"The time has come...to talk of many things, Of shoes and ships and sealing wax, Of carpenters and kings..."

About 24 hours ago, if I could have picked any superpower, I probably would have chosen the ability to sleep on planes. After a good night's sleep, I think I'll just opt for bringing some Tylenol PM on the return flight with me. Other than the sleeplessness, the trip from Washington to Cambridge was incredibly smooth- only one layover, no delays, no lost luggage, and thank goodness for British public transportation! The city (and it really is a city, not just a college town) of Cambridge is located approximately two underground rides, a very long staircase two flights up which one must carry one's luggage, one train, and a taxi trip from London Heathrow airport. It goes pretty quickly, though, and miraculously (I thought- my sense of direction being what it is) I turned up in front of Basing House (our borrowed dormitory for the next 6 weeks), Magdalene College, Cambridge, UK at the appointed time on Sunday (FYI, there's an 8 hour time difference from the West Coast, 5 from the East).

I'll skip over the rest of Sunday, as all seventeen of us were too jetlagged to really remember it. This meant, naturally, that most of us went to bed by 9pm.... and woke up at 4 this morning. It was a lovely part of the day to be up and get one's bearings, actually. It's unseasonably warm here; it hit the low 90s today and the Britishers are scandalized by the heat. It's rather nice when you're outside but, alas, our dorms are not air conditioned, suited as they are to typical rainy, cool English summers. The first surprise of the day, not counting the heat wave, was the general deliciousness of the breakfast with which we were presented in a dining hall not 100 yards from CS Lewis' old Cambridge rooms. The fruit here is incredible! Particularly the raspberries. There is an open air market in the city center- within walking distance- that we expect to frequent often.

Our first lecture started promptly at 9:15 with Dr. Lawrence Klein who is- surprise, surprise- an American who formerly taught at Stanford, then made it to Cambridge and received the privilege of staying on. He gave us a phenomenal introduction of our period of study (approximately Britain, 1760-1860), making due reference to nearly every text we will encounter in the next six weeks. We will have a different Cambridge professor lecture every day, so I'm very excited to hear each of their perspectives, styles, and fields of interests. Two recent PhDs at Cambridge, Laura and Tom, are acting as our tutors twice a week in order to discuss the lectures, tie the varied themes into a continuous discussion, and help direct our researching and paper-writing. Our first "tutorials" with them are tomorrow- and we are very much looking forward to it!

It's amazing how much free time we have. After lunch, the day was ours to explore the city, buy cell phones (I got a really good deals on a US-friendly plan, so don't be afraid to call or text if by some stroke of good luck it doesn't cost you the moon: 011-44-780-715-3980), and start in on our reading homework. I'm pleasantly surprised by how well a very random group dynamic is turning out. After only 24 hrs, we seem to have settled nicely into a rhythm of grocery shopping, sightseeing, picnicking, and perusing the local fair in ever-changing groups of 5 or 6.

I think that is the "long" of the first 24 hrs in Cambridge; the "short" is simply that it is beautiful, comfortable, and incredible to be here! There is talk of strawberries-and-cream-and-Wimbledon this Thursday and possibly going to London this weekend, so I will doubtless have more to tell at the end of the week.