I visited the Fitzwilliam Art Museum today, and I got a great taste of fall colors on the walk home. It's still my favorite season.

The art museum had some really neat pieces, but I was more distracted by the gorgeous building it is in - very ornate, very cool. And of course, I'm still busybusy with Mrs. Woolf, so I had some interesting ponderings about the all important relationship of art and literature - it might be the paper topic of this week. Hm.

Good news: I'm slowly getting better at badminton. More importantly, I'm met some wonderful people through badminton, and I'm having a lot of fun. Even better news: my mom booked her flight to come visit!

On Thursday I went to the debate: "This House has no confidence in Her Majesty's Government" - featuring some Members of Parliament (who really hold no qualms about yelling and interrupting each other - the Parliament procedure carries over to the Union, I guess). I followed as best as I could, and really enjoyed it. That is, until another American stood up and praised the English by making fun of Bush. Now, I'm not a fan of George, but I think there's a code of loyalty in being an American overseas, and that involves not making idiotic comparisons when you are one of the only Americans in a room, because you're acting as a representative, and you should at least do it with style and class and intellect.

I'm a tad homesick for all the homes I have collected.

My plant is beautiful, don't you think?
It lives next to the radiator - I'm tricking it to think it's in the desert.
And I've named it Gloria.

The work is piling up, and I'm not doing the best job on keeping up with it. We're almost at half term too, which is wild.

I'm loving the badminton team. I have yet to go in a proper boat for Rowing, so I'm saving my total judgment for that sport until then. I didn't make the preliminary crew list though, so that decision might be made for me if I don't improve. However, I don't think I'll be that heartbroken. I'll stick along for the term though. Probably. I'll see what my calves and abs say tomorrow night.

I'm going to hear the Head of State of Libya speak tomorrow. As the term card puts it - he lead a small group of officers in a bloodless coup to take over Libya (and its pro Western gov) in 1969. USA has had diplomatic relations with Libya since 2006. It should be interesting. I hear the man is crazy.

James Watson canceled ("postponed") his speech at the Union on Tuesday, following the uproar that has been chasing him since he suggested that Africans should not be considered intellectual equals with Western people because we evolved separately. Stupid.

Oh, and I wish you could see the impressive bruises I have from my bike collision. I look SO tough.

good news, or the bad?

Good news: I earned 5 pounds ($10) in a research study where I all had to do was flick my wrist back and forth for around 40 minutes. (The study had something to do with robot development).

Bad news: I was in a bike accident on the way there.

I was on my way to the Engineering Dept, so I'm going through one of the bike paths (with all of the cows). There was a bike up ahead of me, coming towards me, and I moved from the middle of the path to the left side, but literally, she was all over the path, like she was losing her balance (or a drunk wino). And before I knew it, she cut in front of my bike (sideways across the path, into the grass on my side of the path) and I run into her. We both fall.

Luckily, we were both ok (and wearing helmets!) so that wasn't an issue. She, however, did land in a cow patty (but part of me think she deserved it, especially afterward she turned it into a hit and run). She assured me that she was ok, and at this time, a cute little old woman came running over, screaming "Dearies! Dearies! Are you all aright?". The other woman (aka Rider of Doom) kept telling me that she was ok, she was fine, she was in a hurry, she has to go - she wouldn't even wait for us to try and clean her up a bit (While the majority of her body missed the poop, her bike basket - and its contents - didn't. EW.). She then TOOK OFF. 

At this point, I looked down at my bike, and realized what a crumpled mess the front of it had become. Now - while I realize that it takes two people to run into one another, to my virtue, the other woman did admit fault to me. She had explained that she was swerving to miss a cow patty when she cut in front of me, and why she served right instead of left will always be an ironic mystery. But what do you do in a bike hit and run? It's not as though there was insurance information to swap (although there should be, because she DID break my basket. Sob.). The elderly woman was kind enough to help me straighten it all out so it was semi-rideable and told me to have a cup of tea when I got to wherever I'm going to "help with the shock" (accompanying this advice with a story about how once she fell down a flight of stairs and really, the tea helped calm her down quite a bit). I think if she hadn't have been there, I might have sat in that field and cried. Yes, that might have been a bit of an overreaction, but the elderly woman assured me that was because of the shock.

I was able to get it back to the bike repair shop (which was an interesting half ride/half walk) and I became pretty good at balancing on the bike with my handlebar curved over to the right while keeping my wheel straight. And it only took a few moments and some wrenches to get my bike in working order again (although my basket is a bit worse for wear all the same).

But how's that for a bit of excitement?

I told you they were serious about the grass here.

My bike is fixed (and sounds beautiful), my glasses are fixed (they had lost a screw), I got the Union refund (sweet), and I bought a flowering cactus!

In terms of activities - so far, today has been incredibly productive.
As far as the 5-7 books I have to read, not so much.

I did promise . . .

Me and my fire warden vest. It wouldn't be so dark if the vest didn't suck all of the light out of the room.

After some free goodies were left on bikes at the lecture site (part of a promotional campaign for somethingorother), I now have a sweet reflective ankle band to match it.

I have to start taking my camera to lectures.

On the way, I saw cows kissing.

And . . .

We had our first land training today (and time trials for an indoor erg race). Lesson learned: Rowing is not as easy as it looks!

binary oppositions

Good news: bike IS guaranteed = free repairs for 6 months. I'm taking it in this week.
Bad news: first essay due tomorrow.

The first ones are always the worst.

I've been working on it all day, and I'm on my second package of biscuits (in the past three days).

Good news: cookie calories don't count if I have rowing practice this week - which I do.

No Crunch

As I was riding to lectures today (past the cows), the wind was blowing and the leaves were falling off the trees. I miss the American fall though - the English trees are pretty, but their leaves give no crunch, and what good is a leaf without the crunch? Especially when I have two big bike wheels on which to seek them out? 

The cows were especially close to the bike path yesterday, and luckily, they didn't mind me riding through. There were also lots of people in the park, making cardboard structures that were still up today. I was interested and intrigued, but not enough to stop my bike.

My bike, by the way, is a lot like my car. The brakes are SO LOUD! I've taken to dropping my feet (a'la age 5) on the ground to stop when I'm around other cyclists. I want to fit in with them, and not draw attention to my loud, squeaky bike. There are so many cyclists here, riding around the city centre during the day, the streets are full of them, and sometimes, we're all riding very closely, and I imagine "This is what being part of a bike gang would be like."

I'm in a bit of a silly mood.

Sadly, one of my bike's pedals has a crack in it. I need to call the Bike Shop and have them repair it, but I'm worried they will make me pay for it. I'm pretty sick of spending money.

Cambridge students, technically, are not allowed to hold jobs during term. There was a fascinating article in one of the independent university newspapers about the strange things some students do for money (mainly - prostitution, stripping and essay writing). The other two aren't my style, but I was interested enough to look into the essay writing - which, to no surprise, is blocked by the university's internet service. However, I have enough of a problem compelling myself to write my own essays, so I imagine that's not the best career choice for me here.

Luckily, Cambridge is full of smart scientists who need subjects. I've signed up for some research studies (all non invasive, don't worry Mom), which pay surprisingly well and require no skill. One starts next week.

In good news, 2 klennex boxes later, I'm almost over my cold (or "Fresher's Flu). You'd be interested to know that England has two Kleenex sizes - normal, and "Mansize" which resemble thinner, softer paper towels. You get more "Mansize" tissues for a cheaper price too, the economics of which are beyond me.

Lastly, there are a lot of things that I miss about home, but one thing I love is the Cambridge Union. I attended the "This House Believes God is Dead" debate last night, which was so entertaining (although I learned that I have to pay more attention to where I sit - I was on the wrong side of the debate, and was behind Simon Blackburn, pronounced atheist. Whoops . . . ).

Much love.

rain rain go away . . .

The rain returned, but I still decided to bike to my lectures. Surprisingly, it wasn't terrible at all on the way to Sedwich (but my ears were a bit chilly!). After lectures though, I was scheduled to go down to the boat house and check out rowing. So . . .

rain + my sense of direction + traffic = me, terribly lost.

Ok, really, my sense of direction is the one to blame, but the other factors didn't help!

Thankfully, the rowing girls were able to get me straightened out after around 10 phone calls (3 cheers to my decision to get a cell phone!).

I learned how to row on the machines, and then they put me in a "tub." I wasn't very good (read: horrid, terrible, and bad) but it WAS my first day.

By the time I made it back to Homerton, though, I was soaked through and through. Those clothes are still sitting in my sink, in fact.

Above: Scavenging for Food.

Lesson Learned: "Open 24 Hours" does not necessarily equal to "Open on Weekends". John and I wasted a bus ticket trying to go grocery shopping on a Sunday, only to find that the Tesco was already closed. To add to our annoyance, we were then heckled by British preteens who were playing in the parking lot. Boo. Thankfully though, Tesco Express WAS still open, and so we still got to eat.

I attended a wonderful lecture today on Rushdie's Midnight's Children. Definitely the best academic hour I've had so far here in England - it was really engaging. Even though I'm not taking a related comp, I think I might continue on with the lecture. I think it would be a nice, politically-charged-literary beam of sunshine in between the versification theories and lit crit lectures and depressive modernist books I'm involved in. (you know . . .)

Lastly, I found Harry Potter cupcake mix in the grocery store today. Neat.

school starts . . . finally

I have to say, it's really nice to be back in classes. We started lectures yesterday and those have been surprisingly crowded, and I learned that if you get there too late, that means you're sitting on the floor. And there are always people sitting on the floor. So far, they have been fairly interesting. The Cambridge system means that we can attend any lectures we like, no matter our major, but I've also discovered that they tend to be relatively spread out across the city. With 5-10 minutes separating one lecture from the next one, it can be near impossible to get to the next one on time. The English only study one topic, so they don't have to travel very far between lecture halls, and don't see this as a problem. I am not yet a speed cycler, so I still do. Lame.

Last night we were introduced to the Homerton Horn - a huge communal cup, full of wine, that everyone is supposed to drink out from to signal the start of the year. And when I say cup, I mean hollowed out bull horn, and when I say wine, I actually mean a delicate mixture of wine and the germs of 300 freshmen and billions of students prior to that. Don't tell the college, but I passed.

Even better than the Horn was our visitor! Brandon made us his last real stop before heading back to Kansas City, and it was really refreshing to see a new, familiar face. Unfortunately, he walked on the grass at King's, and will probably never be allowed back into Cambridge again. The English are odd about their foliage.

Miss you all!! And you should download Gizmo, and talk to me, because I'm getting a tad bit homesick for some more familiar voices. Do you feel guilty yet? Good. Love!

Gizmo

More more more -

Free phoning on the internet:

Download Gizmo (Gizmoproject.com) and create a profile, and then I can talk to you. My name on it is KathleenAdams. Easy, right?

and some more . . .

Homerton - our college. We're a bit out of the city center, but it's a beautiful campus.





Our dorm is the one further on the left.

Courtney was so nice to offer me her bike, but I was told that repairs to it would be almost as much as a newer, second hand bike would be, which lead me to buy this one! It's called a Hawk Margarita - doesn't that make me seem tough? :)

photos

John learned that British plastic still burns in the microwave.



The rest of these are from the city center of Cambridge, and of the other colleges in the University.