Cambridge Adventures: Day Two - Monday, Monday

Monday morning in Cambridge was pretty standard:

Reluctant wake-up
Breakfast
Walk to the church (we followed random group of conferees on a "short"-cut! The walk is now 14 minutes, as opposed to 15...)
Meditation
First plenary address

The address was pretty interesting - the speaker was Wilfred McClay, yet another professor/author/scholar dude, who spoke on our society's confused notion of happiness and self-gratification. He quoted John Stuart Mill ("Ask yourself if you are happy, and you will cease to be so.") and yeah. I can't remember much.
But the Q&A period after dealt with what we can do to deal with/change a society like this.

After the first address I left to shop, if memory serves me correctly. I don't think I bought anything, though I do remember finding a store called Topshop which was most appealing to my preferred style of dress. I may return there in due time when I'm in a more shopping frame of mind.

Soon enough, it was time for my first poetry class! My elective for this week is a Poetry Workshop led by the British poet, Malcolm Guite. He is... a FANTASTIC man. His energy and enthusiasm are so incredibly gripping and contagious. He's a priest, a poet, and a rock musician. He sports a full beard and a tangled mop of unkempt hair. A true artist.
Everyone in the class was transfixed - he's like a child in a man's body, bouncing around, eyes full of wonder and light, hands waving madly as he talks.
And his poems are fantastic. (example to come.)
We talked about what a poem is, why we write them, what purpose they serve. We also discussed a few things about technique and form and talked about the villainelle.

At 5:30, everyone piled on coaches to go to Chilford Hall, deep in the countryside of Cambridge. It was about a half an hour drive, during which I marvelled at the scenery and sang to myself (not knowing the length of the drive, I didn't bother to take my book or iPod) while my mother chattered with some lovely people sitting by us.
Chilford Hall is a country-ish uhm... place I guess. It was interesting. There were a few different buildings, but we were in the main hall. Outside on the big lawn there were random areas in which Grecian statues were set up. It didn't seem to fit the whole theme of "English countryside" we all agreed. But anyways. When everyone arrived we all walked around and mingled - I met up with a dear girl, Elizabeth, who was in my film class in Oxford. We explored and chatted with each other and got to know each other better which was delightful. She's here with both of her parents, and I'm here with my mom - in each other, we found solace: an escape from the clutches of parental company. (Drama queen, I know.)
So dinner started. We ate.
AND THEN... the partayyyy began. The Mellstock Band is a group of musicians who specialize in old English country music - they were featured on the new Pride and Prejudice. They were there to play for us and teach us English dances very much like those you see in Pride and Prejudice! So there we were (about 50 of us, at least) on the dance floor, learning old English dancing. And it was by far as fun as it looks in the movies. Elizabeth and I partnered (she was Lizzie, I was Mr. Darcy) and good times were had by all. It was an awesome way to meet everyone, and I'm pretty sure none of us stopped laughing the entire time we were on the floor - which was a couple hours. We took the last bus home at some late hour, with all the other spirited inividuals who stuck it out 'til the end. (Needless to say, both of our parents had left much earlier.)

Back at Robinson, Elizabeth and I made plans to sleep in the next morning and go out for breakfast together.

I slept very well that night.

-CH