Getting down to Business

by fimbulvetr

As I mentioned yesterday, there are certain advantages to living in a real family home. One disadvantage however is the morning chaos when everyone is getting ready for the day. After saying bye to my nephews and eating a quiet breakfast, I waited for my cousin to hastily get ready do he could drop my at the nearest tube station. From there I literally crammed into a rush hour train to reach King’s Cross Station, where I would embark for my first visit to Cambridge.

Conveniently the train ride was a nice 45 minutes with no stops until Cambridge, and after another quick taxi ride through town, I arrived at the Cavendish Laboratory. My research advisor Stafford met me in the lobby and showed me around a little bit. We spent the next 3 hours discussing various projects I could work on with two other members of his group David and Chris. After some more introductions to the rest of the group I decided to work on basic physics tests involving Kinetic Inductance Detectors. I can’t go into any more detail just yet, it will have to wait until I get started, but I am excited this coming year of research.

After a brief walk around the lab I made my way over to Churchill College, my home for the next 11 months. Luckily the graduate student secretary was more than happy to help me get started on introductory paperwork. By the time I move in next week I’ll have internet access set up and be ready to hit the ground running. I didn’t realize how close my house was to the college and lab, which will make life very convenient.

Opting not to call a taxi, I slowly walked through the heart of Cambridge to the rail station. The town is definitely bigger than I imagined, around the same size as the outskirts of Stanford. People kept telling me that Cambridge was a small place, but I guess they never saw how condensed Berkeley was. I will definitely need a bike to get into town, but that’s business for next week. Once I reached the rain station it was quite easy to make my way back home, where I rested and ate a simple dinner with my cousin while the kids slept.

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