Cambridge

We all took a day trip to Cambridge today! The drive there was absolutely gorgeous as we passed through fields and fields of green and yellow with lots of trees! I would've been perfectly content to just sit there in silence and stare at the beauty before me, but thats a little hard to do when surrounded by 34 loud college students. ;) The bus rides are always fun though, I really enjoy getting to know everybody better!
On our way to Cambridge we made a stop at this huge memorial for American World War 2 soldiers that were killed. This includes air men, marines, and everybody... It honors about 12,000 men that died for the cause of freedom and it was a really neat experience. It was great to see an American flag! :) We only had a half hour there, but I really enjoyed just quietly walking through the grounds and thinking about what these men went through. I LOVE people and having fun, but its nice to have some quiet moments every now and then with just your thoughts. :) So anyway, here are a few pictures from the excursion.




After this we hopped back in the coach and went to Cambridge! We explored for a little bit and then went punting! :) Punting is a popular activity at both Oxford and Cambridge. Pretty much its just going out on the river on this gondola type boat thing. You stand on the back with a big pole to maneuver yourself around and it is so fun!! We all took turns doing the actual punting, but it was nice to not do it all the time because the area is just so pretty! We punted on the Cam river (hence the name Cambridge) and passed many of the colleges, including the musically famous Kings College. The water was pretty green and gross looking (as was the Thames), but it was still fun because everything here is just BEAUTIFUL! So green and lush! :) If you ever go to Cambridge, definitely go punting! It would probably be more educational to take a guided punting tour thing (we would listen in on the information when the toured boats passed us), but its definitely more fun to do it yourself. :) Here are a couple pictures! It seriously was so great though, I can't tell you how gorgeous it was.





I'm not sure which order they're in... but of the ones above there should be one where there's a building and then also a boat with 3 people in it (Heather, Caitlin, and Johnnie). The tallest building is part of King's College, just fyi. :)
Here's some more! I took SO many pictures because its just gorgeous. :)
To explain: the picture with the bike wheel represents a hilarious story! My roommate Emilie was punting and all the sudden she said the pole was stuck! She couldn't get it out! Chris thought she just needed a man's strength, but then he couldn't do it either haha. Finally they both pulled up the pole, only to find that an entire bike was attached to it! Hahaha we were all cracking up, and this just happened to have happened at like the only place on the river where there were lots of people at the shore. I think there was actually a restaurant right there or something, so they were all laughing at the situation and applauding us. :) The whole trip was so fun though, Johnnie kept singing romantic Italian songs and such when he was steering the boat. It was pretty entertaining.




Johnnie jumped in at the end of the trip. He would. Haha, it was pretty funny.
After punting we ate some food and headed over to Trinity College for their evensong rehearsal. The two main choirs at Cambridge are Trinity College and King's College. King's College has boy sopranos, but Trinity uses women. They were conducted by Stephen Layton, the same conductor that we watched conduct the Holst Singers last night (which I really liked). This choir today was probably one of my favorite ones I've heard. I know, you think I say that every time, but this choir was definitely up there. They just blended so well and the dynamics were definitely the best I've heard. The Tallis Scholars tend to sing at a pretty constant forte, and with the acoustics everywhere there isn't too much dynamic contrast with the choirs, but this choir was great! They shaped the phrases so well, and you would've thought that Dr. Staheli and Sister Hall had marked their scores with S's and W's (strong/weak) because each syllable was cared for! The real kicker for me though was that they sang the most amazing Nunc Dimittus I've ever heard, by Arvo Part. Its definitely one of my new favorite choral pieces of all time (I never really had a list for favorite choral pieces until this trip haha). It was just amazing, I was completely enthralled the entire time they rehearsed and performed it. I asked Dr. Staheli if we could sing it, and he said I had to find him a bass who could keep it in tune. So I'll start hunting! ;)
Here are some pictures. One is of us in front of Trinity College. Maybe I'll put a couple of the courtyard area- gorgeous. The one of me in front of the fountain is significant because apparently Byron (who attended Cambridge) used to bathe in this fountain (naked) with his pet bear (because they didn't allow dogs at Cambridge). And yes, this fountain is in the middle of a common courtyard at Trinity College. So stuff like this led to Byron's reputation as being "mad, bad, and dangerous to know." Haha, anyway, just a random fun fact I guess. ;)