The summer school diaries: this week – wicked physics and scrummy puds

When I arrived in Cambridge, things suddenly became rather Harry Potter-esque: from the “Cambridge Express” train I had boarded at Kings Cross Station (although not from platform 9 ¾) to the grand architecture of the colleges, sunlight blazing on the iconic golden stone. Although I’m not a very big fan, I was reminded that the sixth Potter film would be out on Wednesday, and wondered what the other students and I would be doing when people across the country would be entering J K Rowling’s magical world?

For now though, we entered our own unfamiliar environment: Sidney Sussex College. From the pleasant green courtyard, we were shown to our accommodation - we physicists were to stay in the bright and modern rooms of Blundell Court, and were pleased to find we had en suite rooms, which piqued my computer scientist friend (computer scientists are affectionately known in Cambridge as “compskis”).

There was another aspect of Sidney Sussex reminiscent of Hogwarts – the traditional dining hall - and the scones too seemed a traditionally fitting dish. Yet those seemed to be the only typically “Cambridge” things: the hall was not filled with stereotypes but with normal people - far from the “rah kids”, Etonians, or super-human geniuses (genii?) one had in mind. Tomorrow would begin our experience not of wizardry fantasy, but real Cambridge subjects... I hoped physics wouldn’t prove impossible!

Fortunately, it didn’t - yet it was challenging! Following a rather long walk each day to the Physics Department, I found myself immediately in Mechanics & Relativity lectures. These proved full of maths with basically just symbols and no numbers involved. Which equated to being complicated... however, it was exciting to be studying impressive-sounding things such as Special Relativity!

Also fascinating were the “additional” lectures. We learnt about CERN and the Large Hadron Collider (it is nice to be able to understand current news topics); Spin and Angular Momentum (including some amusing experiments with giroscopes making us dizzy); and the Cosmic Microwave Background and the universe (which made us all feel very small in the grand scheme of things).

We also carried out some practicals – even involving lasers – and had two tours. The first of these was around the Physics Department itself: we saw the cutting- edge laboratories where the silicon semi-conductor chips used in modern technology are created, and part of a telescope being constructed at Cambridge, which is to be used in a staggeringly large project in New Mexico to help further mankind’s knowledge of the universe.

The other tour was of the famous Mullard Radio Astronomy Observatory. We were taken to see the “boulevard” of gleaming white satellite dishes and the rather unexpected and anticlimactic field containing crooked wooden poles clutching strands of wire (unbelievably, this contraption once led to some amazing astrological discoveries, and to a Nobel Prize). This tour was interrupted by unprecedented numbers of thunderflies, tiny insects that seemed to get everywhere... so after the tour everyone rushed to shower and be rid of these pesky bugs before the gala dinner & disco.

For it was not all work – we had plenty of fun too! This included a live Shakespeare play, The Merchant of Venice, at Robinson College, which was more entertaining than anticipated, being a comedy, despite the pins and needles I got from sitting on the grass. We also experienced punting on the River Cam. This was both relaxing and inspiring, watching the grandeur of the colleges pass by as we drifted downstream through the willow trees, and listening to our “punter” talk about the colleges’ history and quirky aspects, such as St Johns being dubbed the “wedding cake”. (Although to be honest, we couldn’t see the resemblance, seeing as one of its walls was entirely covered in ivy... so perhaps a mouldy wedding cake would have been apt?!) Nevertheless, it was good, and the punters’ typical Cambridge accents amused us no end...

We were also shown around the other colleges during the week, and they never failed to impress, both outside and in – the King’s College dining hall was particularly elegant. It was on our final night that we too got to experience formal dining, at Downing College (when we were all happily thunderfly-free!). It was scrumptious, as the food had been all week, and I was particularly fond of the skilfully crafted sugar basket – it really was a basket made out of sugar. With strawberries and cream nestled inside... yes, I have a sweet tooth!

After this, we had the disco, which was fun, not least because of the undergraduate students’ *ahem* interesting dancing! And thankfully it was not quite as cheesy as we had been warned!
And so our final day dawned, and I had a very caffeinated last breakfast, having become very sleepy from the early mornings and late nights. The other physicists and I then had supervision sessions with graduate students or lecturers to fully experience learning at Cambridge (I concluded that it is challenging, yet very enjoyable), but were then upset to discover a thunderstorm outside! It was preferable to thunderflies, in my opinion... but we did have to run back to college through torrential rain, thunder and lightning.

And thus ended the summer school. We said our goodbyes to each other, to Sidney Sussex, and to Cambridge, although hopefully not forever, for some? And so (with rain-soaked jeans and a trail of puddles behind me) I began my journey home, some of which I spent considering special relativity in relation to trains: did you know that the train is shorter while it’s travelling, compared to when it is stationary?! Now that does seem magical... not unlike something from Harry Potter, in fact!

Laura's diary was chosen from a large number of excellent entries - thank you for your diaries everyone who entered. Next week we'll bring you the winning GEEMA summer school diary.  GEEMA is the Group for Encouraging Ethnic Minority Applications to Cambridge