why are some pictures sideways? I have no idea. There are no options to reposition the pictures, so whatever. you all have to live with the some times sideways pictures. meanwhile, enjoy!
Sunday 21 October 2007
it's bitterly cold...
I woke up this morning and could hardly bear to put my butt down on my bike. It was so horribly cold I had to put on my gloves just to hold the bike handles., and wondered if I was just bad at handling the weather.
Then, after church, talking to someone who exclaimed, it was terribly cold today! the weather went down to -4 last night and 4 this morning...
And being from a not so rich college---sigh, I am starting to understand why students take such an obsessive interest in the wealth, or lack thereof, of their colleges, because it affects your accommodation and college fees... maybe that explains why my heating is never quite warm and I find the undergraduate block much warmer than my own, and why I have to wear layers in my roon despite the heating.
ah well, she says philosophically. Autumn will turn into winter which once endured, will turn into spring, the warmth will come again, and then perhaps I'll miss the cold.
Some more pictures, one taken on, blushes, erm, what has been endowed with the name of org**m hill. Go figure. I still haven't figured out its proper name, because thats what all the students call it--it's not me! Reason is that erm, it gets steep really quickly and you go down very quickly on a point so cycling up is extremely slow going as you don't have the time to build up the momentum. Well, the British are risque, did you ever doubt that? Some of the colleges have been rechristianed some even more risque names.
So besides the daily exercise i get from cycling up and down, there's a smoother but longer way, so I rather traverse that tiny excuse of a hill..
Monday 15 October 2007
Lovely, lovely paths
This made me happy today , enough said. I have also discovered the art of wearing a skirt and riding a bike! All my lovely comfy long skirts cannot be worn, simply because they would get caught in my bike---which is a bit too high for me, me thinks---so a lovely green skirt given by one of the nicest optometrists around, wink---is the only candidate which presents itself...
The trick is to wear black stockings, high boots and voila! i'm off on my bike! Speaking of which, I don't feel safe on this newly acquired green bike. He/She does not make me feel secure the way Elda did. Something about the bike control...
Sunday 14 October 2007
The luckiest girl in the world
This is what I see when i cycle home. It may not mean much to you, but it does to me, as trees soothe me so magnificently whenever I am feeling frazzled or under the weather.
As for why the photos appear sideways? I have no idea. I am a luddite, sometimes, so I can't help you here.
Leaves
If I could and had to choose, to be something other than a human being...
I would want to be an autumnal leaf, to go off in a blaze, to never go 'gently into the night' of winter (Dylan Thomas)...
I was talking to this person I met at church and giving squeals of delight as I saw the leaves drifting down. She looked, laughed and said, if you want to you have to quickly take photographs before they all fall over the next few days.
Thus, i rushed home, grabbed my camera and started frantically taking these pictures---the work has to wait, the weather can't!
Friday 12 October 2007
Autumn
Autumn has a beauty that is entirely her own. The glorious reds, yellows and greens, all in a blaze of glory...
It was such joy to take a quick run outside. I have been working in my room all afternoon, and was growing increasingly weary of my readings---oh the points were good enough, but I was so weary of the pedantic way it was written...i am still, alas, a literature student, and I cannot read something that isn't lyrically expressed. I wish I could, but how something is expressed mattters so very much to me, for better or worse...
Then running pellmell, as fast as I could, as I was wearing nothing more than thin shorts and my usual runner's attire...i am still washing my own clothes at the moment and not bringing them to the ..oh so far washing machines (i am shockingly and strangely lazy!) into the thick layers of leaves...
Cambridge is very beautiful. There is something about the pretty English countryside, the leave-covered trees, that makes me wish I would be here next September to see summer slide into autumn...
Apart from other small scraps I have found myself in, I am content and happy, if for the short lived euphoria of seeing such beauty!
It was such joy to take a quick run outside. I have been working in my room all afternoon, and was growing increasingly weary of my readings---oh the points were good enough, but I was so weary of the pedantic way it was written...i am still, alas, a literature student, and I cannot read something that isn't lyrically expressed. I wish I could, but how something is expressed mattters so very much to me, for better or worse...
Then running pellmell, as fast as I could, as I was wearing nothing more than thin shorts and my usual runner's attire...i am still washing my own clothes at the moment and not bringing them to the ..oh so far washing machines (i am shockingly and strangely lazy!) into the thick layers of leaves...
Cambridge is very beautiful. There is something about the pretty English countryside, the leave-covered trees, that makes me wish I would be here next September to see summer slide into autumn...
Apart from other small scraps I have found myself in, I am content and happy, if for the short lived euphoria of seeing such beauty!
Wednesday 10 October 2007
My voice!
I want my voice back, and am upset.
I woke up one day with my voice gone, but absolutely no other symptoms... Yes i had sinus 2-3 weeks ago, and i have not been resting, but I never had this so bad before---it always came with horrible aching pain in my throat--which was strangely comforting as i knew when the ache went away, i would recover, and certainly not like this, where I function perfectly ok otherwise, except for my voice. I think clearly---except for a slight exhaustion-driven headache---and have no stuffed nose or otherwise.
I don't even have a cough anymore. I had severe cough a while back, but really, not like this, voice gone completely harsh, flat, breathy and raspy. I can't even form words properly.
I don't mind if this is for a few days', but i never had such an inexplicable loss of voice, and I hate the sounds that come out now. I want to be able to sing and laugh once again and not talk like this, I feel like a robot.
I woke up one day with my voice gone, but absolutely no other symptoms... Yes i had sinus 2-3 weeks ago, and i have not been resting, but I never had this so bad before---it always came with horrible aching pain in my throat--which was strangely comforting as i knew when the ache went away, i would recover, and certainly not like this, where I function perfectly ok otherwise, except for my voice. I think clearly---except for a slight exhaustion-driven headache---and have no stuffed nose or otherwise.
I don't even have a cough anymore. I had severe cough a while back, but really, not like this, voice gone completely harsh, flat, breathy and raspy. I can't even form words properly.
I don't mind if this is for a few days', but i never had such an inexplicable loss of voice, and I hate the sounds that come out now. I want to be able to sing and laugh once again and not talk like this, I feel like a robot.
Monday 8 October 2007
Having a low sexy voice...
Imagine a low sexy voice... As I laughingly said to a course and college mate, yes, I sound utterly seductive now... I have lost my voice. It's gone husky and low.
My body is protesting but I really can't stop now...now when I do have to do so many things, like searching for er, of all things, stationery, online...I have to economise!
But never mind about that. I attended two lectures for the first time today and enjoyed them thoroughly. The two 'heavy weights' were surprisingly clear, and I feel, and wish, I did do undergraduate studies in A. here, for I would be so horrifyingly erudite...the lectures do actually give a roadmap into the past and present theorists within the field, even if they don't give enough information for you to use properly in your essays.
On the social front, I have started to make friends with coursemates and college mates, which is always a good thing. There was tremendous laughter at dinner---when I could produce any sound anyway!
My body is protesting but I really can't stop now...now when I do have to do so many things, like searching for er, of all things, stationery, online...I have to economise!
But never mind about that. I attended two lectures for the first time today and enjoyed them thoroughly. The two 'heavy weights' were surprisingly clear, and I feel, and wish, I did do undergraduate studies in A. here, for I would be so horrifyingly erudite...the lectures do actually give a roadmap into the past and present theorists within the field, even if they don't give enough information for you to use properly in your essays.
On the social front, I have started to make friends with coursemates and college mates, which is always a good thing. There was tremendous laughter at dinner---when I could produce any sound anyway!
Sunday 7 October 2007
Orientation
Punting is gloriously fun.
This afternoon the MCR organised this punt expedition to Granchester, the prettiest ever village that's about 1/2 hr walk away from Cambridge, which took us about 2 hours to punt there as we kept investigating the banks, the trees... oh fine! we just kept zigzagging instead of going straight.
We then had scones and tea on deckchairs...how very English...afterwhich i elected to run back to see if I can order a printer a printer online which was sadly out of stock. I have just been charged 11 pounds by the college for a print job which should have been no more than 3-4 pounds and frankly 3 dollars at most at home and I suspect it's because the college printer kept jamming and though nothing came out, these messed up print jobs were considered as completed print jobs.
still it's alarming as I can easily buy 2-3 books for the costs of the small stack of printed reading lists! and I am thinking of buying my own printer now though I am not sure that's going to be much better.
Apart from that, I am going to start looking for a non-audition choral group as I want to keep up with music, considering language lessons, as well as a host of other things. I don't want to be horribly friendless in cambridge during the long vacations, since Cambridge runs on intensive termdates!
I am hoping to get on with actually living here in Cambridge, rather than spending any more time trying to orientate myself, as I want to actually start living, if that makes any sense!
So far the MCR (read Middle Common Room: postgraduates)---short explanation here----Colleges communities are divided into JCR, MCR and SCR (fellows/lecturers)---have been very good with organising fun activities---at least the few i attended!
This afternoon the MCR organised this punt expedition to Granchester, the prettiest ever village that's about 1/2 hr walk away from Cambridge, which took us about 2 hours to punt there as we kept investigating the banks, the trees... oh fine! we just kept zigzagging instead of going straight.
We then had scones and tea on deckchairs...how very English...afterwhich i elected to run back to see if I can order a printer a printer online which was sadly out of stock. I have just been charged 11 pounds by the college for a print job which should have been no more than 3-4 pounds and frankly 3 dollars at most at home and I suspect it's because the college printer kept jamming and though nothing came out, these messed up print jobs were considered as completed print jobs.
still it's alarming as I can easily buy 2-3 books for the costs of the small stack of printed reading lists! and I am thinking of buying my own printer now though I am not sure that's going to be much better.
Apart from that, I am going to start looking for a non-audition choral group as I want to keep up with music, considering language lessons, as well as a host of other things. I don't want to be horribly friendless in cambridge during the long vacations, since Cambridge runs on intensive termdates!
I am hoping to get on with actually living here in Cambridge, rather than spending any more time trying to orientate myself, as I want to actually start living, if that makes any sense!
So far the MCR (read Middle Common Room: postgraduates)---short explanation here----Colleges communities are divided into JCR, MCR and SCR (fellows/lecturers)---have been very good with organising fun activities---at least the few i attended!
Saturday 6 October 2007
Coming down to earth again...
It was my first day back into reality----i ran into a classmate last night at dinner at the cafeteria...and realised that I was somehow not in the administrator's mailing list, and hence did not realise that there was a reading list with the attendant books to be chased down!
Thank goodness we did agree to go to the library together in the morning, as I quickly realised that the Cambridge libraries are labyrinths in themselves. Umberto Eco's Name of the Rose must have been inspired by either Cambridge's or perhaps Oxford's library.
Yes, virtually every book you would want would be there, BUT, aha! whether it is available is another issue! First we ran to the university library where we couldn't find the books we wanted, then we ran to the Social Political Sciences library which wasnt opened I think, and at the different libraries, books have already been borrowed and so on.
And photocopying is insanely expensive...it's all of 6 pence per page...and I spent 8 pounds on basically a stack I have have photocopied for no more than 2 dollars at home, even at 5 cents per page! I can cut down on food expenditure, but not photocopying! I nearly died when I discovered things I really need were going at 6-8 pounds when i usually pay no more than 2-3 dollars at home! I only wish i had the foresight to ship my whole house over.
And I am beginning to see why students brought up along the American system would hate UK, as I realise how very spoilt we are by our American lecturers, who would have photocopied all our readings for us in a folder, or even send them down to the photocopying shop before the module begins, so we don't have to run around chasing readings!
It feels like my dept seems somewhat disorganised and needlessly time-wasting , from what I can see, as there's usually only 1 copy of a book in the A. library and we 20ish fools fight with the undergraduates for the same book and run around to the different libraries within the university complex chasing after one or two articles...I am beginning to see why American students are complaining! Nonetheless, I shan't complain, at least for the moment as I pretty like the feel of the tutors; they seem genuinely nice, I don't mean expressively friendly and open but nice enough so oh well! that's life... I wish I had my undergraduate library back with me, simply as no one does this subject and I usually get the books I want, if they exist in the library, when I want it!
Speaking of food...I have this absurd liking for hot food nowadays and I dislike cold salads now, simply because it is so cold! Mum would be amused to know I drink only hot water these days, hey---at least I regulate according to the temperature! And I love oyster sauce... great things for stirfrying...I am a big rice-eater now...so what's up with the asian palate now... well, nothing much, just that I am trying to space out eating at the cafeteria, which only runs 3 times a day, one hour each time during the 8-week term time, but I don't want to be at the stage when I start hating Cambridge because i have had too much 'Western' food.
So how's Cambridge so far? well, I have been busy running around and worrying everyday about the ahem, extra projects I have to complete by December. I hope I manage my time such that I get to join at least some activities tomorrow, as I don't particularly want to be friendless...as my favourite old man said before, It does not do to dwell on dreams [and if I may add to his words, or ambitions, or work!] and forget to live!" chuckle...
I guess I have been busy running around just clearing things, and when I get back to my room, I am horribly exhausted, so exhausted I just want to clear the necessary stuff and crawl into my bed, since I am carrying a few months' sleep debt---i actually fell asleep at the library whilst doing my first reading!----but oh well!
We'll see! So far, many people I have met are rather human and friendly, except for a few pretentious skulls who exist everywhere anyway, so it's a good start!
Thank goodness we did agree to go to the library together in the morning, as I quickly realised that the Cambridge libraries are labyrinths in themselves. Umberto Eco's Name of the Rose must have been inspired by either Cambridge's or perhaps Oxford's library.
Yes, virtually every book you would want would be there, BUT, aha! whether it is available is another issue! First we ran to the university library where we couldn't find the books we wanted, then we ran to the Social Political Sciences library which wasnt opened I think, and at the different libraries, books have already been borrowed and so on.
And photocopying is insanely expensive...it's all of 6 pence per page...and I spent 8 pounds on basically a stack I have have photocopied for no more than 2 dollars at home, even at 5 cents per page! I can cut down on food expenditure, but not photocopying! I nearly died when I discovered things I really need were going at 6-8 pounds when i usually pay no more than 2-3 dollars at home! I only wish i had the foresight to ship my whole house over.
And I am beginning to see why students brought up along the American system would hate UK, as I realise how very spoilt we are by our American lecturers, who would have photocopied all our readings for us in a folder, or even send them down to the photocopying shop before the module begins, so we don't have to run around chasing readings!
It feels like my dept seems somewhat disorganised and needlessly time-wasting , from what I can see, as there's usually only 1 copy of a book in the A. library and we 20ish fools fight with the undergraduates for the same book and run around to the different libraries within the university complex chasing after one or two articles...I am beginning to see why American students are complaining! Nonetheless, I shan't complain, at least for the moment as I pretty like the feel of the tutors; they seem genuinely nice, I don't mean expressively friendly and open but nice enough so oh well! that's life... I wish I had my undergraduate library back with me, simply as no one does this subject and I usually get the books I want, if they exist in the library, when I want it!
Speaking of food...I have this absurd liking for hot food nowadays and I dislike cold salads now, simply because it is so cold! Mum would be amused to know I drink only hot water these days, hey---at least I regulate according to the temperature! And I love oyster sauce... great things for stirfrying...I am a big rice-eater now...so what's up with the asian palate now... well, nothing much, just that I am trying to space out eating at the cafeteria, which only runs 3 times a day, one hour each time during the 8-week term time, but I don't want to be at the stage when I start hating Cambridge because i have had too much 'Western' food.
So how's Cambridge so far? well, I have been busy running around and worrying everyday about the ahem, extra projects I have to complete by December. I hope I manage my time such that I get to join at least some activities tomorrow, as I don't particularly want to be friendless...as my favourite old man said before, It does not do to dwell on dreams [and if I may add to his words, or ambitions, or work!] and forget to live!" chuckle...
I guess I have been busy running around just clearing things, and when I get back to my room, I am horribly exhausted, so exhausted I just want to clear the necessary stuff and crawl into my bed, since I am carrying a few months' sleep debt---i actually fell asleep at the library whilst doing my first reading!----but oh well!
We'll see! So far, many people I have met are rather human and friendly, except for a few pretentious skulls who exist everywhere anyway, so it's a good start!
Friday 5 October 2007
Settling down
Welcome to the journal. I thought it was much easier to post everything here for you to read at your leisure and thereby keep in touch. You are welcome to post in this journal. Just click 'comment' and leave yr initials, and i should be able to figure out who you are. Try not to leave your full name..I dislike too much web presence, so everything else will be with initials anyway.
I have been busy of late, no, not hobnobbing with people, even, but really, getting my living arrangements out of the way. It's extraordinary to think of the sheer number of things that i find difficult to get here!
I will start with the.. as usual, trust HER to do these things...Over the past few days, i managed to, let's see, buy a second hand bicycle--well she won't replace Elda, since Elda is my first bike, and like all first loves, more memorable than the rest for that reason, so Elda will just have to be contented with being remembered but not being used!----even before I set up my bank account, and lost...my bike lock within 1 day. I got one of those horribly expensive u-locks, as Cambridge has the highest bike theft rates in the whole of UK, and it must have fallen out of it's bracket as i cycled home in the dark last night.
you can imagine how distressed i was, not just the cost of the U chain--which makes me wince when I think about it---but the possibility that I might lose my bike. Well, I asked my college porter where to hide the bike until the next morning, and just hoped/prayed it will be fine, and was extremely relieved to see this morning that it hasn't been nicked.
Horribly distressed, i decided to cook enough for 4 more meals to freeze instead of doing my academic work, so i am once more, behind schedule. Well, cooking is very therapeutic!
Ah well, I never had luck with my first lock, methinks. T'was the same with Elda's first lock.. i er, locked myself out, and had to cut the lock to get her free. maybe after this, this new bike and I will get along well, though--with a reassuring look in Elda's direction---never to quite replace Elda.
So far, I have been busy with random things like running around like a headless chicken looking for random things like my contact lens solution which cannot be found here---maybe it's just cambridge!---and opening bank accounts, getting clothes hangers to do my laundry, and stuff. I am very grateful that this other friend who lives in London frogmarched me to get some items, because if she didn't start me earlier, I probably would have had to lug more things. So thank you, you know who you are.
Apart from that, I have been happy and well, just rather fatigued as time is racing on and I am even more behind schedule than ever and it's making me panic, since the course has started proper. Trying to clear the necessary things out of the way so I can actually start living in cambridge , and focus on things like socialising---i should actually, since I have been doing alot of things myself as I get irritated when there are so many random things like no soap or washing liquid around the house---yes, i know i should have come earlier to do these things like many other students but never mind now!---and actually starting on work. I think I got a supervisor I want :)... at least on paper, she seems the closest match to my research interests than the rest who seem to do exotic societies like Mongolia and Tibet---Cambridge is THE leading centre for the study of Mongolia and other exotic places..I chattered to her at top-speed yesterday when I was introduced to her as I was so excited and relieved to be matched to her... partly as I was afraid to be palmed off to a supervisor who was not interested... She seemed genuinely interested in knowing more about me, and rather pleased I am at Girton, since she's at Girton as well, so it seems like a good start.
So far, from the past 2 days short interaction with the faculty, they seem genuinely nice, down to earth, and very accessible... a litle bit shocking as so many of them are real heavy weights in anthropology of socialism, russia, mongolia, inner asia studies, but they all seem very reassuring and keen to help us on our academic journeys.
I am hoping now to carve out my time wisely and to balance between my impulse to hurry and get the living things out of the way, and some academic work done for my future research plans, and even the cambridge requirements, and yes, making time to socialise.
hope everyone is well:)
I will start with the.. as usual, trust HER to do these things...Over the past few days, i managed to, let's see, buy a second hand bicycle--well she won't replace Elda, since Elda is my first bike, and like all first loves, more memorable than the rest for that reason, so Elda will just have to be contented with being remembered but not being used!----even before I set up my bank account, and lost...my bike lock within 1 day. I got one of those horribly expensive u-locks, as Cambridge has the highest bike theft rates in the whole of UK, and it must have fallen out of it's bracket as i cycled home in the dark last night.
you can imagine how distressed i was, not just the cost of the U chain--which makes me wince when I think about it---but the possibility that I might lose my bike. Well, I asked my college porter where to hide the bike until the next morning, and just hoped/prayed it will be fine, and was extremely relieved to see this morning that it hasn't been nicked.
Horribly distressed, i decided to cook enough for 4 more meals to freeze instead of doing my academic work, so i am once more, behind schedule. Well, cooking is very therapeutic!
Ah well, I never had luck with my first lock, methinks. T'was the same with Elda's first lock.. i er, locked myself out, and had to cut the lock to get her free. maybe after this, this new bike and I will get along well, though--with a reassuring look in Elda's direction---never to quite replace Elda.
So far, I have been busy with random things like running around like a headless chicken looking for random things like my contact lens solution which cannot be found here---maybe it's just cambridge!---and opening bank accounts, getting clothes hangers to do my laundry, and stuff. I am very grateful that this other friend who lives in London frogmarched me to get some items, because if she didn't start me earlier, I probably would have had to lug more things. So thank you, you know who you are.
Apart from that, I have been happy and well, just rather fatigued as time is racing on and I am even more behind schedule than ever and it's making me panic, since the course has started proper. Trying to clear the necessary things out of the way so I can actually start living in cambridge , and focus on things like socialising---i should actually, since I have been doing alot of things myself as I get irritated when there are so many random things like no soap or washing liquid around the house---yes, i know i should have come earlier to do these things like many other students but never mind now!---and actually starting on work. I think I got a supervisor I want :)... at least on paper, she seems the closest match to my research interests than the rest who seem to do exotic societies like Mongolia and Tibet---Cambridge is THE leading centre for the study of Mongolia and other exotic places..I chattered to her at top-speed yesterday when I was introduced to her as I was so excited and relieved to be matched to her... partly as I was afraid to be palmed off to a supervisor who was not interested... She seemed genuinely interested in knowing more about me, and rather pleased I am at Girton, since she's at Girton as well, so it seems like a good start.
So far, from the past 2 days short interaction with the faculty, they seem genuinely nice, down to earth, and very accessible... a litle bit shocking as so many of them are real heavy weights in anthropology of socialism, russia, mongolia, inner asia studies, but they all seem very reassuring and keen to help us on our academic journeys.
I am hoping now to carve out my time wisely and to balance between my impulse to hurry and get the living things out of the way, and some academic work done for my future research plans, and even the cambridge requirements, and yes, making time to socialise.
hope everyone is well:)
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