Cambridge: The Start

July 10, 2017

After a quick drive (on the left) from Stansted Airport to Cambridge, the endearingly dreary landscape had won me over and an overwhelming sense of easiness had captured me. Here, bicyclists leisurely roll down cobbled roads and students stroll the cloud-darkened, stone sidewalks. No impatient motorists shout at one another. Instead, spinning bicycle wheels and the soft crunch of gravel under cars are the most prominent sounds.

Always a homebody, I never considered studying abroad. My ideal college experience was a comfortably messy desk, a cozy chair, a deep mug of my usual coffee, and an ever-replenishing pile of books and papers to get through. Besides enjoying my routines, I never thought I had space in my course schedule to study abroad. This conveniently fit into my sedentary inertia and was a perfect excuse to stay planted firmly beside my books and coffee. As I neared the end of my time at Northeastern, however, I realized I wanted to get out of Boston and experience something new. Perhaps true to form, I settled on a program in a town with the same name as one of our closest neighbors. An 808-year-old university in a picturesque town with a reputation for academic rigor, University of Cambridge was the perfect fit for what I hoped to get out of a study abroad. Now that I’m here, my hopes have been realized. The idyllic town is just my speed and I can’t wait to start exploring.

Despite my optimism, a couple of concerns loom. First, classes here are structured so that 50% of my final grade is a final exam and the other 50% is a final paper. Since most of my work is in the social sciences and humanities, final exams are particularly distressing. There are few hard facts to learn and argumentation is our best tool, which is difficult to use in exam format. Second, I am taking three courses over eight weeks but would still like to fit in travel around Europe. I worry that it will be difficult to manage my workload and hit all the destinations I would like to.

These concerns, however, are vastly outweighed by how excited I am to be here. I hope this blog will help me keep a record of my experience here and I hope reading through it in a year or two will transport me right back.

Written By

Nicholas Napolio

At Northeastern, I study political science with a particular focus on American public administration, public law, and queer politics. While abroad in Cambridge, I plan to immerse myself in British politics and further my understanding of American politics by comparison. I am taking courses on European legal history, British criminal law, and gender & sexuality informed by British culture. These courses are similar to courses I have taken at Northeastern but will allow me to study the differences between American and British conceptions of each. In addition to coursework, the University of Cambridge offers social and cultural opportunities such as pub tours, trips to London, and weekly banquets.