Wednesday, September 1, 2010

Things I don't want to forget:

It's taken about 10 days for the glow of England to wear off. The momentum I felt coming out of Cambridge is starting to slow down, and the good news is that I no longer feel the need to conquer to world. The bad news is that I'm afraid I'm going to go back to old habits. I'm afraid of going back to the me I was before England happened. So, in an attempt to publicly record the incredible experiences I had there, here's a list of things I never want to forget:

1. Walking past King's College after class as the sun is right behind it and thinking: "I'm in Cambridge."
2. The day I realized that I could write a 1500-word paper in one sitting.
3. Sitting in the rocking chair in the McLaverty's guest room and realizing that the more I read Shakespeare, the easier it gets.
4. Big Ben lit up at night.
5. Running along the quasi-forest trail off of Brooklands Avenue Cambridge with Alex, Rachael and whoever they convinced to come with us.
6. Running and walking through Regent's Park.
7. Falstaff at the Globe.
8. The taste of Galaxy chocolate.
9. The tears in my eyes while seeing Poet's Corner at Westminster Abbey.
10. The value of journal writing I learned in the quiet night hours in Edinburgh.
11. The reverence of the cathedrals.
12. Being surrounded by some of the best student minds of America who wrote brilliant theses and dissertations during our 8-week stay.
13. Watching Stranger than Fiction and the first episode of the BBC Sherlock in the Pembroke Graduate Parlor.
14. John Benton bursting through Mike's and Ben's door in Regent's College saying "Fulvia is dead!"
15. Seeing Phantom of the Opera for the first time.
16. Learning about A Room of One's Own in its opening scene.
17. The day some tourists stopped us and asked us to take a picture with them to fulfill a scavenger hunt item: "take a picture with Cambridge students."
18. Seeing the Rosetta Stone.
19. My contrasting feelings about home during the first weeks of Cambridge and then the love I developed for it towards the end.
20. Learning how to make myself a transportable home base of comfort and security.
21. The realization that I should only compare myself to myself.
22. The night we slept in the Dublin airport and Jason pointing out that I shut down between 3 and 6 am.
23. "Read the Big Issue, buy the Big Issue..." I still don't know what the Big Issue was.
24. Walking through the Cambridge market after class.
25. Walking through all the parks in London!
26. Getting ice cream with the girls at Benets and sitting on King's Parade.
27. The Trailer of Life.
28. Doner Kebabs in Ireland.
29. Riverdance in Ireland!
30. Playing soccer at midnight in Newport, Wales and then again on the beach in Swansea, Wales.

This list could really go on and on, but those are the big ones for now.