Hiya! My name is Lazuli Kleinhans. I am a native Minnesotan and the official youngest person on the trip. Also, I am a rising sophomore prospective Computer Science major. The last week of the trip was one of stress and studying, with a paper, problem set and final all being due within those 7 days. Because we were busy with completing assignments and studying for the final, there wasn’t much exciting stuff that we did that week. That is, until Friday came around.

After one last study session in the morning before the final, we began our journey over to the building where the testing was to take place. Nerves were tense, as the last 10 weeks had led to this moment. We all sat down, steeled our nerves (or at least attempted to), and began the test. That was the longest 2 hours I had experienced in a while.

Once I finally finished the exam, I immediately felt a wave of relief and excitement wash over me. Relief, as I was done with the last assignment for our classes and I wouldn’t have to prove security again (sorry David), and excitement because the formal dinner was right around the corner.

Formal Dinner

The formal dinner is the last dinner we had together at the end of our study abroad program. This was an event where we all dressed up in the fanciest clothes that we brought and had a high-class dinner with deliciously expensive food, all pre-paid for by the program of course. The dinner was held at and catered by Wolfson College, the college we had been staying at for the last two weeks of our program. It was an absolute blast, and now I get to relive it with you.

At 7pm the festivities began, with all of us meeting on the courtyard in front of the porter’s lodge for pictures. Before the big group picture, we all snapped some photos of our own. Cole and David took a photo together wearing some Pokémon hats, and I took some photos with some friends.

Once everyone was wrangled together and formed rows that were (loosely) based on height, we all put on our best smiles and took the fanciest photo this trip has ever seen.

From there, we all filed into the porter’s lodge and headed upstairs where a dining room was prepared and places were set waiting for us. It truly was a site to see, especially after essentially living off of Sainsbury’s meal deals for the past 10 weeks. At every place, there were three forks, three knives and two spoons, along with a water glass, a coffee cup and saucer, bread and bread plate, and a napkin.

As we set in and got acquainted with our plentiful amount of cutlery, I perused the “menu”, which essentially was just a list of what was to come, and discovered we had a four-course meal ahead of us: an appetiser, the main course, dessert, and coffee. The food sounded delicious, and I couldn’t wait to start.

Appetiser: Pan-Fried Pigeon Breast, Apple and Beetroot Salad with Hazelnut Dressing

Yup, you read that right. Pigeon. The bird. The small bird that is a plentiful resident in most major cities. To explain why we are eating pigeon, I’ll need to bring you back to week one. Near the beginning of the trip, David informed us of a dinner that we would have at the end of the trip. He went on to say that at this dinner we would have the option to try pigeon. See, at this point, the end of the trip seemed so very far away, so I thought, “that sounds cool, sure why not?” Past Lazuli was not thinking of how Future Lazuli would feel about that decision. At this point, Future Lazuli was slightly upset with Past Lazuli. That all changed once they tried the dish, however.

The meat was absolutely delicious, with a texture very similar to the toughness of beef mixed with the density of chicken, and the flavour of the best gravy you’ve ever had. The hazelnut dressing complemented it perfectly, giving the slight nutty and sweet flavour that the dish needed. Moreover, the salad that surrounded the meat was not only delicious on its own but further contributed to the flavour profile of the course and gave a nice, fresh relief from the dense and rich flavour of the pigeon. There were also these small, bright red, teardrop-shaped vegetables that tasted peppery and sweet, and, upon further research, I have come to the conclusion that they are called “sweety drop peppers”.

I talked to some of the people sitting around me about the dish, and I was met with wildly differing opinions. Nana was slightly put off by the meat and said, “I couldn’t stop thinking about the pigeons.” Antonio’s opinion was quite the opposite as he said, “Honestly, the thought of the pigeons was the best part.” Nathan simply said, “Interesting.” Once we finished the appetiser, our plates were cleared and we prepared for the next course!

Main: Pan-Fried Fillet of Seabass, Vanilla and Coriander Sauce, Leek and Potato Rosti, and Baby Vegetables

I wasn’t a huge fan of this dish, for a few reasons. Firstly, I’m a bit picky when it comes to fish. Secondly, the sauce was a bit off-putting. It was oddly sweet and didn’t go great with the fish, and because I have that gene where coriander (also known as cilantro) tastes like soap, it made the sauce taste even worse. That’s where my criticisms end, however. The rosti was delicious and a food that I had never tried before. It is essentially a hashbrown, but with leek mixed into the shredded potatoes and cooked all together. The baby vegetables were really good too, but I wouldn’t call them “baby”, more like “adolescent” at the least. 

I once again asked those around me for their thoughts on the meal, and Sam described the dish as “good” and remarked that it was “food.” Charlie was the odd one out in his review of the meal, as he described it as “delicious.” As we finished the main course, we hoped that the dessert would be a bit late, as we needed some time to digest the two prior courses. Luckily our wishes came true, as dessert came out about 30 minutes later.

Dessert: Banana and Pecan Cake, Maple Caramel Sauce and Chocolate Ice Cream

As a fan of banana bread, I loved this dessert. The cake itself had just the right amount of sweetness and moisture and tasted like real banana, nothing of fake flavouring. The pecans were the perfect pairing with the flavour of the cake as the nuttiness beautifully complemented the banana flavour from the cake and functioned as a slightly bitter contrast to the sweetness of the sponge. I was not a fan of the ice cream; it didn’t work well with the flavour of the cake. I believe that vanilla ice cream would have worked much better. The ice cream by itself, however, was just fine.

With two portions eaten, one being given by an anonymous donor who does not like bananas, I was pleasantly full and ready for the next and final course.

Coffee: Coffee and Chocolates

With three courses come and gone and utensils leaving after each one, we were left with one last item that was yet to be used: our coffee cups.

We were all poured some (hopefully) decaffeinated coffee and each given one square of delicious dark chocolate. 

As we enjoyed our beverages and sweets, the next and final phase of the formal dinner began.

Announcing Photo Contest Winners

Every year, the Off-Campus Studies (OCS) office runs a contest where students from all OCS programs over a whole year submit photos from their travels in hopes to win cash prizes, ranging from $50 to $200. We decided that it would be fun to do our own photo contest with just the people on the trip and less high-stakes prizes. To do this, we all submitted 5 of our best photos that we took during the trip, and then voted on our top 3 favourites out of a trimmed-down list of the top 27 photos decided on by Maryam and an impartial third party. The votes were tallied up and then announced after the formal dinner.

Prize 1: Best Underappreciated Photographs

This award went to two people whose photos were either not voted for or not chosen by the trimming team, and was therefore thought to have gone underappreciated. The awarders still wanted to honour the quality of the photos, and therefore awarded this to the winners: Kitty Tyree and Ethan Ash. Their prize was a bag of Maltesers (Whoppers but British) which they were instructed to split between the entire group and apparently was supposed to be an underappreciated prize? (sorry David but I just don’t see it)

Prize 2: Best Portfolios

This award went to the two people whose photos collectively got the most votes, but none of them won any other prize. This award went to Kimberly Yip and… (drum roll please) …yours truly. Wahoo! Our prizes were socks from each of the two colleges that we stayed at, so one pair was from Homerton and the other was from Wolfson. I am still a bit confused about which one I got, but from what I can tell I have the Wolfson socks.

Perhaps David can enlighten us in the comments! nudge nudge

Prize 3: 1st, 2nd and 3rd Place Photos

These awards went to the people who simply got the most votes on their photos.

3rd Place: Sydney Nguyen

2nd Place: Hannah Moran

1st Place: Alistair Pattison

The winners of these awards also got college socks, but also got a keychain to match. Once the awards had been distributed to the correct parties, we moved on to the surprise round.

Surprises!

To thank Maryam for all she had done on the trip (and is continuing to do as I am writing! Thank you Maryam!), David got her a Cambridge-themed calendar that we all signed somewhere within it, maybe on our birthday, a day of significance, or wherever we pleased, and surprised her with it at the dinner. But that wasn’t the only surprised person that evening.

To thank David for all he had done on the trip, all of the students pooled some money together to get him a fancy and expensive silk scarf that we saw at a silk museum we visited and had some relevant imagery on it. Specifically, it had a picture of punch cards used in a Jacquard Loom, a machine that we studied many times during our time in Britain.

After an emotional thank-you speech from David, the dinner was officially adjourned. As we said our theoretically temporary goodbyes to the people who began as classmates and eventually evolved into friends that we had spent the last 10 weeks with, we slowly filed out of the dining room one by one, going back to our rooms to pack for wherever we were going the next day.

Conclusion

I really enjoyed the formal dinner. It not only was fun to have a fancy dinner with many courses, but it also served as a nice bookend to the trip. It gave us the ability to reflect on the experiences we had together while also being able to celebrate the trip as a whole. I will never forget the time that I spent with everyone on the trip, and I hope we can continue to spend time together on campus to continue our adventures a little closer to home.