SUMMER STUDIES AT THE UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGEBy Rebecca Bennett (’07)
A BYU honors student tells of her learning experiences at Cambridge University in England.
Listen to Rebecca Bennett read her essay as you view photos of Bennett and her fellow students.
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That first fateful meeting with Professor Howard Erskine-Hill left me shaking with crushed expectations. I feared that I would have no time to write my honors thesis, which was my whole purpose in going to Cambridge. On first inspection Professor Erskine-Hill presented little cause for concern. His white hair and bespectacled eyes, quiet voice, and expressionless face engendered calm and trust. As I asserted what I felt was my right to research my honors thesis, the Emeritus Fellow of Pembroke College, Cambridge, made his formidable presence felt. No longer expressionless, Erskine-Hill’s face took on a startled and somewhat ruffled appearance. I could just imagine the seasoned scholar thinking, Who does this girl from who-knows-where think she is? As I emerged from R Staircase at the back of Pembroke’s public gardens, I marveled that I was only two days into my dream Study Abroad and already making enemies. This certainly is going to be a sacrifice, I fumed, upset that Professor Erskine-Hill was allowing me to research only one of four Tennyson poems I had already settled on.
With one-third of my honors undergraduate thesis in hand, I arrived at Cambridge University July 2, 2006, full of expectations for stimulating intellectual discussions, private tutoring, and completion of honors requirements. My introduction to Oxbridge teaching and tutoring paradigms was an eye-opener: no homework except what you wanted to pursue on your own, a lively professor, field trips to the Gothic cathedrals we were studying, and conflicting viewpoints on how I should pursue my honors thesis. Despite this frustration a welcome surprise came in that first week during my Gothic Architecture seminar. Seated in St. Benet’s Parish Church, I deduced that the church was originally used as Corpus Christi’s College Chapel. With a wave of the hand, our professor christened me Sherlock Holmes on the spot. Other welcome reprieves from disappointed expectations came as I explored part of Cambridge, punted on the Cam, and visited King’s College Chapel for Evensong, an evening Anglican prayer service with the famed King’s College Boys’ Choir.
Two weeks from our first visit, I was seated once again in Professor Erskine-Hill’s office. I read him my essay on “Buonaparte,” asserting that Tennyson took the phrase “hearts of oak” from the Roman poet Horace. Upon my conclusion Professor Erskine-Hill looked at me with a sly smile. “Rebecca, I am almost convinced . . . almost.” After discussing what clues I had turned up regarding the etymology of the phrase “hearts of oak,” Professor Erskine-Hill said that this topic would be perfect for a journal like Notes & Queries. I thought nothing of his suggestion until I filled in one of our BYU advisors on my continuing frustrations with honors thesis work. Several days later I received an e-mail from our other advisor, who suggested that I write the article for my honors thesis. The frustrations of past weeks took on a much less dire aspect, and I eagerly agreed to pursue the possibility.
At my next supervision, Professor Erskine-Hill agreed to work with me on the article. As we came to the conclusion that this was an opportunity not to be passed up, we found common ground, and our mentored relationship blossomed. Over the following weeks I transformed from thesis martyr to instinctive scholar, following leads from research in a way that would make Sherlock Holmes proud. Thesis frustrations out of the way, I was finally able to settle into Cambridge and began making close friends with fellow students from BYU and other U.S. universities.
Not only did our student group eat and have classes together, but we also planned outings to places like the Orchard in Grantchester. A popular stomping ground for Cambridge students, the Orchard first came to prominence as the meeting place for the Bloomsbury Group, a loose organization of Cambridge friends ranging from the poet Rupert Brooke to the philosopher Wittgenstein to writer Virginia Woolf. We formed our own Bloomsbury group that day at the end of July as we sat beneath trees, tea and scones in hand, discussing the relative merits of privilege and exclusion in Cambridge community dynamics. Other highlights came as I recited “The Lady of Shallot” while punting in August twilight, visited the Tennyson Research Centre at Lincoln, and explored the vault and roof of King’s College Chapel.
The weeks passed all too quickly. Finally, it was my second-to-last supervision and I was beginning to realize how much I appreciated and would miss Professor Erskine-Hill. At my invitation, he met me at King’s College for our second-to-last Formal Hall. Standing on the back lawn of King’s, Professor Erskine-Hill shared with me his favorite Isaac Watts poem from a prized eighteenth-century volume of hymns. We discussed religion throughout dinner, concluding that Rembrandt produced some of the most memorable images taken from the Bible. Though differing on specific points of doctrine, our shared commitment to spiritual pursuits brought us closer.
In our final week, I met with Erskine-Hill in his new office overlooking a quiet, cobbled street outside of Pembroke College. We discussed “In Memoriam,” my success at the Tennyson Research Centre, and what I planned on doing after I graduate. As we said goodbye, I handed Professor Erskine-Hill a parting gift: a framed picture of us taken at the previous week’s Formal Hall.
Studying with Professor Erskine-Hill is one of the most valuable experiences I took from my studies at Cambridge. Once I was willing to listen, he was able to share years of accumulated wisdom with me that improved my mind in different ways. Since my return from Cambridge, friends and family have noticed small changes for the better that have allowed me to pursue my full potential. Like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle slowly fitting together, the different gifts and experiences I have been blessed with form a larger, more significant picture. I left part of myself in Cambridge, but it is also now a fundamental part of who I am.
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