End of Term and Break

Term ended in a flurry of activity. It felt very odd not to have exams. With almost all the undergraduates and many of the graduates leaving for the winter holiday, there were a lot of Christmas parties relatively early in December. Personally, I just felt really tired at the end of term, so I decided to miss out on the math department Christmas party, the Christmas formal, and the rowing formal.
I did, however, make the effort and get all dressed up for Churchill College's guest night, which is mostly for graduate students. I invited 6 of my non-Churchill friends, bought two bottles of wine from the Cambridge wine merchant, put on make-up, and wore my new cocktail dress and heels. Photographic evidence of this very out-of-character event is below:

The organizers did a really good job of planning this event. Guest night started with before-dinner drinks, then dinner and then continued with a casino, karaoke, dancing, lots and lots of after-dinner drinks, etc. It was actually a masquerade event. I took a photo of the elaborate dessert that came at the end of the dinner as well as my friend's mask:
It was a really fun evening.

After that, rowing camp started two days later. I got to go on four outings in three days and got a lot of coaching that felt really helpful. I won't be getting to row again until a little bit before next term starts, so I hope I won't forget too much of what I learned.

Then, my friend Sandra and I went on a Grinnell-in-Cambridge field trip to France. For a couple days we met up with our fellow Grinnellian Alex as well, who is teaching English in a French school. All-in-all it was a really successful trip, and I'm planning on making the next few posts about it. I have a lot of great pictures. We got back last Friday. Unfortunately I got a bit sick the day we headed home. I'm getting better but still feel kind of tired.

Since getting back, the weather in Cambridge has been nice. I don't think it's even been freezing at night, and some confused trees have started budding a little bit. Winter solstice passed a couple of days ago, so although it still gets light around 7:30 or so in the morning and dark at about 3:30 in the afternoon, at least now it should start getting better, not worse. All of England is actually farther north than anywhere in the continental United States.

Two days ago I started my plan to explore Cambridge further by exploring its cafes, so I have been walking into town to work for awhile and have some coffee. So far so good.

For Christmas Eve day, I am planning on seeing the nationally televised choral concert in King's College Chapel. I've been told it's very famous, and many people in the U.S. have heard about it, although I hadn't before coming here. Admission is free, but we have to get in line a bit before 7 in the morning to be certain of getting places, and the concert starts at 3 in the afternoon. Fortunately I'll be with some other people and we can alternate who goes out and gets hot cocoa for everyone.

I've been warned that on Christmas Day and Dec. 26, which the Brits call Boxing Day, that basically everything is closed. I believe it. Even though Cambridge is far more populous than little Grinnell, Iowa, everything here has shorter hours and closes earlier at night. Furthermore, due to labor laws, people can only work limited hours on Sunday, and so shops do not open before 11 in the morning on Sundays. I found this out the hard way when I wanted to go to a grocery store first thing in the morning to buy eggs for an early brunch.

I've gone to the grocery store already to make sure I'll have things to eat for Dec. 25 and 26, and I already have some plans to relax and watch movies with friends, so it should be a good holiday. Merry Christmas!