September 28, 2011 - Arrival in Cambridge

I have safely reached Cambridge, after a 10 hour plane ride (which was delayed 3 hours), 3 hour bus ride, 5 min taxi ride (although it took me about an hour to get one since Cambridge seems to have a lack of them). Regardless, I didn't actually run into any major issues. My first day only involved lugging my suitcases up 5 flights of stairs; after which, I didn't feel like doing much else.

Cambridge is absolutely gorgeous! The ancient buildings are designed so beautifully and were so much to take in when I first arrived. I can't wait to put up pictures of the campus within the next few days! Its located in the middle of nowhere though, as my bus ride consisted only of empty green fields for 2 hours. Its a pleasant change from suburbia. The streets are truly confusing here since none of them actually have street signs anywhere (almost as complicated as understanding people with British accents). So yesterday I went on a walk for half an hour in the evening, just to find out what stores were located nearby, and after perusing the maps for an hour afterwards, I still have no idea where I went. St. John's College (similar to a house in Hogwarts) alone is so huge that it takes me awhile to locate my dorm. I have taken wrong turns wayy too many times. In addition, walking everywhere here takes forever! I've gotten so used to the 5 minutes that it takes to walk across Caltech's campus, but here walking out of St. John's alone takes that long.

I'm all settled in now though, so I'll share some pictures of my room. It really feels more like an apartment. I still have some decorating left to do with all my pictures. I got this message when I turned my camera on: make sure that lens is attached carefully. Most frightening message ever :( But after taking it off, it seemed to be okay, but hopefully nothing will happen to it during my time here. Also, these are just my favorite pictures (I realize there are many, but I promise you the numbers will decrease at some point when I get lazy), but I will be uploading the whole albums to facebook at some point...

This is my living room with a gigantic window (and I don't share it with anyone):

This is my desk and the main door. I definitely miss the punch pad locks at Caltech. I hate carrying keys around, even to the bathroom :( See my mcat books on my bookshelf? Those make me pretty sad. And they were super heavy to carry.

 This is the other side of my living room:

Although the staircase looks pretty cool, its really scary and very easy to fall on. I have to walk on it super slowly (being the clumsy person that I am):

And finally, my bedroom (which is upstairs). My whole room in Caltech is only half the size of my bedroom here. I'm also really happy with my linens that I found at a very reasonable price at Sainsbury's (it's like a target but smaller).

AND the best part of my room is that it has a door to the roof!! Very few rooms entire dorm have that so I got super lucky :)

Here are some pretty pictures from the roof that give you a sneak peak of St. John's. There is the tip of the chapel you see in the background..

 They maintain their grass very well. And you are not supposed to walk on it.

The boats under the bridge are used for punting, which is very popular around here. I'll tell you more about it later.

Being here definitely makes me feel really independent, with my family and friends so far away :( But I think it'll be really good for me since I'm normally terrible at adapting to change. I'm super excited for my 9 weeks here!