So long, farewell, auf wiedersehen, goodbye.

I am back in the United States, sitting in JFK waiting for my connecting flight to Salt Lake. I've only been gone for 15 and a half hours and I already miss England so much. I'm glad I had a couple of days after the programme ended to say goodbye to Cambridge.

I'll start back with my second to last weekend here. It was our last weekend all together. On Saturday, Liz, from the ward in Cambridge, drove some BYU students to the London temple. It was really nice of her to organize the whole thing and it was so great to go to the temple. Brandi, Dani, Evan, Jeff and I went, along with Katrina, one of the young single adults in the ward. We drove there in the morning and then ate lunch in the temple. The food was delicious. Then we did a session of baptisms. The font was beautiful and it was such a wonderful experience. It felt so peaceful to be in the temple and feel the Spirit so strong. I miss being so close to the temple in Provo. After baptisms some of the group went to do an endowment session while Dani, Katrina, and I walked around the grounds. The temple grounds are beautiful and it was a great opportunity to walk and think and relax before a crazy last week.


Katrina, me, and Dani in front of the temple.

The next week I had a paper for my monsoon research, a homework assignment for fluid dynamics, and a paper and a final for my British sports class. So I spent a lot of time in my room and in the library but miraculously (though with very little sleep) I finished everything. It felt so good to have it all done.

This is where I worked on my monsoon research all summer. It was a nice little desk and computer. My supervisor, Peter Braesicke was fantastic. He is German and has an awesome accent. Sadly, he got sick my last week there and ended up in the hospital with appendicitis.

Thursday, after finals, we had the last formal of the programme and a farewell party. The formal was fun and the food was good. It's kind of sad I won't get to dress up and go to fancy dinners every week anymore.

Me, Dani, Brandi and Megan. Drinks on the lawn before the formal.

After the formal the TAs threw a farewell party, HMS PKP (PKP stands for Pembroke-King's Programme). One of the guys in charge, Joey had given a speech at orientation about how "This is not a cruise" and it became a theme for the summer. The party was fun, but after awhile the smell of alcohol everywhere I turned started giving me a headache so we left. All summer long we had walked by this building and wanted to climb and take pictures and so we did.


And then a bunch of BYU students took our last trip to the Trailer of Life. It's a trailer that sells chips and burgers and is the only food place open past 10 p.m. and therefore a place frequently visited by PKP students.

This is on the sidewalk in front of King's. I've always thought it was rather funny and quite descriptive of the life of a Cambridge student.

The next morning I said goodbye to my bedder, Jane. She is really cute and took care of me all summer. She was reluctant to let me take a picture of her but I think she looks very cute.


That morning we took Brandi to the train station and said goodbye. It was very sad to say goodbye but hopefully I'll make it to Switzerland soon to visit her.

Later that day we walked to Granchester. It's a small town about a half an hour walk from Cambridge. There is an orchard there where the Bloomsbury group (a group of mostly Cambridge students who all became famous writers and artists) met to drink tea and talk. It's a beautiful little town and I felt very British sitting in the Orchard and eating a scone.


That night, Dani and I walked around Cambridge for a bit to get gelato at our favorite gelato place. I got a burger at Gourmet Burger Kitchen. It was a bacon avocado burger and it was delicious--one of the best burgers I've ever had. And it was huge.


The next morning I took Dani to the bus stop and then took pictures of King's. It was early in the morning so it was quiet and a perfect morning to just walk around one of my favorite places in the world and take in how beautiful it all is.






Can you blame me for loving this place?

The signs I got to walk past every day. That is my room in the distance.

These sign welcome people to King's. Well if they get past the porters. I have to say, one of the highlights of being a student at King's was walking past all of the tourists who were begging the porters to let them in and having the porters smile and wave us in. Also notice the sign about keeping off the grass. Unlike the signs at BYU which everyone ignores, these signs are enforced by porters and, at least for the most part, obeyed.

I spent the rest of Saturday finishing things up and packing. That night I watched Chariots of Fire with some friends. It was fun watching it in Cambridge and recognizing where scenes were filmed (the scene where they race around the Trinity courtyard isn't actually at Trinity. The college wouldn't let them in to film it). Sunday, I went to church, finished packing, and said goodbye to Cambridge.

I ate in the dining hall for the last time,

walked down King's Parade,

sat in the fellow's garden,

went to Pembroke to pick up my supervision work,

and looked at the Corpus Christi clock on my way home.

I love Cambridge. I can't believe the summer is over. Goodbye dear, Cambridge. I will return someday.