I follow a blog called Anglotopia, which is run by a guy that lives near Chicago who loves all things Britain just like me and who did a short course at the University of Oxford a few summers ago. It sounded like such a dream and I wondered if Cambridge did something similar and, lo and behold, they do!
Short courses are run through the Institute of Continuing Education at the University of Cambridge and range from a weekend to the whole summer. Most of them are just for fun, but there are a few that can earn college credit. There are a variety of topics and I looked at their offerings late last year. They happened to have a weekend course about Oliver Cromwell, a British history topic that was perfect for me. I love learning in a structured format and, in another life, I probably would've gotten degrees in history. I booked myself a spot.
The lectures were held at a building about 20 minutes' drive outside of Cambridge called Madingley Hall. The hall dates back to the mid-1500s. They offer accommodations for you to stay overnight, which is just what I needed. The course was from Friday evening to Sunday afternoon.
I arrived late afternoon on Friday and was able to check in right away. The room was pretty basic, but completely adequate. Meals were taken in the dining hall with participants from the lecture series I had signed up for, along with participants from four other classes. It was a full room with about 100 people.
Here's what the dining hall looks like.
I hadn't spoken more than two consecutive sentences to any one person since I had arrived in England, so eating that first dinner with strangers was jarring. The few people near to me at the table were super friendly and easy to talk to, though. I met Ann from Blackburn and Peter from Bedford. I always say I'm from Chicago because it's easier. We talked about our backgrounds and why we were taking the course. (Pretty much for shits and giggles.) We talked about cheese being dessert in England. (It actually isn't a common thing.) We talked about Americans being more assertive and confident. (I assured them that not all Americans are; I would rather blend into the background.) I accidentally got sparkling water instead of still water. (Blech.)
We had our first lecture after dinner that evening, an introduction to the early life and career of Oliver Cromwell. Here is a quite brief synopsis of who Oliver Cromwell was: In the mid-1600s, some peeps in England didn't want a king anymore because they thought him tyrannical. There was a war between Royalists (those who wanted to keep the king) and Parliamentarians (those who wanted Parliament to rule instead). This war is called the English Civil War. Oliver Cromwell led a lot of battles and had a lot of influence over what happened in the war. The king ended up losing his head. 😬 Oliver Cromwell became "lord protector" for a while, essentially serving as a king himself. But then he died and they brought back kingship again a little while later. Please don't quote me on this history lesson.
The entrance to Madingley Hall
The lecturer was David L. Smith, who is a professor at the University of Cambridge and, as I learned, is one of a few preeminent scholars on Oliver Cromwell. He was very knowledgeable. He pronounced my name "Sah-rah." I didn't take a photo of him but I should've. He mentioned Miranda Malins who wrote two books I read earlier this year. She was his PhD student a while ago. The books are called Puritan Princess and The Rebel Daughter and the main characters are two of Oliver Cromwell's daughters. Her books were all I really knew about Oliver Cromwell going into this weekend. Historical fiction is my main mode of learning.
I learned a lot from these lectures and mostly enjoyed them. I'd be lying if I said I was completely intrigued the whole time. There were two lectures specifically where I definitely was feeling sleepy. The format was very "listen while I talk and questions are welcome at the end." I would've enjoyed more of an interactive type of learning environment or, at the very least, questions being encouraged during the talks so that it could be more like a discussion. There were 25 people including me in the class.
The meals were all yummy, but I had to force myself to be social. There was one woman perhaps a few years older than me that, at one meal, motioned for me to come sit closer to the group. I'm fine eating on my own, but I did move my seat and chatted with some folks. I ended up eating with that same woman at another meal; her name was Lou. She was sort of incredulous that I would come all the way from the US to do this sort of course. What can I say? I'm a nerd.
We had some free time to explore the grounds at Madingley. I loved it there. This is a church up the road from the hall.
I looked at all the headstones and this was the oldest readable one.
Gosh, I love an old headstone. The language, the art.
Here are some more photos from around the grounds. It was nice to enjoy a short hike, but I got rained on again!
It was a nice weekend overall and I'm glad I did the course, but I wouldn't do it again. I thought I would enjoy it more than I did and was ready to move on. I think it was the combination of forced social time (or awkwardly keeping to myself) and the format of the lectures.
I packed up a little early on Sunday afternoon before our final session because I was just ready to go and wanted to get into London. (I wonder if Lou was sad I didn't say goodbye.) I called for an Uber and made my way to the Cambridge train station. More fun was to be had in London.
