Cambridge

 Although the proud winners of the simply science project had to awaken earlier this beautiful Tuesday morning, and had a long, two-hour bus journey to the campus of Cambridge, it was definitely well worth it.

The morning started off with a brilliant lecture in the biochemistry faculty building, where Bill Broadhurst, a professor at Cambridge, talked about a discovery of his (along with several other colleagues, of course). The lecture was titled "Dirt, drugs and kissing", and contained various interesting information about antibiotics and was followed by a short overview of Cambridge generally and admission possibilities for the science sector.

After that we ate lunch at the beautiful St. Peter's hall. The food was delicious, the line to the bathroom was long, but supplied us with several versions of a fun group picture.

After lunch we embarked on a long, informational walking tour, led by a Hungarian, second-year student, who told us of, amongst other things, the perils and struggles of the female student. As we learned, the last college to accept women into their curriculum and give them access to graduation at all, did so in 1988. The students at the time, all men, held a funeral concession to mourn the "death of education", as they assumed it would inevitably be threatened by the presence of women.

Although our qPCR workshop was unfortunately canceled, we were able to experience a lively boat tour, or punting as the English call it. We saw the various colleges from a new perspective and our three guides were university students themselves, and were able to answer our individual questions.

Even though we had free time, most of the students opted to accept the kind offer of a drink at the famous The Eagle pub. It was in this pub that the amazing discovery of the double helix DNA-strand was announced with the words, "we just discovered the secret of life".

The day ended with a delicious meal at the Olive Grove, a Greek restaurant. Although there was more than enough food to go around, it was perfect for the cherry-on-top of a wonderful day at cambridge.

And we give many thanks again to roche and the organisers of the science on the move trip for such an amazing itinerary!