My Cambridge experience was a truly enriching one. Having never ventured outside Asia before, I was initially unsure what to expect when I first arrived at Pembroke to read English. However, it did not take me long to realize what a stimulating place Cambridge is. There is opportunity to learn at every corner. If enlightenment didn’t strike during a lecture, it would strike during a conversation with the stranger in the UL tea room, or in the middle of a discussion with my housemate. I particularly enjoyed how Pembroke formal halls would morph into informal cross-discipline seminars. When not defending Alexander Pope over dessert, I enjoyed volunteering for Schools Plus, and organizing poetry workshops for the homeless as president of Hiraeth. Now that I am poised to return for my 5th year at Cambridge, this time as a PhD student, I am forever thankful that I took that leap of faith and applied for the Prince Philip Scholarship all those years ago.

 

Jai is currently a PhD candidate at Cambridge.