call us when you wake up.

so, here i am. in cambridge. and i've been here for the past two weeks, which seems like so much longer and so much shorter at the same time. and the long and the short of it is that it has been pretty darn awesome, in the original, literal sense of the word. tiring, but exciting, stimulating, inspiring, and surreal all at the same time -

from the time i arrived in stansted, waited an hour for my luggage, wrangled my luggage through a line for train tickets, down two escalators (hemmed in by barriers too narrow for my biggest bag), on to the furthest possible platform in the station, and then on the train, arrived in wolfson court where i'm staying ("wolfie" from here on out), greeted by the porter who called me "love" and asked me if i was staying in "beefree", took a bath (as in a bathtub bath) because i couldn't find the shower and didn't want to explore my block because it was all dark and i was alone, used my couch seat as a pillow, and covered myself with my trench coat and shawls;


to the time i wandered around cambridge without a map, but still managed to get toiletries, open a bank account, buy a duvet (which i LOVE) and pillows, and get my university card (*bangga*), lugged it all back (i had to stop every 20 steps or so because everything was SO heavy. and the walk took close to an hour! but the duvet is worth it), and had chocolate bars from the vending machine because my card wasn't activated for the dining hall yet and i couldn't be bothered to wander around looking for food;

to the time i went for the international student orientation session and felt really bored because i'd heard it all before as an undergraduate, only(?) two years ago, went for lunch with the two people i am now closest to - marta who is italian but started learning french when she was 18, spent a few years in france, did two masters and is now starting a phd in french literature, and ali who grew up in india but did his secondary school in the uk, his undergrad in the states, and then wandered around syria for a bit before ending up here; bought my harry potter-esque gown, had dinner at the wolfie cafeteria for the first time, and then went to a couple of pubs with the girton grads where i got lost in a conversation with a philosophy phd student about pragmatism and realism (1. when i say "got lost" i don't mean engrossed; i actually mean i was confused and didn't know what i was saying or what to say. 2. the discussion started with him wondering why grads and undergrads didn't mix);

to the time i met up with elyse and her (and eric's) parents, went punting on the cam (and actually punted!), had tom yam for dinner (or what tried to pass off as tom yam), and then went to a couple more pubs;


to the time i walked half an hour to church and was welcomed by the familiar smell of incense, finally got to see girton college, picked and ate apples in the college orchard, and attended a quiz night in the graduate common room ("mcr" from here on out) at which i felt very ignorant (but i did know that bob dylan's real name is robert zimmerman and that stephen was the first christian martyr!);



to the time i went to the girton societies fair, had a pretty bad veggie burger because the line for the other stuff was way too long, got more apples, had my first long nap (most certainly not my last), and had drinks in the mcr followed by an awesome game of pictionary;

to the time i went for the uni societies fair, signed up for waaay more activities than i would be able to do (well, actually just signed up to get emails about the activities so i could decide what i wanted to do later on), wandered around looking for bikes, went for my department's welcome party, and met my supervisor for the first time with a glass of wine in my hand - most definitely not how i pictured it;

to the time i woke up at 6 something am and put my gown on for the first time to get my matriculation photo taken, and then spent the whole day at my department's induction at which i discovered i was enrolled as a phd student proper (not an mphil going on to my phd as i originally thought), and made the tough decision to change my status to mphil student which has implications for my workload this year, the possibility of me continuing next year, the activities i can get involved in, and ultimately my experience of being at cambridge... but i've thought it through, and i'm almost completely sure this is what i should do;

to the time i finally bought my bike and went for my first formal hall, which involved getting all dressed up and putting on my harry potter-esque robes again, pre-dinner drinks, a gong being sounded, the grads walking in with the mistress and fellows (while the undergrads stood, mind you), the mistress saying grace ("benedictus benedicat" before dinner and "benedicto benedicatur" after), a three course dinner, the gong being sounded again and everyone getting up for the mistress to leave, post-dinner drinks, and then the college bar;


to the time i cycled around for four hours with marta running errands and trying not to get into any accidents while figuring out the road system, and later went on a college bar crawl - three different college bars, followed by two clubs and a cheeseburger at a hole-in-the-wall (yes i know you've done more mr. yong);

to the time i got woken up by a false fire alarm after less than four hours of sleep and had to evacuate the building in my pjs, climbed back into bed to read and sleep some more, went for the university badminton trials which could have gone a lot worse, met a couple of malaysians there and followed them to their freshers' squash at which i met more malaysians, some of whom i already knew, and then went for another department party at which i met more faculty members and fellow grad students in my program (there was a welcome party by a christian society in the house next door and one of the people who was supposed to come to our party ended up there and had to be "saved" - but that's another story);

to the time i went to a church much closer to my place and really enjoyed mass, joined the girton grads for a walk to grantchester - a neighbouring village - through meadows and by the river, had scones with clotted cream and homemade raspberry jam at the orchard, which was just that - chairs and tables set out under apple trees (apparently famous people like virginia woolf used to go there for tea), went for the evening service at the girton chapel to listen to our choir, and then watched bee movie in the mcr (which, for the record, was NOT my idea! i am not imposing cartoons on people. yet.);



to the time i attended my first lecture at which my lecturer rattled on for two hours, very clearly and coherently, without consulting notes of any kind, spouting names of researchers and the research they've done and what their research has found no less, went for mass and had lunch at church, went for a research class at which i was falling asleep (already!), attended my first meeting with my supervisor with the other phd students she's supervising, went for a drink with her after, had alcoholic cider for the first time, and went for a poster presentation;

to the time i attended my second lecture about new family forms, matriculated, met the mistress for five minutes, went for a college badminton session which went really well and i had a lot of fun at, and then joined the girtonians post-mcr dinner for drinks;

to the time i had my first day of "nothing to do" but actually had a lot to do, did laundry, found that the dryer doesn't work, hung my clothes on the balcony to dry, napped longer than i intended to, went for a bible study, and went for rock n roll dance classes! (which isn't really what it sounds like - go google it to see youtube examples);

to today, my second day of "nothing to do", in which i managed to be somewhat productive in necessary but non-academic areas, napped longer than i intended to, played college badminton again, rushed home to get ready for formal, sat at the high table for dinner, had a good post-dinner chat, and played pool at the college bar after.

i've met people from all over the world.
i have a huge room with a couch and a sink.
the people in my faculty are impressive but not distant.
i've stepped out of my comfort zone.
i'm getting involved.
i'm staying social.
cambridge is known as "the desert of the uk", so we (we!) get rain but not too much.
it's beautiful here - green lawns, old buildings, cobblestone pavements...




i can see myself being happy here.
bring on the 5000 word essays, endless reading lists and intimidating assessment criteria!