United Kingdom
Cambridge

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    • Day 2

      The first school day

      April 19, 2022 in England ⋅ ⛅ 14 °C

      Since my last post, a lot happened.
      Yesterday, after arriving in Cambridge Station and being picked up by Guy (a funny and nice Guy from the language school, and yes Guy is actually his name) we got distributed to five different cabs, which took us to our host families.
      My host family is very nice. The mother is very charming and cool. The dad is a liverpool fan and cool, too. I don't know anything about the son yet, because he stayed in his room all the evening gaming. But since at home I do that too, I can pretty much relate to him.
      So that evening we talked a lot and then I went to a comfy even a bit too soft bed.
      I slept more or less good, but my room got very cold.
      In the morning I got up at 7. My host mom had prepared a variety of different cereals and some sweet croissants she had bought at the local Spar. After I had finished my breakfast I was ready to leave the orange brick house.
      The first bus has never arrived at my bus stop but luckily, the second one did. It is very frustrating to drive in a bus at the morning, due to the many traffic jams. At least I had a great view on the yellow number plates since I sat at the 1st floor.
      In the school we all had to do an exam. And this exam was 100 boring multiple choice questions long. Afterwards we received some informations and got split up into classes. I made it into the advanced one. In our class 9 from 11 students can speak german and 8 of them are swiss, so everything felt pretty normal. The teachers were nice and we talked a lot about random things with them. This school has not a tight schedule as the Kanti has.
      We passed the noon break near the train station searching something eatable which was also payable. Eventually we found a supermarket with a nice student deal.
      The afternoon lesson were rather boring, so we had to entertain ourselves and involve the teacher in more interesting conversations.
      After classes were done, we got a guided tour through the many colleges and old houses of cambridge. Generally speaking, it is a wonderful city with very charming narrow streets and an interesting architecture style.
      The only downside of the city is its public transportation. Since I arrived none of the two busses were on time and I had to wait 60 minutes on just one day. It was a gamble wether the bus will take you to the right place because even the bus drivers didn't knew were they're heading. And they were very stressed.
      Now I am eating a strange ham-salami-minced meat pizza and later I'll be watching football in a pub or here at home.
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    • Day 2

      I did it! I found them!

      April 19, 2022 in England ⋅ ⛅ 10 °C

      I don't want to ruin this moment with too many words. Its wonderful.
      On our way back to the city center, after buying some thing in a local supermarket, we spotted it.

      The

      Penguin.

      We found it. We did it. I am proud of it. I wanne greet my grandma and ace (the lovely dog of my host family (he watched liverpool vs manchester with me too))Read more

    • Day 18

      Last week

      May 5, 2022 in England ⋅ ⛅ 16 °C

      All happened so quickly. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and then we already are on the train today.
      I would say it was a great last week and my feelings about the departure are mixed. On one eye I’m crying and on the other I’m laughing (It’s a Swiss saying hopefully it translates directly into English).
      On Sunday we were in the best exhibition I’ve ever went to. At the counter a nerdy clerk kindly gave us a student discount and on top of that a group discount too. So, basically, we got in for free. Inside it was heaven. Lots of ancient gaming consoles such as Nintendo’s, Gameboys, PlayStation and lots of more other old computers or gaming consoles. I played the very first Grand theft auto, Tetris and Mario. After about 6h of gaming and competing against each other in a big variety of games we left and ate dinner on the lawn in front of king’s college.
      Tuesday was a very weird school day. We had to solve different riddles. The first ones were so easy that I think the teacher took it straight out of the kindergarten. After school we went bowling in a very big bowling hall.
      On Wednesday we went punting. Punting is some kind of driving a boat without an engine. The chauffeur has a long stick and pushes the boat with it.
      Thursday was not special.
      And now I’ll make a giant announcement to my fans:
      I’ll be doing a live coverage of my travel back!!!
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    • Day 170

      Cambridge

      October 26, 2022 in England ⋅ ⛅ 18 °C

      I got to London on the 25th and met sara at the airport and we went and stayed with Geir and Fiona :))
      My first day there we met scout at Borough markets and got some lunch and ate by south bank which had very appetising chocolate coloured water🫡😍
      Then Didi (Geir and Fi’s daughter who is my age) was doing her Wednesday chapel choir service at her uni in Cambridge and so we went to watch. Really good acoustics because of some tall height and structure of something in the church.
      We wandered round Cambridge before that though and tried a funky flavoured ice cream place and got roasted potato which was quite good , miso and white chocolate which was also good and then milk and brownies too which was a bit basic but all up we did like it.
      We went into a record store and the oldest bookstore in Cambridge.
      Anyway chapel service was a very cool. Finally seeing Didi after 10 years was so nice and we went and had dinner in the big Cambridge dining hall with her and her friends ! She showed us around and her room and we weren’t allowed to walk on most of the grass.
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    • Day 2

      My really good relationship with busses

      April 19, 2022 in England ⋅ ⛅ 14 °C

      After a not so bad sleep. I ate breakfast. There was a big choice of food. I heard already, that the busses aren't that good in this city. There aren't fix times because of the pandemic, but they guarante, that every 20 minutes there should drive one. I waited a bit more than 30 min. The school is very beautiful. But sadly they put us in a class, were we learnt stuff, which we've already learnt in primary school. After the school we had a short trip through the city, we waited around 40 minutes. After comming home and eating the chicken burger. I wanted to go back to the city. This bus luckily arrived nearly punktually. But after a few stops the bus got stuck because there were two car owners who can't parc. So we had to walk the other 5 km. After beeing out, the bus luckily came punctually. But i want to say, that my normal place at the first floor in the front is very nice, because of the view on the left sided traffic.Read more

    • Day 79

      Cambridge

      July 23, 2023 in England ⋅ ⛅ 22 °C

      Gestern regnete es unaufhörlich bis in die Nacht hinein. Das nutzten wir und machten Kilometer bis kurz vor Cambridge, das wir heute bei erfreulich besserem Wetter besuchen. Unsere Erkundung beginnt auf dem Wasser in einem Boot, vorangetrieben von einem "Punter", einem jungen Mann, der mittels einer 5 m langen Alustange durch den/die? (ganz einfach: "the"!) Cam stakt und dabei sehr viel erklärt. Leider reicht unser Englisch wieder für max. 5 % "verstanden", aber die Fahrt ist ein voller Genuss. Viele der Brücken und Gebäude hätten wir sonst nicht sehen können, da sie sich innerhalb der großen College-Grundstücke befinden. Diese Holzbrücke, erfahren wir, gehört zum Queens College, wird Mathematikerbrücke genannt und galt bei ihrer Erbauung im Jahr 1747 als ein Wunderwerk, konnte sie durch ihre ingenieurstechnisch durchdachte Konstruktion doch Lasten tragen, unter denen herkömmliche Holzbrücken längst nachgegeben hätten.
      Wie man sich eine altehrwürdige englische Universitätsstadt auch in der Fantasie ausmalen mag, Cambridge übertrifft die Vorstellung bei Weitem! Mitten im Zentrum reiht sich ein College an das Andere, deren Architektur Würde und Elitestatus verkörpern, woran zu erkennen ist, dass diese Stadt ihren Ursprung eindeutig in der Wissenschaft hat. In der gotischen Kapelle (Chapel) des Kings College (gegründet von König Heinrich d. VI. im Jahr 1414) zieht es unseren Blick automatisch nach oben, zum Wahrzeichen der Stadt, der größten Fächergewölbedecke der Welt. Und vom Turm der St. Mary's Church (beim Treppensteigen schön anzusehen die 12 Glocken und darunter die Seile zum Läuten) genießen wir den Blick auf dieses Gebäude und mindestens 5 weitere hoch angesagte Schulen wie das Trinity- oder das St. John's College. Jedes College verfügt über große grüne Innenhöfe und prunkvolle Hallen. Als wir vor dem prächtigen Eingangstor des St. Johns College stehen, fühlen wir uns fast wie in Hogwarts und wären nicht überrascht, in der Tür Sir Dumbledore zu begegnen.
      Ebenfalls in der Innenstadt stoßen wir auf die Round Church. Sie ist eine der wenig erhaltenen Rundkirchen Englands und mit ihrem Alter (erbaut 1130) das zweitälteste Gebäude Cambridges. Immer wieder zuckt die Hand zum Handy, weil sich ein neues Fotomotiv zeigt und der Graureiher scheint sich besonders gerne zu zeigen. Wir haben beim Paddeln immer erlebt, dass diese Tiere bereits bei Annäherung unter 50 m fluchtartig das Weite suchen. Er steht aber hier und lässt sich von Menschenscharen mit babylonischem Sprachgewirr fotografieren. Oder kann er gar nicht weg, gehört er vielleicht zur "Letzten Generation"?
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    • Day 37

      Taking a punt on the gravity of Evensong

      June 2, 2023 in England ⋅ ⛅ 17 °C

      We’ve become evensong junkies. Today we actually organised our afternoon around it so there’s really no denying it.

      After some more calls and messages home this morning, we packed up and emerged into a beautiful morning in York. It was a shame that we would spend the next few hours driving to Cambridge, but that’s just the luck of the draw.
      Arriving at our accommodation around 1.30pm, we filled in half an hour buying some groceries and lunch to return at 2.15 to activate the self checkin process which wasn’t available until then.
      We unpacked, recaffeinated and then caught the bus into the Cambridge university area.
      Once again, our downloaded audio guide allowed us to tour around the points of interest at our own pace.
      Observing the place where Francis Crick is memorialised for solving the mysteries of the DNA double helix and seeing where Sir Isaac Newton lived, worked and wrote his theses on mathematics and philosophy was especially interesting. The apple tree outside his window was not where he had the lightbulb moment about gravity- it was at a country estate. However, some of THAT apple tree has been grafted on to this tree outside his window.
      We continued following the audio guide, until it was time to head back to the Kings College Chapel for 5.30 evensong, which allowed us to see the majestic building and avoided having to pay for a tour tomorrow.
      The organ playing was a little disappointing this time, but the singing by the male Kings Choir - much of it a Cappella - was amazing, as indeed is the architecture of the famed ‘fan’ ceiling.
      As it was such a beautiful evening, we decided we should also do a punt ride on the river which runs through many of the colleges. We sat in the afternoon sun by the riverside and waited for our 6.45pm slot.
      The punting experience was excellent- a far cry from our river cruise last night.
      Our knowledgeable skipper (poler?) Ethan described all the relevant details of the colleges we passed such as where Steven Hawking lived and worked, the rooms where Prince Charles stayed when he studied here etc.

      We walked back to our bus station in the rapidly cooling evening, bought some groceries for dinner at the local supermarket, and got back in the door at 8.45pm. Loss is now cooking up a storm as I finish this…..
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    • Day 1

      The arrival in cambridge

      April 18, 2022 in England ⋅ ⛅ 13 °C

      At our hole day trip towards London happend many thinks. We startet in Schaffhausen with 10 people, but in Zurich de 11th luckily had the chance to go on the next train and join us in Zurich. We thought, that we only would have around to hours in paris. We walked a bit around and discovered a church, the typical houses and the metro. After that, we stayed in the queue for the check in and the safety check. After an our of waiting, we've realised, it takes a lot longer than expected. An 10 minutes later we became the message, that there is a fault in their software. Because of this we expected to wait two more hours, but luckily we departed only one hour later. The we drove with the first class to London and after that with a normal train to our home destination cambridge. My hostfamily is very kind and it's a little lovely house nearby a big parc.Read more

    • Day 27

      Cambridge z grenkim priokusom

      August 10, 2022 in England ⋅ ☀️ 25 °C

      So napisali; Cambridge is bike friendly town, pa sva res parkirala ca 5km iz centra in z bajki v mesto! Kolesarske steze so! Univerzitetno mesto sva si predstavljala kot sprehod po zelenicah med mogočnimi stavbami collegov, naletela pa na posušeno travo (heat wave dela Angliji resne probleme), univerzitetne stavbe pa večinoma za verigami, mimo katerih te spustijo redkokje, pa še to, če plačaš vstopnino.
      Pa sva jo za uvod mahnila na reko, da probava "pooling". Čoln z v ravnim dnom potiskaš naprej s ca. 3m drogom 💪, enemu je šlo težje 🙈, eni pa lažje 🤣
      Potem čas za street lunch, preden greva v King's College. Itak da parkneva, prikleneva... Pojeva in ko se vrneva... Andrejevega bicikla ni! Gone! Stolen. V pol ure... Policajem izpred nosu 😭😡😈😱
      Sledi pogovor s policaji, pa izpolnjevanje formularjev... Jaz si vmes vseeno ogledam King's chapel.. Nora stvaritev! Strop kapele umetelno izklesan iz kamna, vitraži, dimenzije... Uau... Kaj več kot kapele nismo smeli obiskati...
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    • Day 23

      Cambridge

      April 19, 2023 in England ⋅ ☁️ 55 °F

      I should've gone to college here, this place is neat and apparently the students of this university are very well set up during their time here. Their housing is even subsidized! The city itself is very picturesque.Read more

    You might also know this place by the following names:

    Cambridge, Grantanbrycg, كامبريدج, Kembric, Горад Кембрыдж, Кеймбридж, ক্যামব্রিজ, Caergrawnt, Κέμπριτζ, Kembriĝo, کمبریج, Kiam-khiâu, קיימברידג', Քեմբրիջ, CBG, ケンブリッジ, კემბრიჯი, ಕೇಂಬ್ರಿಜ್, 케임브리지, Cantabrigia, Kembridžas, Kembridža, കേംബ്രിഡ്ജ്, केंब्रिज, ကိန်းဘရစ်ချ်မြို့, کیمبرج, Кембридж, Кембриџ, Кембриҷ, เคมบริดจ์, Kambrij, 劍橋

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