Random Day

I went to have some cream tea today. Cream tea is just a tea with cream (obviously), and it comes with a scone.



This is me standing in front of King's College in the afternoon.

Thursday and Friday

On Thursday we had another formal dinner at Pembroke College. My readers wanted more pictures of people, so this is us. I sat between all the French speakers and a group of people from Hong Kong, so I just bounced back and forth--listening to the people speaking French in one minute and actually understanding the Cantonese in another. Eventually some of the Canto speakers tried to teach one of the French guys how to say, "Come with me to Paris" in Mandarin haha.



Hi mom, this is what I wore. Unfortunately this picture is blurry, or else it would have been very nice.



on Friday 3 of us decided to make a spontaneous trip to the Icebar in London. It was GBP 16 to get in for 40 minutes, but we got a drink, thermal jackets, and gloves as well. Everything in this bar is made out of ice!





I AM 21 NOW!!

London Day Trip

Woke up bright and early to take a train from Cambridge to King's Cross in London. Arrived and it started raining, but we nonetheless took the Tube to Buckingham Palace. There were so many tourists walking around with umbrellas, which was a nuisance because we couldn't get through anywhere. People stood around trying to watch the changing of the guards. I couldn't even get a glance because so many people were packed by the road. But here is a picture of Buckingham Palace. I couldn't get a better one because there were so many people in front of it.



Then I went to the Victoria & Albert Museum to hide from the rain, admission was free! I really like museums like this, rather than all paintings. They had a small but good Chinese art collection as well.





The rain stopped when we came out, so we decided to walk down the street and go to Harrods.



I was so excited to see all the famous designers ever heard of in one place that I called my mom and told her I was in Harrods. This store is HUGE. There are so many restaurants downstairs, as well as a butcher, poultry, and seafood shop.



Then I went to the Parliament and went to see Big Ben. The clouds were coming in again, but luckily no rain!





Then everyone decided to go on the London Eye, the famous ferris wheel by the River Thames. It costs GBP 18.60!!! As one of us said, "we paid to sit down."



Of course there were some nice views:





When we got off we decided to go to Picadilly Square to eat. On the way, I thought I've never walked on a street as nice as this one.





We walked past Trafalgar Square almost around sunset:



We went to eat at a Italian restaurant and then went home.

Edinburgh (Ed-din-bur-row)

On Thursday-Sunday, everyone went on a tour to Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. Thursday was mostly spent on an 8-hour ride in a bus all the way to Scotland, but we did take a short break at Fountain's Abbey, which was this monastery from the 13th century. It's mostly in ruins now.



A modest walking distance from the abbey took us to Anne Boleyn's seat, which overlooked the abbey . This was definitely worth the walk.


And apparently, this is wheat!


We arrived in Edinburgh on Thursday night. I felt extremely displaced because I didn't know where I was, and I was just getting used to Cambridge.

On Friday, we went on a short trip to the Edinburgh City Centre to visit the National Gallery.


The city is extremely old, and there are some really interesting buildings.



This next picture I didn't take (my camera isn't this good), but I thought it was a good representation of Edinburgh's structures that are sort of built on top of each other.



Then I went on a trip to Rosslyn Chapel outside of Edinburgh. Supposedly, according to The Da Vinci Code, this is where the holy grail is thought to be buried. Unfortunately, no pictures allowed. This is one of the most interesting places I've been to.




The next day, I met up with another group of people and we went to the Edinburgh castle, which overlooks the city on a hill.



There were lots of photo opportunities, and since the admission fee is GBP 15, we thought we would just take our time.

One of the many group photos we took.

Afterwards, we headed to a souvenir shop near the castle because one of the guys wanted to buy a kilt. They posed with the shop owner in the center.


Then, David, the guy who bought the kilt, decided to wear it around town.





Lots of people stared. But at night, there were plenty of men who wore kilts around! We were all surprised at the number. Later, after David changed back to normal clothes, we went on a ghost tour of Edinburgh. We took more group photos while waiting for it to start:


Adam Smith: Visible hands!

And the invisible man.

Sunday, it was time to go back to Cambridge. But we did a stop over at Richmond Castle in Yorkshire, England.

This is the view from the castle.


See what I mean about the really green grass?

I also got some tea and ice cream from Richmond.



Then it was time to board the bus and head back on another 8 hour trip.

Hello Chapel

This is the King's College Chapel. As you can compare from the tiny human figures next to it, this building is huge. The sheer of this building never dawned on me until I had a good look at it today.

According to the tour guides on the streets, most of the college's funds go to renovating their 800 year old buildings, especially this one.

I also went to the library today to read my textbooks. It's really old, so old that most hardcover books look like they are going to fall apart if you pick it up and the stairs loudly creek whenever someone steps on it.

Hello Cambridge

After an excruciatingly long plane ride and then a few long transfers through the Tube and the train, we finally arrived in Cambridge. It's hot and humid, the complete opposite of what I predicted the weather would be like here.



This is what the King's College courtyard looks like. No stepping on the grass!



This is what it looks like from the outside. It's really old, and it looks older than it does here.



The streets of Cambridge all look somewhat like this. Modern stores in these old buildings line the streets everywhere. It's really enjoyable to walk on these sidewalks--there's so much to see! (Except everything was closed on Sunday)



This is what my room (room 8 on the 3rd floor) looks like. There's a sink in there! 2 showers/bathrooms will be shared among 8 people. Luckily we all have single beds. Plus, my room is significantly larger than Room 7, which looks like a tiny ship's cabin.

And of course I have to include the red telephone booths:


Definitely will be taking more pictures when I am not so exhausted.
And sorry about the huge pictures, I'll make it better the next post.