At last, the smoke has cleared! The Tripos are over! I have passed through the gates of Hell perhaps. My goodness, were those exams difficult! As I am used to three hour exams, 1.5 hours is not a lot of time, no matter how many times you may practice in the comfort and safety of your room! In any case, they are over, and now I can begin to relax a little bit as I transition to projects, which start bright and early at 9:00 am tomorrow!
But enough about the Tripos! Today, I am going to talk about a tradition that certainly separates the Cambridge experience from the MIT experience, and that is what is called Formal Halls (a.k.a Formal). Cambridge is all about formality, while MIT seems to be about the lack thereof, at least for students. In any case, formal halls are really fancy dinners (generally after buttery has closed) that are a great opportunity for students and faculty to sit down and enjoy a three or four course meal all decked out in fancy dress, and by fancy, I don't mean suit and tie. Oh no! It's suit and tie (or dress) with gown, and by gown, think of the graduation gowns. Indeed, Cambridge has redefined my understanding of "fancy" and "formal." Despite the "extra" attire, it is a pretty cool experience I think. I mean how many times at MIT would I get to hear grace in Latin before sitting down to eat?
I have attended several formal halls throughout this year, and while I certainly could have discussed this topic earlier in my posts, I wanted to leave it until now when I had attended a reasonable number of them in order to be able to make some generalizations about what to expect should you find yourself attending one during your time at Cambridge. To enumerate:
1) Reserve tickets as soon as possible, as they can run out very quickly! Formal halls are very popular amongst Cambridge students, whether they are at their own college or at another college! So if you are even considering attending such an event, do not procrastinate in terms of making a decision and planning for the event!
2) We humans are (largely) social eaters, so make sure to bring friends and/or family to the formal! When the wine is flowing, and there are noticeable delays between courses (understandably so that you can consume the current course!), being alone at a formal can be extremely awkward. The socializing alongside such a fancy meal is one of the major appeals of formal halls.
3) Oh and did I mention that the wine is flowing? For some, that is in fact a major appeal, as wine (or alcohol in general) is not served at buttery. So if you enjoy a good red wine for example, formal halls are your port (pun not intended) of call!
4) Beware of the penny! While the danger of being pennied (or five-pennied) varies from event to event, the threat does exist! So be on the lookout for any suspicious behaviour on behalf of your neighbouring diners! If you want to enjoy your wine or don't feel comfortable drinking more in such a short period of time, getting pennied will not be, shall we say, optimal. Five-pennying is also not so great since you would hate to soil a perfectly good suit or gown just because you had to consume dessert with your mouth and no hands. As a reminder from a much earlier post, hand on the glass and spoon in your dessert are the tried and true ways of protecting yourself!
5) Make sure to clearly convey your dietary requirements before the event! Compared to normal buttery food, formal hall food is often more complex and comprises more ingredients, increasing the chances of someone having an allergic reaction. Thus, make sure to communicate your dietary requirements as soon as you know you are attending and double check before consuming your food that it does not contain any potentially harmful allergens.
6) Unfortunately, as it seems to be the case with most fancy events, aesthetic gains are often compensated by quantity losses, meaning that the food may look nice and fancy, but the portion size can be smaller. It is a pity that small quantities of good-looking food are not sufficient to fill one's stomach. Thus, if you find yourself in that situation or do not know if that will be the case, you can do two things. One, you can "pre-eat" by eating some food during normal buttery hours for example so that you are partially filled before the formal hall meal, or you can find some food beforehand and leave it in your room for later should you find yourself hungry afterwards. I should also warn that formal halls are generally more expensive, as the price accounts for the work and effort put into the setting up of a fancy environment, the wine, and the nicer food. Going to formal halls are nice, but don't burn a hole in your wallet while doing so!
Well, those are my tips with regards to formal halls! They are a great experience overall, and if you are here abroad in Cambridge, you should attend at least one during your stay! And if you are extra adventurous, try to see if you can attend the formal halls at other colleges! Generally, those are more difficult to attend because the tickets are only offered only to members of the college, so if that is something you want to do, it is in your best interest to make friends at other colleges so that they can take you as their guests!