network with each other. Not only does this create a sense of community amongst the colleges, this is one of the events that allows you to meet other fellow students without feeling awkward introducing yourself.

How does it work:
Formal halls begin with a social before dinner. During the social, wine is provided on the college lawn. (Note: being able to step on the lawn is a privilege because no one except senior members of college are ever allowed to walk on the grass. Sometimes you can find signs in multiple languages sometimes saying "Keep off the grass."

King's College "Keep off the grass sign" in 6 different languages! Including but not limited to: English, French, German, Spanish, Chinese, and Japanese!

Unfortunately for me, today was rainy so while we were "on the grass" we were stepping on a cover on the grass in a little tent because the grass was muddy. I proceeded to get some wine and chat with my friends/ meet new people. Afterwards, when dinner was served. I was amused by the fact that the napkins had the Pembroke crest on them and the fact that the butter was shaped in flowers. Wow. This definitely makes me feel like I'm in Hogwarts. Anyways, today's formal hall menu: Minestrone soup with prosciutto, Steak served with Yorkshire pudding, bread and butter, potatoes and carrots, (i forgot the dessert), and coffee and mints. The meal was wonderful although the potatoes were - uncuttable. Seriously, to eat the potato you had to stab the potato...multiple times.Other then that I'm just sad that I actually didn't take many photos of the food or anything, so unfortunately I can't share with you how amazing my first formal is.

However, here are a few photos:

First part of formal: Having white wine and staying classy. Photo taken by Lloyd Wong.

After the photo I had a picture taken of me and one of my new amazing musical friends, Kin. 

Tonight was amazing and I'm looking forward to more adventures soon!

July 4th:
Summarized because this post is long:
Weather: a bit rainy.

Today I attended my first seminar. In contrast to discussions in the UCS, seminars differ in "International Management and Business Ethics." Normally in discussions, TAs tell you some questions and you have to answer them. In this case, we were given hypothetical, yet practical problems and told to solve them.

For example: What if you are a prime minister of a LEDC (Less Economically Developed Country) your country has no social infrastructures, and your people are starving yet you have a resource: trees. A company from a MEDC (More Economically Developed Country) comes in and offers to provide your citizens employment; however, they want to cut trees (unsustainably) and refuse to pay for any ecological damage done. What do you do?

Anyways after my courses and seminars, I didn't feel like eating at Pembroke Dining Hall so I decided why not get Chinese food? After almost a week without Chinese food oh my god, I had some urgent "asian food" cravings. I ran into 2 of my friends and sat with them, met more people, and we enjoyed Chinese food together. I know I'm suppose to celebrate my 4th of July by being American, but honestly I didn't care, and just craved asian food. I guess this is my way of celebrating 4th of July? Happy 4th of July by the way.

Chinese Beef Noodle soup. It was delicious :)

After dinner students were required to go to CUS for information on the "Scotland and the North trip." During the meeting, we were told to reserve the events we wanted to go to by going onto the PKP website, logging in, and reserving things (there were limited number of spaces for each event.) For example: hiking to Arthur's Seat in Edinburgh had 30 spots opened per day and was COMPLETELY booked by the time I tried to book anything, so instead I opted for the Killian hike for Friday, and National Scottish Gallery on Saturday.) What did I learn? Booking and finding out which events friends will turn into a hot mess when there's planning, contacting, and lagging websites involved. Other then that, Greg mentioned a story and complaints about some BYU (Brigham Young University) students from past years, getting kilts and er...wearing them properly and running around BYU. I certainly hope that there was no wind at that time.

Well now I suppose it's time for me to pack and prepare for tomorrow's great adventure! I'll definitely write more later!

So until then, cheers!

Tina