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Graduations are an exciting time at Cambridge

In her first blog she writes about the traditions at Cambridge University.

It’s ten minutes to nine on a Monday morning, the traffic light at the bottom of the hill has just turned green, and a tide of bicycles, carrying people from all walks of life, is rushing down the hill and whizzing into the alley ways, swerving around tight corners. Car drivers are carefully navigating their way through the bikes and busy avoiding pedestrians.

This is not Beijing, where 9 million bicycles are milling around, but the centre of Cambridge, the home of the world renowned University of Cambridge.

The University of Cambridge does not like confining itself with boundaries. The various departments of the university are scattered around this tiny city in the east of England. The same applies to its colleges, all over 30 of them, which are the homes of students while they’re studying.

Every college will embrace students studying almost all the subjects that are offered here, most of them within listed buildings 因其历史或文化背景而受保护的建筑物 that have been the backgrounds of billions of tourists’ photos. The tourists’ faces, clothes and hair styles may change, but some things do not.

Some things have managed to hold their position for hundreds of years against the winds of change, and even managed to rub off onto some of the more modern universities while some have remained distinctive.

Formal Hall, as its name suggested, is a formal meal in the dining hall, usually grand with stained glass 彩绘玻璃 windows. Senior lecturers and students dress up, wear their appropriate gowns 用来区别学位的袍子 and enjoy a three-course meal in candle light.

I still remember the first time I went to a Formal Hall, from the moment I put on my gown, despite looking a bit like Batwoman, I felt very much part of the history.

There is also the boat race, which the two top rival universities in China have started to replicate. I have never personally experienced the joy of getting into a boat early every morning and splashing water with a long blade 赛艇专用的桨, but nevertheless enjoy cheering in front of the television with a large crowd.

On an academic note, the small group teaching offered in Cambridge, called 'supervision', gives even the most timid 胆小的 students or foreigners like me a chance to speak up 发言 and have tailored teaching. Not to mention the Tripos exams, allegedly named after the stools 凳子 the students used to sit on while taking these end of the year exams.

Despite upholding its traditions, Cambridge manages to host a multitude of leading academics. The new lecturer today may be a humble Nobel Laureate 诺贝尔奖获得者; the man throwing a frisbee 飞盘玩具around in the park may be a world famous professor; the person sitting next to you at lunch could have just made a discovery that will save millions of lives; and even the romantic river Cam is contributing to the research by providing a bactericidal cocktail of virus.

I soon learned to conceal 掩饰 my surprise and excitement, and became used to being lectured on the latest research progress, weeks before publication in the magazine Nature.

The term has just started in Cambridge. The strong wind in East Anglia can never suppress the excitement among the freshers 新生. Year after year, the University is refuelled with high spirit and fresh blood. They quickly blend in, find their niche, and push on. They have the whole world rolled out in front of them. And yet, some things never change.

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