Monday, October 29 – From tourist to local

Since Caitlin and Catherine had lectures (which they both ended up skipping) and meetings today, I was on my own for much of the day. Actually, it was a great opportunity to walk around and get in touch with Cambridge. After a very late night (unintentional), I got moving around 9 am. Did some sink laundry, ate some b-fast, filled my water and was off. It seems that I brought the Colorado blue skies with me because this morning was beautiful. I spent the day walking leisurely around Cambridge, strolling through King’s College, and sitting on benches in the various greens. I actually sat on a bench on Jesus Green for over 40 minutes just spacing out. Nice. I witnessed the people “punting” down the River Cam. Today was also a day of many funny signs and graffiti signs.

I met Catherine (who is suffering from Tonsilitis) and Caitlin for lunch. We ate Cornish Pasty’s (glorified hot pockets) then went into the market where we bought some fresh figs (ripe enough to eat like a pear) and fresh strawberries. Caitlin took me into King’s College chapel briefly, then I walked her to her meeting on the other side of town near the University Library. I walked back, used the internet in a coffee shop, and took a short nap to make sure I wouldn’t fall asleep during the Evensong service in King’s College Chapel. The vault inside the chapel is absolutely stunning, and the service was very beautiful, albeit a bit weird for a Jew. I knelt out of respect and enjoyed the beautiful choir.

After the service, we all met up for a… cough, cough…interesting dinner in the dining hall. I walked back with Shane to his place to pick up my forgotten umbrella. He and I visited Carlos’ place so that Shane could get some real food. Unfortunately, Carlos isn’t around lately, and things have taken a real turn for the worse. It took 10 minutes for Shane to get his Falafel, the dude didn’t know what Tzatziki sauce is, and he didn’t know what dates are called. Shane and I had a nice cup of Darjeeling at his place afterwards. Hopefully I’ll be getting to bed much earlier tonight. If I’m gonna get any sleep on Wednesday night with our 3 am wake-up call on Thursday, I had better get on a different schedule.

Oh…and I finally had a student ask me for directions. Apparently, the iPod, backpack, and killer British look did him in.