Back from Ambleside

I haven’t updated for some time now and would feel quite negligent if I kept up the habit as Javier does. In fact, I’ve been quite physically absent from Cambridge, in addition to the intrawebs, as a result of my attending the Gates Orientation Trip. We spent Monday until Thursday up in a small town called Ambleside in the Lake District of England. The town, which is about 250 miles from Cambridge, is famous for beautiful countryside, lakes, mountains, and William Wordsworth. Even our hostel was quite nice in spite of our room’s necrotic odor… the result of 8 men drying their mountain climbing clothes on the lone heating unit near the door. Most of our days were spent doing activities which included things like hikes to famous hidden gingerbread houses, orienteering our way out of a downpour in the woods, climbing up mountains, kayaking, getting sick, trips to Wordsworth’s house, strolls into town, and nights at the local pub. Needless to say, it was great fun and I had an opportunity to meet a great many people.

I must also add that many of the individuals I met are the most blindingly brilliant and passionate people in existence. If you asked me before the trip if I could listen for hours about the merits and pitfalls of media in an increasingly decentralized informational age, or the unspoken laws that exist between non-government actors in order to facilitate a global agenda, or the horrid future that awaits all of us as Google supplicants once they start selling off all of our information to the highest bidder… I would have said no. I also would have been wrong. There are, without a doubt, future presidents, writers, and Nobel laureates among the group, and it’s a great hono(u)r to have been able to pick their brains a bit. As for me, the time I least enjoyed was time spent talking about myself.

Immediately upon our return, Fresher’s week (Fresher = New student) began. For those of you not familiar with the British system, think of Fresher’s week as a New Student Orientation plus alcohol and minus all those stupid ice-breaker games. Over the next week dozens of parties will be held, Pavs will be organized, Bops sponsored, Discos planned, and Dos executed. I’ve yet to discover the difference between the last four, but I’ve been reminded time and again that Societies put on Bops and our college puts on Pavs. Regardless, it should be noted that the British know how to party as I’ve had the pleasure of encountering individuals throwing up on the streets in the morning and been regaled by anecdotes of individuals falling into this or that river, or tumbling down one hill or another only to meet the rising sun from a hospital bed.

The final piece of relevant news is that I finally got a bike, albeit for about 160 dollars. It’s not even new, but I’ve been assured it’s a high quality bike with good parts, many of which have been cleaned or replaced. Now that the final check has been scribbled upon my long list of to-do’s I’m free to prepare for, or begin dreading the onset of courses. Anyway, cheers to you all and shame on Javier for being so inexcusably negligent.