Christmas time in Cambridge

Several weeks have passed since my last blog post. I have been very busy with lab work, Christmas break, traveling, lab work, and the start of a new term here at Cambridge. After my trip to Edinburgh in the beginning of December I stayed in Cambridge through Christmas. We had our first snow in Cambridge since my arrival (and so far the only snow), just a light dusting early in the morning.

Light dusting of snow one morning outside of my room in our garden.

The first two weeks in December were full of great Christmas parties for my lab and college. We had our graduate formal, where only graduates are allowed and there are only four a year. The theme was a "Tim Burton Christmas" and everyone dressed as characters from Tim Burton movies. A great way to end my first term at King's. For our lab we had Christmas dinner out at a nice restaurant and exchanged secret Santa gifts, which was great fun. I received a home-made "Welcome pack" to the UK, complete with comical instructions and warnings. Such as "Americans coming to Britain be ready for: Irony, thin people, warm beer, bendy roads, free health care, and the Queen."

A couple weeks into December a Marshall friend from London, Allie, came for a visit with those of us still at Cambridge. I am getting pretty good at being a Cambridge tour guide! Over the weekend we went through King’s College, the chapel, around several other colleges, and to Grantchester. It was a really great trip and nice chance to catch up with Allie and the other Marshalls at Cambridge that were still around, Temple and Jessie.

Temple, Jessie, and I in King's College Chapel showing Allie (who is taking the photo) around.

Emmanuel College inner greens and pond.

All of the undergraduates finished classes by 1 December, so Cambridge was relatively empty over December. Many taught-master students also left Cambridge early in December, but a lot remained around to enjoy the graduate formal. Around the final days before Christmas almost everyone else left, and I celebrated Christmas with the handful of graduates that remained in Cambridge. It was a great celebration with home cooked food thanks to our graduate society and movies and conversations into the night. I also made sure to come back so I could skype for a couple hours with mom and dad!

King's College entrance just before Christmas

So there is a long-delayed update on my first Christmas outside of the United States what what went on at Cambridge in the winter time. The day after Christmas I left fairly early in the afternoon to head to the airport to catch a flight to Spain. I had worked in the lab on my research project up until Christmas, and was excited to take a holiday break and spend a couple weeks in Spain with Katherine. More on that trip soon!