Trinity May Ball, Cambridge

So usually around this time of year I do a post about May Week in Cambridge (the one that's confusedly in June). But, but, I'm no longer a student, so I was only there for Trinity May Ball (yes, the one that's in June).

It's so good to be back! And the night went something a little like this...

Zhonghua Traditional Snacks, Cambridge

I miss Cambridge.

I miss being a student. I miss the may ball chat, the not being allowed to walk on the grass, the tourists with the big cameras who wander around looking lost, and yes, even the supervisions (!).

I mean, where else will it be acceptable to cycle around wearing a gown and black tie??

So, last weekend I went back to Cambridge for a friends birthday, and we went to formal at Trinity College. Which was fun! Aside from the part where two of us got on the wrong train, ended up in Biggleswade, taking a 45 minute taxi to Cambridge whilst changing into black tie in the back of said taxi, and running into formal hall 15 minutes late.

At first I got angry. And then I got sad. And then I got hungry.

So the next day (after formal hall and a few bad headaches), a few of us wandered over to Zhonghua Traditional Snacks, a new(ish) cafe that opened sometime after I graduated in June. I've heard a lot about it from my Chinese friends in Cambridge, so here is the rundown!

(Please excuse the photo quality, I only brought my point and shoot to Cambridge.)

Zhonghua Traditional Snacks serves Chinese dim sum including jaozi (dumplings), bao zi (steamed buns), noodles and wontons.

The food is good, quite traditional in that I would expect this on the cafes in China. I don't think the food alone is enough to rant and rave about but I would definitely recommend purely because its such great value - one of the great points about this cafe is the price. You'll struggle to spend more than £10-£15 per head, with drinks.

Well, I mean, unless you're reeaaaalllllyyyy hungry.

The cafe is quite small, located near the Grafton Centre off Newmarket Road. We came at about 12pm and managed to get a table, although it got quite busy afterwards. The owners were really nice though and tried their best to fit everyone in. On the walls inside there are posters showing how to make dumplings, which was pretty cute.

May Week in Cambridge

After the last Economics exam - this photo was taken by my very talented photographer friend Oliver Crawford =)

This post is a little overdue, but better late than never, right? May Week is (bizarrely) held in June anyway, so I'm not actually that late.

So what is May Week? It's the week after everyone's finished exams and Cambridge hosts all of the May Balls, garden parties and other (sometimes strange - yes, I'm looking at you cardboard boat race!) traditions. It used to be held in May before people started taking exams seriously (when was that? Like 800 years ago, probably).

BUT I bet 800 years ago they didn't spray champagne (um, well, cava) at their friends after coming out of their last exams! So ha to you, Mr. 13th century monk man.

May Week is usually good for injecting the fun back into Cambridge life after its all been sapped out by exams, and you can usually tell when the celebrations begin because Sainsbury's starts stocking champagne cava in place of the healthy brain food and energy drinks!

But *sob* alas, this year will be my last.

Graduation Bento Box

As graduation season rolls around (and is over for some), I thought I'd try to make that newly graduated 'Hello World!' feeling last that little bit longer, with a graduation related bento box =)

So long Cambridge, it's been fun!

So that's it. I'm officially a graduate! I have a BA (Hons) Economics from Cambridge... 

Well, that was not an easy three years.

My Facebook is currently filled with statuses of "congratulations to all, I have made some wonderful friends, you have made my time special etc. etc." and I really do mean all of these things too but I thought that if I wrote a (very) long paragraph about how great all my friends are that would sound quite cheesy. So I'm going to be concise and sum it all up in two words that you can usually hear me say (not usually together though):

Yay Cambridge!

Some of the Trinity College Econs together - this was when the photographer told us to 'look like we liked eachother'. So we did.

Before I go any further, I've got to warn you that this is a really long post and you might fall asleep before the end. So I'm going to put the video that was going to go at the end here, whilst you still have some patience. I know I know this actually is quite cheesy but something in me thought that it would be less cheesy to put it in my blog than directly a link on my facebook. Please don't judge me I'm a sentimental person!

Congratulations to you all! :)

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Cambridge - May Week

I'm just doing a quick post on May Week in Cambridge University, which will be brief because I run the risk of sounding just a teeny bit pretentious. Absolutely spiffing. Darling.

(I almost thought of not blogging about this, but I got some weird looks taking all those photos of food, I didn't want my weirdness to go to waste!)

May Week is the official week of celebrations, which happens afters exams end, is actually in June. It might have been in May sometime 200 years ago, but things never change around here.

This year, I went to 3 different colleges within the University's May Ball's: Robinson College, Trinity College, and St John's College. They're held inside the college, and are from 9pm to 6am. Various food, entertainment, and bopping around uncomfortably in tailcoats to Rihanna ensues. 
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For me,

I dressed up.

I took loads of photos.

I ate loads of food.

I'm now showing you said food :)

So as you can see, for the price of £150 a ticket for each ball (which works out to be a sacrifice of about 300 Snickers bars - think of the calories you're saving!), we had oysters...

Macarons, dance shows and other sparkly things

There was once a girl from Cambridge,

Watching her degree go down the drainage,

So she decided to dance,

Well it sure is more fun,

Then analysing the economics of

supply and demand.

And as all parents do,

They said "we'll see you at your dance show soon!"

They came on the day,

Were soon back on their way,

But not before leaving her a BIG BOX OF MACARONS!!

My dad just got back from a business trip from Paris, so that's how I got them. They told me they had a 'surprise' for me, and I thought it was just more dumplings from home...but THIS WAS AMAZING!!