Author: Jacob Huneycutt Major: History, International Studies, Anthropology Country: England  

This summer, between July 7th and August 18th, I have been studying abroad as a student at Pembroke College at the University of Cambridge, as part of the Pembroke-King’s Summer Programme. In this program, I have been given the opportunity to take two classes – one history class about the modern history of Europe, and one English class about various writers who have written about Cambridge or been from Cambridge from 1209-onwards; as well as an independent research project, supervised by a fellow at Cambridge, on a group of Baptists called “Particular Baptists,” the ecclesiological networks they formed first in England and Wales, and then in colonial America, and how the way in which they were structured was a contingent factor in the success of the Baptist denomination in the American South. The classes have been both fun and challenging, and the instructors helpful and knowledgeable. I chose this program because, for one, the mere opportunity to study at the University of Cambridge is frankly an opportunity that should not be turned down – it is one of the most historic universities in the world, and it is the perfect place at which to study for someone who is fascinated with early modern British and American history and the early Protestant history. Since I plan to proceed to graduate school and work towards being a history professor, this program also greatly advances my professional and academic goals, as it looks great on a resume, provides me with important connections, and gives me a foothold in historical research – making it easier for me to complete my honors college thesis and submit a writing sample to graduate schools to which I apply. 

One of the most interesting things I have done whilst in England is traveling around and seeing all of the historical churches, castles, pubs, colleges and towns. Cambridge itself is an incredible hotspot for all of this – there are dozens of colleges that make up the university – a college being a subsection of the university to which students belong and at which they live, eat and socialize – all with impressive medieval architecture and elaborate courts and gardens (but you cannot, absolutely cannot, walk on the grass!). Words cannot describe how awe-inspiring it is to simply do daily activities in buildings that are hundreds of years old, at which thousands of important people in the past did the same, normal daily activities as you are doing. In the city, moreover, there are dozens of churches that date back to the Gothic era, and one that even dates back to the eleventh century!  

Christian history runs deep in Cambridge, and it can certainly be argued that the Protestant Reformation in England emanated from there, as, right by where the King’s College Bar is – where many of my program’s activities have been held – is where Thomas Cranmer, Hugh Latimer, William Tyndale, Miles Coverdale, and others – the most important men in early the English Reformation – purportedly regularly met and discussed Lutheran ideas. Right there! Right across the street, at Great St. Mary’s Church, Erasmus of Rotterdam preached a sermon before the Reformation occurred, bringing his humanist ideas to Cambridge; and after the Reformation, there, Queen Mary burned the ashes of Martin Bucer – another important reformer, and Queen Elizabeth then collected the ashes (somehow) and gave them a proper burial, which can still be seen at the church today. Right down the road, at St. John’s College, Thomas Clarkson entered an essay competition on slavery that led him to become an abolitionist, and one of his peers at that college just happened to be William Wilberforce, who would come to the cause a few years later after becoming an evangelical Christian. One of my program’s plenary lectures was at a church just across the street from Pembroke College, where I stay, and once in the church, I looked at the stained-glass windows – commemorating Oliver Cromwell and John Milton. Cambridge was effectively home-base for both of these important seventeenth-century Parliamentarians, and, in fact, I learned, Oliver Cromwell’s head is buried at Sidney Sussex College! I went to go look for it, but could not find it – because, actually, nobody knows where it is but the master and the chaplain of the college, who pass the knowledge down through the generations of masters and chaplains. I do not know if I could ever get fully accustomed to walking every day in the footsteps of so much history – it has a way of making one feel that they are not worthy to be studying and living in Cambridge. And yet, this program has given me the remarkable opportunity to do so. 

This blog-post has been very specific to the subject of history, but, regardless of one’s major, I would strongly recommend that he or she participate in this program. The University of Cambridge also has a remarkable history in the fields of science – having won eighty-three Nobel prizes in just scientific fields; and, now, the city is home to one of the most important technology hubs in the world, dubbed the “Silicon Fen.” I am the only student who is attending this program from the state of Arkansas, yet this program has showed me that the University of Arkansas Honors College is easily on par with the other universities around the world whence students in the program have come. If you want a life-enriching experience that will give you the opportunity to advance your academic and professional goals in one of the most historical and prestigious settings possible and let you meet all sorts of students from all around the United States, from Egypt, Lebanon, France, Hong Kong, Singapore, or wherever else students in the program come from next year, apply to the Pembroke-King’s Summer Programme!