Day 1 Survivor Cambridge. Departure Day. Wednessday, 280905.
Entering the immigration gates. Sudden feeling of independence while standing in the queue. Feeling of uncertainty, vulnerability, not knowing what to do, "Now What?". Feeling was short. Went away after meeting Nicholas behind the immigration counters.
Entering waiting area. Tragedy. Put pouch into x-ray machine along with palm and handphone. Tried using palm to take pictures. Mati. Heart pain. That means no more pictures from me, Argh! =S. Guess pen and paper still more reliable. But too many things to think about to be overwhelmed with regret. Met waited with Nic, Royce and Michelle at the waiting area.
Boarding plane. The significance of this moment momentarily dawned on me. Though only lasted a short while. Plane delayed because of something about bags not matching people onboard.
On Plane. Discovered that Nicholas was in the same PES E company as me! Along with Choon Gee! Also met Jack, the other Singaporean undergrad studying at Hughes Hall the next day and discovered that he too was in the same company! That makes 4/200 people in that company now studying in Cambridge! Could not sleep. Watched Spiderman 1 & 2 on the plane. Identified with Peter Parker. Watched Simpsons, Whose Line. Plane ride was quite comfortable.
Day 2 Survivor Cambridge. Arrival at Cambridge. Thursday, 290905.
Arrived at Heathrow. Long Queue. Wait was ok cos lots of people in the queue, so not too boring. Diverted to medical checkup, but had "Advance to Go" cos of x-ray report. Soon out of immigration area. Pick up luggage. Freshers streaming in. Embarked on the adventurous expedition to the coach station. Kinda fun and exciting. Freshers consolidated at the coach station. Went to buy tickets. Took awhile. Trolleys of luggage all in one circle. Took pictures. Waited a long time for the coach, not enough space on coach, so more waiting.
010106: Got pictures taken at Heathrow bus staion from Kez over MSN... Thanks Kez!
The guys: LiSheng, YaoYu, HongKing, Kez, Me, KaiTing, Royce, and Nic.
Everyone!Coach Ride. Long and painful. 4 hours! Took another coach which made rounds to other cities. First sight of Cambridge was the Central Library and a spire. Alighted at Central Coach Station. Walked to Cambridge. Very managable though ended up carrying the small luggage as it kept toppling sideways.
College. Settled admin. Overwhelmed with the tasks to settle. Explored city a little. Had dinner in hall. Met a physics PhD student working in the center for Quantum Computation, whose boss is Aurthur Erst, the professor I met in Singapore at the Physics Symposium! Incredible! Offered to show me around one day. How Cool is that?!?! First meal and I am already pondering arrangements to visit the Quantum Computing lab!!!! Lotsa people around. Very tired. Turned in early. Met neighbour. 2nd year PhD pharmocology student called Micheal. That makes 2 Arch Angels living together =p. Seems a very nice but busy guy. Never really got to chat with him.
Day 3 Survivor Cambridge. First Dawn in Promise Land. Friday, 300905.
Revellie: 0500. Could not sleep after. Stunned for 1 hour. No food, not settled, no friends, no communication, no utensils, no food, hungry. Feeling of vulnerability and loneliness all over again. Ate cornflakes off plane. Unpacked a little. Changed out of clothes. Took walk around Cam hoping to bump into people. 0600? What was I thinking? Never met anyone. Stunning view nevertheless! Occured to me that I would be very familiar with this place in a while, will be my life for the next 3 years! Will be here for next 10 weeks! Incredibly beautiful! Saw joggers with very obedient dogs following them. One scene was particularly cute. Dog following master with a ball in mouth. Dog runs pass a burger wrapper thrown on side of road. Dog turns back to investigate object, placing ball down to free nose to examine sample. Master continues running oblivious to dog. Dog satisfied with inquiry, picks up ball, and catches up with owner. Walked up to Jesus, thinking along the way that the people I know were a few meters in the vacinity of where I was walking.
Returned to College to settle admin. Saw Bursar. 0900. Went out to city to settle bank. Met Agnes, Yi Fan, Audery, Hongking at HSBC. Quite a relief. Opened account. Cashed draft. Went round with Audery, Hongking and Gladys. Bought T-Mobile Sim Card. Bought laundry basket and returned to college. Met Jack. Ate at college. Went shopping for groceries with Jack. Met more freshers. Agnes, Yifan, Huixin, Shuangning. Bought bread, butter, peanut butter, hot chocolate for breakfast. Returned for dinner. Went exploring the college with Jack. Met a Cantonese Christian Cell meeting. Joined cell meeting. Quite fun. Got personal interperator to translate Cantonese to Mandrin! Amazingly, I actually could follow the bible study with the mandrin interperation! Retired to room after. Bop in MCR. Nice music playing while I went to sleep.
Day 4 Survivor Cambridge. Settling in. Saturday, 011005.
Woke up at 0600. First proper attempt at breakfast. Toasted bread. Turned out burnt on the outside, hard on the inside. Lousy bread, hmph. No cutlery, no plates, ate from tuperware, borrowed cutlery from neighbour. Went out at 0830. Bought cutlery, mug, hangers, dish washing detergent. Went back to city. Met Kez, Royce, Mich, Jiahui Returned for matriculation. Buffet lunch in college. Buffet of sandwiches. Cheap (in more than one sense). Took Matriculation pic. Met Sze Kim, PhD Engineering student from Singapore. Went to bus station to meet seniors taking us to chourmae's (a chinese grocer). Only met Lisheng. Intermittent showers. Before going to bus station realised the could eat the apples off the trees on the courtyard of our compound! Heavenly! God provides indeed! Went to chourmae's. Met Huixin. Nic and Kaiting left prior to our arrival. Left Lisheng. Walked to town from chourmae's. Bought dinner set from Argos. Proceeded to Darwin, where Lisheng was. Had cookout with groceries from Courmaes. Delicious. Delightful. Nostelgic. Interesting experience cooking. And it was very good chinese food! Kailan, beef egg omellette, fried egg toufu with beef and shrimps. Lisheng sure is experienced! Adjourned back to college, dragging the dinnerset behind me.
Day 5 Survivor Cambridge. The Lords Day. Sunday, 021005.
Woke up 0645. Made breakfast without the toasting this time. Unpacked dinner set. Had kaya and peanut butter bread with hot chocolate served on fine china. Perfect. Strolled round the city after. Met Lisheng at 0955 outside the chemistry department for church near Lensfield. Small church. One hour of spirit led worship. another hour of family service, sunday school for the whole family! Very fun. Went home with a retired couple for lunch, went with Lisheng and Huixin. Nice little home, home had a garden. Victor proudly showed us the produce. cucumbers, tomatoes, spring onions, crynsenthemum flowers, roses, garlic, and other weird vegetables. Husband and wife quarrel the same way we quarrel at home. Families are the same all over the world! Fetched us back to town from the suburbs. Beautiful scenery. Rolling hills, endless expense of blue cloudy sky.
Visited StAG. Met some Singaporeans playing frisbee on the way. Powerful surmon. But did not know anyone there. So left imidiately. Roamed around. Bumbed into other Singaporeans. Dexter, Mark, Xiayi. Followed them for dinner. Met Kaiting and Nic (finally!). Also met philo and jac in real life. Most expensive meal since. £7.50! Free flow of coke, which I haven't touch since arrival, so it was ok...
Day 6 Survivor Cambridge. Freshers Fair. Monday, 031005.
Woke up at 0645. Decided to try jogging. Wore track pants and t-shirt. Jogged to Grafton and turned back. Hands too cold, short of breath. Hazardous. Made breakfast. Getting the hang of it. Went out to buy some luxury items - Biscuits! Came back for lunch, and to settle some admin so that could access the internet. Registered with doctor. Went for fresher's fair with Jack and Yvonne. Chocolate buffet, feebies galore! So many things to do! And a few opportunities to make ££!! Signed up for those. Something about performing tasks and scanning brain. Like showing you a picture of a cat and you have to say "Cat" and they will scan which part of the brain lights up. £20 just like that! Think I'd be thinking of Schrodinger's equation when I see a cat, so might add to their experimental anomaly, Ah, we'll see how that goes... So fun! Also got so many other clubs! Cumsa, CCF, Cycling, Science society, Astronomy society, and a few organisations that are involved in the education of science to children. Jazz, Weiqi, and a Ham society! That was my best catch of the night! Think I'll have a go at Hamming... Went back for dinner, and now blogging away.
Ok, so there's the account of the first week in Cambridge. On the third day it felt like I've done a lot since I came, but now it seems like each day is getting shorter. But still, the fun has just begun! So many things to do, so many ways to develope! Wow! Will be starting lectures soon! Seeing my DOS tmr. Having matriculation dinner, and so many events! I hope I am able to keep my life organised!
1 comment:
This is so totally cool... enjoy yourself man!
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