Last week was exceptionally busy, particularly with term coming to and end in about 1 weeks time. Time do pass rather fast when you are buried with work almost literally every day! I even do not have time to send out Christmas cards yet, despite having telling myself to send them weeks ago!

Nevertheless, some interesting things note over the past week was the rather unpredictable weather here at this time of the year. Strangely as I was told by my seniors, it usually do not rain as much as it does last year. This year is exceptionally “wet”. So as I come to learn the hard way as well.

I was caught in a downpour when cycling back from a from another college supervision about 2 weeks ago. I was literally drenched despite having much clothing on me, but that didn’t make much of a difference as they are all cotton and not water repellent! Dang! was that a night to remember, I was literally “sick” the following 1 and a half weeks after, not that I was down with a bad fever, but had those lingering symptoms which makes you feel horrible and won’t go away. I had a bad sore throat which slowly developed into a bad cough, (which proved rather interesting in developing the coughing chain-reaction in lectures). I am actually getting better now and so appreciate hot drinks now- something which I never did so back in tropical Singapore. It’s just wonders what a nice hot cup of green tea can do to not only soothe your throat but warm your day up as well.

“You always bring a jacket out in England!” So as I learned from a causal chat with my block cleaner when making breakfast one day in the kitchen. She’s a nice lady to chat with where she goes about her rounds in the morning sprucing up our rooms and common area. Interesting were her stories of how strong the wind gets here, it can get so gusty, it can literally smash windows or even blow your balance off your bicycle!

Ok, that much I have for this update, the rest of them can go in photos:

Touch the sundial!

Bike overload!

Everything tastes like chicken!

Oh yes, we had another cookout, this time with a group of Malaysians living round my block! We experimented with Maggi Goreng and had curry chicken as well! Just like food back at home here! whoa! The ride back home with the groceries for the cookout was rather interesting as well. Tested out the fancy new pannier bags I’ve brought from Amazon and they are really good to transporting loads off stuff on your bicycle. Full trolley visits to Tesco are a breeze now!

Meegoreng? Goreng!

Operation Chicken Lice!

The Meegoreng cookout gang!

Oh well, that is all for now. The weekend is here!

In my latest email from home, it seems that there were some highlights and talk in Singapore of our PM Lee’s speech at Cambridge 800th anniversary gala dinner. Well not that I do not know of despite it happening within close proximity from where I am, but hey I have other things to worry about.

There was social last weekend at the CUMSA club (Cambridge University Malaysia and Singapore Association) and ironically it was actually founded by Lee Kuan Yew, LKY almost 60 years ago in 1948. Well not that I actually knew of it when I joined. Haha anyway, I kinda signed up as a lifetime member with the club. It was games night last Saturday and we had quite some ummmm fun, as you can see in the pictures, hey it’s a social event after all right?

Deck out the Wii!

Table games

And there’s always CS!

Besides the doses of fizzy drinks and oily fingers from food, it was largely a social event, we had games, Nintendo Wii, poker, card, board games and the best part (and why I was there) LAN gaming! Yea Counter-strike, DOTA and possibility L4D in the future as well. A fragfest it was, a much needed one too after a long week. Wahahaha I don’t think LKY envisioned his club as it being such as now, haha but at least we are keeping on with the times!

Food Alert!
Play hard? Also work hard! I was literally packed over the weekend, I had to submit a report and 2 example papers homework over the weekend, so I was relatively busy, so were the lack of updates as well. But that didn’t stop me from organising my first cookout over the last weekend! as well, that was earlier that same Saturday as well!

Turn this stuff

into THIS!

Yea! I love cookouts!

I initially wanted to prepare linguine with clams, but Saintsbury’s (aka their NTUC or cold-storage) was out of clam chowder, so I had to settle for beef stew with a vegetable mix instead of the sauce. Top it up with some smoked ham and going generous in helping some of my college mates finish up some soon-to-be-expired eggs. I prepared my first cookout!

Yea, a cookout for the gang as well. Ahah not bad for my first! I COOKED THAT Wahahah!
Oh yes, in short, that is pasta with beef stew, cabbage vege-mix, scrambled eggs, shredded ham and leafy vegetables, very wholesome!

Lastly on the weather, despite winter being quite far off, it gets cold enough here at night and in the mornings to “smoke from your mouth” when you speak. I think it hits close to freezing here at night, despite the meteorological services reporting 4-8 degrees. Nevertheless, I am still getting on the temperatures here very well, strangely being clad most of the time wearing only 2 layers of top clothes with single layer jeans and shoes. I should be able to handle winter with not much problems. The only problem is that your hands do get only very cold after awhile when outdoors, especially when you are cycling, but gloves always help!

No one seems to wear slippers of sandals out here, unlike what I do everytime in Singapore, maybe I should actually dress less sloppily?

With some spare time to spare between classes, I will talk about the college culture here in Cambridge. I believe I touched briefly on this previously on a dated post about Cambridge being a college based university, but didn’t dwell deeper into it

College culture
It comprises of 31 different colleges, including 3 all-girls colleges as well as 4 mature colleges. This is usually puzzling most people at first. A College is the place where students live, eat and socialise. It is also the place where they receive small group teaching sessions, known as supervisions. Each College is an independent institution with its own property, income and history, the oldest are over 800 years old while some less than a century old. The Colleges appoint their own staff and are responsible for selecting students, in accordance with University regulations. This unique culture only evident in Cambridge and Oxford universities allows, you can see them largely as big “houses” in context, particularly where colleges compete among each other in sports or tournaments, particularly in boating.

Exploring!

Sidney sussex college

The wolfson Lee library

Despite colleges being independent entities themselves, all lectures and labs are conducted in common. The teaching of students is shared between the Colleges and University departments. Degrees are awarded by the University themselves. In place of tutorials, we have supervisions, which is more or less a 2-1 tutorial system in a nutshell. The supervision system is a nucleated group teaching system where students receive tuition in small groups and is said to be one of the main reasons for the University’s success and is regarded as one of the best teaching models in the world.

Formal halls
The beauty of having so many colleges is the variety it offers, particularly places to visit, explore and food. You can’t really get enough of will be the myriad of medieval and castle like architecture the streets of Cambridge have to offer.

The formal hall long tables

View of the dining hall

Group shot!

Some colleges have their old boating facilities and attractions of their own (e.g. chapels, halls etc) which are popular tourist destinations in the city as well. Also, each college has their own dining facilities or “butteries” (as we come to know of the slang), these are essentially large communal eating places where the college serve subsidised meals for both staff and students.

Colleges usually have a separate formal hall where a more exquisite 5 course dinners are served in a typical English long table style, often dining with the college seniors or staff who usually sit at the high table.

You will however, require a member of the college to invite you in to attend formal hall. That what makes it so special and generally provides an incentive to know and meet people from other colleges within the department to be invited, not to mention returning the favor by inviting them for formals in your own college as well.

Each college have their own dress policies, serving times and guest invitational policies. Either way, you, moreover as the name suggest such dinners will involve dining in a formal attire, usually with a tie, coat and the college gown over. So far I’ve had a formal at Wolfson & Christ colleges, with few more at Jesus & Newhall planned in the near future. Would definitely be looking forward to clear more throughout the year, happily striking off each college one.

That’s all for formals now I guess. Dudaloo!

No it’s not an aftermath of a zombie vending machine raid, but it always seem to be the case here every weekend in school, particularly those staying within the college dorms. The college generally serves 3 meals a day- breakfast, lunch and supper (aka dinner) everyday, with the exception on Saturdays with only brunch served and lunch on Sundays. So this leaves our weekend dinners open which usually result in very interesting findings- It’s not uncommon to see 2 fully loaded adjacent vending machine selling drinks and sweets full and the one dispensing meals completely wiped out on weekends, so as I discover when passing by the college vending area on few occasions. It seems that this whole place runs off vending sandwiches on the weekends, otherwise it’s takeouts, microwaved meals or pizza.

Generally lets face it, not many people like to cook even if you do it will be most probably be worth while cooking for a group or so, which seem to be the case for myself. My group of about 5-6 Singaporeans friends will usually get together on weekends for a cookout where 7-9 pounds can easily feed 4-5 people for dinner.

In a typical bachelor pad setting, our cooking is not really what we call “restaurant standard”, but rather good enough for tasting eating. We tried cooking pasta with beef and meat sauce which turned out like a minced meat contraption with not much tomato. And there was one weekend where we had fried rice which was actually too wet, we ended up passing it off as claypot rice! and I don’t think I would want to talk about the chicken rice weekend!

Ingredients for dinner

Wet fried rice! (Nice try anyway)

Feeding time…

Cooking at home is not exactly that “cheap” either, though yes the material cost is low, but the time and effort going into actually preparing the food and actually cooking it muddles the justification of the cost (took about 1 hour for our first try). When you though that is it, then there’s the amount of grocery planning and shopping beforehand for the ingredients.

I kinda miss the ease of ready made-food anytime of the day back in Singapore. Not that I actually miss the food but rather the convenience of obtaining them, let be how ridiculously cheap our food is back home compared to here. Chinese food here is expensive, bout $12 SGD for a plate of Singapore fried rice, which is far more expensive than that you get in London as well (maybe due to fewer Chinese stores here).

In a typical English setting here, there are no hawker centers here, only restaurant and eateries which will set you back at least 7 pounds for any dinner. There are no diners here either. Nevertheless, with each passing week with new discoveries town, there are always few popular cheap spots to eat around town, such as pubfood (about 4 pounds for a burger, fries set with drink) or there’s always the sub of the day!

Enrollment in the university of Cambridge is like a ritual in this traditional university. It’s like almost going back into time as well, with all the formal matriculation processes, the setting, formal dress robes and formals to go through to welcome the new cohort. As exclaimed by the seniors, it’s like a “rite of passage, with my great things to come”. I am now officially enrolled and warmly welcomed into Cambridge as a fellow student. All university matriculation are done by the college Praelector, in my case was Dr Brian Cox. His primary role is to matriculate all new undergrad and post grad members of the College. As stated on the student welcome pack: This is a traditional formal registration of the student as a member of the University and the College.

The college panel

The matriculation Dinner

Cheese!

In addition, all students are welcomed into the college with a matriculation formal hosted by the president of the college himself. This is done by department and usually begins with a drinks reception in the President’s lodge before heading to the formal dining hall for the 5 course meal served on the long table. Very much like what you see in traditional English dining halls or in relation, like the dinner Harry Potter had in Hogwarts. The dinner is interesting, I got to meet many different people from all walks of life, not to mention learning about their country, cultures and food alike. A very sociable atmosphere indeed which I am liking in stark contrast to the lifestyles back in Singapore. People are more open, friendly and approachable here.
One college formal done! With 31 different colleges in Cambridge itself, it will be a feat, not to mention an achievement if you are able to conquer all the formals in all the colleges before graduation. 30 more to go!

There are quite alot happening around college, chill out sessions, welcome parties, ice-breaker sessions, speed meeting sessions, performances, talks you name it. And that is not just limited to events here but around town as well. The freshers events are the highlight for this time of the year, with the seniors getting to know all the juniors as well. There is just plenty to go around, sometimes you do not know what you are signing yourself up for as well!

Getting social here is not very much like what we do at home. Pubs and drinking is a way of life here, as synonymous as a gathering in a hawker center or a coffee shop for starters. Wanna meet? Pub! Watch soccer? Pub! Moreover, clubbing here is more open in nature and have better atmosphere and mixes compared to that I know that the clubs back in Singapore, even by local DJs around town. The club culture back home is almost nothing compared to that here and I still have yet to experience the best clubs in the Country.

Few of my favorites regular show segments here will have to be the stand up comedy, Wolfson howler. It’s usually pure crude humor delivered in a way you least expect it, it makes you laugh without questioning much of of Morales anyway, a show worth catching on their regular tours round Cambridge and is usually a full house whenever there is a show.

Wolfson Howler

Club? Umm Night Dance!

Bwarr da hands!

With the weather getting colder now, things are still very much heating up not only on the fun side but the in classes as well- everything is starting to go full steam, but at least there is still time for games and play as well!

With some time to spare, let me talk about the engineering department along Trumpington street where all freshers will have to go through as a rite of passage here in the university of Cambridge before specializing in their various fields of chosen expertise here or out of the department at West Cambridge.

Built around 1875, this department is about 130 years old, but it still retains much of the old red bricked structure which is typical of the architecture of that time. Even walking through it, particularly some corridors does make you feel that you’ve gone back in time. Much of the old the layout of the building still largely intact, not to mention the old weather wooden doors and oak lecture room seats which are literally give you the sore bums ar some time of sitting. They even kept the building “trademark” smoke furnace smoke stack which can be seen sticking out of the engineering buildings despite it not being used for decades.

The interesting fact is that all these old parts goes hand-in-hand with the various improvements and modern additions seen all around- There are also many various enhancements made to the existing structure, such as modern ceilings, lighting and toilets. It’s quite unreal walking down an ancient corridor only to enter a bright tiled room with lots of modern facilities, typical a Frankenstein contraption of old and new. Moreover, the

The department from the library

Common lectures

The societies fair!

Being an old building, there are many instances of the old building which I always attend lectures in. Almost all lectures and talks are all conducted here for undergraduates- First year lectures are usually common and held in the larger lecture theaters where you will spend more of your senior years in small lecture rooms when you choose to specialize in the third year. The department is also a place for post grad research as well, with 5/5 start ratings for research and laboratories.

I am really liking the myriad of societies and groups available at university level, far more than what I thought SP had oftered was “large”, but it’s still a far cry from the type of CCAs offered in JCs. Signing up for track and field was a no-brainer for me, but sign-ups are usually in for competitive level, let be representing the college at university level. Since I am recovering from a leg injury, I guess I have to put that on hold until maybe next term where I get my fitness backup with training schedules of my own.

The engineering prep course was held over the course of last week, it was organised by the university department as an introductory course for all fresher engineers starting their first year in Cambridge university. There were talks on various engineering topics such as reducing airplane noise and introductory electronics by various speakers and industry partners, such as ARM, BP, etc. The highlight of the course for most students, would be having to get onto building and programming a robot to play soccer autonomously after an hour lecture on robotics. The robot was to be built using parts from the Lego Mindstorms set, something I was familiar with having owned a set myself back at home, only that the one used by the university is a new version (1.5) with the USB infrared tower (mines the version 1.0 serial tower) and they have quite an array of third party sensors to use, such as Infra-red sensors!

Robot soccer matches!

Let the match begin!

Slug fest!

I guess to anybody, to build a robot from virtually zero knowledge in 2 days was quite a bit of a feat. We were split into 12 teams which were formed during the ice-breaker dinner sessions on the first day of the prep course. I was rather niffy with building robots out of Lego, so I offered to design and build the robot based on the team’s requirements. In the end we settled for a single IR sensor with 2 pairs of touch and light sensors, all that’s left was programming which were delegated to the rest of the team of 6 to plan and code. Programming turned out to be rather more of a feat than we thought, but we did turn out with a working robot which actually looked rather cool.

The matches are hilarious, some team’s robots were just moving around blindly bumping into walls while some are just sitting stoned while the teams cheered on the “tortoises” to play soccer. We didn’t win in the end through the process of elimination where one team gets some small prizes, but I guess the new friendships made and the experience gained was more invaluable than anything.

Term will actually start next week, there are much to get around and registering with the engineering department next week. It will be busy!

School starts in a few weeks time and it’s time for my flight to Cambridge before term starts. My flight was seduled on the late night of the 27th, a Sunday at the Changi Terminal 3. After dinner within the airport with my family and a long farewell to friends, relatives and loved ones, I slowly made myself through the departure, which for Singaporeans, is rather fast and brisky, particular for the Passport scanning part- no need to wait in long queues for stamps and such, just scan, thumbprint and go.

There were no gate numbers printed on the board pass, so that needed little hunting on the screens to find yours upon entering the departure walk and duty free areas. The gate check was a little messy, especially those who were carrying laptops with them, I have 2 of them with me and they have to be individually scanned through the x-ray, to my dismay with lots of re-packing to do. My flight is on a A380 and I always particularly hate long haul flights, this 12 and a half hour one is no exception either.

Departure at Singapore Terminal 3

On the A380 to London!

The bus terminal

The journey to Cambridge
On the contrary, the flight on board the plane was quite smooth and slightly quieter than most planes I’ve flown before, it’s so much better than being on a 747 as well. The A380 does not have the typical drowning “airplane smell” which I hate. The food is great, can tell it’s prepared largely by Singapore chefs, not sure what food I will get if I were to fly from London to Singapore tough. Despite sleeping like 5 hours on the plane, man, was I still very tried after that flight. Surprisingly, I still managed to get that much sleep despite tossing and turning round much- the seat is just too small to be comfortable for a sound sleep, managed to catch the movies fast and furious 4 after takeoff and transformers the fallen on the flight before landing.

Back at Singapore before my flight at the SIA check-in, my parents did indicate that I may need some assistance from the airport in Heathrow. Considering that I was still recovering from a stiff ankle following a minor surgery from an injury. The SIA staff were rather helpful, they saw me out of the plane upon arrival and there was an Airport representative staff from SIA which walked me through the whole arrival hall and helped me at the baggage carousel (which weighed over like a helfy 20kg and was too heavy for my injury) glad there was help! Immigration was a breeze as well, with just a need to show my university letter and I am off to the arrival area with 2 hours to spare before my coach arriving timing.

Sat round the airport for an hour or so reading a book and got about chatting with a Hongkong family there before starting on a 15 minute underground walk with all my baggage from Heathrow T3 to the Central bus station. The bus arrived on time as expected and did not wait long before setting off, so it pays to be early or you can easily miss your bus. I did not sleep much on the bus, but did doze off sometime in the journey, but the country side views throughout some parts of the journey were rather nice. Along the highways, you can see nice rolling hills and large open fields. There are always cows and horses on those fields.

Contrary to what my dad always warned about highway truckers and driving in the UK, from my observation, the trucks on the motorway all drive slowly here (no speeding), not like what dad said, maybe he’s just paranoid for my safety. In fact, the highway here is almost like that in Singapore with the trailers. Most with speed limiters as well.

The National Express coach trip (service 787) is about 2 and a half hours from Heathrow, going in and out many airports, rail stations and towns along the way. Despite the rather loopy journey (which effectively almost doubled the traveling time), got to catch many interesting new scenes around town as well. My coach journey terminates at the Parker’s piece in Cambridge where I managed to flag a cab almost instantly to the college which is about 2km away. The cab fare was a 10 minute ride, costing 5.80 pounds. The next and final moment of my journey I saw myself standing right in front of the college flagpole. The stone path in front of the college are not exactly roller luggage friendly, but I am there!

The front of the college

The main building (porter’s lodge)

My accommodation block

The porter there brought me on a short introductory tour and gave me the college welcome pack as well as ran through the administrations required for the wolfson card, which is essentially the college contactless smart card. Got to meet many new faces, particularly my engineering buddies who were already on college few days before me. There are many Singaporeans and Malaysians studying in this college as well. Had lunch and dinner within the college grounds for the day which is really a great life saver having not to cook or prepare my meals, anyway I will see myself eating often in the college dining hall. I am just too lazy to cook! Oh yes, there’s free pizza form dominos for freshers as well!

It’s official!

My room, well always in a mess

Time for an update!

There much to unpack and organize myself around. Will be up exploring much of the town in the days to come. It should not be too different from what I last recall of it. As you can see, my room is kind of quite a mess. Had not slept at all since lunch though I did had some coffee then and been up till like 10pm London time (which is about 5am Singapore time here) since yesterday. I should be hitting the bed soon and maybe prepare breakfast myself as I might be too lazy to rise early enough to catch breakfast in the dining hall tomorrow morning.

More to come!