Update from Cambridge Supervisor

I got an email yesterday from John Harding, who was my supervisor at Cambridge. He wanted to update me on where the project I worked on has been going lately. Today he presented it to a committee and he's gotten word that the University of Cambridge has been talking about adding a £40,000 budget for international disabled students' needs. Though this is directly related to the work I did, it's not because of my project that this happened. It's still really cool, though, to see that things are happening with it already. If that budget is approved, it'll happen next academic year and I totally didn't think it would move that quickly. Awesome news!

I know I've said this a hundred/million times, but I can't believe that I was in Cambridge and I did that. I can't believe that I can look at the picture above (King's College Chapel) and tell you exactly where I sat on the green space next to the river at "Singing on the River." I can't believe that I can navigate all of the streets around it, tell you where things are, and get "home" from there. I hope I never forget any of these things.

I miss it a lot. I miss riding my bike everywhere and the weather being perfect every day. I miss the old streets and buildings, the English accents and words/phrases that I'm not familiar with. I was looking at pictures that Charlotte was tagged in (one of the girls who works at the DRC). She was in the country with friends and I just noticed how different the countryside is. I know I talked a lot about how beautiful the country was, but it's just so breath-taking in such a... simple way. The rolling, green hills, the stone "fences," the mossy look of everything, just the oldness. It was so charming. I wish there were somewhere in the United States that I could move (or just visit on a regular basis) and feel how I did when I was there. For some reason I imagine that the scenery in states like Vermont or New Hampshire look like England, though I probably really made this up.

Something else related to Cambridge--while I was there I forgot to get a CD of the King's College Choir. Since it's almost Christmastime, I thought I would look up into an album of Christmas carols, but I can't seem to find one that I'm totally fond of. I did find one of just traditional church hymns that I enjoyed, so I've put that on my Amazon wish list and am pretty excited about it. Anyway...

I feel bad for those around me who have to constantly hear about England, but I have to say that it is something that won't quickly leave me. I think about it all of the time and it will forever have a place in my heart. I think I will be obsessed with it for the rest of my life, actually. So... sorry to those of you who have to endure my England talk.

Yesterday I did some of my first drop-in advising at Heartland. Well, I wasn't 100% on my own or anything. Vance sat in with me, but I sat at his desk, navigated the computer, and spoke directly with students. He helped quite a bit, but I think I learned more from those 4-5 appointments than I have in about the past three weeks of shadowing passively. It was really fun, actually, even though I was immensely nervous about it. I'm just so excited about being really comfortable doing it. I know that I will love this as a job; it's just a matter of knowing everything I need to know, which is hard when I haven't been trained at all. After class last night BriAnne and I commiserated a little together about the situation. I'm glad that she's feeling the same about it. Hopefully next semester we'll both feel a little more liked, competent, and useful.

So... good day yesterday!