Pre-University Program at Cambridge International Academy in the UK

I consider this program not as much meaningful as I thought. The money is not worthy enough.
I choose summer school in the UK rather than in the US or any other places is because the UK is the final destination for my university study, one and only. This means I take academics as the most crucial part of the summer school. However, it disappointed me. We used lots of time on travelling and visiting, only one week left for us to learn new knowledge and hence get involved into British unique study atmosphere. Thus, academics is the part which needs lots of improvement in my opinion. Please, do it slowly, do not rush to teach all in only one week.

6 mouths ago, which was the first time for me to go to the UK. 6 mouths later, when I start to review this unique experience, some splendid spectacles came to my mind.

We got to the UK at night, it was a humid country, few cars and many old fashion buildings. Cyclist took up the city, and cows, sheep took up the country side.
Our journey began in Cambridge, dormitory located in Clare collage, the city was surrounded by the river Cam.

A brave trial was proceeding, I literally tasted the liquid of the river, it feels good, as if I am drinking the water from my fish tank.
Somehow, the captain was doing well with other competitors of racing boat. However, we could not avoid the collision with other rowboats. My dear friend, middle finger, part of the left hand, nearly been killed and dropped into the river.

Thanks to Norwich, a city by the sea, provided such special experience to me which was swimming in the stream. A great pirate, Rayman, who turned over the water-bucket-boat, where I was sitting, smiling after taking the captain’s power, controlling my four water buckets. It can’t be worse to both.

Good athlete, actually a friendly biology expert, showed us around the botanical garden of Cambridge under the “roasting” of the Sun. It was a busy day, we visited some of the hothouses, there were many incredible vegetation, some herbaceous leaf had a size like the closet hole, which is so big! The others, like bamboo, was also grown at the other side of the garden.

I am a big fan of Harry Potter, luckily, we went to Harry Potter’s World in London. The flying broom, Nimbus 2000, was selling in the Display window, I can ensure that if my trunk was big enough, I will take one!
An extreme small Hogwarts was place at the end of the gallery. All kids in UK would love to study at Hogwarts including a international pre-wizard which is me. Things had been proved that I can actually summon the broom, as when I said “up”, the controller will press the button, and magically, the broom flowed up.

During the last few days, we joined the formal, it was good, we got beautiful girls there, everyone looks brilliant in Western-style clothes and posh Evening-Dress. We got drinks in the middle of the green and had some chatting with friends and tutors. It gave me a deep impression not because of the beverages, but the peaceful and harmonious atmosphere I never seen in my hometown.

I would like to call the 2019 Summer School Youth. It was our youth and our teen. When I am writing this revision, these memories feel like they happened a long time ago, not because they can’t remind me a lot, but as the decline of human brain and its memory system, but the truth is, the unique experience in the UK does happened, and it never be erased.

Cambridge winter camp program was one of the few times in my life when I devoted myself to my studies.
I learned to debate and how to write their own documents, to understand the history of the British elite schools, the British customs, and students to help each other, but also to get to know a good teacher.
The debating skills I learned during this period of time have always followed me, so that during the two years of study in the later high school, I have always maintained a very high passion and interest in debating this project, and possessed very excellent and profound abilities and skills
This experience has broadened my horizons, improved my abilities, and that will help me a lot in the future.

Nice experience to visit top universities in the UK such as Cambridge, Oxford, LSE, UCL, etc.

Three weeks of lectures given by professionals from Cambridge with the choices from Econ, International relations and Science. Mandatory British style Debate classes as well.

Dedicated activity managers and lovely try of college life. We had day trips in London as well as in Cambridge, city treasure hunt, and outdoor adventure during the weekend. Really nice experience staying with people of similar age there.

On the other hand, hope the diversity of students in terms of nationality could be improved in the future.

Fortunately, as a student who took part in the summer school organised by Cambridge International Academy, I spent approximately twenty days in England last summer. And I am going to share some pieces of precious memories and advice for those who are planning to participate in this summer school.

During the programme, most of time was spent in Clare College. Clare College began in 1326 as University Hall, but was reformed in 1338, when Lady Elizabeth de Clare came to its financial rescue. It also suffered two fires, which destroyed many of its early recordings. Additionally, Clare possesses Cambridge’s oldest stone bridge, built in 1638 by Thomas Grumbold. The chapel, which was consecrated in 1769, is exceptionally pretty, with its ethereally lit lantern tower and elegantly sainted glass, making Clare “more like a palace than a college”.

Each morning, after having a tasty traditional British breakfast at the buttery and saying “ morning” to the stone sculpture of Sir David Attenborough, you can stroll along the path where you can easily see the King’s Chapel adjacent to the Old Court. With songs of birds, you will roamed around Clare Fellow ’ s Gardens which are usually filled with the warmth of sunshine. Then you can walk across the Clare Bridge and a small junction to go back to the building where you will be given lectures. There are two gigantic pine trees standing in the front lawn next to the porter’s lodge, that are not able to be observed completely unless you turn your body round. Passing the library and turn right, you will see Lerner Court and The Gillespie Centre that have laundry and several study rooms.

Clare College is in the centre of university town, surrounded by King ’ s College, Trinity College and Queen’s College (the three most well-known ones) so you can pay a visit to them easily when you have spare time. While walking along the Trinity Lane, you will find yourself at a street market, where you can buy hearty food if you think the food offered in the buttery is not acceptable. You may find basically all what you can think of: Japanese sushi, Italian spaghetti, Chinese hotpot, to name but a few. Normally, you can go to museums (such as Sedgwick Museum of Geology, Museum of Archaeology & Anthropology, Museum of Zoology and the famous Fitzwilliam Museum - they are not very far from the town centre!), galleries (Cambridge Contemporary Art Gallery is recommended, you can buy souvenir postcards with

elegant paintings there. It is the one next to the Corpus Christi Clock) and bookstores (Blackwell, Cambridge University Press Bookstore etc.) after finishing all your assignments, but there are much more options: you can go to do some exercises (maybe in Blue Fitness, but you need to register a membership; or you can go punting on the River Cam) or visit the fantastic Botanic Garden (I am afraid you need to take a taxi as it is a little bit far from the town centre).

In addition, you will also be offered great opportunities to visit other top universities in England. I chose UCL, LSE, University of Bristol and University of Bath, and you can also opt for KCL, IC, University of Nottingham and Loughborough University if they are your preferences. You can communicate directly with officers who recruit new students, and have an authentic feeling of having seen your future universities.

There is much more to introduce, but I think I should keep some to myself. Cambridge is the town that accommodates a myriad of treasures awaiting for you to discover - enjoy it, embrace it, kiss it, and you will find a unique Cambridge that solely belongs to you.

The trip is fun and meaningful. It’s definitely worth of taking. In the first few days of the trip, you will have the opportunity to learn about London, visiting museums, famous streets and well-known sites. You’ll also have a tour to best universities in London such as UCL and ICL. For the rest of the trip, you will live in Cambridge, having a pre-college experience about what college life is. You are gonna take courses there, which are super inspiring and interesting( you will have many games in class), explore Cambridge yourself, and have some fun trips. The only thing I wish this program need to improve is to increase the chance to meet with locals. Besides that, everything is perfect and beyond my expectations.

It’s a good chance to know different but outstanding peers, to try different things and enrich yourselves. For the students who are going to prepare for their personal statements, it provides nice opportunities and access to get much more authoritative advices and opinions from experienced experts in different areas. In this case, students could broaden the horizon and learn much more about the areas they wish to work on in the future, which helping them to not only enable to more more wise choices but to enrich themselves.

I attended the program during my senior school. It allowed us to choose what we want to study and I chose programming. Several other courses are included like debating and writing. It provided us the chance to take part in several amazing activities. We got the chance to be close to the real life of the U.K，from daily meals to sreet scene，as well as the charming history of Cambridge. All the staffs there wonderful and professional. I also made many friends from different areas during the time in Cambridge.