Birthday party and new friends

Well I almost forgot about my room mates Birthday party. It was great, we booked common room in our College and invited some friends over. Here's a couple of pics taken at the party.

I finally got to know a lot more Sri Lankans in Cambridge, it was great! All this time I thought there was not many, but turns out there's a lot more than I expected. This weekend there is a Dinner Dance organzed by the Cambridge University Sri Lankan Society, and I'm looking forward to that.

Cambridge Family

Last Sunday I decided to join the Churchill College Choir. (for those of you not too familiar with this college system which is unique to Cambridge and 'the other place' ie Oxford there's a brief overview at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colleges_of_the_University_of_Cambridge) Since my College New Hall doesn't have a choir, we join the one nearest. I really missed singing cos I used to sing in Sri Lanka in our church choir and it was great to be part of a choir again.

After the Evensong service we had the formal hall dinner together and a couple of undergrads sitting near me started talking about their 'Sons', 'Daughters' and even 'Grandchildren'. So I was really curious, and asked the girl next to me what this was all about. Then I learnt that here in Cambridge there is a mentorship program for undergrads, where they have a 'mother' and 'father' from the senior year and that usually one is from the same discipline and responsible in helping with the studies of the 'child' while the other is studying a different subject and is responsible to help 'socialise' the 'child'. I was told that they sometimes even have mock wedding ceremonies sometimes. This was the first time I heard of this, cos there's no such thing for the postgrads. This is another one of those eccentricities of Cambridge, which gives it's identity like the 'Harry Potter' gowns which are still worn at formal occations.

I just got to know about another one of these rowing rituals called 'Lent Bumps'. Divisions of 17 or 18 crews line up along the river, with just one-and-a-half boat lengths (90 feet) between each. At the firing of a small cannon, all hell breaks loose as each crew tries to catch up with and actually collide with (bump) the crew in front before the crew behind does the same to them!
The races are held one each day for four days and by bumping on any given day, a crew moves up a place on the river for the following day's race. For any given crew, the aim is to go up four places on the river during the course of the four day's racing.

I never cease to be amazed with all these, but I guess Cambridge wouldn't be Cambridge without these rituals!

Where is my life headed???

Well I guess I've been blogging a lot less lately, with so much to do. Especially since I'm not only working on lectures and assignments but also with job hunting. (CVs Coverletters and all... cos most of the deadlines for positions after September are in Jan and Feb) Last week we just had a Cambridge Oxford Careers fair. Hopefully I'll be able to work here for atleast a couple of years so that I can pay back my loan quickly. I'd love to work in a Tech related area which is also connected with busienss. Tech consultancy is one of the careers I'm interested in.

While I was wondering what I want to do with life, yesterday a couple of MBAs from last years class came to speak about their business venture. They had both left great jobs at banks to open their own cycle store. While I was not totally conviced of their business case and the amount they were expecting to make, I was so impressed with their courage! It's amazing how most of the entrepreners start from very small and go no to do so well... This seriously makes me wonder about what I want to do...

Snow Snow Snow... and Good Byes

Well I know it's ages since my last post, I guess it had to snow again for me to get back to my blog. Work as usual has been unbelievably hectic. Yesterday the snow was unbelievable, as soon as I woke up, I saw that the back yard was covered by a sheet of snow through the window. The whole of Cambridge has been transformed. So I decided to take the 30 minute walk instead of cycling cos everything was so pretty. Here are some pics I took.

It’s also a sad time cos for me cos my close friend with whom I spent Christmas, is going back to Sri Lanka as she has found a job there. I’m really going to miss her. So last weekend I spent at her place in London. A couple of other Sri Lankan friends came over too and we had a lovely time.