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Category: Cambridge (page 20 of 26)

All posts from students studying abroad in Cambridge, England

Returning to the Cars

Spring Break Part IV: Crete

April 3, 2012 / / 0 Comments

Rethymo

Our ferry from Athens docked in Heraklion, Crete at 6:00, making it our second early morning in a row.  The weather matched our feelings; rain and a hostilely cold wind greeted us as we trudged from the shipyard to the bus station.  After an hour and a half’s ride to Rethymno, the city that would be our home for the next few days, nearly the entire group elected to take a long nap.  When we awoke several hours later, we found that we had slept through the inclement weather and awoke to the sun just coming out from behind the clouds.  In the increasingly warm temperatures we explored the city, adjoining beach, and made plans for the next two days with our extremely helpful hostel owner, Ivan.

Walk to Balos Beach

 

We were advised to rent cars because doing so would be cheaper than taking buses and would give us far greater mobility (you only have to be 18 and have a US drivers license to rent in Crete).  We got off to a bit of a late start the first morning, so instead of following our original plan and driving all the way to the opposite coast we decided to attempt to find Balos Beach at the northwestern tip of the island.  However, as we drove closer the condition of the road grew increasingly worse (maybe the road costs too much to maintain during the offseason?).  We ended up parking our cars along the side of the road and walked 5 kilometers to the beach.  At the beach we found our compensation for coming weeks earlier than other tourists:  we were the only ones on the beach!  The beautiful turquoise water (warm enough to swim in) was framed by sand and enclosed by the surrounding foothills.  But seeing as how we still had a long walk back to our cars, as soon as the sun began to set into the Mediterranean horizon we started retracing our steps towards our vehicles.  This time, instead of the view looking out to the sea, the walk back was towards a small coastal village nestled below the snowcapped mountains.

Returning to the Cars

During the second day in Crete we had intentions of visiting a pair of caves, but once again we ran into the problem of traveling during the offseason.  Both were closed.  However, our switchback route among the mountains left us within a relatively short drive of Preveli Beach.  Although the day was a little cold for swimming, Preveli Beach is adjacent to a palm forest.  After spending an hour or two alongside of the river running through this forest, we returned home at a slower rate to admire the view from the tops of gorges in the mountains.

Returning from Preveli Beach

The last day of our spring break was perfect.  Instead of stretching out the vacation by trying to do too much, we essentially took the day off.  After sleeping in, we stopped at a crepe stand (we had gotten to know the employees rather well by our third day) and for ice cream.  After this brunch, we visited the Fortezza in Rethymno for an hour or so and spent the rest of the day relaxing on the beach and enjoying the sun – forming the perfect ending to Spring Break!

Walk to Preveli Beach

 

 

 

 

Missed an earlier destination?  Take a look at my visits to Venice, Rome, and Athens!

Also, see more photos on Picasa or follow me on Twitter!

 

Spring Break Part III: Traveling through Athens

March 26, 2012 / / 0 Comments

Odeon of Herodes Atticus

Our travel plans for the day consisted of taking a train from Rome to the airport, catching a flight to Athens, a nine hour layover (during which we would explore the city for a few hours), and then ferrying overnight to Crete.  For me, the most noticeable transition between Italy and Greece was the language difference.  I’m not at all fluent in Italian, but Italian being one of the Romance languages I was surprised how easy it was to pick up the general idea of what someone was saying, even if I couldn’t understand word for word.  Similarly, I could read enough Italian to get where I wanted to go and pronounce enough to say “thank you” and order food without much difficulty.

In Greece, it was the complete opposite.  Without obvious social cues it was almost impossible to understand speech.  As for reading, there are different ways of writing Greek.  There are the Greek characters, and then there is the English transliteration.  Even the English version was very difficult to pronounce.  Being so different, I was surprised how hard it was to even remember phrases.  I don’t think I was able to remember how to say “thank you” for longer than 15 minutes.

Acropolis and Parthenon

 

Acropolis

Athens itself was less than impressive.  Granted, my negative impression may have partially been due to the icy wind and threatening rainclouds, but I’m glad a whole day wasn’t spent in Athens.  Also, one has to factor in the economic difficulties Greece is currently undergoing.  Even though it was offseason for tourists, the city was very dirty in comparison to others, especially Venice.  After our first Greek lunch we only had time to visit one major site, but we found the Parthenon was both closed and covered in scaffolding.  However, the top of Philopappou Hill gave us a fantastic view for miles around the city.

Some of the best memories from Athens were of the countless stray dogs throughout the city.  I expected them to be somewhat unfriendly and constantly attempting to steal food, but this wasn’t the case.  All you had to do was treat them nicely – pet and sit with them for a while – and they would follow you around like guards, barking at and scaring off the aggressive beggars and street vendors that would try to approach you.  Then, at the end of their territory, they would nudge you one last time as if to say “bye” and sadly watch you walk away.

 

Leaving Athens

As darkness started to cover Athens, we arrived at our ferry and boarded for the nine hour ride to the last destination of spring break:  Crete!

 

 

Missed an earlier part?  Look at Part I or Part II

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St. Peter's Basilica

Spring Break Part II: Rome

March 25, 2012 / / 0 Comments

Colosseum

The second segment of my spring break was spent in Rome, Italy.  Barring a little difficulty with Eurail passes, the train ride from Venice to Rome was a wonderful transition.  The hills of northern Italy around Florence made for a gorgeous train ride south towards Rome.

Because we didn’t have long in Rome, we attempted to hit as many major sites as we could in the time we had.  One of the nearest sites to our hostel was the Colosseum.  Although we never actually went inside, we spent a lot of time in the area taking pictures (and learning about tourist traps).

From the Colosseum the road leads north past the extensive Roman Forum to the Piazza Venezia.  And from there (after a quick stop for more gelato) another short walk to the Trevi Fountain.  Although most of the city was far from crowded during early March, the fountain was crawling with people.  While many were tourists (one couple was having their wedding photos taken), you could easily tell this was a hotspot for pickpockets as unsuspecting tourists turned their backs towards the fountain and threw a few cents over their shoulder.  However, as with all big cities if you pay attention and watch each others’ backs there is little to worry about.

St. Peter's Basilica

During our only full day in Rome we caught a bus to Vatican City.  After staying in St. Peter’s Square for a while, we proceeded to enter St. Peter’s Basilica.  Our afternoon arrival was perfect timing; rays of sunlight were perfectly displayed across the altar.  The entire cathedral is filled with centuries of art.  Every carving and ornately painted ceiling is worth admiring.  Deeper into the Basilica is a wall remembering the entire line of popes starting with St. Peter and ending with the current Pope Benedict XVI.  The bus route taking us back to the main part of Rome ran along side the River Tiber and went through several other famous sites.

After a last true Italian dinner, it was an early night in preparation for our 4:30 awakening to catch a flight to the next stop on our itinerary…

 

Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore

 

 

Missed Part I?  Check out:  http://blogs.valpo.edu/studyabroad/2012/03/21/spring-break-part-i-venice/

Look at more photos on Picasa at:  https://plus.google.com/photos/112463823006344854498/albums?banner=pwa

Follow me on Twitter at:  https://twitter.com/#!/CambridgeUKJohn

 

 

Let this one play through.

March 25, 2012 / / 0 Comments

One of the things I miss most about home is my computer. More specifically, I miss my computer because my computer is hooked up to a pair of high quality monitor speakers. The clarity of sound which these speakers create is unmatched by the headphones I brought along with me to Cambridge, and none of the speakers at the center come within a mile of their quality. At home, I like to spend a few hours browsing through blogs and discovering new music. It’s nice to discover a new band, and then find that you’ve stumbled onto a blog that posts music from tons of different artists who are extremely similar. Best of all, most of the music is independent and released for free. So, I can get loads of free music legally.

This is a stall in the Cambridge market which I frequent quite often. And, just to let you know, these pictures have little to do with this blog post other than the fact that they were taken in Cambridge.

The trouble with gathering a music collection in this way is that no one is likely to have heard of a band who has only six hundred views on YouTube and maybe a website. Combine this with the fact that I rarely decide to commit each artist’s name to memory, and when I’m asked, “What kind of music do you like?” I’m left stammering, “Well, electronic, but not techno. Kind of folk, but also jazz. Like – what’s the band’s name, I just found them today – like… Well, the songs use lush synths; echoey stuff.” I know how to find what I like, but I discard it all so easily that I have trouble sharing the music with anyone else. Add on top of this the fact that I’m one who enjoys little to no background music when I’m speaking with people – despite the fact that most of the music I enjoy fades easily into the background – and the opportunities for sharing music shrink even lower.

Parker's Piece is a large field near the city centre which I pass on the way to my once a week class at Anglia Ruskin University.

Enjoying music that fades into the background means that it can be hard to share my musical tastes with people because the best experience of this type of music comes when one allows oneself to be completely enveloped by it. For this to happen between multiple people, a large degree of intimacy has to have been already established, because the music, if focused on, requires the people to embark on a journey together in which they drop nearly everything but the raw emotions the music evokes. Depending on what each person is going through, the emotions that arise may be completely different for each person. Sharing this type of music feels akin to meeting someone for the first time and asking them to divulge their innermost thoughts and feelings.

After an intense staring contest, the wax man and I had a heart to heart.

I spoke with a friend from home last night. She wanted to know all about my trip and what had happened so far. Despite being here for a few months, I felt unable to explain to her what had been happening to me so far. Each time I recounted an event to her, I felt as if something was lacking behind what I said. I wasn’t able to completely capture the experience and the way it made me feel. Now I know why.

Studying abroad has been like living within one of those echoey, jazz-folk-electronic songs I enjoy so much. To get everything out of this experience, I’ve had to completely drop everything: culture, home turf, and friends – to name a few. So, when my friend from home asked me to describe my experience, I felt as if a song had been interrupted. The experience isn’t over yet. And, while I could put the song on pause to stop and recount the ways Europe has affected me so far, this is a song I’d rather listen to all the way through.

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View from Rialto Bridge

Spring Break Part I: Venice

March 21, 2012 / / 0 Comments

 

Venetian Sunset

First stop of my spring break:  Venice, Italy.  This beautiful city was the perfect place for the group of us traveling together to start our trip to mainland Europe.  Being a very popular city for tourism, the language barrier is pretty minimal compared to a lot of other places.  Also, the city is on an island, meaning that it is impossible to get too lost while wandering around.  Everything in Venice is within easy walking distance, meaning we never had to deal with potentially confusing public transportation.

Gondola Ride

The Grand Canal winds through the main part of Venice with many other canals interlacing throughout the city.  The local Venetians use boats like most American use cars.  In fact, most houses in Venice have two doors, one with an entrance onto the street and another door opening to a canal.  Due to the water bound nature of the city “the thing” do to while in Venice is go on a gondola ride.  In order to keep the cost of our ride down we didn’t go on a very long one, but we spent over half an hour gliding along the back canals of Venice (which included going by Marco Polo’s house).  The countless bridges throughout the city are very scenic, but few have ramps, making transport difficult for those with strollers or wheelchairs.

Venice has several notable sights that tourists from all over the world come to visit like Rialto Bridge and St. Mark’s Square.  Rialto Bridge was very crowded, but the views of the Grand Canal from the top were amazing.  St. Mark’s Square was great to see both at night and during the day.

View from Rialto Bridge

I enjoyed going to both locations, especially St. Mark’s, but my favorite place in Venice was the walkway along the waterside.  Of course, there are hordes of street vendors attempting to sell just about everything a tourist could be tempted to buy in every popular location.  But because I was traveling during the offseason, most of the others along the waterside were just other tourists like myself looking for a scenic escape from the main part of the city.

 

Besides its canals, Venice is also captivating for others reasons such as its famous glassware, carnival masks, and real Italian food.  I loved the pizza and pasta, but the real treasure of Venice:  gelato!

Ponte della Costituzione

Missed a blog or want to see what else is going on in Cambridge?  Check out: http://blogs.valpo.edu/studyabroad/category/cambridge-england/

Look at more photos on Picasa at:  https://plus.google.com/photos/112463823006344854498/albums?banner=pwa

Follow me on Twitter at:  https://twitter.com/#!/CambridgeUKJohn

 

UK Attractions

March 8, 2012 / / 0 Comments

Having been overseas for eight weeks now I’ve had the chance to do quite a bit of traveling around Britain.  So, on the eve of my Spring Break I thought I would catch up with a quick blog on some of the locations I’ve visited on the island:

 

Bath

The first thing you notice when entering Bath is the uniform architecture throughout the city.  Nearly every street is worth taking a few pictures of.  The city is home to several notable sites, including the Royal Crescent, the Jane Austen Centre, Bath Abbey, and the Royal Victoria Park.  And of course, the famous Roman baths.  Although this was the first time I encountered large numbers of tourists at a site, I was still able to enjoy the experience of walking through the ancient location.  The picture is of the hot spring that is the source of all the water.  By the time it flows into the main baths the water will be cool enough to comfortably bathe in.

 

 

Castles

No trip to through Europe would be complete without a few castles, and the photo below is of Warwick Castle, which is the first one I visited in Britain.  In spite of the rather touristy nature of the castle today, it is still easy to comprehend the original nature of its location.  The castle is situated on the top of a hill and is defensible from all sides.  From the top of the castle you can see for miles, even in England’s typically foggy weather.  One of my favorite attractions from this location was watching the falconer’s birds dive at up to 200 mph.

 

 

Stonehenge

Although Stonehenge is set in a lonely location between two highways and surrounded by fields, it is one of the world’s most famous sites for a reason.  The stones weigh between 4 and 40 tons each, and come from many miles away.  Also, Stonehenge is oriented to frame the rising sun during the summer solstice and the setting sun during the winter solstice.  The weather was abnormally cold and windy when I visited Stonehenge (you can see the snow), but this kept a lot of other tourists indoors, leading to several good pictures of the site.  While tourists are now confined to the path surrounding Stonehenge, there are actually several other places in Britain that are similar, one or two of which I plan to stop at before the end of the semester.

 

 

 

Missed a blog or want to see what else is going on in Cambridge?  Check out:  http://blogs.valpo.edu/studyabroad/category/cambridge-england/

See more photos on Picasa at:  https://plus.google.com/photos/112463823006344854498/albums?banner=pwa

Follow me on Twitter at:  https://twitter.com/#!/CambridgeUKJohn

 

Outskirts of Cambridge

Getting Around in the UK

March 3, 2012 / / 1 Comment

The narrow streets of Cambridge

One of the largest adjustments I’ve had to make coming to the UK has been losing the independence that came from owning my own car.  However, this has given me the chance to explore many of the ways locals travel around Britain.

There are a surprisingly large number of cars in the UK.  However, driving really isn’t optimal.  This is especially true in old medieval towns like Cambridge that have very narrow (and often stone) streets.  These have enough difficulty handling the flow of bikers and walkers, much less cars.

Chances are, most long distances you would travel by car in the States can be traveled by bus, taxi, or train here.  Most journeys of over several hours are traveled by train.  While rail tickets aren’t necessarily cheap, there are many available departure times to nearly every destination.  From Cambridge, it is possible to get anywhere in Britain within one day of travel.  Trains are easy to use, clean, and relatively comfortable.

If your journey is shorter than about two hours taxis and buses are often used.  Taxis are far more convenient, but an all-day bus pass to anywhere in or around Cambridge costs half of what a taxi ride across the city would.  Besides having to plan your trip within the bus schedule, they can be rather confusing in general.  To start with, bus schedules aren’t easy to read, but finding one can be just as hard.  Many bus stops have had their schedules stolen, and because the locals don’t need a schedule another one simply isn’t put up.  On top of this, most cities have two bus companies, and as easy as it might seem it can be difficult to get the schedule, ticket, and bus to all match.

 

Outskirts of Cambridge

Within cities the majority of people prefer to transport themselves and not pay.  Bicycles are most common and all European cities have an army of them.  Nearly every single road has a lane specifically for bicyclists.  Due to the large number, having proper warning lights is taken very seriously.  I’ve seen several cyclists pulled over by policemen for having a missing light.

Wandering around Girton

If you don’t have a bicycle, then you are left walking alongside the majority of others.  Conveniently, most European cities are compact and it’s not too far to most locations (however, it’s not considered a long walk unless it’s at least 45 minutes!).  Personally, I like walking because it gives you a chance to take pictures and notice things you normally wouldn’t.  The main thing to remember when walking is that there is a hierarchy.  Vehicles have a lane, bicycles have a lane, and those walking have the sidewalk.  And if you venture into a lane that’s not yours you had better watch out because bicyclists will hit you and cars won’t slow down until they absolutely have to.  The fact that cars drive on the left side of the road isn’t a huge problem if you take the time to think, but if you’re traveling to Britain expect to have several near accidents in the first few weeks!

 

Missed a blog or want to see what else is going on in Cambridge?  Take a look at:  http://blogs.valpo.edu/studyabroad/category/cambridge-england/

Take a look at my photo albums on Picasa at:  https://plus.google.com/photos/112463823006344854498/albums?banner=pwa

Follow me on Twitter at:  https://twitter.com/#!/CambridgeUKJohn

 

The Atmosphere of Alcohol

February 20, 2012 / / 0 Comments

Among the several cultural differences one notices when traveling from America to England, one of the first is the attitude towards alcohol.  In general, I would characterized it as simply more relaxed.  In years past, if you drank water you were likely to contract cholera, so why not drink beer?  This attitude towards alcohol still continues.

The drinking age is lower in the UK at 18 years old.  Although bars that expect a lot of American tourists card hard, at most Cambridge pubs I never show ID, especially when I’m with a small number of people.  Pubs fill social purposes – they are local meeting places where the “regulars” are extended family for each other.  While European beer is far stronger than US beer, the primary goal is not to get drunk but to nurse a pint and enjoy the atmosphere and conversation.  As an American, it can be difficult to integrate and mix among local patrons, but I’ve found that if you wait until the locals have had a few drinks they stop caring that you are an American and will strike up a conversation with you (I was able to cross off one of my goals my first week here and convince a local that I was also British… and no he wasn’t that drunk!).

One of my favorite aspects of traveling around the country is having the opportunity to try the local brews.  Of course, some drinks like Guinness, Strongbow, and Carlsburg are staples at basically every location.  Cider is another beverage that is very popular in the UK, and many pubs serve more than one variety.  If you don’t want to have alcohol but still want to “fit in,” you can order a shandy.  This consists mostly of British lemonade, but has enough lager in it to look like a beer.

Of course, alcohol still causes its share of problems in the UK.  Adolescent drinking is a problem that cannot be ignored…newspaper headlines following holidays contain stories of drunken revelry complete with the evening’s strain on the National Health Service… and true Englishmen are notorious for loving to fight when drunk. But because of the otherwise relaxed attitude there isn’t as much of a taboo on openly discussing the subject and dealing with problems.

What do I notice most in England?  It’s just alcohol – no hypersensitivity or stigmas.  While I’m not saying the US is wrong for having a relatively high drinking age, I think that the European openness about alcohol is something that should be widely adopted in the States.

 

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Rock on, Cambridge.

February 19, 2012 / / 0 Comments

Stonehenge: random rocks on a hillside, huge tourist attraction, and one of the highlights of my trip. I’ll leave you to decide whether this half destroyed landmark appealed to me as a result of early exposure to informative History Channel specials with no message apart from, “ALIENS ALIENS ALIENS!!!” or whether I had a more refined interest in the nomadic tribes which likely used the site for religious purposes.* Thankfully, it had snowed a few days before our trip and not all the snow had melted. This helped provide a nice frame to the countless** pictures I took while I lived out one of my childhood dreams.

Getting to Stonehenge is as simple as finding the parking lot and walking through a short tunnel. Anyone who can accomplish this is allowed to walk around the nicely roped perimeter, and there’s no limit to the amount*** of pictures anyone can take of these famous mossy slabs of rock. No one is allowed to touch the Stonehenge stones (probably for fear of cross contamination between alien and human DNA), but tourists can get pretty close.

It took reaching the gift shop for me to realize just how much Stonehenge meant to me. Ten postcards, two chocolate bars, two bookmarks, one coffee mug, one blanket, one shot glass, one paper weight, one magnet, and £90 later I boarded the C-89 tour bus and prepared myself for an hour nap on the way to Windsor Castle. That wasn’t really a big deal though. I mean, what do you think is cooler: rocks or an enormous doll-house complete with working plumbing and electricity?

*Here’s a hint: aside from the slightly disappointing lack of extra-terrestrial life forms, the trip was everything I expected.

**Actually, there were just twenty-five.

***Twenty-five is a good number. Just saying.

 
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Be a good sport.

February 16, 2012 / / 0 Comments

Experiencing another culture has given me a unique perspective on the world. Now, I feel better equipped to sift through what matters in life. I still can’t tell you the meaning of life, but I can tell you to go watch an English football game. If you don’t see the connection, you need to come to Cambridge and clear your head so you can see the obvious answer. Seeing as you’re unlikely to actually purchase a plane ticket and visit the centre, despite the fact you’d have the time of your life, I’ll just bring some head-clearing Cambridge antics to you.

Egypt! I took this picture at Norwich Castle Museum before heading to a football game. A fine example of Cambridge antics.

Cambridge has given me loads of time to relax. In so doing, Cambridge has given me more opportunities to learn more about both others and myself than a book could ever dream too (that is, assuming books can dream). Virtually all cultures make use of some form of recreation. But before I tell you about my visit to Norwich to watch the Canaries play the Wanderers, I want to break the word “recreation” into two pieces: re-creation. Woah. Here’s my theory: when one becomes totally immersed in play, the self tends to disappear, and when it returns, parts of it have been re-created. In light of this, I’m thinking of signing my blog posts with a different name each week.

 

Ferdinand Risola, your writer, enjoys playing this ancient game with his study abroad mates.

Why do we play? What’s the problem with never recreating ourselves and just becoming stagnant, boring people? You’ve surely heard the proverb, “all work and no play makes Jack a very dull boy.” Well, maybe Jack realized some great truth about himself and decided he’d rather become dull than risk moving on to something else. Take a second and think about that.

Here’s a picture I took on the streets of Cambridge shortly after it had rained outside. I thought the watermarks looked like a person. For purposes of illustration, pretend this is Jack.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Well, here’s what I think. Behind the force that drives humans to create ways to pass the time with one another lies a desire for community. Communities are ever-changing, so a person who tries to stay the same is going to run into trouble if he or she ever wants to fulfil the basic human need of spending time with people.

I like people, so I embrace the change play has to offer. That’s why I went to an English football game when I don’t even watch English football. That’s why I found myself cheering alongside other fans when the Canaries scored a goal (twice). That’s why I love being in Cambridge so much.

Click the above picture for a video for the chant Norwich county does when they score a goal.

 

 

 
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