I love how this is the only arena in life it's okay to be an asshole about.

Didn't say the whole city was pretentious: I said the outskirts were rural.

I've worked in homeless shelters for ten years, in different states and countries. Just saying, good litmus test of an area. I refer you to my original and still continuing point: to me, studying in Cambridge was not a life-altering epoch of an event. It was a degree, which is a moderate and tempered way to put it,…

I'm always shocked by the International kiddos who basically vacation in England while getting their degrees. No idea what the fuck they're studying, but I was learning Greek, writing a 20,000 word dissertation plus two 5,000 word term papers, going to conferences, tutoring English language learners, publishing…

Nothing. Not a cent. I wasn't going to pay for a goddamn master's degree as a matter of personal principle, so I only competed for scholarships that covered the whole shebang. The Rhodes, Marshall, and Gates are three such scholarships: they even pay for your plane ride to the UK and your train ride to your Uni. They…

The only University worth its salt I've ever been to that didn't act completely assholish about its status is MIT.

It's pretty rural outside the University. Nothing wrong with it, bucolic is nice, but I'm from Texas originally, and bucolic doesn't really excite me enough to be a life-changing experience at this point. Walking past grazing cattle on the way to Fen Ditton is charming and what not, but it's also pretty identical to…

You sure about that? The Marshall Scholarship sure called it "free" when I won the goddamn thing. And to whit: I didn't pay a dime.

Side note, I wish I understood the allure of getting hammered. I can't drink alcohol for health reasons, and being upset or remotely sad about that has never even entered my mind. Drunk people just seem sort of belligerent and sloppy, then they whine about it the next day.

One of the things I most hated about Cambridge was how impressed it was with itself. I still sort of resist the notion of 'experiencing' it on those grounds. It's a school. It has an inflated idea that it's more, but it's that. A good school, but its elitism leaves much to be desired.

I wouldn't do that silly gown bullshit, either. Just sort of a lone ranger, I suppose.

To the contrary: I got a free degree.

No, other students tried to get me to go with them from St. John's. I just didn't want to sit in a boat with a bunch of drunk econ grads and wait an hour to take a piss.

I'm just saying: it wasn't a life-altering "experience", it was a degree.

Idk, I'm from the States and I went to Cambridge, and it was just a bit damp.

Look at the lengths she's having to go to in order to shock us now.

Just a matter of time until it's a woman instead of a cat.

I didn't think what you said was horrible. I thought it was gallows humor. Sorry you're getting shredded here.

I think it's both. Thanks for the spelling correction; it added a lot to the discussion. On the content of the argument, when I ask my husband to pick our child up from school because I have an event after work, I both trust that he will do it and must depend upon him to do it. I literally need him to do it. I am…

I'm really sorry to hear that. Every kid should be able to depend on both parents for love, guidance, and support.