I am another Biochemist coming from MIT to Cambridge. I am not nearly as advanced as Kathy, so I have no lab work at all. Instead, I take a lecture course, hashing out the basics. Differences between the two educational systems
are very fundamental.

As Kathy has said, Biology as conceived by Cambridge is about knowing a vast set of facts. Moreover, this set is rather rigidly defined for undergrads; it's an old philosophy, which says that all "educated" people should have a common foundation. Ask any young Cantabridgian to expound on collagen, but s/he may not know how to use a pipette:

Cambridge teaches passion. It assumes that tools will appear if the idea is planted in you. Learn about poetry, and you will acquire literacy to write your own.

At MIT, students are equiped to look pretty in the lab. For example, I can pour a gel, then set up a PCR and eat lunch before the gel sets. I understand not how or why. Last year, I finished an entire project on a protein, knowing only
its name and that it "caused cancer." Fact. It was Cambridge that finally taught me what the protein was.

MIT teaches process. It assumes that inspiration will follow if the tools are laid before you. Learn the alphabet, and you will be moved to produce poetry.

Clearly, both schools are missing something. Knowledge and practice do exist in both places, but it seems we can only focus on one at a time.

***

"So, which has better academics, MIT or Cambridge?"

To me, the question is meaningless. My second subjet - Zoology - has no equivalent at MIT. It's not cutting edge, and it doesn't cure cancer. But it's a fascinating subject, which I doubt I can explore as deeply without a department to guide me. This is what I will remember most about Cambridge.

As for Biochemistry, I hope students in either country end up in the same place as professionals. Any differences leading up to that point are just differences in order.

***

One thing I notice about Cambridge students is that few things stand in their way of enjoying life. Along with parties and such, I am talking about sports, activities, and "cultural enrichment." Last week, I went to an unpublicised recital at Trinity College, where I randomly met five members of my own college. Last term, students hosted a Chinese New Year gala on a scale that we would not expect at MIT.

I know these are poor excuses for not studying. But as Justin said, Cambridge students keep an eye on the long-term, and that includes learning to retain knowledge while leaving enough slack to not hate yourself after doing it. (I don't care how much satisfaction you get from 4am psets - they are not "fun" in the strictest sense.)

***

Still thinking about CME? Consider this: If you love your side of the Atlantic and don't want to learn any other way, then be happy to stay where you are. If you are intrigued by change, then come along. Bring optimism but not
expectations. Look for something completely different. You'll regard MIT with fresh eyes and renewed spirits. Plus, your friends will be terribly impressed with you.

"We are, we are, we are, we are..." The Engineer's drinking song is being proudly sung by a pack of ever so slightly inebriated beavers. Our Harry Potter friends are looking on in amazement as to what kind of Wizard's Institute of Technology could engender such devotion. The Cambridge-MIT exchange has successfully made this year's land-fall and both universities are trying to learn each other's secrets to success.

Although some of my fellow MIT students view our exchange as Cambridge trying to shake off its 700 year layer of dust and pick up some MIT-brand entrepreneurial and innovative spirit, my exploits in the Mathematics department have led me to a different perspective. It's not all cranky tradition on this side of the pond, and Cambridge has a few tricks of its own to share.

Structurally, Cambridge and MIT couldn't be more different. Learning is divided up into three independent branches, that I will argue provide a superior culture for learning. These three branches are the colleges, which are the home to the supervision system, the lecturers, which are faculty members who must apply to their departments in order to lecture, and the examiners, who are an anonymous group who set the questions to be examined at the end of the year.

The university is made up of some 30 colleges which are all financially, geographically, and socially distinct from each other. Students do not apply directly to the university, but rather to their college of choice. Admissions are tough and Cambridge engineers are sometimes plagued with interview questions that some MIT students won't see until their first interview with Goldman-Sachs. As a member of Churchill College, I am one of 17 math majors (mathmos as the natives say) who is closely watched over by my Director of Studies (DoS). My DoS will then arrange for me to have approximately 4 supervisions per class per term. The supervision system is considered to be the highlight of the Cambridge educational experience. Imagine having a one on one (sometimes two on one) recitation with you and a faculty member or graduate student who knows the subject exceedingly well. In preparation for these supervisions, you are to work out as many problems as possible that are assigned by the lecturers. Whereas the idea of only having 4 problem sets per class may sound like paradise to most MIT students, staring at a 17 question Analysis problem set two days before the supervision, suddenly is a lot more intimidating. The main advantage to the supervisions is that the example sheets are not graded and the supervisors have no connection with lecturers or examiners. When I get stuck on a problem or am unsure about a step in a solution, I openly annotate my own example sheet for discussion in supervision.

Lectures and classes tend to have a better attendance rate compared to my MIT classes. Each college is trying to improve its own exam results, so students from a subject are encouraged, not only by peers, but by the sometimes not-so-friendly college competition to attend as many lectures as possible. One then arranges supervisions in a majority of them, and then picks a subset of those to review for the final examination. As a Cambridge student you have three 8 week terms with lectures concentrated in the first two terms. 8 week terms are certainly intense, but the high burn-out rate during the 13 week semester at MIT is not nearly as evident. Lectures are open and do not necessarily entail painful amounts of work. You can choose how involved you want to be, and no one really minds if you decided to dump a bad class. Although some of my friends at MIT audit courses, too often will people think they are interested in a course, put a lot of effort into it, but then realize too late that their interest does not match their effort. Often MIT students become too willing to compensate their education for their GPA. In comparison, I will attend 12 or so courses for the year, and only supervise and review 10 for the exam. Although some may review anywhere between 6 and 10 for the exam, there is less commitment for attending a lecture, and thus students are more likely to engage in the contract of learning

Of course an 8 week semester may contain a lot of information, but not as much as semester of MIT. I offer the analogy that MIT semesters give large pillars of knowledge and Cambridge builds brick walls. You might reach higher, but your understanding can sometimes be on rocky foundations. In mathematics, Cambridge might ease you into the bath water of abstraction, in contrast to the cannon-ball approach of 18.100B, but there is a lot of context that you learn to motivate and support your understanding.

Furthermore, whereas there is plenty of room at MIT to be intimidated by the freshman taking graduate-level subjects, everyone at Cambridge, from your lowly genius to your Isaac Newton starts the same course of study. Both systems clearly have their own advantage. Although being forced to repeat courses may sound like a hindrance rather than an advantage, one often gains an intuition for things not appreciated on the first encounter. One day this term I sat down to have my 3 hours of lecture spat at me right in a row (which frees up time in the afternoon to work, and thus sleep for the evening) and every lecture talked about a similar concept but in three distinct settings. Redundancy is not a strong feature of any course of study at MIT (with courses 2 and 6 maybe as exceptions), but it reinforces learning and stimulates a strong synthesis of ideas.

Finally, the third consul in our triumvirate is the common enemy of the other two: The Exam. After some of you finish 18.02, 8.01, or 3.091 this term there is little concern for how much you will remember six months from now. It seems to be a general feature of the American education system, that if you have a good enough short-term memory and study hard enough, you can usually soak up enough knowledge and worked examples to spew onto a final exam a few days later and do well. On the contrary, 6 months from now I will begin my final term of Cambridge, audit a course of two and spend the majority of my time reviewing material from the entire year. Results on the exam are divided into five categories: First, Two-One, Two-Two, Third, and Fail. Results from each year become an object of fascination among all the colleges and potential employers. Talk of who is the top-first is hotly discussed and college rivalry reaches its peak. Once exams are over, instead of everyone running home to lick their wounds, they launch into "May Week" filled with dozens of "May Balls" where everyone regales in college life.

The Cambridge-MIT Institute was founded to make two of the world's best universities better. In 1970, Dean of Institute Relations at MIT, Benson R. Snyder, published a book entitled "The Hidden Curriculum." In this book, Snyder provides a sweeping critique of MIT and a culture of bible-compilation, copying of problem sets, and the perceived battle of the student body against the Institute as a whole. Based on my early observations here in Cambridge and my two years at MIT, there is clearly improvements to be made on both sides of the Atlantic. Although the institute will continue to change, Engineers everywhere will keep on singing "We are, we are, we are, we are, we are the Engineers!"

Hi everyone. I went on the exchange for 06-07 (so I'm senior now heading off to math grad school next fall).

I really appreciate Kathy's post (A Day in the Life...), but I should also point out that the Exchange offers a wide range of experiences and can depend significantly on what subject you are studying. I went through Course 18, to study the second year Mathematical Tripos (Part IB):

http://www.maths.cam.ac.uk/undergrad/course/

It should first be said that I worked nearly as hard if not harder there at Cambridge in my junior year than during my time here at MIT. The learning style is definitely different at Cambridge and requires a great deal of individual motivation and tenacity to make it through the year successfully, i.e. earning first-degree class marks on the exams.

In particular, although the only evaluation for Cambridge occurs at the end of the year in the form of four 3-hour exams (the tripos), these exams require a great deal of preparation and are significantly harder than most exams at MIT. Of course, what makes MIT difficult is that you are faced with continual assessment, and are given maybe a few days to prepare for tests, and thus the pace is certainly more intense for a given semester at MIT. Cambridge, on the other hand, might be more akin to the experience you might have preparing for quals in grad school -- your knowledge needs to be integrated and synthesized and then demonstrated in only a few hours of blazing glory.

I have to say that I also feel like I learned and retained more in a single year at Cambridge, than in my first two years at MIT. This is because under Cambridge's year-long system, subjects from each semester are meant to build on top of each other, and you continually need to revise and internalize information throughout the entire year. I think that many MIT students go through MIT learning to survive semesters, and then promptly forget a great deal of the material they supposedly absorbed. At Cambridge it is far more likely that people retain material over the entire year, because it is a cognitive fact that memorization (an important component in even problem-solving-driven thinking) requires repetition over a long period of time to be properly encoded in long-term memory.

I should say that research definitely is not the focus of the undergraduate education at Cambridge, but it also isn't totally impossible (Actually, as a result of the Exchange, Cambridge is creating it's own "UROP" system). The idea is that students in England come out of high school (or Sixth Form as they call it) having already done some portion of what American students do in their first year of college. Prospective Cambridge undergraduates apply to study a specific subject, and there is only a little lateral mobility once they've matriculated. Many undergraduate degrees then consist of only three years of intense study, where an average student will take 10+ courses in their subject in a year (contrast this with MIT's 6 technical subjects a year and 2 required humanities). After 3 years, many will enter a fourth year and do the equivalent of a one year Master's or MPhil. At least in mathematics, after this fourth year, many enter a research-only PhD, which they complete in 3 years. Often the reason PhD's in the States take 4-7 years, is that coursework is required to get American students "up to speed," which many international students, including Cambridge ones, will have done as part of their undergraduate degree, or one-year MPhil. So basically research is not the focus early on because instead you are expected to master the fundamentals for serious research as an undergraduate.

I could go on to address some of the subtleties and differences in funding that mathematicians, scientists, and engineers might face on the other side of the Atlantic. I could also talk about my own great travel experiences, and the wonderful friends and social life I had during my year, but I'll save that for anyone who is interested. As a concluding thought, let it be noted that Cambridge is about to celebrate it's 800th anniversary as an educational institute that has produced the likes of Newton, Maxwell, Green, Stokes, Kelvin, Rutherford, Watson and Crick, Stephen Hawking and so many other intellectual giants. The Cambridge-MIT Exchange thus represents a wonderful addition to any MIT student's education and is certainly not a year wasted.

9am - 10am
Hit the snooze button 5 times. Hit the snooze button one more time after deciding to skip breakfast for those 10 extra precious minutes of sleep. Get ready for class in record time. Still arrive late (had to grab some coffee).

10am - 11am
First lecture is thermo & kinetics (5.60). This's actually a really interesting class (the lecturers are especially good Spring semester). Manage to stay awake because of content.

11am - noon
Next is biochem II (5.08). It's co-taught by the amazing Prof. Stubbe (who, in addition to being a brilliant scientist and an engaging lecturer, sprays dozing students with water from a squirt bottle, and has a dog named McEnzyme) and the amazing Prof. Ting (who is very hardcore, and also my previous UROP advisor).

Noon - 1pm
Decide to skip molecular bio (7.28) recitation. Tempted by the prospect of lunch, but also decide to skip lunch to go to UROP (such dedication). Set up some experiments, let the ones that need to run for awhile incubate while I go off to my next class (multi-tasking and finding things to do during the long waits experiments inevitably require are the keys to having time for a UROP).

1pm - 2:30pm
Off to cellular neurobio (7.29). Hunger and tiredness finally catch up with me. Nap, embarrassingly, because the class is quite small (and my mouth is usually hanging open).

2:30pm - 3pm
Finally some free time--it's one of those annoying/convenient half-hour blocks. Annoying if you live far from campus, convenient if you've got a UROP! Run back to lab to check on that experiment from earlier. Grab some food from the Bio-Cafe before they close or from the food trucks before they drive off.

3pm - 6pm
Take food to next class, a 3 hour graduate seminar about RNA (7.77). Co-taught by Profs. Tom RajBhandary (a living, walking encyclopedia) and Dave Bartel (my current UROP advisor, whose lab I would definitely do my PhD in, if I were to come to MIT for grad school). Happy because I finally get to eat, and because it's my favorite class. It's always sad to emerge from class to find that the sun's already set, though.

6pm - about 10pm
Finish up things for the day at lab. On good days: get out by 8pm, on bad days: stay past midnight.

Whenever lab ends - midnight
Head back to dorm. Eat dinner and shower (personal hygiene is really important! especially for whoever happens to sit behind you in lecture). Hang out/do some work with friends.

Midnight - 2am
Work closing shift at front desk of dorm. People hardly come by during this time, so get to get some work done. Desk is such a great job--basically getting paid to do homework!

2am - about 4am
Stay up to finish p-sets/essays/projects, if due next day. Sometimes stay up to grade p-sets for intro bio and intro physics (grading = another great way to make money). It's best to work in someone else's room, then you can keep each other company, keep each other awake, and commiserate (ah, what a common form of MIT bonding).

Whenever work ends
Yes! Can still sleep for X hours (+ extra 10 minutes if I skip breakfast tomorrow morning)!

Now compare this to:

TYPICAL DAY AT CAMBRIDGE (MICHAELMAS 2007)

8am - 9am
Spring awake and out of bed before the alarm goes off. Getting enough sleep makes for a happy morning. Get ready leisurely, eat breakfast while catching up on email/blogs/news.

9am - 10am
First lecture. Topic and lecturer changes every two days. If interesting_topic && good_lecturer, then pay_attention(); else gossip_and_doodle(on_printout); (Okay, so I'm not Course 6, but you get the picture).

10am - 10:30am
Tea break. Enjoy refreshing cuppa with other Biochemists in department tea room. Sometimes indulge in a buttered scone.

10:30am - 11:30am
Second lecture. Also the last lecture for the day! I know, amazing.

11:30am - 12:30pm
Grab lunch with friends. Usually at Pembroke Cafe (closest to the biochem dept, very tasty, and cheap).

12:30pm - about 3pm
Head over to lab. Usually stay anywhere between half hour to 4 hours at the longest. This is much less time than I was spending at UROP at MIT. This's because research in Cambridge feels a lot more relaxed, and also because I consciously made the decision to take it easy at lab this year.

3pm onwards
Complete freedom for the rest of the day! Theoretically, and ideally, this should include studying, but we get assigned absolutely no work, so studying usually doesn't happen (I know, I'm such a dedicated student). Also, if it happens to be Friday, and my bank balance isn't zero, and I feel particularly energetic, a weekend trip (e.g. to Stonehenge, London, France, Belgium, Germany, etc.) is probably in the works.

The schedules pretty much speak for themselves. There's a lot more freedom at Cambridge, and time feels like it passes slower. Nevertheless, I will add:

Despite being much busier at MIT, I personally preferred the hustle and bustle of MIT to the idyllic peace at Cambridge. At MIT, there was more of a sense of personal accomplishment. I challenged my mind, I tried to contribute to scientific findings, I was ambitious, and I enjoyed the precious moments of free time I had. At Cambridge, I relaxed, slowed down, and enjoyed life. I floated down the River Cam in a punt on a sunny day, drinking Pimm's and eating strawberries. Both lives are really nice, and I know the Cambridge life sounds way better. Honestly, the choice between staying up till 4am with a p-set and eating strawberries on the river seems pretty clear, right? Surprisingly, this year abroad has taught me that I'm one of those annoying people who have to be busy to be happy. I feel happy knowing that I'm working towards my goals through hard work, and I savour my free time. At Cambridge, I have so many swaths of free time that I didn't propery appreciate them. Outside the happy indulgent moments, I became bored, fell into a comas by ODing on YouTube, and then got unmotivated from the slow pace.

Nevertheless, Cambridge is a wonderfully refreshing break from the hectic MIT. I mostly enjoyed my year here, but I'll be happy to be back, too.

For those of you who don't know, there are MIT clubs all over the world and they're basically for anyone who has any connection with MIT and want to stay in touch with other MIT people in the area. Clubs organize things like picnics, hikes, and trips to fun places. While this sounds like a lot of fun and something that everyone would want to do, I was told at the event that many clubs actually has very poor attendance. Busy beavers... The Great Britain club was pretty much nonexistent for a few years until the current president, Linda Morecroft, started it up again. Except the Hong Kong club, which seems to be doing very well. One of the alum in attendance is from Hong Kong and just happened to be on a business trip to London so he decided to stop by.

Anyway, onto the event itself. I think most of the students went because (1) free food and (2) meeting up with other CME students. The food was very good and I got to talk to some people who I haven't seen for more than a month. But I also got the chance to talk to some MIT alumni who were very eager to tell us what they've done with their MIT degree and also excited to hear about how our year aboard has been going so far. Some pictures:

Yes, that white stuff is cream, all cream.

I intended to only stay for an hour and ended up staying for nearly 2 and a half hours. This is probably not a great idea considering that my exams are happening now. But I really enjoyed talking with the alumni. I really appreciate their effort of putting together the event for us. Most of them came in from London, which is about an hour away by train. There are so many little challenges that come with being in a foreign country, like not knowing which way to look when crossing the street. So it was great to talk to people who know about the culture differences. I was also very pleased to find out that I can be part of an MIT community even after I graduate, regardless of how far I am away from the institute.

The signs say Happy St. George's Day, Wednesday 23 April and has a picture of a knight on a horse. I was with another MITer at the time and neither of us knew what St. George's Day was. I whipped out my camera and we agreed that whatever it was, it would probably make a good blog entry.

Okay, I should probably have published this entry on 23rd April but I'm in the middle of exams. Very stressful. More on that later.

I looked this up in Wikipedia and turns out, St. George's Day is England's National Day. St. George usually depicted as a knight sitting on a horse, killing a dragon. Unfortunately, I don't know any more than that. If anyone has anything to add, feel free to enlighten the rest of us in the comments below. Anyway, I was pretty curious to see what happens during St. George's Day.

So on Wednesday, 23 April, I armed myself with my camera and was half expecting to see some sort of parade. But the only thing exciting I saw that day was that all the buildings and colleges were flying St. George's flag. The wind was absent that day so if you can't tell, the flag is white with a red cross on it.

Okay, I'm off to a tea party held by the local MIT Club.

On Tuesday, I went to Trinity College chapel for evensong. I expect most people
are unfamiliar with this tradition, so it deserves some explanation:

There are 30+ constituent colleges to Cambridge, each meant to serve the every
need of its students. Most of them have a chapel, a dean, and a choir.
According to Anglican tradition, there should be prayers every evening, and the
choir gives it voice (hence, evensong). In reality, only one college (King's)
manages to do it every day, but everyone else sings Sunday and at least one
other day.

A good choir is a thing of great pride for a college, and they will entice good
musicians with scholarships, free dinners, etc, etc. Some choirs have
reputations all their own - Trinity happens to be one of them.

Since I sing with my own college choir most days, I rarely get to go hear
others. But I had time off this week. So at 6.15 Tuesday, I walked into
Trinity chapel with all the pretense of being a real Trinity student and sat
down in one of the long, sideways stalls.

**Sorry I don't have any pictures of the actual thing - it's not nice to take
pictures during the service, but I have some informal pictures that I will post
very soon.**

Everything is candle lit. The choir process in in two neat rows, followed by the
dean and cantor, all dressed in long robes. They sing a lot of the same texts
every day but to different music. In fact, most of our job is constantly
learning new music; we may repeat a few favorites, but generally, the program
is fresh throughout the year. On this particular day, they sang the Byrd Second
Service (yes, it's a lovely piece).

Choir is one of the truly special things that I would never get to do in America
(you've already heard about punting and formals). Most singers are not known for
being able to learn music, but quick rehearsals and sight-reading are routine
here. Our conductor says it's an English thing, although I think it's just a
difference in training. In any case, I am rapidly expanding my musical
knowledge with every service. It's all part of this *other* education that
we're supposed to be getting at Cambridge; frankly, it's the one I prefer.

For readers who are in Cambridge or are familiar with the campus/city, please let me know if I missed anything and I will post more pictures. Hope I got the shade of blue right!

So how are MIT students faring with this studying over the holidays business? Well, for the first week or so I was really motivated to get a lot of stuff done. But then Christmas came. And well, that means family, food, more family, TV, movies, more food… you know. So uh, I’ve been putting things off. Sigh, I foresee more panic once I get back to Cambridge. Oh wells… I mean, I’m sitting at home while writing this. Most of the other people on the exchange are traveling Europe. How much studying do you think they’re doing?

Russia
Germany
Czech Republic
Romania
Italy
Spain
Denmark
UK
France
China

The list goes on. Personally I decided to go back MIT for 2 weeks and then going home in California for the rest of the break. I know, lame, but I spend the whole summer in Germany through this awesome program called MISTI. So I did a lot of traveling and therefore didn't make much money. So no long travel trips for me. Besides, traveling in Europe during winter?

Anyhow, they don't celebrate Thanksgiving over here so we didn't get any days off. Rather, we sat through classes, thinking about turkeys, and then got depressed when we go online and none of our American friends are online because they are sleeping, spending time with family, and eating.

Luckily, the world didn't end because the CME office held a Thanksgiving Dinner for us! All of the MIT students were invited as well as the students who went over to MIT last year. Cambridge faculty involved in the program were also invited. We enjoyed a 3 course meal with sweet potato soup, turkey and vegetables, and pumpkin pie. I've got to say I would've rather served myself instead of being served. We only got 2 slices of turkey each but I think we were all pretty full by the end of it.

The chefs. They don't understand why we like turkey so much.

Food, yum...

People and pumpkin pie, yay!

Yup. I'm truly thankful to have great MIT people sharing this experience with me. I don't know what I would do without the other MIT students and the awesome staff at the International office!

But you're probably wondering why I have so much work when there are no tests until April/May and none of what I’m doing right now counts? Well, for engineering students (and most science students, I think), we have labs and practicals where we have to 1) participate and 2) write up a lab report. Each lab usually takes around 4 hours and a couple of hours to write up. Depending on your subject and which year you're in, you can have anywhere from no labs to 1-2 labs every week. I believe humanities majors have readings and essays that are equally time consuming.

Besides labs, you also get 3-4 example papers per class that are like problem sets. You're expected to work through them and then discuss them with your supervisor. At Cambridge, you get a supervisor for every class. You usually share this person with 1-2 other students and he/she is usually a grad student or professor who is your point of contact for anything that you don't understand in that class. For 3rd year engineering students, there are only 3-4 supervisions for each class. So during the 5th week, you would've already tried to do Example Paper #1 and went over questions with your supervisor and scheduled supervision #2 for some day in week 5. However you realize, the day before your supervision, that not only have you not started on Example Paper #2, you still have questions on Example Paper #1. This is very sad so you end up staying up really late to struggle through the problems because the last thing you want to do is to waste a supervision.

The good thing about weekly psets at MIT is that there's an end to the madness. Okay, you finish one and then have to pick up another one. But at least once you finish, you don't have to look at it again until you study for finals. At Cambridge, your example paper sheet just floats around the whole time and you get sick just looking at it. It really is an entirely different education system. I never know what to answer when people ask, “How does this compare to MIT?” Apples and oranges…

I actually saw V for Vendetta without knowing about Bonfire Night. Not very meaningful this way at all. But I found out all about Guy Fawkes and Bonfire Night during my Chinese class last week (in Chinese, of course). I didn't see any masks over here but there there is an annual carnival+fireworks+bonfire event that I felt compelled to go. So after eating dinner at my college, I headed over to Midsummer Commons along with a sea of people. I was worried that I won't know how to get there but no worries because everyone else was going!

The streets were so packed with people that cars and bikes had a lot of trouble getting through. It really looked like the whole town showed up for these fireworks. The fireworks themselves lasted for about 20 minutes and were pretty cool. Can't be compared to fireworks during New Years but it was cool nevertheless. Here are some pictures courtesy of a couple of other MIT students, Maria and Xin:

People and more people...

Explosions, yay!

And the bonfire, of course.

Tea, coffee, and chips...

Besides these fireworks, there have been various smaller fireworks going off all night long. You can buy fireworks at the local grocery store! Some colleges held their own fireworks last week.

So it's been a little over a month since we got to England and the first term is half way over! I really can't believe it. The first few weeks went by really fast and now that work's been piling up, the weeks are dragging on. But it's okay because I'm here with 24 other really amazing MIT students.

Not all of us knew each other before we came. But lately we've been having lots of get-togethers, study breaks, and formal swaps. We had our first CME study break at Downing College. Lots of people showed up with food so it was really awesome!

A few days later, some of us visited Girton College, which (I think) is the farthest college from the city center. It's about 45 minutes to walk there. It is an amazingly nice college that has grass that you can actually walk on! And then there's the apple orchard. I really wish we had taken some pictures of this. There was a large field with apple trees and we went apple picking. It was so much fun. We stuffed a bag full of apples and then went to Sainsburys (the local supermarket) and got some pie making ingredients. Later that night, we went over to Downing College again since they have actual kitchens and made lots of apple goodies.

A week later we had a CME formal which was attended by MIT students as well as Cambridge students who went to MIT the year before. We all had a great time. Some people had a little too much to drink. We went to various pubs afterwards and I think some people actually stayed up to watch the Red Sox game.

Just a few days ago, we had another study break at Queens College. I got there very late but it was great to see other MIT students again. Since we live in different colleges and are taking different classes, it's nice to have get-togethers. I see the other two MIT students in Course 1 (civil engineering) everyday but otherwise, that's about it.

I'm inviting the other CME students to come to Caius College for a formal next week. So stay tune. I promise I will get off the topic of food (soon).

It was a 5 course meal that took nearly 5 hours. And the food was simply amazing. We were invited to pre-dinner drinks (champagne) with the fellows. After this, we went into the dining hall where we sat with people in our major and were served with lots of food and wine. Between all this eating and drinking, we got a chance to chat with students and professors in our major about classes, ultimate Frisbee (one of the professors didn't know what this was so we had to explain it to him), Formula 1, and other life in Cambridge topics.

We all got individual menus that were written in French (don't ask me why). The main course was chicken and it was really good. It wasn't dry like the usual dining hall meat. I know the portions look small but you can get as much as you want. And I mean, it was 5 courses so we were all stuffed by the end of it.

No, it's not this extravagant everyday. We only get a 3 course meal on a daily basis. Haha. No joke! But that's just a Caius thing. Hm.. just realized this entry was all about food. Next entry will be about MIT CME students (probably eating food)!

My name is Lucy and I’m a junior studying civil engineering. I’m participating in the Cambridge-MIT Exchange Program for the 2007-2008 academic year along with 24 other MIT students. It’s been a week since we came and classes are starting tomorrow. The really great thing about coming to Cambridge is that we’re invited to all the Fresher’s (that’s what they call Freshmen here) Week activities, like this BBQ:

I went punting today with freshers from Gonville and Caius College (one of the 31 colleges at Cambridge University). The term “punting’ in MIT lingo means to relax, chill, and avoid pseting (the opposite of punting is tooling). But here in the other Cambridge, it’s an actual activity where you’re on a river, in a boat, moving along through the use of a big stick. The punter stands at the end of the boat, drops this stick down to the river bottom, and pushes the boat forward with the stick (see picture below). Sounds easy, looks easy, but is actually extremely difficult. I was terrified to be standing up at the end of the boat. My knees were shaking! Between trying to stay on the boat, trying to find the bottom with my stick, and ducking past bridges, I don’t think I accomplished much. None of the other freshers on my boat had ever punted before so our boat zigzagged along the river bumping into walls and other boats. Luckily no one fell off although someone came really close.

And yes, what Mirat said about Harry Potter is true. I now own a wizard’s robe and have been dining in a big hall with 4 long tables where I am served a three course meal by waiters and waitresses. But I bet Harry Potter didn’t dine with Stephen Hawkings! Yeah, he was at dinner the other day! It was so amazing to see him in person. He is a fellow at Gonville and Caius College (where I’m staying) and dines here regularly. He’s in this picture!!!

The really pretty panoramic picture you see on top of this page is of King's College. I walk pass this several times a day and it is definitely very pretty. But what I find most interesting about this college is their cows:

Currently in Cambridge, it is 50 degrees F and not only is the sun shining, the flowers are also blooming. Daffodils have sprung with a vengeance, and yesterday, what I thought was flurries turned out to be apple blossom petals.

Last week was Bumps week, which is a huge rowing tournament. Each college has several men's and women's boats participating and there are about 30 colleges, so many, many boats. Boats are staggered along the river and are disqualified if/when the boat behind them catches up to them (bumps them). The first boat across the finish line wins as usual. More on that in my next entry.

I promised last entry to comment on academics at Cambridge versus MIT. Note that my account is only applicable to my own department (materials science and metallurgy). I am finding that Cambridge is much more concerned with theory and MIT is more concerned with applications. For example, at Cambridge, you would study crystallization temperature and glass transition point by learning exactly how their graphs are derived, and probably plenty of formulas. At MIT, you would get a more condensed summary of this theory, but then learn that it is the difference between crystallization and glass transition temperatures that allow you to burn information onto a CD. In general, I prefer MIT's style because I prefer seeing the bigger picture. However, I am glad to be getting a taste of both because I do now have a more solid theoretical background. In many supervisions, a professor questions you for an hour about what steps you are taking to solve a problem and what equations those steps require or to rationalize a relationship in an equation, and you have to be on your toes.

Something I like about the Cambridge system is the lecture course format. Our lecture course is split into modules of 6-12 lectures each, so if you really don't like a subject or professor, at least you don't have to put up with it for very long. Also, it really helps to organize the subject matter. Something I miss about MIT is the lab work. Last year my labs included learning to use many machines and microscopes including a scanning electron microscope and an x-ray diffractometer, characterizing quantum dots, making battery cells, and even testing the results of a Nature article. This year, the lab experience is much lamer. This week, I am learning atomic force microscopy (AFM), which is really cool, but it's the only really cool thing I'll get to do all year. As a side note, AFM is incredible because it lets you see individual atoms. My lab partner and I were getting bored waiting for a scan to complete when our supervisor commented that although sometimes its boring, she then thinks "Oh wait, I'm looking at atoms. That's amazing!"

And now, because I couldn't really organize my thoughts, this is a mini photo essay of what's been going on over the past couple of weeks.

Emmanuel College with snow.

A couple weeks ago, it finally snowed! This is the front court of Emmanuel College in snow, with a snowman on our Fellows lawn. Lowly undergrads are not supposed to walk on this lawn. For some reason, this rule gets broken whenever enough snow falls to make a snowman, and no one seems to mind.

Punting with the Bridge of Sighs in the background.

I finally went punting on the River Cam. Punting involves using a gigantic pole to push off of the bottom of the river to propel your boat forward. It is much harder than it looks. According to Great Britain guidebooks, punting along the "backs" (backs of colleges) at Cambridge is a top England experience. It was pretty fun until I asked to try and a. was terrible (we went in zigzags and then circles), and b. was learning right underneath the Bridge of Sighs (named after the one in Venice). This bridge was full of tourist families, and they were all watching our punt. Some young children were actually pointing, laughing, and commenting that we looked "silly." Oh well. And random side note: my friend Rachel is the only person I know in Cambridge with her hair died a crazy color. Things like that definitely happen more often at MIT.

In the CUR1350 studio

I have a show on the Cambridge University radio station, CUR1350. It's called "The Eclectics" because my co-hosts and I did not know each other until we decided to host a radio show together last term. We get along great now (or know how to fake it with lively on-air banter). No, we really are all friends now. At first, I was disappointed because the record library is much smaller than WMBR's (MIT-Cambridge radio station). However, CUR1350 teaches you a lot more about production, so your show sounds very professional on air.

An elderly couple taking a picture of Ely Cathedral.

Ely is a village town close to Cambridge known for its massive medieval cathedral. We visited it one Saturday, and it was fun wandering around. We ended up at an antique store run by a really gregarious (and probably lonely) elderly lady who was showing us things of interest that we obviously couldn't afford. Most of the things had to do with British history or authors, but then she pointed to an enormous stein with the United States seal of a bald eagle on it and asked us if we recognized the seal. Without thinking, my friend Cassi answered no. It was embarrassing.

Transporting the dishes home.

Also in Ely, I discovered Oxfam, which is officially my favorite store in the UK. I was sad because no one seems to shop at thrift stores in Cambridge, and I miss the Garment District in Cambridge, MA. (The Garment District is an immense thrift/vintage store which is good for finding Halloween costumes and other clothes. Also, they have a Dollar a Pound clothing section which is exactly what it sounds like.) Cassi bought an entire set of dishes (30 pieces or more) for 2.99 and I found an amazing sweater and adorable teacups with pagodas on them.

Atop the tower

St. John's tower is the highest vantage point in Cambridge. The spiral staircase is pretty long and claustrophobia inducing. But the view from the top is definitely worth it.

View from top

Sorry, I will try and write more regularly in the future. The first few weeks of term have been really hectic, mostly because I didn't do enough work last term...

I think I was more nervous coming back here for Lent term than I was when coming here in September. I was worried I hadn't made enough friends, wouldn't have time to travel to all the places I wanted to see, wasn't taking advantage of being abroad, needed to do more schoolwork, etc. Good thing I was wrong. Everything seems to be falling into place.

My birthday fell in early January while I was away from Cambridge, and so did my friend Matt's (MIT '08). Once we were back, we decided to celebrate Cambridge-style which entailed a birthday formal hall at our college (Emmanuel). This is one of those "Harry Potter" dinners I mentioned, where we and about 20 of our friends dress up, wear robes, and have a formal three course dinner together. Usually there are college Fellows present who dine at the head table. This ensures decorum, but after they leave, general immaturity prevails. Everyone sings Happy Birthday at the top of their lungs and gives speeches.

One of my favorite things about MIT is my major (Course 3- Materials Science and Engineering) and how small and close-knit it is (there are about 30 of us.) However, at Cambridge, my major (here it's Materials Science and Metallurgy) is even smaller and closer. There are only 14 of us, which is very cool. Also, we basically only see each other all day because people only take classes in their one subject. There's no such thing as HASS (humanities classes outside of your major) like we have at MIT. I'm taking a psychology class to fill a HASS requirement and Cambridge students think it's the oddest thing.

Some of my friends in materials and I decided to take turns making Friday morning tea/breakfast before 9 am lecture. There was even some discussion of making it Tea and Tie Fridays where we wear ties to lecture as well, or Tea, Tie and Thai Fridays where we also eat Thai food after class. But so far, we've stuck to the basic tea. This morning was my turn and so I made French toast, or as it's known here, egg-y bread. I learned that Brits don't eat this with maple syrup the way we do. They were definitely missing out. One problem though... I think we started early breakfast to make it to lecture on time. However, today we decided it was imperative that we finish the dozen eggs we had, and so missed our first lecture. Oops.

One of the things I miss most about MIT (besides free printing at Athena stations) is the access to really great live music in Boston and Cambridge. I definitely did not realize how good I had it. Last year, I saw Of Montreal (twice!), Broken Social Scene, MIA, Bloc Party, Belle and Sebastian, and on and on and on, all for about $10-$20. This year, not as many bands come into Cambridge, and London being 45 min. away is not the same as walking across a bridge and being in Boston. Also, it's so expensive to pay for a concert ticket and a train ticket. Irregardless, my friend Katy and I finally made it to a concert. We saw the electronica band Ratatat in London. (Listen to "17 years" on myspace... so good.) Unfortunately, during the opening act, Ratatat's lead guitarist was sitting on the bench next to us, and we didn't even realize until we saw him on stage.

Oh, and I realized I should maybe explain about the college system at Cambridge because it's an important part of the culture. Students do not apply to Cambridge University as a whole, but instead apply to a specific college, of which they are about 30. Some of the most famous are Trinity, King's, and St. John's. Once at Cambridge, your college is probably the most important aspect of your academic and social life. Sorry to draw upon Harry Potter again, but it's basically like your House. Freshmen are assigned supervision sections (like recitations) with other members of their college in their course. Almost everyone will live at their college for the duration of their undergraduate course. Each college has its own history, culture, grounds, dining hall, bar, common room, library, sports teams, etc. My college, Emmanuel, is especially known because it was designed by Sir Christopher Wren, and because we have a picturesque pond with many ducks. Also, each college will have specific events liked themed parties only for members of that college.

Oh and sunsets in Cambridge are really pretty.

--------------------------

Some answers...

Again, sorry it took so long. I was so surprised and happy to see all the comments and feedback. I didn't expect so many people to a. read it, and b. be so interested in the Cambridge exchange. Actually though, when Dean Hastings visited us in Cambridge, one thing people mentioned during our discussion with him was that they had specifically chosen to come to MIT to participate in the exchange. So cool.

Anyway, so answers:

First of all, Cambridge apparently has some of the best weather in England. It does not rain noticeably more than in Boston, and is significantly warmer. And we had a mere inch of snow so far, and it was gone by noon. Actually, that was kind of sad. I want to see proper snow at least once this year.

And yes, American stereotypes can be funny / a bit ridiculous. I was with my friend Cassi (also MIT '08) when she announced she was from Missouri and explained where in the U.S. it was located. A Cambridge student very seriously asked her if she was racist. When she looked confused/shocked, he continued, "no seriously, you're from middle America, aren't you all racist there?" He was completely serious. Meanwhile, she was standing next to me (I'm Indian.) It was completely illogical.

About tuition, as of now, you pay tuition to your home university, but room rent to the university you spend the year at. This is not a very good deal for MIT students because Cambridge students have much cheaper tuition. However, it's somewhat (oddly) comforting to note that tuition for international students at Cambridge is almost as expensive as MIT tuition, so it wouldn't be possible for a non UK student to attend Cambridge for any less as a regular student.

As a general rule, it is more competitive for Cambridge students to come to MIT than for us to come here. However, this varies according to your major and how many people within your year in your major want to come to Cambridge. Personally, I had to demonstrate competency in my courses, but was not actually competing against other students. This was not the case for people in other majors.

The system of study is very different here. At MIT, you attend lectures and then recitation section with a TA and about 10 other students for more individual attention and guided practice. If you still need more help, you can go to office hours and meet with your professors or TAs one on one. Also, you have frequent graded assignments like problem sets and have anywhere from 1 to 4 exams a semester, plus a final.

Here in Cambridge, we have lecture too and additionally, have supervisions. These are kind of like a recitation combined with office hours. You and 1 or 2 other students meet with a professor (not the lecturer of the course) and go over essentially a problem set. The problem sets are submitted to the professor prior to your supervision, but are not graded. They are just for practice. Also, there is really no continuous assessment in our courses; we just have a giant exam in June to determine our final grades. (Ahhhhh!!!)

Personally, I prefer the MIT system more, but I will delve into that in a later post.

As to why spend a year away from MIT... studying abroad is amazing. I could do an entire entry on this. I can't really find a good way to put it, but I think I've become a much more confident person since coming here. It's a real challenge to relate to and befriend people with a completely different set of experiences than your own, from the tv shows they watched growing up, to the foods they eat, and places they've been too. Sometimes, my first conversations with people involve modern art preferences, or experiences traveling in India, which doesn't really happen at home. Also, even the most insignificant aspects of American culture, like Groundhog's Day and baseball and why we don't call Jell-O jelly can turn into lengthy discussions on national and personal ideals and the state of the world. However, people here are much more reserved and it takes more persistence to make friends. I feel like in America, if you hang out with someone once, or have a really great conversation with him/her, you are friends. That's not true here... it takes a couple great conversations and an entire term of hanging out to become friends. And British values can differ quite greatly from American values. (Most of us read Brit-think, Ameri-think by Jane Walmsley before coming here. It is fantastic.) To me, it's really important to be exposed to those things and be challenged not just academically, but socially.

And also, being abroad allows you to travel to other places which is really fun, and also teaches you a lot. For example, in Turkey, I didn't speak or read the language. Often, we would have to get from point A to point B using several modes of public transportation and sometimes, we would have to do this in the middle of the night. To top things off, we lost our bags halfway through our trip, traveling to a central region of Turkey. I appreciated how far I was from anything familiar when my friend and I found a Turkish man in the tiny town we were in who couldn't speak English but could speak German. My friend could speak German too, so she explained to him what had happened, and he called the bus company for us and spoke to them in Turkish. It was surreal. (And we did eventually get our bags back, amazing.) Anyway, after things like that, I am quite unfazed by things I would have found difficult only a couple of months.

And yeah, that's all for now. By the way, when convincing your parents to let you come abroad, persistence pays off. I started at the end of freshman year, and by mid-sophomore year, they were ok with it. And I loved Istanbul! It was beautiful and very interesting how the secular and religious elements of society combined. Although, I wish I could read Turkish and then follow the papers, because I feel like I was missing everything below the surface.

If I forgot to answer anything, remind me! Sorry this post is enormously long.

My name is Mirat and I am a junior studying Course 3 (Materials Science and Engineering). I grew up in New Jersey and spent the past two years in Cambridge, Massachusetts at MIT. However, this year I am in the other Cambridge (the OC for short :) ) in the UK. Along with about 40 other MIT students, I am studying abroad at Cambridge University as part of the Cambridge-MIT Exchange. I was disappointed to see no coverage of study abroad at MIT in the blogs, so I asked if I could write about my experiences here as a guest author.

First off, some perks of life at the other Cambridge:

Unlike the American school year which runs from September to May with a summer break, the Cambridge school year consists of 3 terms of 8 weeks each. This translates as less time spent in class. And in between terms, we get 6 weeks off, which is pretty amazing for traveling. I was recently in Istanbul, somewhere I never thought I'd end up, especially while all my friends at MIT were preparing for finals (sorry, I had to rub it in).

Also, that whole stereotype of British people drinking tea all the time is kind of true. At 11 am everyday, my department breaks for tea. Everything in the building stops and everyone from the Fellows, to the department librarian, to us lowly undergrads congregate. I'm thinking of starting a campaign to bring this to MIT, but I doubt it would catch on. The only thing I've seen MIT professors and students alike stop for is the World Cup.

And finally, Cambridge is strangely full of Harry Potter moments. We have (wizard) robes that we are required to wear pretty often to formal dinners and other things. And a lot of the dining halls look very Harry Potter Great Hall-esque. I'll try and dig up some pictures soon.

On an unrelated note, I was quite disappointed to learn that JK Rowling did not come up with OWLs and NEWTs all on her own. They are actually based exactly on the British education system. Students take GCSEs (OWLs) when they are 16 and A-Levels (NEWTs) when they are 18...

The things I miss most about the US after my family and friends are food items like pizza, bagels, and ice cream in winter. And I spent way too much time in American supermarkets while I was home in December.

The Cambridge term officially began last Thursday (the 18th), and coverage of life abroad will continue soon!