Latest News
Posted on April 17th 2013
"My trip to Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge."
Sixth form student Kenan Hassan writes about his trip to Gonville and Caius College, organised by the academy during the Easter holidays.
During my Easter holiday I had an amazing opportunity to spend a few days experiencing the life of a Cambridge undergraduate student, this included attending several lectures, meeting new people from all different parts of the UK and eating some of the most classy three course meals I’ve had in my life!
"Eye-opening lectures"
My first lecture was called ‘Evidence And Interpretation - different Approaches to Proof' by Dr Andrew Bell, which was a shockingly complex and baffling lecture on the idea of how valid evidence can really be?
Nevertheless it was one of the most eye-opening ideas I’ve been exposed to; not to take evidence and what one concludes from this evidence so naively.
China
Although this was a fairly interesting lecture, being a human geographer it did not compare to a lecture on ‘Rising Powers in Their Political Context – A Case Study: China' by one of the world leading experts on the development of China, Dr Kun-Chin Lin.
This was an incredibly fascinating lecture, where I found out that China has plans to build a colossal high speed rail link from London to Beijing by 2025, of which the journey time would approximately be just two days. We had an in depth discussion of what effects this would have on global trading and connections between countries.
"The fun stuff"
Now moving on to the more fun stuff, this was experiencing the social aspect of being a Cambridge student. A large reason why I found this such an enjoyable and memorable experience was the diversity and variety of new friends I made, especially as I was the only one in my dorm from South London and the rest were from places up in the North of England such as Yorkshire and Leeds.
This inevitably lead to constant banter about my accent (I still refuse to believe I have a South London accent and, I if do, I would pick my accent over a Yorkshire accent any day).
"Don't doubt your capability"
Reflecting on this experience, one thing I’ve learned, and which was the ethos throughout this scheme, is that no matter what your background or circumstances, everyone has the potential to go to a top prestigious university, if you work hard enough and don’t doubt your capability.
On a lighter note, the lecturers were not as intimidating as I thought they would be and they surprisingly valued what I had to say, but on two occasions the geography director of Cambridge was not able to answer my questions. This tells you something.
I would just like to take the opportunity to thank Ms White, The Harris Federation and Gonville and Caius College for this unforgettable opportunity.
By Kenan Hassan
