Have you ever wanted to spend a day at Cambridge? Well, me too! Today all of us here at LIYSF had the amazing opportunity to split up into various groups and journey to Cambridge or Oxford. I went to the Cambridge Biomedical Research Center at Addenbrooke’s Hospital. In 2015, the hospital received 400 million pounds in research funding. Also, a grand total of 92 Nobel Prize winners have gone through Cambridge.
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| Here I am with Hadas and Shahar from Israel! |
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| My group was very fortunate to have the head nurse talk to us about the research going on at the Cambridge Biomedical Research Center. The slide shown above describes a study where patients with severe peanut allergies were given increasing doses of peanut protein for a specified course of time. By the end, 19/22 patients were eating five peanuts daily without reacting! Giving incremental doses of peanut protein to these patients actually increased their tolerance to peanuts, helping them live without fear of having a severe reaction in their day-to-day lives. |
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| After our lecture at the Research Center, we were free to spend the afternoon around the Cambridge village. My, this was a beautiful place. I toured around the village with two people in my group, Miguel and Angela from Malta, a tiny island past the tip of Italy. |
Here we are in front of the Addenbrooke Hospital!
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| One of the aspects of Cambridge village that I loved were the many hidden courtyards. Often, all I had to do was walk through a small gate and the resulting view included window boxes overflowing with flowers, copious amounts of ivy, and a perfectly manicured lawn. |
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| Going for a boat ride along the river is a very popular activity for those visiting Cambridge. A punter (the boat’s driver) provides a river tour of the campus – the act of riding one of these is called “punting.” |
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| The bus ride back from Cambridge to the Imperial took a whopping three hours due to traffic. Thankfully, I had the wonderful Angela from Malta to talk with the entire ride. While many people took naps, we talked about a few of our favorite things back home, and I now have a long list of books to order from the library! Some of her top recommendations were “For the Love of Physics” and “That’s the Way the Cookie Crumbles.” |
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| The fact that there was lots of traffic actually worked in my favor, as grinding to a halt meant I had ample time to take photos! Here is the Tower of London. This is where the Crown Jewels are kept on display. After a quick dinner, I got together with four other students to rehearse for a little something special we are working on for tomorrow night’s International Cabaret. I can’t let you in on our secret performance just yet. It’s a surprise… Stay tuned for details in tomorrow’s post!
– Vivienne |
