EAT YER HEART OUT, CINDERELLA

Well, it's been a week since the Peterhouse Ball and I've finally warmed up enough to write about it. (Seriously. It was cold Cold COLD).

After months of planning and preparations - finding the perfect dress, getting the perfect dress tailored (thank-you again, Gill!), finding shoes that had heels but wouldn't sink into a lawn, putting together jewellry, wraps, clutch and gloves (thank-you Megan!), and a half-hour in the hair stylist's chair - I was ready. As for Ray? The man was ready weeks ago, all he had to do was make sure he shaved and remember to do up his fly.

Despite the disparity in preparations, I think we both cleaned up rather well (just goes to show that underneath it all, Ray is better looking than me because he takes so much less prep time!). I give you Exhibit A:



And while we look very classy indeed, not two minutes after this photo Ray, along with Graeme and Rob, showed their true colours. See what two women taunting "You look like penguins!!" can do to three otherwise reasonable men? (And yes, I still believe that they looked like penguins. Quack quack.)



Beside the penguins, Engineering Claire and I rather look like summer flowers. Don't you think? (And Rob is quite the lucky man to be on the arm of such fine ladies!)



After the photos at Claire's place we headed over to Peterhouse and began the ball in style with champagne and crepes. Unfortunately as the ball started at 9pm it got dark shortly after the doors opened and it was impossible to get good photos throughout the night (95% of the ball was outside and there wasn't much ambient lighting). Plus, it was tricky to work the camera once my fingers started to lose their feeling! But I did get one shot of Ray, Claire, Graeme and Rob just as the party was getting underway:



The ball itself was, first and foremost, interesting, and secondly, fun. It was so totally different from anything that we would experience in Canada that I enjoyed the evening on that fact alone. Most of the college grounds were taken up by the ball; the Deer Park had a ferris wheel and carrosel, the Fellow's Garden food tents and a DJ marquee, the hall a movie theatre with a casino above, and the courtyards various live music acts, dance floors, and bars. Suffice to say we had plenty of opportunities to keep busy, at least until 3am when I finally gave into the cold and convinced Ray to call it a night.

Even when we weren't dancing, eating, drinking or riding the carnival amusements the ball offered plenty of entertainment. I enjoyed people-watching immensely; so many girls in beautiful dresses and the men looked sharp too. Of course there were a few girls who fell far short of the white tie dress code, but they certainly made for interesting viewing, as did those in high fashion gowns (read: impractical and odd, but definitely more creative and adventurous than I). I kept thinking to myself that at least with a proper full-length gown and gloves that I was warmer than those in short skirts.

The men were just as interesting, but in a different manner (no crazy tuxes, much to my disappointment). Maybe it's just that I haven't spent time with a large number of Cambridge undergraduates before, or maybe they were playing up to the attire and occasion, but I found the men almost effete. They smoked like women, gesturing wildly with their cigarettes (and so many of them smoked!), enjoyed the dandyish aspects of white tie (the white gloves, overcoat and top hat), and nary a one - save those in my party - looked like they could fell a tree with a few sharp chops of an axe. What on earth would we have done had a herd of moose (meeses?) ran amok through the ancient gardens and courtyards?