Reflecting

Well, if you haven't already heard, our time in the UK is quickly drawing to a close. I submitted my thesis a couple weeks ago and am scheduled to have my viva voce (defense) on July 19th. The guidance for the viva being rather nondescript, I'm a little at a loss as to how to prepare for it. Unlike the US, I will not be expected to give a presentation to my peers and committee....I don't even really have a committee anyway. I'll be examined by two people who have little to no knowledge of my efforts over the past three years. However, at the graduation dinner (to which all 3rd year PhD students were invited regardless of whether they were actually graduating) I sat next to the Master of the College. As she's been an examiner several times, I asked her what to expect, and was a bit relieved when she basically said they were just going to sit down with me and ask lots of questions about my thesis and the work I did, the main point being to convince themselves I had indeed done the work and written the thesis. I'm still a little worried about allowing "the examiners to probe your knowledge in the field" as that could encompass just about anything, but hopefully that is as minor a part of it as the Master suggested.

It was very sad to think that the graduation dinner would be the last formal dinner I'd have in the Hall. There will be two graduate formals before I leave, but they'll be held in the SCR rather than the Hall. Also, that was probably the last opportunity I'll have to talk to the Master. Having been on the MCR Committee for two years, I've had many opportunities to talk to her, and she's a really great lady. A Dame as well, which is pretty neat, but a very down-to-earth person, which you might not expect from the Master of the College. I've also attended my last evensong at the College Chapel; the good news on that is that I can always go again if I'm here in Cambridge on a Tuesday, Thursday, or Sunday during term time in the future, but as Chapel Clerk it was a tearful experience to hand over my key to the vestry after the final service, to think I'll never be responsible for lighting all the candles in our beautiful wood-lined chapel ever again.

I'm also drawn to think about all the things we thought we'd do. I had hopes of visiting all 31 Colleges; we've probably visited 10 of them. We thought we'd travel all around Europe, or at least all around Britain, but Aaron still hasn't been to Edinburgh, and neither of us has made it to Bath, the lake district, Dover, etc. But on the bright side we have enjoyed country hospitality in Hungerford, we took an unexpected diversion to the peak district, we've seen tons of castles, we saw a small community on a northern Scottish isle, and we've seen basically everything we wanted to see in London. After three years I feel at home here, I'm used to the oddities in the grocery store and the post office, I'm spoiled by the wealth of public transportation, and I don't think twice about hopping on my bike to cycle miles, something I never would have dreamed I'd be capable of when I first moved here.

Of course, whenever I start to get too teary-eyed about this, I think of all the things to look forward to back home - in addition to being close to family and no longer being in graduate school (a HUGE plus), we'll have screens on our windows, mixer taps, water pressure, biscuits from Hardees, bathtubs with bottoms that are at the same elevation as the bathroom floor (here they're higher, quite a slipping hazard), and outlets in bathrooms.

Still, our time in Cambridge has been wonderful, and I know when the time comes I'll be sad to go.