From Guns And Trump to Novels and Symphonies- An American Student in Cambridge

Make way. There’s a truckload of Americans coming to shake things up here in Cambridge town. Yeeehaaaa.

Actually, we’re terrified. It’s more like we are timidly opening the door, poking our heads out, and praying that we blend in.

The first thing people tell you when you prepare to study abroad at Cambridge is, don’t be a loud American. Yeah, I admit that we are sometimes unconscious of the volume level when we start talking about our guns and passionate love for future president Donald Trump. We can’t help ourselves.

Our first club night. On a Wednesday…?

But seriously, coming to Cambridge has been a dream of mine for years. As a student of English literature, I have always wanted to walk the streets and halls where so many great writers and intellectuals have walked. Every time I stroll past King’s Chapel I feel an overwhelming desire to write a novel or compose a symphony.

After being here for a month, it takes every fiber of my being not to take a picture of another chapel or charming street corner I see. “You’re a Cambridge student Mary! Don’t be a tourist. Don’t look like you don’t know what you’re doing.” But there’s Instagram so I’m going to #nofilter another freaking gorgeous gothic building. Gotta get those likes from the friends back home. The millennial motto: if you didn’t take a picture, then it didn’t happen.

Breaking it down at 90’s bop. Disclaimer: not my hat and I am not a Yankees fan…Go Red Sox. But it looks cool, right?!

So we will see where I find myself in five months. Hopefully, I won’t be repulsed by my own accent, because let’s be honest, English accents are divine. I also hope that I know how to open doors properly here. For some reason, at least in my college, you need to push a hidden button, swipe a card or turn a key. I just want to open a door for once and not look like an idiot.

Cheers. (This is a thing that I say now because everyone else here does)