The bronze horse on the front court lawn by modern sculptor Barry Flanagan.

The first thing they say to you: “Don’t touch the horse.”

They would be talking about the life-sized bronze statue standing on the First Court of Jesus College, Cambridge University in UK – the place where I attended the Oxbridge Summer Program for the entire month of July 2010.

Cambridge University is made up of 31 independent colleges, the top five and most well known consisting of King’s, Queen’s, Trinity, St. John’s and Jesus College (my father joked that I’d come out a Jesuit after staying in Jesus College for a month).

For the duration of our stay we would study two subjects, one being our major and the other a minor. Majors would be held everyday except on Sundays, and minors only three times a week.

In all honesty, I was a little apprehensive at first to be staying there, on my own, not knowing anyone or my surroundings; the idea of using up a big chunk of my summer break from school was also not a very inviting prospect.

Well, I was going to be proven wrong.

Rule no. 1

I arrived early on the very first day, in hopes of grabbing a good room in my assigned dorm. Based on the facilities I had requested for, I was placed in North Court; its rooms, I was surprisingly delighted to find, furnished to rival a hotel’s, with a sofa bed, an arm chair, a desk, a bathroom complete with toilet and shower, accompanied by a small pouch of soap, shampoo and conditioner.

Once everyone had been checked in, all students assembled before ‘M’ Staircase, where the deans – our supervisors – briefed us on basic rules and regulations.

So yes, number one: don’t touch the horse in First Court. If spotted, not only will the Porters –those individuals being the security of the college- run out and drag you off the lawn, but charge you with a fine of one thousand pounds.

Also, specific lawns are off-limits to students; apparently a hierarchy exists where only the Fellows, or the professors, are allowed to step on the grass. The single exception is in the “Cloisters” however, where absolutely no one is allowed to tread on, including the Fellows, as this was where a group of nuns had been buried centuries ago.

In the past, Jesus College used to be a 12th century nunnery of St. Radegund, and its chapel stands as the oldest building in Cambridge. There was also the issue of “checking in’’ each night, where we would have to come down between the hours of 10 - 11 p.m. to sign-in with a dean – if even a single minute late, we would be assigned to remain in the study hall the following day as punishment. This was the end of the brief orientation, and with that they released us to dinner, held at the hall, with its high ceiling and positioning of long tables resembling the dining hall in Hogwarts, minus the floating candles.

An essential subject that the deans had failed to explain or rather, show us: how to get around the college.

Jesus College has an innumerable number of courts, each quadrangle having at least five different archways going off in different directions. It would take us quite a while to work out how to get around, along with acquainting ourselves on which grass we could trample on. I soon learned that my major class, Creative Writing, was held over at Library Court, which took around a 5-10 minute walk from my dorm room depending on the speed of my Power Walk.

Of majors and minors

My teacher was Michael Sofranko; he insisting to us nonchalantly that we learn to use a first name basis with him. Quite a friendly and talkative fellow, he was apparently one of the most experienced teachers as he had taught in this particular program for 11 years. I found out later on that his class was also one of the most rigorous as well; we were assigned almost everyday to write a piece, ranging from small poems to full-length short stories. And to top it all off, our major class lasted three and a half hours every morning – quite mind-stretching to start the days off with.

From then on we would be free from 12:30 p.m. to 2 p.m. to either stay or leave the campus. After we had gotten acquainted with our surroundings, my friends and I would usually go into town to grab a quick lunch – there were plenty of cafés and restaurants that were quite friendly to the student’s wallet. We would often quickly buy some paninis from Café Munch, then spend the remaining time touring around the Market Place, virtually the center of town where stalls of all sorts were set up at various times of the day. Noon was also often the time when mobs of tourists would be lolling about, congesting the narrow streets.

Cambridge also homed over 30,000 bicycles, they at times sneaking up behind us and only at the last minute ringing their little bells – essentially telling us to get out of the way.

Minor classes only lasted two hours – from 2 to 4 p.m.. I had chosen Photojournalism for my minor; our teacher, named Jamie, was quite a bright and cheerful young man.

After looking around at the others’ cameras, I soon discovered that another girl and I were the only ones who had brought a point-and-shoot camera; everyone apparently had their own intimidating SLRs.

The class, however, was not as demanding in comparison with Creative Writing. For most of the time Jamie would take us into the town, exploring numerous parks, museums and historic sites, including the only hill Cambridge possesses and the King’s College chapel which was home to the magnificent fan-vaulted ceiling.

Along King’s Parade, there was also the one million pound, 24-carat gold clock with an intricately large, moving, sinister-looking, metal locust resting atop – it apparently signifying the Chronophage; in Greek, meaning the ‘time eater’. This allegedly trying to tell us that “time is short.’’

Every single day there were new activities being posted up on the boards below the Hall – in essence, they wanted to keep us busy. These activities had ranged from talks by Nobel Lauréate winners, attending Shakespearean plays, a ghost tour in the evening, and even a Canadian fellow rapping Chaucer.

On one occasion we were taken down to the River Cam for punting. The way punting worked was that an individual would stand on the platform at the end of the boat, propelling the punt forward by pushing a long pole into the river bank. The highlight of our excursions were the Canterbury and London day trips held on the first two Fridays of the month.

Trip to London and Canterbury

Inevitably Canterbury will always ring a bell with the renowned classic, the “Canterbury Tales’’ by Geoffrey Chaucer; my father being able to buy me a very old copy from G. Davids – a bookseller in Cambridge since 1896. During that trip on the first Friday, the main attraction was when we were brought to the Canterbury Cathedral, it being a historical landmark since the Middle Ages; a time when pilgrims would come from miles away just to visit the shrine of Thomas Beckett, his bones placed in an altar within the Cathedral.

The following Friday, we were then taken to London, where each of our major teachers led us on a tour that they themselves had designed. Mr. Sofranko decided that we would embark on a five mile walk (apparently the most challenging of all the tours), this including strolling along the Thames in order to get a spectacular view of the London Eye, Big Ben and the Parliament Building, crossing the bridge, and reaching our final destination: Westminster Abbey.

As usual, the church was packed with tourists, our class straining to see the ornate tombs of numerous monarchs, and the memorials of distinguished authors, including Jane Austen, Charles Dickens, the Brontë sisters, T.S Eliot, John Keats, and many more. We were then led back to Trafalgar Square where we could assemble with the other major classes to find our friends; the remaining afternoon was spent exploring the city on our own.

All too soon, July 31st arrived – the very last day of the Oxbridge Program. We attended our major class in the morning, as usual, but were then given the rest of our last day to spend time with our friends.

My group set off to the Market Place once again; I, buying 150 grams of olives to munch while we walked, whereas my friend attempted to splurge by purchasing three t-shirts. We spent the remaining afternoon buying chocolates for our families from the confectionery shop on Sidney Street, and afterwards I accompanied my friends to the Rock Shop where they ogled over precious stones and numerous knick-knacks.

Tonight we would not be eating in our regular cafeteria-tray style, but would be served a formal banquet, with a complete appetizer, main course, and dessert, all presented on special gold-leaf platters engraved with “Jesus College’’ in Latin.

Top students

After dinner, there was then the long-awaited awarding ceremony in Wesley Church across the street, where the top student in each Major class would be recognized and presented before the students and faculty.

When Mr. Sofranko stood on stage for his turn, he said that in the past 11 years it was always a student from the United States or Europe who had won this award. I was quite surprised when he pointed at me, saying it is the very first time a student from the Philippines had been chosen.

I was quite stunned, since I believed that many others in my class would deem worthy of the very same award, but proud at the same time as I hope that I have honoured my school and my country.

As the night neared its end, I soon had to say goodbye to my friends as my parents had just arrived to take me to their hotel; apparently the following morning, I would have to get up early for the long journey to Bayreuth, Germany, where we would be watching an opera by Richard Wagner, “Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg’’, before returning to Manila.

In an attempt to make me stay longer for the last formal dance held in the Forum, my friends all dog-piled atop of me, and hid my room key so I couldn’t get my suitcases. As I sadly walked through First Court, waving back to my friends who stood at the archway, I could still see the faint outline of the bronze horse in the darkness.

Oh, how I regret that I wasn’t able to touch it, at least once during my stay at Jesus College – but who says I won’t be back?