quiet moments by Kanokwan T. '25

this summer, i’m living in a small, cozy house out in the medieval parish of st ives. it’s a town that’s around 10 miles outside of Cambridge (the one in the United Kingdom, not in the United States where MIT is located). in fact, it’s so small that it usually appears on the 2nd page of Google when you search it up, way after its more famous homonymous beach city counterpart in Cornwall. you may be wondering why i’m here. i’m doing a misti⁠01 <a href="https://misti.mit.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">mit international science and technology initiatives</a> (misti) runs global travel experiences for MIT. they’re the primary hub for study/work abroad internship on electromagnetism and graphene⁠02 graphene is so cool. basically, it's a novel material that is a 1-atom thick layer of carbon atoms arranged in a hexagonal lattice. visually, think a carbon atom placed at every intersection of chicken wire. its discovery in 2010 won the nobel prize because of its remarkable properties: it's the most electrically and thermally conductive material ever discovered, 200x stronger than steel, 1000x lighter than paper, and so much more. anyways, i work in development engineering, where we make the stuff discovered by the research team into real things people can use. graphene is also a quite sustainable material, so im especially excited to see how it impacts the environment. i can go on and on about graphene, but i will stop myself and leave you here. and motors and stuff, which i think may be one of the coolest jobs ive had so far, and my company is out in Somersham, a nearby town. anyhow, you get the point: my home base this summer is a remote place out in the fields. and i love it

it’s quaint

tucked away in an abundance of nature

yet has a family-sense of liveliness in the streets

i biked the town this past weekend, from the top to the bottom

(this sounds long, but the town is around the size of a 1 mile square)

and saw some really cute things

two girls, around 6 years old, were riding around in grocery carts after the shop closed up

a few little boys were ripping up grass and throwing it at each other, like some alternative form of tag mixed with nature’s confetti

an elderly couple was just exiting an ice cream shop together when i passed them, with ice cream in one hand and each other in the other

cute dogs being walked every now and then

and it’s not really… missing anything?

it just has, like, *one* of everything

need a shoe repaired? there’s the shoe shop

want to dive into some history? there’s the town museum

looking for a book? there’s the library

it simplifies life. ive enjoyed the juxtaposition between this peaceful style of living as opposed to the bustling life of mit, and i mean that fully: i like the contrast. it’s not that one draws to me much more than the other, rather, the experience of both makes me appreciate each one more. i think they’re delightful in their own rights. being in st ives has reaffirmed something ive always thought of myself: i love both the rural and city, and want to have both in my life. i dont need to… pick? i feel like that’s a question that’s commonly asked, akin to “what do you want to do with your life,” and i’ve never been able to pick one place. i can see myself living out in the city for work and such because i love the thrill of urban areas, but also frequently camping or maybe building my own cabin one day⁠03 fun fact: the <a href="https://mitoc.mit.edu/rentals/cabins" target="_blank" rel="noopener">mit outing club</a> (mitoc) owns 2 cabins that any mit member can use at any time, and both were built entirely by mitoc members! because i love silence. we’ll see what happens.

ive taken a few photos while out here, during quiet pockets of my day. i thought you might enjoy them:

while wandering outside

flowers growing out of the town bridge cracks

cows in a field

I FOUND ONE

gatekeep gaslight girlboss butterfly slay queen <3

a hidden bench in the town center, surrounded by lush flowers and bushes. i wanna read here

soft greens hanging over the st ives chub stream, which feeds into the river great ouse

i initially biked past this but couldnt get it out of my head and biked back to learn why the grass was long (it's to support the local birds, bees, and other pollinators). i thought this to be really cute. this sign didn't have to be here, but someone thought to let the people know

a queen elizabeth field, of which there are 564 all across the uk. they were set up all over the country 2012-2014 to commemorate (1) the queen's diamond jubilee and (2) sporting events (the 2012 summer olympics and paralympics in london and the 2014 commonwealth games in glasgow). ultimately, this was an effort to encourage the protection of playing fields, aka public grass where people can have fun

view from the town bridge, with a local church in the distance as noted by the pointy bit

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while vibing inside

the soft amber glow from a neighbor's house looked so magical to me this evening

some wine, tea, dumplings (i think), and chocolate cake while watching the season 3 finale of killing eve (it's largely based in the uk, so i thought to pick it up while im here). that show has ruined me

soft green glow (just look at the way the leaves are so luminescent from the backlighting of the sun!!)

i ran to the nearest tesco (most popular convenience shop here) and bought one of the cheapest bottles of rosé in preparation for this fine evening. i live for nights like these

plant in the shower room

(a bit further to the left) the warmth of the sun shone through the frosted glass and softly illuminated the windowsill. there's a subtle gradient of blue to orange on the left rim. conducive to a good shower that night

me and boris, the landlord's dog <3

(receipts, maps, post cards, stickers, boarding passes, and other flat things) me trying to catch up on a many months' worths of scrapbooking. i allotted 2 hours but instead spent 5 LONG HOURS. im caught up now. it's okay. it's nice thumbing through these old memories

another cute little drink: mango juice + kombucha

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cheers to the quiet beauty