A little Kitten in Downton-Abbey-Land ENTRY NR 4 - CAMBRIDGE REVISITED And here we go again. Four ye

A little Kitten in Downton-Abbey-Land ENTRY NR 4 - CAMBRIDGE REVISITED And here we go again. Four years lay between today and my last visit to Cambridge so it was high time to pay the city a second visit.  The decision to do so, however, came quite sudden. I had actually planned to go to the Lake District last weekend, but when I was booking the trip, it turned out far more expensive than I had thought. So one of my lovely new friends, Sabiene, who studied in Utrecht and helps me to keep my Dutch more or less fluent, drew my attention to another trip offered that weekend, a bus tour to Cambridge. We left far too early, of course, my ticket said 7:00am, which meant getting up at 5:40am, leaving the house at 6:30am and then waiting for the bus until 7:30am – because thank you dear organizers, next time please let me know that the time given on the ticket is the departure-time of the bus at the other end of the campus. Well, at least I got to see the sun rise over the fields and felt a bit like Keira Knightley/Eilza Bennet at the end of the Pride & Prejudice remake. I teamed up with Tara, a lovely chick from near St. Louis that was very keen on seeing as many painted cathedral-glass-windows as possible and trusted me enough to be her guide for a day. Much had changed since I had last seen it. I remember walking away from my friends on my last night, a last look at the bus station, at Parker’s Piece and the streets I was lucky enough to spend my summer in. I remember turning around to Eliska, who had tears in her eyes and hugging Maria who wished me a good flight and promised me that this wasn’t good-bye forever. The busy streets, filled with people and noise were nothing like the calm summer night I left Cambridge, but standing at my old bus-stop again, walking down the park we all used to meet in and having a glimpse at the restaurants we dined at made my heart pound a little faster. I like to think of my summer in Cambridge as the second time my life changed forever. I had never thought that I could have such wonderful friends, determined people that were also striving for doing their best and having some fun along the way. I miss them all dearly and hope that someday, some of our paths will cross again. But enough of that for now, Tara and I had a splendid day: We visited King’s College and King’s Chapel, Emmanuel’s College, St. Catharine’s College and Corpus Christi College all of which were wonderful to look at. We had a great Lunch at a small Italian restaurant named Don Pasquale right in the Marketplace before we went punting on the river enjoying the warmth of the afternoon-sun, in any case the highlight of our day, the only thing that was really missing was a bottle of fine Champaign, that neither of us would have probably touched. Next to all the pictures, I brought home a “Bunny-scarf” (basically a beige scarf with blue rabbits) and two postcards that the two receivers will definitely love – although I am not sure yet when/if I will send them, I don’t trust the Royale Post… Now on to some more general things: School has finally started YES! Since I haven’t really done anything since late May, I was extremely looking forward to finally starting classes again. I follow three courses, two in the department of Literature and one in the department of Politics & Economics. In addition to that, I have been informed that after all I also have to follow a course in Nijmegen from the distance (which I really wasn’t all too happy about, but I will spare you my ranting now). Well, at least the courses at York are fantastic and super interesting. Sadly, they’re all taking place on Monday which basically means I am dead on Monday evenings and got little to do for the rest of the week – at least until teaching starts for me in a couple of days – let’s see about it all then. I should probably also inform you of the fact that I have partied with Hodor about a week ago! Yes, you’ve heard me, Hodor from Game of Thrones. The actor is a DJ and he is MASSIVE! I was painting the faces of some York-Freshers with Amy while he was playing at the Live & Loud Festival and he was really good, we had a fun evening together although we were freezing by the time we went home… Lastly, I love this place – just in case you haven’t noticed – and I have decided to apply to four British Universities for my Master. I am super excited about that and I can’t wait to start applying, even though that might mean that I will leave some of the most wonderful people I have met in the last years behind in the Netherlands. We will see. Future is an open book and I’m finally taking the pencil to start writing. So long, Cheers and love you all - Katrin -- source link

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