Departure and Arrival

I’m now somewhat moved into my new quarters at Cambridge and am finally able to recount the last 48 hours of my trip.

My flight, departing from Philadelphia International Airport and destined for Heathrow, London, was originally scheduled to leave at around 9 PM, Wednesday (E.S.T.). Given that the flight isn’t all that long, yet England is 5 hours ahead of us, our touchdown was approximated at 9:30 AM London time (4:30 AM in the US). This would have been perfect given that both Michael and I had reserved $44.00 tickets on the National Express bus service for 11:00 AM. Alas, upon obtaining my boarding pass I was informed that there had been a complication with the flight and would be leaving two hours later than planned and that on top of this, I would be the honored recipient of what is acronymically referred to as S.S.S.S. This has been variously translated to me, my favorite interpretation being Super Secure Survey Scan. I wonder if they originally had planned to name it Secure Scan, but shirked at the thought of having to abbreviate it and the invasive implications it may hold. Anyway, the secure scan wasn’t all that complicated and entailed both Mike(he got it, too) and I going through normal security and then laying out all our carry-ons on a table while officers rooted through our belongings and took tissue swabs to be analyzed by an explosives residue machine. Looking back, I suppose it is suspicious that both Mike and I booked one-way tickets and registered simultaneously for emergency exit seats right next to the main evacuation door. With this in mind, when I return home (with dirty clothes), I don’t think it’s prudent to chance the Security Scan.

Anyway, our flight did eventually leave and we were able to reschedule our bus tickets to 1:05 PM when we arrived at Heathrow, for a small surcharge of course. A note on this, everything is well-anesthetized here… a small fee is 5 pounds, which doesn’t sound like much until you consider the fact that during our 7 hour flight, the exchange rate between the UK and US parted such that were I to exchange my money prior to leaving, I would have around 70 more dollars in my pocket as I write this. Then again, that’s only about enough to buy me dinner, an ice cream cone, and a long walk home to my residence.

We finally arrived in Cambridge around 3:45, at which point Mike and I parted ways. I’ve yet to hear from him but certainly hope he found his way and is doing well. I took a “taxi” to my college. I put taxi in quotation marks because it was clear that the vehicle, when not transporting people, was a delivery van for a Vietnamese Food restaurant at night. The trip from Cambridge City Center to Churchill College front gate took about 8-10 minutes and set me back about 16 bucks. I think he should stick with his day job.

When I arrived, I went directly to the Porter’s Lodge. Now, we don’t have Porters in American colleges… but they’re basically the guys who take care of the day-to-day tasks at Cambridge such as cleaning, mowing the lawns, expelling Asian tourists, fixing problems in residence halls, and losing important keys. From them I received a room key and trudged about half a mile to my college hostel. While walking on the sidewalk down the road, I passed the windows of a conference center where an industry lecture was going on and was asked to please make myself scarce as I was sweating while laboriously dragging two pieces of luggage and two bags. The gentleman was then kind enough to show me a more circuitous, and winding route to my residence.

I arrived, unpacked, met my neighbor Simon, and peppered him with questions. Simon is a Canadian Gates Scholar living on my floor (four rooms per floor). The housing is quite nice, although a bit out of the way. I have a large room, my own bathroom, a huge desk and more cabinet and shelf space then I know what to do with. The only downside of the room is my couch-bed. Think single, divided by two, with the option to fold into a couch (American size, divided by two). Needless to say, sleeping proved slightly more difficult last night than I would have hoped.
Prior to bed, however, I went to dinner with Simon and met about 10 other international Advanced Students (Cambridge calls “graduate students”, “post graduate students”, which Churchill College then insists upon calling “Advanced students”). They seem like a great group. We had 2 Marshall Scholars, 2 Churchill Scholars, and 2 Gates Scholars among us. We ate dinner and then went to the MCR (Middle Common Room). Think of this as a club house for graduate students. We have a not-for-profit bar (1 pound beers/ales), couches, a piano, a movie theater room, and some board games and a computer. I went home a bit early (10:00) to read through the welcome packet I received when I arrived and eventually went to bed.

That’s all for now. Today I’ll go do some paperwork at my college, followed by a couple hours walking around the city center.