Although I miss my one true love — Vassar — it's so interesting to see how another school operates. Cambridge is celebrating it's 800th birthday in 2009. Hard to imagine that a single institution has survived and thrived for nearly a millennium. Walking around the campus, it's easy to see and feel that age. There is history everywhere. Across the street from one of my friend's dormitory is the first English church to break away from Catholicism and embrace Protestantism in the early 16th century. To the left of my other friend's dormitory is Charles Darwin's old apartment from when he was a Cambridge student. In the center of town is The Eagle, a small English pub where students drafted into the War in the 1940s would inscribe their names onto the wall. It's hard to take a walk through the quaint college town of Cambridge without finding some sort of national landmark or historic site. For a nerdy history major like me, it's hard to imagine a better place to spend the summer!
The experience of studying abroad is incredible, and certainly one I would recommend to incoming students. Because of my role as Editor of The Miscellany News this past year, I wasn't able to spend a semester of the academic year abroad. Thankfully, our International Programs Office gave me some excellent advice on places to study for the summer. For more information on Vassar's support for international programs, check out the study abroad Web site. Vassar students literally study across the globe, from Europe to Latin America to Sub-Saharan Africa. The College has a great support network of staff and alumnae/i to help ease any culture shock and give you a taste of home.
