The following Sunday, I went to Cambridge both to do research and to see the town and college. Conveniently, my cousin Jason, who's in the US Airforce, is stationed at Mildenhall, which is just half an hour away from Cambridge. He very nicely agreed to let me stay with him for a few days. Sunday dawned hot and sunny, and I knew that traveling was going to be exactly pleasant. You see, London doesn't understand how to deal with heat and so all the public buildings and the Tube turn into various circles of Hell. Of these, the Victoria Coach Station where I had to catch my bus was in fact the worst. The Tube maybe warmer, but at least it move and you get off quickly. When you're waiting to leave, however, there's nothing to do but sit there and be miserable along with the loads of other people doing the same thing.

I had allowed myself plenty of time to get there, and ended up being very early for my bus. So, I sat down at the appropriate gate and worked on this travelogue. Evidently, it's really interesting because the people who sat next to me at different times kept reading it over my shoulder. One guy kept staring for so long that I finally looked back at him pointedly, and he mumbled an embarrassed sorry and quickly looked away. Finally, it was time for me to board my bus and go along on my merry little way.

The trip to Cambridge was very nice, mostly because the bus was very air-conditioned. You know, I've never been so grateful for A.C. as I have been since I've been in London. The neat thing about riding the bus to Cambridge is that it takes you past a lot of the big London landmarks on your way out of town. You get to see Parliament Square, Big Ben, the Thames, and all sorts of other places from the comfort of your high perch. The landscape on the way to Cambridge was very lovely - lots of gently rolling hills and hedgerows. It's the kind of scenery that seems particularly English to me somehow, probably from movies or something like that. The bus drops you off in the center of town, so you get to see some of college buildings on your way in.

It was so nice, when I got there, to know that someone was picking me up and that I didn't have to worry about finding anything or getting lost doing that. Jason very promptly picked me up and made a very yummy dinner for us and his roommate. The house Jason shares with his roommate Dave is a lot like a really nice college guys' place. It's clean for the most part, but lacks hominess that guys seem only to learn as they get older. In their defense, however, the place is very temporary for both of them as they are likely to get different assignments in the next year. They do, however, have almost ever movie under the sun and a wireless network. So, I got to enjoy the goodness that is wireless and watch a lot of the movies I've missed being over here. It was so nice to sit and watch TV and just veg for a bit. Jason was such a great host, giving up his bed for me and getting up early to take me to Cambridge. As I told my mom later, I knew he was "raised right"

When I got to Jason's place, another guy from the military was over working on a memo he had to prepare for his military writing class. And, you might want to sit down for this, an English major was definitely needed on the scene. The poor guy hadn't had writing class for four years and was really struggling with the thing. He kept saying that I was really smart, and I kept telling him that its just a skill that has to be learned and kept up like any other. I mean really, the military should keep these people writing if it ever wants them to be able write well. Oh wait, what I am saying, even universities haven't really figured out how to teach writing well (i.e. UF's Writing Program), so how can I expect the military to do it? Anyway, it was nice to have one's skills needed:-)