Just ‘cause you party with 20-somethings doesn’t mean you are one, and other observations.

Hello, Voyagers!

What’s it like heading back to school, in another country, for another master’s degree, in a different field, and with kids my former students’ age now being my peers?  Odd. But whereas I had fears of being rejected like Elle Woods in Legally Blonde…

But nope. It’s been nothing like that.

So, you know how they say that youth is wasted on the young? I say, education is too often wasted on the young. I appreciated my first graduate studies more than my undergrad, but I was still such a youngster! This here, my friends, is simply the university experience I wish I had had then. And not just because I get to wear Harry Potter robes to ceremonies and formal dinners. (Although it is pretty cool. Not gonna lie.)

I mean, it’s awesome to get to do that stuff. And to stroll down the ancient streets.

And go punting on the river.

And dine in Queens’ Old Hall, the prettiest in all of Oxbridge!

But it’s because of the people. Cambridge University is its own unique ecosystem of brilliant, witty, kind, interesting and odd characters. And, Queens’ College, my beloved home away from home, could not be more welcoming to this old-ish lady and her husband. And Criminology?  You people are just the moooooost fun. (#irony?)

Criminology college bar pub crawl.

Told you: the most fun.

For a girl with a coupla degrees from Texas Tech, a university that wasn’t even on the list of schools in the drop-down list on Cambridge’s application page, I was prepared to be intimidated AF at these brilliant young people, sure that these future Nobel Prize winners would take one look at my old-assed self and not want one thing to do with me. But, no. 

I have made very close friends here.

Great Gatsby night in Queens’ Old Hall with my beautiful friends.

And I am reminded of something so magical about university life: how quickly friendships can form, how everyone is, if not in the same boat, at least rowing in the same direction, so to speak. and how people from all walks of life, from different nations and religious views (not to mention neuroscientists and Classics majors!) can come together with ease.

It’s not all been sunshine and roses. Truly, this academic year has been a bit of an emotional one. The London Bridge attack on my department, and the loss of two beloved Criminology people, one of whom was also a Queens’ member, shook us. Lots of tears, questions, and days of walking around like zombies. My college had a racist graffiti incident early in Michelmas term. I do not know the details of the graffiti, but I do know this: the response from the college was swift and definitive. So…perfect? No. Not perfect. Just overall, positive and, yeah, all evidence points to, people are trying to do better.

On a happy note, though, a very pleasant surprise for this Texan? How many people tell me that they like my accent! Like, I have truly never, ever in my entire life had anyone mention my accent, other than to ask where I am from because, you know, I have no accent!  But Uber drivers, professors, even the dentist, all compliment it! And, my dear Texans, please rest assured that I have not lost my “y’all.”  That will never leave my vocabulary. Ever.

More fun with my Queens’ peeps at Great Gatsby night.

So, now that we’re in the middle of Lent term, and I am looking at a calendar full of formal swaps, feasts, midtables, and wine and cheese nights, I gotta remind myself that these lovely and brilliant people are young enough to party like rock stars and still make those 9 AM classes looking fresh as a daisy… 

Crim people movie night.

Turns out the horror movie we watched was, like, full of sex. Surprising! And hilarious.

…because, just ‘cause you party with 20-somethings, doesn’t mean you are one.

My birthday is coming up, and my new friends have talked me into having a party at my house, where they have promised to make me a rocks-no-salt margarita. Or four. Or five.

(Please, praying to tiny Baby Yoda in a floating pod, let me survive it!)