Ahhh I can't believe classes start tomorrow!! I'm so nervous! I still enjoyed my last day of freedom though :) Hopefully classes won't be too tough around here. And if they are, I can always hit up this Cadbury chocolate machine in the library :) Americans have vending machines while the Europeans have Cadbury machines. I think I like the Europeans more. Also, if you blow up the picture, you can see my reflection in the machine :)
Anyways, the reason I found this machine is that we had tours of the library today. Its soo nice! There's a separate part of the library called the "Old Library" which has this old book smell. Its really cool actually because there are books from the 1400s in there and old manuscripts. It just feels very... historical and important? I don't really know how to describe it. Here are some pictures from the inside of the Old Library:
It would be so inspiring to work in this room, but I think the smell might get to my head. Apparently the job of this one guy in this library is to come in on Wednesdays and take out every single book one by one, inspect it, and clean it, and put it back. That must be a ridiculously boring job. Also, the paintings on the glass windows here are always so gorgeous, and similar to the stained glass windows you find in churches.
One of the coolest parts of this library is their catalog system at the end of every row of shelves. The catalog is this hidden flap in the bookshelf that was written up when the library was made (in the 1500s) and it remains exactly the same in organization to this day!
The door to the library is also pretty cool because it looks like a normal door, just a little bigger than usual, but it actually spins around! It took me awhile to figure out how it worked...
So that was the more exciting part of my day. I also took a few random pictures from my window of the river below me. There are the punting boats that St. John's owns, and we can rent out at a very subsidized price. If it doesn't get too cold, I hope to take any friends that visit me punting, but they may have to learn punting rather quickly since it's really exhausting and I can't do it for that long.
I also saw some swans in the river today! It seems like the one on the right has gone fishing :P
The remainder of my day was spent locating all my classes (which are just two classrooms it turns out), but that took me quite awhile. For some reason the maps in the sites with Cambridge buildings don't have "you are here" points and so I ended up just wandering till I found the right departments. Hopefully I can find them again tomorrow! I also stopped at Benet's on my way back for a crepe since they are renowned for them apparently. It was pretty delicious :)
Here's a picture of Emmanuel College (which was on my way back to St. John's) - one of the smaller and less frequented college, but still pretty nice.
I also went to the St. John's societies fair (and signed up for Ultimate, as Radka will be happy to know). Almost all the clubs at St. John's were just sports (fitting perfectly to the Fleming stereotype that Lauren had given before leaving Caltech). I also met up with my college parents for "pudding" which is just dessert (but sounds kind of silly to me). That was also really nice because they want to make sure we fit in okay and that all our questions get answered. We made plans to attend Family Hall next Weds with my two other siblings (who essentially have the same second year parents)! Wish me luck for my classes tomorrow!
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