1.Trip to Edinburgh: Joseph Bonneau, Jessica Shang, and Jeremy Harris (full names for completeness) and I tripped to Edinburgh, Scotland. The country was a tousled, yet attractive head of hair: its winds nearly blowing us off Arthur’s Seat, rains driving us to insults of foreigners at Edinburgh Castle, and wool and whiskey comforting us into believing that upon returning to Cambridge, we’d be flu-free and ready to get back to work. Such were the days in Scotland, followed sharply by coughs and fevers in tropical Cambridge… where the sun rises around 9 AM and sets by 3 PM.
Climbing to the top of Arthur's Seat
Jess and Joe eating Haggis and Vegatarian Haggis, respectively.
Jeremy and I sporting our new Scottish Sweaters. Yes, we got looks in the hostel.
Rainbows do exist in Scotland. Given the weather, I'm indifferent whether or not gold exists at the end of them.
2.Sunday Night Potlucks: We’ve made it a tradition in our house to host a Sunday night dinner where invitees each bring a dish (generally centered around a theme) and we sit to eat from around 7 until 9 in the evening. As the food quality and portion size in Cambridge leave much to be desired this is generally the best meal of the week and followed, chronologically, by joking, ribaldry, and wrestling. The dishes I’ve made thus far include Seared Vegetables in a Korean Pepper Sauce, Mango-Avocado Bruschetta, Potato Latkes, Pasta Bolognese, and fresh chips/salsa. Following dinner we generally award some sort of prize which offers dish washing immunity and a host of other pride-based incentives. I’ve yet to win, but then again, haven’t had access to sashimi-grade fish.
Me chopping up peppers to add some heat to my mango/avocado bruschetta
3. Thanksgiving: The master at Churchill College hosted a buffet-style dinner on Thanksgiving for all Americans and any others who may celebrate the holiday. It was quite a feast, followed auspiciously by turkey-based meals in the hall for many subsequent days. Additionally, the day after thanksgiving (Friday), many friends and others took part in a potluck dinner at our Pepperpot which was absolutely fantastic. My dish, String Bean Casserole did not go over so well, but I blame that on the lack of fried French onions in Sainsbury’s and certainly not on the brutish tastes of the diners. Needless to say, we were fooded-out when Sunday rolled around so we all decided against hosting another Sunday pot-luck for the remainder of the semester.
A picture of the thanksgiving dinner put on in Pepperpot 62
4. US Presidential Elections: During my two weeks home, folks kept asking me if the Brits followed the US elections. While I can’t say I was in the US to make a fair comparison, I would venture to say they followed it just as closely as we did back at home. In fact, the night of the election there were several parties around town (Cambridge is a small town) which lasted into the early morning. Several friends and I ventured over to the Cambridge Union (the debate society) of which I am a member to watch the elections streaming live on CNN. Prior to the coverage there was a debate in which the five speakers around the table were all Obama supporters. The debate basically degenerated into a who-loves-Obama more contest, with one girl deciding her experience as an Obama foot soldier had prepared her to answer questions on foreign politics and John F. Kennedy. To further emphasize the one-sided nature of the locals, the BBC showed up at the Union building to cover the evening but couldn’t find any McCain supporters to offer both sides of the story. They promptly left us to our single-sided world views and social values.
Picture of the Cambridge Union when not in use. Not bad, eh?
Picture during election night (around 2 AM). Notice the support for McCain.
5. Cambridge/Oxford Varsity Match: At Cambridge, sport is a huge deal… but not in the disgusting way in which athletics have raped higher education of its basic freedom from commercialization and turned reminiscent alumni into perverse voyeurs of academically unqualified imbeciles prancing around on the field just about as they do in class (when they go) – but I digress. Anyways, at Cambridge, for the most part, sport is something most students take part in to cultivate the individual and so far it seems a successful experiment. Excluding myself, most people I know here play on at least one team and commit themselves to pretty healthy exercise regiments outside of their coursework. The minor exceptions to this low-key athletic attitude occur in football and rugby, where varsity matches (Cambridge vs. Oxford matches) attract thousands of alumni and viewers from all over the country. Fortunately, Joe was able to get us tickets to the Rugby match at England’s Twickenham stadium. Overall, the day was fantastic (what I remember of it) and the match was quite close. I’ve been told it was the highest scoring competition between our two schools in Varsity match history. By now, you’ve probably guess that Cambridge lost (as I didn’t mention it first), but the margin was slim enough for me to write it off as probabilistic fluctuations and Joe to rationalize that although Cam thoroughly outplayed the Oxford chaps, Oxford got lucky on a couple plays and it consequently changed the landscape of the game. Needless to say, it was a great day, sans the trip home where we were stuck standing on the train next to an out of order toilet.
Picture of the game... not that most Americans can follow what's going on.
Me cheering, aka heckling the other team.
6. Academics and Research: In my spare time, I sometimes study and read scientific literature pertaining to my research. In particular, my master’s project will focus on utilizing Ionic Liquids as an electrolyte component in Lithium-Ion Batteries. This work is a collaboration between both Cambridge and Nokia, and the research center is about a 3 minute bike ride from my home. If you’re interested to see more about what we’re aiming to create, check out the video here:
Nokia Morph Project
So far the course hasn’t been too bad and I’m not really worried about the exam. I’m sure when I get around to a more rigorous study schedule I’ll be in good shape when it comes time (April). In lieu of coursework, I’ve busied myself with reading hundreds of battery-related scientific papers and books and will be producing a literature review, the likes of which have not been seen for thousands of years, in a couple weeks. I’ll be naming the first chapter Genesis and the second half of the review which investigates future uses as the New Testament. I may even write an appendix which investigates disruptive and competitive technologies to batteries and call it Revelations. This may or may not be included for future generations.
My desk: Reading topics include Lithium Ion Secondary Batteries, Ionic Liquids, Technology Innovation and Enterprise, and Nanostructed Energy Materials.
7. Planned trips and events: Netherlands Trip: January 3-6, Literature Review: January 16, Poster Presentation: January 19, Mock Exam – January 21, Jeongmin Arrives: January 23, Churchill Spring Ball: February 13.
