Reflections of a PKP PA
The drive back home from Cambridge after graduation felt strange. It was the end of an era, and I would never be a student here again… but I would be back in just five days’ time. One last sun-drenched summer in Cambridge - applying to work for the Pembroke-King’s Summer Programme held many attractions, including useful work experience and the opportunity to meet people from all over the world, but this was foremost among them. Working as a Programme Assistant, if nothing else, has lent an air of legitimacy to my delusions of continued student hood!
A big part of the work of a PA is providing the authentic Cambridge experience for our international students - showing them the tucked-away cafés which make the best value coffee, a few tried-and-tested study spaces, our favourite pubs - in essence, packing years of experience into six short weeks. Between trips to idyllic Grantchester and outdoor Shakespeare performances, a contemplative hour in the Fitzwilliam or a hearty roast dinner, there has also been a good share of pub quizzes, Love Island screenings, and recommendations to check out Nando’s! In that sense there is a lot of continuity with my time as an undergraduate.
What has surprised me is that even as I hand down my expertise, new sides of the city and the university have been revealed to me in turn. The Cambridge experience is strongly shaped by your chosen college - its rhythms, its traditions, its people, its atmosphere. As a former King’s student, the opportunity to live and work in Pembroke has been enlightening, if odd. It’s also true that the rapid-fire pace of your average Cambridge term gives life a decided urgency, with little time to stop and smell the daisies or look up to appreciate a spire or three. Before PKP I had never made the time to visit the Botanic Gardens, and just today I looked up long enough to read a plaque and realise that I’m staying in the house where Darwin lived between 1836-7 - as pointed out by a PKP student looking upon the city with fresh eyes.
The enthusiasm of the students on the programme is reinvigorating. When you’ve grown used to blagging your way through one-on-one supervisions with world-leading academics, and your only thought about King’s Great Hall is that it’s poorly lit, what better way to remind yourself of what makes Cambridge special than introduce it to the uninitiated? They’re all so keen to learn and talk (especially to you, a PA, a minor celebrity) that there’s also plenty of opportunity to ask about their home universities and cultures. In odd moments setting up lectures, or taking down activities, you can find yourself talking to a Chinese student about their perspective on Trump’s trade war, or an Egyptian student about feminist cultural mores. On the other hand, they may be coming up to you to try out their best attempt at a British accent, or request that you deal with the spider in the shower… Life as a PKP PA is rarely the same from day to day - it’s too many different jobs rolled into one to get boring!
Maddy – PKP PA 2019
If you are interested in working as a Programme Assistant (PA) at Pembroke, the International Programmes department is currently recruiting for its Easter vacation Japanese High School Programme. You can find a full job description, dates of employment and salary on the online portal.
