This House Believes

I kept pretty busy last week. On Tuesday I wrote a manifesto. Wednesday I was elected to the Cambridge Union Society’s House Committee. Thursday I attended a debate at the Union Society titled, “This House Believes Religion is the Opiate of the Masses.” Friday I tasted chocolate until my stomach hurt and then bar-tended at the Union. Over the weekend, I hosted a visit from a friend, and on Sunday I went apple tasting at the Cambridge Botanical Gardens.

To clarify, the ‘manifesto’ was a one-page flyer (that was restricted to being black and white, devoid of curved lines – straight lines were okay, and to having a single black and white mug shot), which I was aloud to create for my campaign to get elected to the House Committee. I did get ‘elected’ to the House Committee, but it was a lot easier than it should have been since the election was canceled when someone resigned from the committee.

The debate on religion was pretty cool. A member of parliament debated for the opposition, and Prof. Simon Blackburn debated for the proposition. The debate got ugly, but it was nice that my friend PJ, who was in town, got to see the debate from the floor of the chamber.

The chocolate tasting was really cool. I got to taste cacao beans just after they were harvested, after they had been roasted, and in all kinds of chocolate bar concoctions. All of the chocolate was organic and mighty tasty.

The apple tasting was pretty cool on Sunday – people were waiting hours in line to do it. Fortunately, I ran into some friends toward the front of the line and was able to taste the apples without the long wait. The gardens themselves were probably even more amazing than the 50 or so apples that we tasted. Mom and Aunt Alison/Jan will certainly enjoy them when they visit in the spring…

This week I’ve been sick with a very soar/swollen throat.
Tonight, Achmed Chalabi (former President of Iraq) will be at the Union, and on Friday I am meeting with a Fellow (who happens to be a woman) who might serve as my thesis supervisor.

Lots of reading for today…

Hope all is well!