More on the Academic Schedule

Each day during the Cambridge Teacher Seminar, we had a full day of sessions, activities, and discussions planned.

Here is a brief overview:

Sunday, July 4
Walking tour of Cambridge by Suzanne Lynch; this was our quick orientation to the village of Cambridge, the nearby colleges, and how to get back to Westcott House

Monday, July 5
9-12:30 Visual Experience discussed "What is art?"
2-4:30 "Writing England: Viriginia Woolf and Questions of National Identity" by Dr. Suzanne Lynch
4:30-5:30 "Cambridge University in 1,000 Steps" which was a guided tour by Dr. Nicholas James and an explanation of the Cambridge undergraduate educational system

Tuesday, July 6
9-12:30 Visual Experience learned about architecture from the medieval period to the modern and then took a walking tour of various colleges to see examples
2-4:30 A Poetry reading by Andrew Motion, former poet laureate of Great Britain
4:30-6:00 "Literature Makes History: How Poets Helped End Slavery" by Professor James Basker, the founder of the Oxbridge Summer Programs
8:00-9:00 "Emotions and the Good Life" by Dr. Nick Treanor

Wednesday, July 7
9-12:30 Visual Experience discussed various aspects of art: line, color, form, compostion, etc and then took a tour of the FitzWilliam Museum
2-4:30 A tour of the FitzWilliam by Hannah Malone
5-6:00 Choral Evensong at King's College Chapel
8-9:00 Cambridge Voices a cappella concert in the Wesley Church

Thursday, July 8
9-12:30 Visual Experience learned about Funerary architecture
4:30-6:00 "Oliver Cromwell: A Great, Bad Man" by John Morrill
6:30-9:00 Reception with the Gates Scholars and staff from the Cambridge Tradition and the Cambridge Prep Experience

Friday, July 9
9-12:30 Visual Experience discussed Impressionist Painters, their techniques and their popularity
2-4:00 "Trip to the Whipple Museum and Cambridge Science" led by Dr. Simon Mitton
4:30-5:30 "Animals and Ethics" by Professor Michael Banner

Saturday, July 10
9-12:30 Visual Experience learned about the history of burials and cemeteries and visited a graveyard
6:30-9:30 Farewell banquet hosted by Professor James Basker in The Prioress's Room, Jesus College

Clare College Fellows Garden

On my early early Saturday morning walk, I found the gate to the Fellows Garden of Clare College. It was a wrought iron gate with a piece of convex glass embedded in the center. Of course it was locked, but I promised myself that I would come back later in the day. I could glimpse through the gate how lovely the gardens were.
I was not disappointed. Come in and see the flowers.

A slide show of the flowers.

A Contrast

On Saturday I went to the Cam on two separate occasions. The first was quite early in the morning. The only sounds were the birds and my own footsteps. Not even the river made any noise at it slipped past. Here is a video:



Then I went back a few hours later and stood basically in the same spot. The scene was totally different. Do you see the guy who fell out of the punt?

I spy....

There is a guitar player somewhere in this picture. Can you find him?

The Gömböc. Wait! What is that?

When our group first entered the Whipple Science Museum, several of us noticed this odd shape rocking in the first display case. One of the other women muttered that it started to move when we walked into the room. I think the vibrations made by all our heavy steps disturbed it.
It was beautifully mesmerizing to watch as it rocked silently in the case.
Here is a video, and sorry about the reflections so bear with them.

What do you think? Can you find out more about it?

What about the Academics?

I figure I better provide proof that I am doing something academic and intellectual at Cambridge. So here is a video of a few pages of my notebook.

The Cambridge Teacher's program supplied each person with sturdy bound notebooks. I have carried mine to each lecture and Visual Experience study group and taken notes. On the right are notes from the lectures and on the left are random thoughts or side-tracks.

The New Cakes at Fitzbillie's?

Walking back from the Fitzwilliam Museum, I paused at the window of Fitzbillie's to see what new pastry delights they had. Sadly, nothing like the cupcakes of two days ago as you can see from these two pictures. I will keep an eye on the shop to see if the display case improves.

Views from St. Mary's Tower

On July 8, I climbed the 123 stairs to the top of the tower of St. Mary's and looked down at all the lovely colleges.

Once at the top, the view covered all 4 directions. Here is what I saw looking north.



And here is what I saw looking West.

Today we went as a group to choral evensong at King's College Chapel. There I am waiting outside to enter the Chapel. In the background is the entrance to King's College. Can you guess when it was built? I will tell you at the bottom. You may be surprised.

Anyway, choral evensong is a beautiful service lasting about 45 minutes. The service is mostly conducted in song except for two readings from the Old Testament and the New Testament. The singing is down antiphonally by the choir of boys and men (tonight only men). So for example when they sang Psalm 33, they passed each verse back and forth between them so you have song first from one side of the choir and then from the other.

We were able to sit near the choir because Liz (the bursar of Westcott House) knows the King's College chapel folks well. Two of her boys were choristers. We took our seats first and then after us came at least 100 other people. Some of them could sat between the choir stalls and the alter but others sat in the nave beyond the choir stalls. Those people could not see the choir at all and maybe could not hear them very well. When I observed them sitting in the nave and craning their heads to peer inside the open arched gothic door to see the choir, I suddenly realized how hierarchical and exclusive are some aspects of the Church of England.

As I sat down, I tipped my head back to look at the magnificent fan vaulting. Where each set of fans met was either a Tudor rose or a Beaufort portcullis -- both carved in high relief.

Also as I sat, I scanned the dark wood of the choir screen to find the initials of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn. I had read he had had their initials carved into the screen. I found his initials on little shields: H R for Henricus Rex. I thought I saw on the other side of the choir H A and felt satisfied. However after evensong, I took a closer look and discovered my mistake. Those initials too were H R.

The evensong service as lovely. But I did get rather tired standing through all 28 verses of Psalm 33 which was all about how the speaker was being tormented by his enemies.

After the service, I began searching the screen for those initials. I was the last one to leave and did so only reluctantly. When I stepped through the gothic arch, I turned around and saw HR carved in a circle on each door. Then I looked to the left and up. I found more H R initials. Still nothing and I felt acutely disappointed. But then I looked over on the right hand side of the screen. There they were!

Up above my head: the H and the A. Carved together. The loops of the lower limbs of the letters curved and twined -- to my eye making a heart shape.

I tried to take a picture but my hands were too shakey with excitement. So down below is a blurry version of the initials which I tried to edit and enhance to make look better.

I remember reading that when she was crowned, these two initials were on the carriage or something and everyone pointed at them and said "ha, ha!"




Oh yes, the entrance gate was built in the 19th century during a neogothic revival.

The Round Church

This little church is Norman one which built after the Crusaders returned from the Holy Land. There they had seen the Church of the Holy Sepulchre which Constantine had been built over the empty grave of Jesus Christ in the 4th century.

This style church is found all over Europe but England only has 3 of these left.

Here is a picture of what it looks like from the outside but I also took a video of the inside of the church. To take the video, I stood in the exact center of the original nave of the church and beginning at the stained glass window in the 14th/15th century chancel, I turned in a slow circle. You really can see that this church is round!

A Comparison

Today I went walking absurdly early in the morning and I took these two pictures.

The one on the right is of Henry VIII. The one of the left has the caption "The King Was Not a Handsome Man."

When I was reviewing them today, I thought they spoke to each other on a number of different levels.


What do you think?

A View of Emmanuel College Courtyard

Emmanuel College in Cambridge is on St. Andrew's street. We were led there on a tour by Professor Nicholas James. He explained the typical layout of each college using Emmanuel as an example. As you see in this video which was taken standing in front of the Porter's Lodge: first there is the dining room which you can see has a large bow window -- this lets in more light which falls on the table where the masters eat; then directly across the green is the chapel; then there are the lodgings for students and professors; and last you see the Porter's Lodging. The Porter allows people in and out of the College. As Professor James said, the Porter knows everyone and knows who should be allowed out -- or not.

Two Videos from a Visit to a Cambridge Pub

What can you see beside the River Cam while sipping a pint of bitter?

Take a look!


And another one taking a few seconds later.