Arriving and Settling In

So much has happened since I've arrived in the UK. I've met so many new people and had to adjust to living here so much that it's still hard to process everything that's happened. I think I'm going to like the year here.

The trip here was difficult. It was two hours from the time the plane landed in Heathrow to the time Sandra and I made it to the Heathrow coach station. The coach took about two hours to get to Cambridge. After arriving, I took a local bus over to my college. Before I could get on the local bus, I had to wait for a new bus driver to come since it was the end of someone's shift, so I had the fun of waiting for a long time at the bus stop with my luggage in the chilly Cambridge air while being stared at by an elderly English couple.

Then, when I made it to Churchill College, I stopped by the Porter's Lodge to get my room key. As I struggled some with my luggage, one of the porters said to me "Well, you've brought too much, haven't you?". Apparently the British sense of humor includes trying to give people a hard time. The porters are the campus security, but they seem to have more administrative tasks than campus security at schools in the US. They are also good at answering questions about where to find things in town or how to get something done around the college. Some of them are really nice.

But anyway, once I made it up the stairs to third floor, I was pleased to discover that my room is awesome. I took some photos once I got more moved in. I have a really large window, which has a good view when it's not all fogged up like it is in the photo.

I also have a lot of furniture. Clearly a desk and bed, but also a bookcase, extra cabinet, as well as an "easy chair" and coffee table.I also have a closet, as well as a sink, which both are behind sets of doors:

I feel pretty happy so far with where I live. My room is very spacious compared to singles at Grinnell (by the way, no one ever has a roommate here). My room is what's called a staircase room. In the main part of the college the rooms are organized around courtyards in units called "staircases." The reason for this name is pretty self evident when you actually see them. They're rather boxy structures in which the student rooms are organized in several floors around a main central staircase. Something like 10 people usually live in a given staircase.

I've gotten a bad cold from the abrupt switch to chilly weather here and I had a late night last night (grad fresher's hostel crawl... apparently people at Cambridge play beer pong, too) so I'm not going to write any more for now, but I'll try to post regularly.