I've just arrived in the homeland of my friend Adam, in Northern Ireland, and seeing his families shocked reaction to his lack of regard towards updating his blog and how his grandparents checked every day to be continually disappointed, I thought it was best to update mine! However, as sure as I am that none of your weeks are complete without logging onto my blog, I really just love to hear from you all when I have finished writing my most recent one.
I must have to rewind to about 1 1/2 months ago now, apologies. (Adam says, "It's ok you didn't, we were busy") Week 3 of term was the first NZ Studies Seminar Group, which I seem to have inherited, and went rather well, accept for the fact that it was a boring talk about an Austrian taxidermist who shot the last two stitch birds of some species in NZ. Avert your eyes ornithologists! Mid-week was the start of the University Christian Union's Mission, a series of 10 evening talks explaining Christianity. On Wednesday night, our Corpus Christian Union had an open mic night in the bar that a friend and I played at, to release the talks, it went well, and was good fun, almost like the Windsor Cafe... Thursday night was a concert in the Chapel by a London Quartet, nothing to write home about (accept I am). That Sunday I was invited around to the Vicarage where I had lunch with a couple of friends from Church and the Vicar and his family. Mrs. Vicar (Linda Charkham) does fantastic Red Spinach and Stuffed Turkey Sunday roast, they're such a great and supportive family to have. Post-lunch was a guys versus girls taboo game and then the 6 nations rugby match, with a couple more guys from church over. It was so great to be in a families home with a fire place and sunshine and sofas. The small things...
Week 4 was fairly uneventful, with a few well-passed tests ;) and some hard work. On the Friday however Rachel Walker came to visit me, which was very nice! She got the train and bus all on her own from her little village up North to come visit me in my little village in the southeast - it was so lovely. I took her to a Formal Hall that night, and then a fairly uneventful slack (this time without the Rubick's cube action). Saturday I had lectures and she accompanied me to my Chemistry lecture, and then Rebecca, a friend of mine who is coming home over Summer for a month, took Rachel shopping in town. I met up, and after a healthy hoice of Cornish Pasty lunch (don't worry Kate) we met up with the goose cuppers for a Punting Trip. She didn't seem to mind the induction of hugging a stranger and walking like a goose over the bridge. That night we had Gardi's (more greasy food, we walked loads though so not too worry) for dinner and then a concert in the Corpus Chapel. I think Chel was dead bored but she sat very politely. Bed followed to say the least. Sunday morning we met up with the Taines, a Walker family friend, and they were lovely, though I'm not surprised by comparison.
Chel and I punting with Alex and Jonny
I was getting the family treatments around that time ;) Rachel left mid-day and I went to see Francis' (7th year Girdler) baby Emma-Luisa Reid. She is absolutely gorgeous!!!!
Monday I had my second Gospel Choir rehearsal and 6 hours of practical which was very boring. Chemistry should be about pretty colour changes, but this was start with a white powder and finish with a white powder, most upsetting. My first Pancake Tuesday (i think) ensued and 10 of us got together to make pancakes for about 2 hours, which was fantastic, I haven't had pancakes in a long time, and probably won't again for a while now ;) Thursday I had lunch with the NZ Deputy High Commissioner and the Corpus Development Office to discuss the donation of a piece of artwork by the government to the college. It was quite interesting, I learnt a heap about 'politics' at the lunch, possibly the not so nice side but that's for a conversation in person. The nicest thing for me was to get a list of NZ Cafe's in London from Rachel the Public Diplomacy Manager (a very nice person with an affinity for NZ Coffee also, and she even posted me some in the mail which was so sweet.) I guess I haven't changed too much in that respect. Saturday was Emma Luisa's Baptism in the Corpus Chapel and the Northern Irish Society dinner that I was invited along to as Adam's guest. It was a black tie evening and my first try of Guinea Fowl, I thought it was Chicken but it was well good.
Adam and I at the Northern Ireland Dinner
Luiseach, Adam and Sara were all fighting over what I should go visit in Ireland when I go, which got me very excited and was quite sweet. That was so long ago now, strange as I'm here already. It was a beautiful day today, and we went to the seaside town of Donaghadee, really pretty, and got ice-creams to walk along the harbourside. I love it here (though not more than home). Oh and Luiseach and Adam are college parents together, so this following photo should make more sense...
Week 6 was pretty hectic again, for some reason my supervisors thought it would be a good idea to double my supervisions until the end of term, so I was working over-time. Until then I had managed to stay away from all-nighters, but I did my first 5am bed-time that week and I feel more of a person for it. Never again, and how stupid was I? are phrases that come to mind, however. The Monday was a Freshers' Tea at my church which was another good chance to meet more first year Christians around Cambridge. On Monday night was the second and final of the NZ Studies Groups talks I am organising for the year. It was on Matter and the Universe. How does that relate to NZ? Well the Professor giving it was Head of the Department of Philosophical Astronomy and Cosmology, and he is a kiwi. Prof. Gerry Gilmore, perhaps better known as brother of Tony Gilmore, ex-All Black coach, and uncle of Tony Gilmore Jnr., a teacher at my intermediate school. What a small world! He was a really down to earth sort of guy (except for his profession and that his partner is Stephen Hawkings) so it was a nice refresher of what the homeland was like. Plus the talk was fascinating, a big bonus. On Saturday, Adam's girlfriend came down from Dundee Uni in Scotland and we went Punting, no surprise there. That night was the JCR (Junior Combination Room - i.e. the Student Body) Hustings, and I ran for and was successfully elected to Treasurer. Dangerous I know, but it looks like I will be able to provide the funds for a few extra flights home. (Kidding!) Sunday was the start of technical rehersals for 'The Queen Is Dead', a play I had stupidly decided to Stage-Manage. Not because the play was terrible or anything, but because as I said earlier I was overly busy. I had accepted the offer however way in advance of any clue that I would be as hectic as I was, so it made things rather interesting, and I couldn't really turn them down. It was just more character building, and I kind of like the stress. The play itself was about the responses of 3 groups of people to the death of the queen, not really ground-breaing stuff but still good fun. The majority of the following week was encompassed in performances starting on Tuesday night, and running till Saturday. They started at 9:30, so on Wednesday, Adam and I were still able to host the youth group from HT at Corpus for Formal Hall, which was blast. It's been a while since I'd spent time with people still at school, so I was lapping up my youth once more. Thursday night was the Chemistry dinner before the play, and again it was a great night. I feel like I really get along with my chemistry supervisors now, despite one of them being head of chemistry in Cambridge and advisor to the EU on all scientific matters slightly Chemical related.
My first food pennying at formal. If someone penny's your food, you must resuce the queen from certain death in your pudding by eating your food with no hands. Go figure. And at a serious dinner!
On another note of star-struck-ness: the person who discovered the 3:2 ratio of the Na+/K+ pump for all you biologists doing IB back home, is the person who runs my practical classes for physiology, a little bit insane I think. Saturday was the Netball Cuppers tournament, which is the university-wide knockout for mixed netball, pitting each college against another. We won which was super great, after they came second last year. So the four kiwis got their chance to sing the national anthem in the face of the english (from other colleges of course), but nonetheless, a proud moment for all NZers concerned. The following week until Wednesday was just seeing out the final stages of Lent Term, which is now, thank goodness, over.
The kiwi boys celebrating the great cuppers victory. Left to right: "Matthew Flinn, 3rd year Lawyer. Adam Khanbhai, 4th year Chemical Engineer. Ryan Harper, 2nd Year Engineer. Me :)"
The whole netball squad
And what Lent Term would be complete without more snow? We've had some moments of absolute glorious weather.
Snow at Corpus, It's so beautiful.
Snow at Kings Chapel
The Thursday was the Girdlers' Livery Dinner, their annual company wide event which exceeds all my previous experiences of opulence. The three other kiwis and I trained down to London that afternoon and checked into the university hostel we were staying at for the night. After 'Bond'ing ourselves up with the super hot Corpus bow-tie you see below, we trekked to the hall for 5 courses of craziness. They opened up the doors to the back-garden of the hall, which was slightly out of place with sky-scrapers surrounding the edges on all sides. The evening itself was super, bringing together the many facets of the Girdlers' company. They have relationships not only with New Zealand, but also the Irish Guards. So the speeches of the evenings celebrated the close ties between the three, and of course Mr Hunt was there to give a reply, which I am pleased to say was fitting for the occasion. A quartet sang Po Kare Kare Ana and Danny Boy, and then all the Girdlers' Scholars of past and present (about 15 in total) replied with a Haka. It was a bit gob-smacking to see some of the past-scholars from 15 years ago at the dinner, and to hear their stories. For my part, I hope not to end up entangled in the 'system' as many of them have. I sat opposite the head of the Irish Guards at dinner, a sobering arrangement by any measure. We talked a bit about me, something that made me feel very insignificant, as this man had just returned from Iraq weeks earlier, having lost 4 of his younger men, and knowing he was going back again in a couple of weeks. However we found common ground when I said I was going to Northern Ireland in a week, staying in an area that turned out to be his home town; naturally he instantly recommended me a pub. The night wound down around midnight and we tracked our steps back to the room. Next day I left London on the 8:15 to get back to Cambridge to roll my arm over with some friends down at the cricket nets. Upsettingly, the nets are not going to be installed around the frame for another month. Perhaps we were to keen to utilise the weather, but that's apparently global warming. That day was the England vs. NZ cricket match, that I am very very thankful we won. It's ok to have boasting rights and not exercise them, but when several hundred english have them, they use them (I suppose because they come so rarely). I don't know how many back home are following this world cup but I'd be going mental right now if I was home, it looks amazing, every day I check what's happened.
On Saturday we had a surprise birthday celebration for Adam. It is great how we all celebrate each others birthday. Someone starts organising collection of money from people for presents and something to do, and generally we surprise the person, unless they're accidentally included in the mailing list. But it is really sweet.
Adam's birthday cake, as designed by the engineer team surrounding him.
Sara and Adam looking goreous at Adam's birthday bash
Johnny and I being very serious
Likewise when somebody is sick everyone turns up with their mummies remedies, which can be annoying when you want to sleep, but regardless, is really kind. I say that cause I seemed to pick up some kind of stomach bug on the saturday morning, and by saturday night I had teas, wet-towels, marmite and body-salt drinks. It was so cool! If you don't like details, stop reading now\.../it ended rather abruptly with me vomitting the remains of a sandwich I will never purchase again from a shop I have now permanently crossed off my list.../I think I missed my mummy a little bit there.
Sunday I flew to NI with Jack and Adam, and I am still here, but Jack left today. We've been up to the Giant's Causeway, Bushmills Distillery, trekking up the Mourns, walking around Donaghadee, shopping in Belfast, and walking the dog in Newtownards. Coupled of course with some much needed R&R. The above list is rather lacking description, but I guess the photos below give more details about how much fun it is, and how damn pretty in parts.
Satisfied with the path trodden through the mourns, Blake adopts the third person to make his odd expression seemingly passable
The mighty mourn. It was particularly windy, apparently up to 70mph at the top.
The view down the saddle from Hair's Gap on the mourns. Quite breath-taking...
A tiny bit of Tom-Foolery at the causeway
Plummeting to certain death over the organ pipes at the giant's causeway.
Adam and Jack, and I'm not quite sure...
Adam and I in Belfast
Jack, Adam and I in Belfast
Newtownards where Adam lives
Jack and I going up the ridge whilst walking the family dog.
Adam's mum is heavily involved in StreetReach, a christian organisation aimed at bringing peace and safety to the streets of Belfast. Becuase of this she has an amazing insight into the political and cultural past and present which she enlightened Jack and I with on a tour of the city on our first night. It was so incredible, and if the history department did trips there I would totally hire her! Eye-opening, more so than dinner with the Major. It's an amazing, and from a non-emotive angle, really interesting history. Last night we went to Tiny's cafe, an initiative started by their church for the kids of a village called MoneyReagh to have something to do on a Friday and Saturday night. Some of the people there came from quite troubled backgrounds, but were really great guys. However, there was a fight and two of them went through a very thick bit of glass. Thankfully nobody was hurt and we were able to keep them all away from the glass because there was some very sharp and dagger like shards around. It was exciting to say the least, but they tell me that has never happened before, I think I just got lucky :)
I love Adam's family, but I feel really guilty cause they're treating me so nicely, maybe if they threw in the occassional bit of verbal abuse I would feel slightly better about staying in their home for 2 weeks, a week of which has gone already! We went out for a book trip to Belfast today, but the greatness of this trip is realised when I tell you I had my first REAL, PROPER, DECENT, GOOD CUP OF COFFEE ever in Europe. It was at Clement's in the city square, and the guy apparently won the UK barista champs, which I reckon wouldn't be too hard, but full credit to the guy, he can make a good one.
In a week I will return back to my corner of Cambridge and begin preparation for my June exams, with the 3 weeks of study I have allotted with just me and myself and my books. Should be a good time to catch up on all I have forgotten, and to consolidate that tiny bit I can remember. I may even venture down to London to visit Alice, a treat perhaps from such an intense time of learning.
So that's it, I apologise this is so long, but hopefully by the time I write another one it will be timed such that you all have just finished reading this one. I miss you all, and will see you soon hopefully.
God Bless!
P.S. For all of you signspotters: Spot the implications in this sign from the roadside in N.I
