Cambridge 2010: Three Months On The Trot

Got up this morning around 7am. I resorted my luggage by putting most of my clothes in my duffel bag so that my suitcase would not exceed the weight limits and make me pay extra.

Mom and Dad left the house around 10:45am to head my way. We load up the car and we drive to The Spot for a final lunch together for at least 3 months. I had a cheeseburger with an orange crush milkshake. I found out that mom sent her first text today. I would’ve saved it and put it here, but I didn’t know that she never sent a text before. I know it had “yay” in it and she signed “mom” at the end. Haha!

We go over to Lee and I check my mailbox. Nothing but 2 flyers, which is extremely odd for me. I noticed what might be the explanation for that. They had a sign over the mailbox in the back that said very simply, “Cambridge.”

During the wait for the bus, Erica called me and we did this whole "I haven’t seen you in 20 years" kind of run hug. It was hilarious, complete with arm waving and all. We talked for a little while, but then she had to run to the MRC to get back to work.

The bus came and I was one of the very first people to load up my stuff. I claimed myself a seat on the bus; second row back on the passenger side. I came back out and introduced the parents to the people who hold my life in their hands. Joslyn came by and said goodbye, as did Crystal. I said my goodbyes to the parents and loaded up in the bus. I found it funny how dad followed the bus in my truck until we split off.

The bus ride was quiet for me for the most part. Beth did a little trivia game with the group. Earlier last semester, the group filled out an index card with an interesting fact about themselves. Our job was to guess which card was whose. I found out two interesting things about myself during that game, apparently I have shot guns since I was 12 and I am extremely OCD. Of course they guessed me for the musical ones, but as it ended up...I never filled out one. I just told them that my name meant "song of the morning" and left it at that.

We get to the airport and go to the British Airways counter. It takes a long time for them to even start checking our group in.

The group comes together after finally being registered and we all walk to the food court area. I had forgotten about this, but they have live piano music going on in there. That was the only positive thing about the food court. It’s just too high to eat there, so I didn’t. They have about 10 unsecured wireless connections and none of them would let me on. I charged my phone and the little netbook (I’m seriously going to have to come up with a nickname for this thing), texted dad, and left to go to Concourse E.

I just sit and text back and forth with Ashley and dad. Dad called and we chatted for a while about the trip, the plane, and just other silly random stuff. I texted some more until finally (around 8:10pm) they started boarding us on the plane. I sent out a final text message and got on the plane.

The plane was a Boeing 777 (haha, great numbers!) with 3 rows of 3 seats each. I was in seat 35B. That meant that I was in the middle of the row on the left side of the plane. Since there were only two of us, Brittany and myself, I asked her if she would mind to trade me seats so I could have window. I didn't get window time long though because they made us close the blinds for some unknown reason.

Dinner was served shortly after. I had tortellini in a marinara sauce with a roll and some kind of weird lentil salad. Then for dessert, there was berry cake with a square of chocolate. The chocolate was cool because it had this minty flavor and it was like a Nestle Crunch. Instead of rice, the crunch was sugar crystals.

Now is the time that I tell you about a little friend (a tad younger than my age) I made while at the Atlanta International Airport. His name is Sam. Sam is from the Oxford area of England. He was visiting a friend in the US for a little while and was on his way back home. He got the lovely pleasure of getting stuck behind our group of 20 people (including the 2 professors in that number). He wasn’t too bored though since we’re from the south and feel as if we need to entertain everyone. He was hooked on our southern charm. Everywhere we went, Sam came along as if he was one of the group members. I think he felt a little lonely being by himself and all.



Sam sat in the extra seat in my row. While the drink cart was coming around, he managed to get his hands on 6 little bitty bottles of Jack. He drank all 6 within a 30 minute period and went to get 3 more for his bag. I didn’t judge because I know that they have a different culture than we do. I wouldn’t have judged anyways. Judging is wrong. He didn't bother us or anyone around us. Sam was a funny drunk.

We three chatted it up all night. I would chime in with random questions every now and then about the culture…

What do they call the equivalent to our…

- Interstate: beltway/motorway
- Potato chips: crisps
- French Fries: chips
- …you get the picture…

He asked us a few questions too. For example, why weren’t we getting stark raving drunk on the plane like him? We go to a Christian college and there we sign a community covenant to not drink, do drugs, or have sex. Poor thing was blown out of the water by that…and expressed his condolences. Haha!

Then we got a little deeper into the conversation. He would rather have kids before marriage because he thinks that a marriage is all for the kids. He wanted to wait until he was, at least, in his 30s before getting married so he could enjoy his 20s and be prepared by that time to be a husband and hopefully have the financial preparation to go along with it.

Everyone on the plane was very soon fast asleep…except me. Sam occasionally woke up to shoot the idea at me of sneaking into first class, and if he should do it or not. I said, “If you want to, that’s your business, but if I were you…I would stay right there and go back to sleep.” He was very accepting of that and did so. After sleeping only 5 hours last night, my body was still awake. Every hour or so, I would ask the attendant for water/cranberry juice or a snack of some sort. I finally got to sleep around 5am (London time from this point forward in all entries until I get back to the US, unless marked otherwise).

Cheerio poppets!