Last night was legitimately crazy and I’ve ended up walking a whole bunch across cobblestones in my formal shoes, which is not a very pleasurable experience. This morning, I awoke to two realizations: it’s been one week since I moved out to my new home, and I’m four days away from the start of Michaelmas Term. It feels like the week has flown by with coffee meet-ups and learning Cambridge’s culture, but most of all, the week has been a lesson in the art of layering up. That’s right, not lawyering up, but layering up. I’ve understood since I’ve come here that a lot of my excuses to get out of social meet-ups when I don’t fancy going will no longer work. These are some I can no longer use:
- It’s raining too heavily,
- That’s too far away,
- I’m stuck in traffic,
- It’s too cold to meet-up.
None of these will work any longer. The weather here stops nobody, which is a testament to their character given how frigid the rain can feel. It’s also made me appreciate footballers more. On television, I always wondered why they wore gloves, and why their breath fogged up so much when it looked rather pleasant and the rain didn’t feel as heavy. I’m experiencing it all now, and trust me, I no longer understand how they play football at all.
There was a lunch meet-up and a household tea happening today which I was unable to attend owing to some work commitments (that reasoning continues to hold good here), and thus, today became a day-in. A day to rest my weary calves and thighs (barring a run in the morning), to sit, think, and work. It also allowed me to catch-up with family, cook leisurely and eat my food without wondering how to navigate to where I need to be next.
I was right. The two weeks of quarantine meant it would take me at least one week to want to stay at home. Trust me, I didn’t particularly want to either. I would have loved to go out – but sometimes the socializing urges have to give way to more practical things. I’m certain now that the art of time management is one that I’ll continuously get to work on over here.
Tomorrow I’m back out, and the forecast says it’s very cold, so I’m eager to see how things pan out.
Tejas Rao 