An Immersive Experience in Cambridge, Britain

Between 2nd August and 15th August, 2015, 6 candidates and 1 teacher from Cambridge International Centre, Beijing New Talent Academy, were exposed to Cambridge through an immersive study programme, which was operated in a quite academic and intensive way. The two-week lasting course happened in Trinity Hall, Downing College and Christ College, all of which are colleges of the University of Cambridge and located in the very centre of Cambridge city. Such an immersive experience granted participants an insightful glimpse of what British education really looks like and how the University of Cambridge is run. The candidates joined Mathematics and economics classes since Chinese students are relatively competitive in Mathematics, while Arlene visited several humanity classes namely English as a Second Language, Literature, History, Psychology and Law. What highlighted our study was that all the lessons were designed and delivered by graduates and current PhD candidates from the University of Cambridge. 

(An exciting arrival on 2nd August upon an 18-hour flight, transferring in Paris)

Our schedule was comparatively busy, combining academic lessons and other academic activities. In the mornings candidates spent 3 hours at Downing Hall, covering Probability Theory, Geometry, Trigonometry and Functions, Differentiation and Integration, Differential Equation, Game Theory, Fourier Series, Maclaurin’s Theorem, Numerical Analysis, Statistics for Sports, Game Theory and the prisoner’s dilemma. With regard to the academic excursions, we visited Mathematics department of the University of Cambridge, Fitzwilliam Museum, Archaeology and Anthropology Museum, Science Museum and Natural History Museum,   

(Nearly 200 candidates from Britain, Greece, France, India and Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Beijing came together, and we were the only one group from the Mainland of China.) 

 

(The handout and notes on Neuro Science in Psychology Class)

(Ellen did a presentation about China before a big audience and won a loud applause.)

We also got out of Cambridge to visit several typical British holiday destinations at weekend. Those places are Blenheim Palace (which is the only private palace in Britain and in which the late Prime Minister Winston Churchill was born), Warwick Castle (which is one of the most recognizable examples of 14th Century military architecture), Stratford-upon-Avon (the birthplace of one of the greatest story teller Shakespeare), Oxford (where the most ancient university in the English speaking world-the University of Oxford is located). The historical mysteries and British culture fascinated us greatly. 

(Blenheim Palace at Dawn)

(Girls flew high in the sky on the Blenheim’s lawn.)

(Kids set off for a sightseeing without Arlene’s company.)

(A bird view of Warwick Castle)

(We took a memory before Bodleian Library at the University of Oxford.)

 

(Two groups met together before King’s College)

(A string Concert by the faculty at Trinity Chapel)

(A lady indulged her reading at Waterstones Bookstore)

(We had a big dinner at a Spanish restaurant.)

(It’s charming Queens’ College)

(It is magnificent King’s College)

(It is marvelous St. John College)

(It is the inner court of Trinity College)

Time flying swiftly, we spent a wonderful time in Cambridge with our worldview enlarged, cultural tolerance cultivated, self-independence developed, mindset reedited, and future further prepared.