Everything they said was right. This is going to be the best experience of my life, I’m going to get extremely close with everyone here and I won’t ever want to leave. If someone told me that after seven days I would have already gotten lost in London after meeting and exchanging numbers with three Germans and a Spaniard, planned a trip to upper Scotland to see the Loch Ness monster, won £10,000 from the Cambridge lottery and gone to a club for the first time, I would have laughed politely and subtly expressed my disbelief. And, this sly behaviour would have been canon fodder for one of the most gratifying, memorable “I told you so” moments ever experienced. All of these things happened.*
Come to Cambridge! I’ll be leaving my copious amounts of lottery winnings at the centre.**
Two weeks prior to coming to Cambridge I began to slowly modify my sleeping schedule each night so as to avoid jet lag. By the time I took off for Cambridge, I was waking up at 4:30am each day, 10:30am Cambridge time. This did really help avoid jet lag and I’m glad I did it. But, it certainly wasn’t necessary. No one else did this***, and after a few days they seemed fine.
You have these huge engines to look forward to. Cool.
The town of Cambridge is beautiful, and yes, British accents are even cooler in person. Surprisingly though, the first few days I had a bit of difficulty understanding people here. When you’re in the states, hearing a British accent is usually only happens when your friends try to imitate the British, or maybe you’ve heard the accent on TV from time to time. What you don’t realize is that when a British accent gets combined with a vernacular style of speaking, the words seem to come out so fast that you lose track of what is being said. Ordering food from a pub can be a bit confusing when you have to translate “chips” into “french-fries,” “mate” into “friend,” “wuht” into “what,” and “cheers” into “thank you.” The slang words really add up, and if you fall behind it can be tough to catch up. But, have no fears, after only a few days you’ll fit right in.****
* Okay, so I didn’t win the lottery. But I swear the rest actually happened.
**Note: I won’t be playing the lottery.
*** No one ever has. It’s really not necessary. But, if you enjoy being super prepared, give yourself three weeks to adjust and make sure you get used to waking up around 7am Cambridge time. That’s what time you’ll be getting up at the first few days.
**** That’s a lie. You’re still American, but unless you’re too obnoxiously loud, the English won’t have a problem with you. Having English professors really helps, because they come to you in a non-threatening environment, and one of them spends the first 15 minutes of class discussing English culture and answering any questions you have about it.
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