Joining Societies!

So along with the end of freshers' orientation came the end (well, it never really ends) of massive recruiting efforts from the various societies on campus.

There are approximately 12,000 undergrads at Cambridge and almost 19,000 people total. So it's safe to say that there's bound to be a huge spectrum of extracurricular interests on campus.

One benefit of doing the Cambridge-MIT Exchange is being able to be a fresher (freshman) again and trying out the things you didn't get to do the first time around.

I had devised a small list of activities I wanted to do at Cambridge, but I pretty much tossed the list out the window once I arrived because my tiny mind hadn't accounted for all the other opportunities Cambridge has to offer.

What I was planning on doing:
- Hockey
[hah, in England I don't have to say field hockey. I was going to try out for one of the three university hockey team but I saw how much it costs (approximately £330 a year) and figured there's better things I can do with that time. It's also a huge time commitment with many weekend trips.]
- Rowing
[apparently they don't call it crew here]
- Orchestra
[I'm always falsely optimistic that I'll get to play the bassoon again. alas.]
- Singing
[in some kind of chorus or chapel choir if I'm lucky. a cappella isn't that big here.]

What I've signed up to do:
Just at Clare:
- Clare Hockey (my college's intramural hockey team)
- Clare Lacrosse (" lacrosse)
- Clare Squash (" squash)
- Clare Badminton (you get the idea)
- Clare Voices (Clare's open chorus)
- Clare Rowing (our boathouse is awesome!)
- Clare Ents (our Friday evening entertainment committee)
- Clare Sound (the events tech/audio team at Clare)
- Clare Actors (ok, they were just really friendly)
- Clare Politics
University Level/Other Colleges' Societies:
- Christian Union (kind of like Intervarsity back in the States)
- Ultimate Frisbee
- Varsity Ski Trip (this huge ski trip that Cambridge and Oxford go on together)
- Engineers Without Borders
- EcoHouse (a project to create sustainable, practical housing for Ecuador and Brazil)
- Eco Racing (solar and electric powered cars team)
- Cambridge Union (a society that puts on debates involving famous politicians/specialists)
- Cambridge Entrepreneurs
- Robinson Chapel Choir (randomly signed up to audition and got in)

- I promise you there's more but I'm tired of typing... I'm sure you get the idea :)

What I think I'll actually do
(after sifting through the inevitable wave of enthusiastic society emails I've drowned in):

- Clare Hockey
[super chill, 1 game a week and even though we're in division 1, apparently we don't win too many games. I'm okay with being the underdog.]

- Clare Squash
[joined kind of by accident, but I find this much more natural-feeling than tennis so I quite like it! Clare has its own squash courts and free racquets and balls to use, so it's very accessible as well.]

- Clare Rowing
[went on the water for the first time on Sunday, and it's terrifying! I thought I was going to fall in a million times. note the river Cam is also much much narrower than the Charles.]
Like so:

The River Cam

via flickr 

VS

The Charles River

via Juergen Roth's blog

Uh huh. Continuing on....

- Clare Ents
[they're cool people, and hold small concerts/dance parties in our pub (called The Cellars) every Friday.]

The Clare Cellars
(They used to be the crypts for the Clare Chapel upstairs. Deeelightful.)
(Plus we have really nice leather sofas now instead of the wooden stools.)

- Christian Union
[This is one of the societies I'm most excited for. To be honest, I wasn't very proactive about finding a Christian community back at MIT. In fact, I did the absolute minimal: went to church on Sundays, left right after service, and repeat. I didn't even follow through with a Bible Study group I joined freshman spring. And yet here, I've already met a solid group at Clare (one of them is a third-year engineer with me too) who took me to one of the local churches this past weekend and I really enjoyed the service. The church also has a Bible study night for Cambridge students. It was so effortless for me to fit into a Christian community here, and I'm grateful for how I've been welcomed.]

- Varsity Ski Trip
[Practically every CME person has decided to go, and it's basically a huge party in the mountains so I figure, why not?]

- Eco Racing
[Doing electronics and software simulation for them.]

- Cambridge Union
[pricey, but equally fancy and legit]

- Robinson Chapel Choir
[Ironically, one of the main reasons I auditioned was because I heard there was free formal hall (fancy 3-course meal) provided weekly. Then after I joined, I realized that every meal coincided with the local church's Bible study. Oh the irony.]

- And it's still too many activities, so even though I'm genuinely excited about all of these societies, I'm going to have to whittle them down :(

I'll write about classes/academics at Cambridge (yeah that stuff happens too) soon!