Impressions of Cambridge

Hey everybody!

I got back yesterday from my interviews for Cambridge University. I hope the pictures don't make someone's computer throw a tantrum (you see, they weren't particularly interesting so I decided not to clutter up the photobucket). Stuff that happened along with random observations from in the two-ish days I was there. :

Drank Red Bull for the first time. Four cans of it... urgh. I needed something to counteract my immense lack of sleep on Monday, keep me alert for interviews and TSA (essentially a meaner version of the SAT Reasoning Test) on Tuesday, and make sure I didn't miss my 4:30AM airport shuttle on Wednesday.

It looks like one of the St. Louis TASPers was also in Cambridge in the past few days! *waves*... which college and subject did you apply to/for? I'm hoping to get in for engineering at Emmanuel College... but feeling a little uneasy about my chances of acceptance. Didn't quite manage to answer a question in one of the interviews that was, in retrospect, astoundingly simple.

Most Cambridge colleges seem to hide behind deceptively small and grotty main entrances that look like little holes in the wall but actually open out onto beautiful courtyards and chapels. Emmanuel is a good example of that. This (I think) is the college chapel:
















Exceptions include King's and Trinity Colleges, which have some really beautiful, but in-your-face, facades. This one is the King's College main entrance:





















A rather accurate analogy, old-school SAT style:

squirrels :: University of Michigan
ducks :: Emmanuel College















They're startlingly FAT, run around everywhere in the gardens, and probably have more rights than students. Actually, a fourth-year student there said there was an official rule forbidding people from eating them. I think the need for it is a little ridiculous (and downright creepy, actually). Oh, and they get their own page on the college's website.

I met up with two friends from my school who were also in town for interviews, and we somehow ended up in one of our rooms with a fourth-year Emmanuel student, randomly arguing and snacking on Pringles.
















I guess the guy was lonely (term ended last week, most students were gone). Anyway, the whole discussion reminded me of TASP, except that the points raised weren't nearly as interesting, persuasive, or eloquently expressed as those we enjoyed on so many occasions in the six summer weeks of TASP... brief bout of nostalgia there.

Here's me in the room I was assigned.


















And a view of North Court from the window.

















Anyway, I'm happy with the whole trip. It was tiring and stressful, but also immensely fun.

It seems as though there's been some inter-TASP communication going on. Has anyone considered talking to the UT Austin people? Hmmm unfortunately... their livejournal is updated woefully infrequently. And I guess Cornell just sort of fragmented into groups and went their own ways. Unless there's a Cornell blog that we just haven't found.

It looks like most of you guys are having a good time waiting for the holidays. Early application decisions are coming out terrifyingly soon. I'm tired. So thankfully, today's a holiday.

Take care everyone!

Till later,

Jason

PS. Emily, Red Bull is fiendishly effective. I don't know whether it's all in my mind or due to the overload of sugar and caffeine, but whatever it is, it's scarily good at keeping me alert. Hope I won't have to resort to using Red Bull again. Ever.