Feeling very restless today, unable to do any work anymore, I've decided to come tell the story of my adventure in Cambridge.
Cambridge, famous for the University for being one of the top in the world, in my opinion, almost on par with Oxford and Harvard University. It is also the place where football is first played, back in 1800s by the students of the University.
Having visited so many different places in the UK, I was coming to the conclusion that, most places, be it town or city in UK, is about the same. Same architecture, same house designs, same same same. That however, cannot be said to Cambridge. It is by far, the most traditional English place I've seen to date. Even the houses along the road looks very, different. They had a lovely, relaxing sort of look from them. Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures of them, due to time constraint.
In Cambridge, there's nothing much to do, except for a few must-do's. First, is to go punting, a traditional boat, named a punt, thus the verb punting, on the canal. It isn't the best adventure out there, but I think its worth going into the punt, and travel along the canal and have a look at the beautiful lush greens, with the ancient fascinating architecture of the century old colleges of Cambridge University.
I personally went before to grand places where, in my opinion, photography always fail to capture the grandness of the place itself, because, it simply isn't photogenic. However, in Cambridge, I feel each and every colleges look so grand, and yet so ancient, and when a photo is taken, it still feels very grand inside it. Amazing. Some examples of the colleges are Trinity, St John, King's and Queen's Colleges.
St John's College
King's College Church/Cathedral
Cambridge, is also a little town with many bridges. Mainly, it connects the parts in within the colleges. One of the more famous one is the Bridge of Sighs. This is the bridge where students have to walk to their examinations hall, thus the name. And then there's the Mathematical Bridge. Legend/History has it that, the Cambridge students from the past once calculated precise mathematics so that the bridge is upheld without any nails or pegs. Once, another group of student took it down to look at it, however, they found themselves unable to put it together anymore, therefore, resulting in the use of nails and pegs to hold the newly constructed bridge.
The Bridge of Sigh
Cambridge also gives me a feel of a world where the modern society meets the ancient architecture. You can have anything in Cambridge (except Asian stores, its rare!) ranging from bakeries, patisseries, Gourmet Burger Kitchen (the best burger restaurant in UK!), McDonald's, but then, all of them are inside the olden days buildings. Even the famous UK pharmacy change their usual pendarflour lit blue signage to a stone carving signage. Amazing!
There shouldn't be any problem eating around here, however, the one place I will recommend personally, because I tried it, is the Eagle Pub, where I had my lunch. Yes, its a pub. However, their food is the best I've ever eaten in UK. I ordered a traditional UK Fish and Chips. It taste excellent!!! I dare say its better than Loch Fyne's! And it is way cheaper than Loch's, costing only 7 GBP if I'm not mistaken (don't convert to RM). The environment is good too, old looking, clean, cosy and quiet when I was there. This pub also has a great history, this is where Watson & Crick enjoys beer while discussing theories on DNA, when they were researching about it.
Gotta love their furniture
In the end, I think Cambridge is worth visiting. A place full of history, beautiful architecture, big lush greens, lovely canal, and plenty of bridges, each, with their very own history.
4 tiring, fun, awesome, amazing months, and Malaysian Night 2010 is finally over. If only I could turn back time, I would do it now, back to 4 months ago, where I first started working with the whole team for this amazing night. And when I reach this date, I will turn it back again. It is seriously my best 4 months. I've never worked so emotionally into one project before.
Everyone that is with us until the end, is now like a family member to me. Like my mother, my sister, my brothers. It might not be the best Malaysian Night Nottingham University have ever seen, but to me, the crew and cast of Malaysian Night 2010 were the best people I've known.
Not much people know, backstage, we lacked man power, we lacked resources, we lacked volunteers. It is through friends, that we managed all the lacks. So here, I would like to salute all my friends who willingly or unwillingly volunteered, helped and stayed with me till the very end of the Night. YOU GUYS OWN THE NIGHT!
I was glad that we managed to sell 290 tickets for the night. I was pretty worried we might not make the target of 250. To some, it might seem little, but to me, as part of the committee and the cast, I am very thankful for the audience, they also made the night possible.
Unfortunately for us, the play experienced certain technical misfortune, and this lead to certain someone writing a lovely review for us. All I can say about this review is, it is harsh. Probably damn lot more harsh than Simon Cowell on American Idol. Its like, this review, is written without thoughts of us working so hard to make this night even possible, and possibly even hating the whole play, the whole process. Unfortunately for that guy, I won't be sad or upset over this review. I'll just take it as a chance to improve our mistakes. Thanks for your pointers.
Overall, I think the play is quite alright. The actors and actresses did all their part greatly. I would like to thank all the extras who sacrificed their study times to help us out. They were truly amazing, appearing in more scenes than me, the main villain. Without them, this play would be so meaningless too. So to Kan Fong Wen, Darren Leom, Yap Tsi Ngar, Nicholas Tie, Alimin, Cha, Akmal, and someone else (can't remember the name) here's a salute to you guys. THANK YOU!!!
In the end, the play might not be perfect, but unbelievable strong bonds have been forged out of the play between the cast and crew. And I'm still very glad I've joined Malaysian Night 2010. My very very very best experience in Nottingham University, UK. I love you guys, and I will miss you guys a lot. I always hoped it never ends, but unfortunately, we live in a real world.
This Saturday, will definitely be one of the most memorable Saturdays of all my life. This Saturday, is our Nottingham's very own Malaysian Night.
I still remember the day I was nominated into the committee. It started all as a prank. I knew my friend and housemate schemed to nominate me in, so before they could do so, I nominated one of them in, but he also nominated me in at the same time, and that is how both of us ended up being a part of the committee.
There were around 10 of us up there. We all have a chance of becoming the top 6 of the committee. Up there, its just a norm for everyone to give their "influential" speech, trying to brainwash everyone there into voting for them. I did mine rather quickly, and without much content. Just the usual I'll-do-my-best bullshit.
Back then, I used to think, is it my luck I have so many friends in Nottingham University, I got voted into the top 6 committee? I knew the whole Engineering Faculty was behind my back, plus my friends from Pharmacy, I think that's almost half of those that attended the event. I was cursing my luck then, because I know this will require a lot of work, and I will need to do well for my 2nd year, which means extra hard work!
But now, after going through ups and downs with these friends I've known from Malaysian Night event, I find myself dreading the day when this whole event will be over. I've never been this committed to anything I've done so far. I'm part of the committee, also part of the cast, and also part of a performance by the committee. I really get to know some really great crazy friends here. I also enjoy being around them.
Eventhough my everyday is filled with rehearsals for the big play, I find myself liking these rehearsals more and more by the day, because its like a place for me to enjoy myself, both in acting, and in talking trash with these new friends of mine.
Everyday, the walk back home at 9.30pm is the saddest walk I've walked here. That is because, I know, that is the walk back to reality, back to homeworks, courseworks and studies.
Malaysian Night 2010, I will remember you forever for many reasons, one of them, is because of you, my new friends, who made my life worth more than it was before this =) And to you, my old friends, thanks for voting me in then =)
