Some Observations

A few things I've noticed:

1) Cambridge is quite a touristy town. I guess I didn't realize that before I came, but there are constantly big groups of foreign speaking folks being carted around. Many of the shops have the same University of Cambridge paraphernalia. I've always wondered what it felt like living in a town that people purposefully visit on vacation and now I think I kind of get it.

2) Nobody stays on one side of the sidewalk as they're walking. People are just all over the place. Ian says this is because half of the people live here (where you walk on the left hand side) and half of the people are visiting from somewhere else (where they most likely walk on the right hand side). I think it's just courteous to walk/run/cycle/skip/cartwheel on the side that is the custom of where you're visiting. It would make my cycling much less traumatic if everyone agreed on one side.

3) There are a lot of moms with babies and toddlers out. I never noticed this at home, perhaps because I was working during the day.

4) I have no clue how people drive around here. Mostly I'm referring to parking and going down streets in neighborhoods. People park so close together that you literally could not squeeze your body through. Most of the streets in neighborhoods are one lane with parking on one side or both sides, but they aren't one way streets. This means if someone is coming at you, one of you has to back up (into a parking space or driveway or other street, I guess?) and let the other person pass before you can make your way down the street. It's crazymaking.

5) This one isn't about Cambridge or England, in particular, but I've noticed it here and can see it at work in my life at home too. I fear I may be getting too old to be super excited about anything or have a "child-like" way of viewing the world and its events/experiences. I'm not sure how to describe the temperament of the majority of people I've met here other than to say that they are very "even." I haven't seen any sort of astounding excitement or disgust; all I feel I've experienced is calm. I wouldn't say they're boring and there are definitely benefits to such behavior and I do like it--I just don't experience them as particularly passionate or able to get up in arms about anything. Maybe I haven't had the opportunity to see this yet. As someone who I think is particularly passionate, compassionate, sympathetic, and empathetic, I must say that as I'm around more people who are apathetic, I become scared that I'll lose a part of myself because I don't want to be perceived as naïve or simple-minded. I can't exactly articulate what that "something" is... but it feels sacred. Does that even make sense?

The past few days have been without much excitement. My project is becoming more and more tangible to me. John and I met yesterday and I can again tell that his hopes are very high for this project, as they should be. I just hope I can meet his expectations.

I'm trying to decide what I want to do this weekend and I think I've settled on going to a stately home just a few miles outside of Cambridge called Anglesey Abbey. I think this is the one Carrie told me is really great--she said it's even better than Burghley House, which is the one I have to get to before I leave. I'm going to ask Ian if there's a cycle route I can take, and then I can just make a day out of it. It might be nice to see a little bit of the countryside. It looks like it might rain on Saturday, so maybe that'll happen on Sunday instead. I hope in a few weeks I have enough guts to rent a car because I would really love to just roam around a bit on my own. I'm not even sure if I can rent a car, actually. I guess I should look into that.