Here I am in Cambridge sitting on my not so comfy bed and I thought i should share my adventures with you while waiting for it to be time to go to breakfast.
My flight left from Dulles at 9:50 pm on July 5. I’m not exactly sure where one day ends and another begins at this point because I haven’t had much sleep. The night before traveling I only got maybe an hour or so of sleep and on the plane I only dozed fitfully for maybe an hour or so more. I was in the emergency exit seat across from the bathrooms so while I had lots of lovely leg room, I had no window and whenever anyone went to the bathroom the lights from the bathroom hit me in the face. Worse really was how uncomfy the seat itself was though so that was what made it hardest to sleep. But I just realized I’m getting ahead of myself.
When I went to check in my luggage they wanted $100 to check my duffle bag so I said nope! Unfortunately, that was the bag with all my liquids in it so I had to transfer then all to my other suitcase. That left me carrying two 50 pound bags as my carryon and it turned out my gate was the furthest point in the entire airport. Did you know they have a subway inside the airport? I had I take a train to get to terminal C, and then I had to get to C1. Sounds like it should be the first one, but they went in reverse order from C14.
At first the seat next to me was empty but then an English gentleman from Denver asked to sit there because his tv was broken. Neither of us could really sleep so we ended up talking for the last three hours of the flight.
When we finally got to England and after the long ordeal of going through customs, I made the long and confusing trip to the central bus station to catch the bus as my directions to Cambridge told me to do. Unfortunately, I was told that every single bus was full so I had to take the underground. Well, I was kind of thrown by this. I had no idea what station I was actually starting from, but I was told to go to King’s Cross. Well, that was the slowest train ever. I kept falling asleep but I had to hold my luggage up and I didn’t want to get lost so that actually didn’t work out well. I finally got to King’s Cross and then had no idea where to go. I apparently had to switch from an underground train to a commuter train up to Cambridge leaving from platform 7. Sadly it was through a different gate than 9 3/4 but there was a display with a trolley with Hedwig halfway through the wall that I could take a picture of. The line to get your picture taken pushing it into the wall had like 50 people, though, and I had to catch my train so I didn’t push it myself.
Once the train got me to Cambridge I caught a taxi over to Gonville and Caius (pronounced Keys) which is the campus I attend. It was really nice to see familiar faces from New Hampshire after struggling for hours to get there. I was taken to my flat (and a professor carried my luggage for me which was lovely because there were many stairs involved) which is in Rose Crescent. Basically you go down a little side road across from campus and there is a little red door in the midst of a bustling street with little shops and that is the front door to the apartment building. I was told I have an especially cool room because I am one of two to have a loft- like apartment. When you open the door you see my desk and drawers and such, and then my bed is up a couple steps. The bathroom is just next door (and nicer than the other side of the hallway’s bathroom). There is also a little kitchenette down the hall with laundry machines in it.
We were given a little tour around campus and Stephen Hawkings’ office was pointed out to us, though we are told sightings of him are rare. There are little DNA strands all over because Crick either went here or taught here or something. We also got a chance to borrow some items like a fan and hangers that were abandoned by previous students which I sorely needed. The dining hall is indeed fabulous and Hogwartsy, though un-air conditioned. I kept falling asleep through dinner (which was quite embarrassing) but I found most of it not to my liking. They asked if I would like soup or salad (without mention of what each kind was) so I foolishly chose soup. It was yellow mystery vegetable soup while the salad was actually some sort of fried wonton thing. I forgot the food lesson I learned last time I was in England – everything is a lie! The next course was salmon slathered in sour marinara sauce which I didn’t eat but the potatoes on the side were delicious. Then desert was some sort of mystery cake I didn’t care for that seemed to be part banana bread, part tiramisu, covered in butterscotch.
After dinner I went to the McDonald’s near my apartment to get food I could eat but British McDonalds isn’t the same. They have strange menu items like fish sticks, McFlurries with twix or
Mars bars, and pineapple sticks. I got a Big Mac but it had almost no special sauce and wasn’t very good. Today I’ll try the little Greek restaurant instead.
Today the Tour de France is going through town so I’m very excited. It also means the street to get to campus is closed so we had to learn a complicated back route to get to the dining hall for breakfast this morning. I will watch the tour and continue to collect necessities today. Class starts tomorrow and I’m looking forward to that quite a bit. 🙂