Getting ready to travel is one of the best parts travel, especially when you are traveling somewhere you have never been before. Travel provides impetus to read works you would have never read before (such as a biography of Winston Churchill, currently at the top of my reading list for the summer), a conversation topic and instant bond with old friends and new acquaintances, and the (less pleasant) need to set everything right in your life so that it can go on for the time you plan to be away--a week, a month, a year--without you being there. If last summer was any indication, it feels wonderful when that 'life tidying' is done!
As I mentioned last week, I'm hanging out in this wonderworld of anticipation again. With this semester and my educational career at Rochester drawing to a close in late May, I'm preparing for my next grand adventure. In September, I'll be leaving home again for school, as I have for the past four years. However, this year I'm trading U of R for the University of Cambridge and the finger lakes region for the British countryside.
I'm going to be at Cambridge for a year, 'reading' (in British parlance) for a research masters degree in experimental physics. Some later entry will describe the physics I'll be doing; if you want details now, check out my group-to-be's website (AMOP Group, Cavendish Laboratory).
I haven't really wrapped my head around the idea that I will be living in England for over eight months. Living. In England. Me. But this, too, is just part of the excitement and fun of getting ready to travel. While I'm not sure I'm ready to leave U of R, there's a part of me that can't wait to hop 'over the pond' and begin this grand adventure!
