Cambridge

You couldn't get much more of a contrast with Siem Reap and I did a lot of oohing and aahing for the few days I was there. I had forgotten just how pretty the town is. So green, old pubs on the river, wide meadows yellow with buttercups, purple lilac and irises everywhere, even bluebells still lingering, ancient second-hand bookshops crammed to the ceiling, as well as the grandeur of the magnificent college buildings, many of which are 800 years old.

So lovely to see Hannah, to know that she’s OK and on track for upcoming exams. She’s doing just what she’s always done and what seems to have worked so far. Amazing that some of her fellow students are saying to her, so how do you revise for exams? So lovely to meet her house mates who have given her so much support over her year here, which hasn’t always been plain sailing.

How lucky she is with her place of residence which she chose having no idea what to expect. A modern building, it has had its glitches, especially, in true British style, with the plumbing, but it is right on the edge of town and her room looks out onto playing fields while the rooftop ‘patio’ has expansive views over beautiful gardens and the surrounding countryside.

Her bike is great and I took it all over (when I wasn’t in bed with my first lot of flu bug). It’s wonderful: cars are pretty much kept out of the centre of town and bikes are in. They are everywhere and everyone rides them, not just the ubiquitous students. With bike lanes and purpose-built paths, bike parks at the supermarket and all over, and impossible parking for cars, why would you do anything else?

It was particularly lucky that I was there when Hannah found out she had got the job as a judge’s assistant at the International Criminal Court in The Hague. It had been a gruelling interview and she was convinced there was no hope but obviously they thought otherwise. Maybe it was because she told them she might be rubbish at international criminal law but she can make good cupcakes! It’s kind of been her dream ever since taking the Model UN student delegations there in her early twenties and visiting the Court. I felt proud and privileged to be able to join in the celebrations in person with her and her housemates in their kitchen.