NWD

(first post by Katie)

I’ve been in the UK for four days. Long enough to be over jetlag (more or less), and to have obtained a number of very useful things (bank account, office, department key, second-hand bike), but not, as it happens, long enough to have found a place to live. I’m still working on that. I’ve been living in guest houses. They’re very nice, but I worry about the permanent injuries I’m doing to the poor taxi drivers and hotel managers who have been kind enough to help me lug my 65-pound suitcase up and down innumerable stairs. I packed for six months. It’s not an unreasonable amount of stuff for six months, but for two nights here, one night there… it’s a bit much. Also, my clothes are all packed so tightly that there’s really nothing left I can wear without looking like I’ve made a trip or two through a garbage disposal. I really need to get an actual room.

You’d think this would be easy in Cambridge. It’s a college town, full of students, so there should be plenty of cheap, accessible accommodation. But the thing about Cambridge is that all the students are members of colleges, so they get inexpensive housing set up for them, and since the colleges own almost everything within a mile of the city center, if you’re not in a college, you’re paying a lot of money for a room way out of town (I’m not technically here as a student — I’m a visitor). £300 per month will get you, maybe, a tiny room in a shared house, with a 20-minute walk to the city center. And you can’t book it before you get there, because you have to see the room, and meet the tenants, and hand over references and deposits etc etc. This is the first time I’ve really looked for housing that wasn’t associated with a university, so it’s a bit of a shock how involved it all is.

(I might have found a way to live in a college, though, so I’m hoping that works out.)

Other than trying to find a home I’ve mostly just been settling in and re-familiarizing myself with a really wonderful town. I love this place. It’s really a joy to be here. Of course I didn’t come here for the weather, but I have to say even that’s been gorgeous. I took a walk today to the town of Grantchester, about two miles away along the river and through big beautiful fields, and then had tea and scones at a sort of tea garden called The Orchard. Check it out: http://www.orchard-grantchester.com/ . It was a perfect Sunday afternoon.

I’ve also been checking out a lot of the local pubs and restaurants (I don’t drink but I like pubs here anyway — going out to a pub is more like hanging out in someone’s living room than it is like the bars back home), and getting in touch with a few friends I haven’t seen in a while. But once I get my accommodation worked out, I’ll probably be spending most of my time working, which I’m looking forward too — I’m pretty excited about my work right now, and I’m eager to get started with everything.