Morningsiders Visit Princeton – by Jonathan Lee (Professional Accountancy, Year 3)

If you had asked me whether I was more excited to visit Princeton University or go to the US for the first time, gun to my head, I probably would have said going to the US.

My childhood was full of Hollywood movies, books and the late addition of TV shows, so the US holds a special place in my mind. It represents dreams, bright lights, and Broadway shows, all enhanced by the greasy yet heavenly junk foods that are a thousand times better than the Big Mac meal at MacDonald's.

You could imagine my eagerness when we stepped off the plane. It was very much the same feeling I got when I first went to London after growing up with the Harry Potter series.

Our Whitman College hosts, Sarah and Sindiso, received us at Newark airport and we were happy to see them again. The journey to Princeton from the airport was a gradual transformation from deafening bullet trains to the cozy one-carriage tram called the "Dinky" which crawled along the tracks to our final destination.

Stepping into the Princeton campus is like travelling back in time. The gothic buildings guarded by stone statues were interconnected with fresh lawns and tall trees. It is one of those things that one must personally experience to appreciate. From the oldest building on campus, Nassau Hall, to the numerous students reading on wooden benches under the shade of trees, it is easy to understand why Princeton is known to have one of the most beautiful campuses.

If you are a person who likes to have the occasional periods of solitude for revision or reading, you are in luck, because Princeton is littered with quiet comfortable spots. My favourite place was the foreign language library of East Pyne Hall, which we were taken to by Sonya, who happened to be a Princeton campus guide. The library is a two floored hexagonal hall lined with wooden shelves, which of course were filled with old foreign language books. The outside light flows through the stained glass windows and over the second floor balcony onto the clutter of couches in the middle. If you pay attention to the wood paneled floor, you would notice that it is slightly slanted so if you put a marble at the entrance, it would probably roll all the way to the middle. (I didn't try that of course) One of the best features of this library was its set up. Tall shelves stood at each corner of the hexagon, and divided it up into even smaller spaces.This is a place where many can reside yet still feel sheltered from the entire world.

Another moment that I really enjoyed was the Whitman Coffee House which happens once a semester. It is a time when everyone at Whitman College gathered for an evening of performances. There isn't a stage or a performance schedule, just a group of people in a carpeted room taking turns volunteering a skit they had made, a musical piece they had composed or a song which they couldn't get out of their heads. The warm lighting and the people sitting together on couches and the floor combined to cast a feeling of hominess. I think all four of us shed a tear or two when Sindiso went up spontaneously to sing a Mandarin song a capella. (He had been studying Mandarin for only two years!)

There are many more moments from our trip worthy of mentioning, but fortunately I have run out of space. If the above hasn't been enough to convince you to go to Princeton to see for yourself, I'm sure we (Candy, Neo, Nova, and I) will be more than happy to tell you more tales of our adventure -- Like how Candy got lost on her first day, or how Nova gave up on going to a class for an infinitely more rewarding experience, or how Neo and I chanced upon the love of our life which involved French fries, cheesy sauce and some mysterious gravy.

I thank all the people who helped set up this short visit and made our stay so pleasant. Also, a special note of gratitude goes to Sarah, Sindiso, Sonya and Ray who hosted us in spite of their demanding academics.