Week two of classes has come to an end and one could say the students of PKP are feeling the heat. Exams for module one classes were due last Friday and our dissertation deadlines loom in our near future. The libraries are becoming increasingly populated and nights of going out with friends to pubs or around town are being replaced with nights of studying.
You'll hear no complaints here, though. Studying philosophy and literature in Cambridge's historic libraries until the late hours of the night may not be appealing to the general population but I quite enjoy it. Though it is slow and difficult work, I really feel like I am learning and passionately so, something that contrasts my academic pasts. My professors are so passionate and interesting when they teach I have genuinely learned more in two weeks here than in a semester in the past.
The first class I am taking is called "Metaphysics and Philosophy of Mind". As someone who had no previous exposure on the subject of philosophy, that class has been both my challenging and my most rewarding. I have been very intimidated, but I truly believe great things never come from within one's comfort zone. My professor, Dr. Adam Stewart-Wallace, is absolutely incredible. I have never had a more engaging and brilliant professor. I was looking through a blog from PKP 2 years ago by Sophia Wix (you can find it here) and found a blog entry where she talked about her experience in the same class. My favorite part was how she described Adam saying, "He always wears a sort of baggy, Egyptian cotton pant with a classy button-down shirt, sneakers, and cool rimless glasses. Though he seems younger, he has a strikingly brilliant mind". Though two years have passed, I could not conjure a better explanation. He still arrives daily in his button-down shirt, sneakers, and rimless glasses accompanied by the same brilliant mind ready to teach and to learn from his students.
Apart from having an amazing professor, I have loved the diversity the class brings. We have people from different countries and backgrounds studying all types of things who each bring a unique and powerful take on every topic we study. I, a theatre major, can discuss one theory with a neuroscience major, a film major, a philosophy major, and an english major, each one bringing their own view and knowledge to the discussion.
I am completely in love with the Cambridge style of learning. Classrooms feel collaborative. It feels like the professors are there to teach but also to learn and to really foster the students they get to interact with. At home, class feels like something to tick off a check list, something I have to do. Here, you can find me coming to class ten minutes early with an open notebook and an open mind because I genuinely want to take part in the experience it is to learn in these world class lectures, and I am so thankful for the opportunity to do so.
It already feels like the weeks are slipping by too quickly here so I am really trying to make the most out of each day.
Anyways, I am on to write my dissertation for my metaphysics class armed with only a Venti macchiato and a mind full to the brim with cluttered thoughts.
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