Yet another unreal day

Today was so awesome that it needs a play-by-play.

-Woke up to an international text message that my best friend got her dream job. (Go Deena!!) Great start to a day for both of us.

-Jogged in the misty rain through a field of baby rabbits, past physics students in neon-colored raincoats cycling to the Cavendish Physics Laboratory (which is surrounded by bunny-filled fields in case of explosion... seriously!)

-Strolled through the misty, flower-blooming, sun-just-peeking-out fields of Cambridge to my department, listening to the soundtrack to the musical I saw in London a few weeks ago on my iPod (I never use my iPod, but I'm addicted to the soundtrack of Spring Awakening and today I was sick of listening to my own thoughts)

-Spent a sun- and fun-filled hour outside in my department's courtyard reading about the use of microscopes in 19th century biology classes (bliss)

-Went to a seminar called "How to Publish an Article," led by a professor who edits two major history of science journals and is a genius and HILARIOUS. He counseled "thick skins" to get over "venomous" peer review results and journal rejections, and told unbelievable stories about academic back-stabbing and horror stories of how he misspelled "putrefying" in an article, only to find out that "putrefying" is not actually a verb... you can only imagine how much my classmates and I enjoyed that seminar! My stomach literally hurt from laughing/trying not to laugh.

-Strolled through town to the second-floor window seat of a little cafe, where I savored tea and cake and a few blessed hours of reorganizing my argument about the role of blackboards in British school science in the early 20th century. I also eavesdropped on some fantastic conversations about ball gowns and types of cell phone.

-Met up with my department's Latin translation group, who had kindly invited me on their trip to St John's College's library, founded in 1624. I don't know Latin, but boy, do I know libraries and I knew I wanted to see this one. It was UNREAL in every sense. The front door was a massive wooden slab that only opens if you push on a certain spot, I guess to keep the riffraff/uninitiated/non-St-Johns students out. The library overlooks the Cam (literally! Like you can't see the ground from the windows because the building is ON the riverbank without somehow being IN the river.) and has stained glass windows with coats of arms of library benefactors from the 1600s. The books are so old their sheepskin pages sort of stink, and the librarian pointed out one shelf of texts that hadn't been touched, let alone checked out, in over 300 years. The shelves themselves are enormous and wooden and intricately carved, and so old that they've turned almost black. People in the group had requested certain books to look at, so the librarian showed us an edition of Euclid's geometry textbook, in Latin, published in 1422 (I think?), complete with a picture of the same proof of the Pythagorean theorem that all of us did in high school. (AMAZING. And we think what we do is innovative?! It's ANCIENT!) We also saw some astronomy books, including a notebook of careful observations of Uranus made by a Cambridge student in the 1840s who would later discover Neptune (I think?? I should have been taking notes.). There was also a personal calculation notebook full of algorithms and incomprehensible math symbols, belonging to a prominent nuclear physicist from the 1940s, who switched to astrophysics because he didn't want to be assigned to nuclear weapon projects. Members of the group explained each of these texts and their significance, which was absolutely priceless to hear. THEN, after admiring the Cam, the library's wooden ceiling and collection of bizarre books on display (including a gigantic book, maybe 4 by 4 ft, of music and lyrics, meant to be propped up for a whole choir to see while singing!), we went to see medieval Anglo-Saxon manuscripts which the Latin group's leader read from, pointing out the different scripts from different centuries included in the same book, which was about how to determine the date of Easter by counting on your fingers. Another manuscript gave recipes for herbal drugs, i.e. to make pregnant women give birth faster. WHAT?!

-After 2 hours of dusty heaven, we emerged into the sunlit grounds of St Johns, with the Latin speakers going off to the pub and me joyfully skipping across the perfect grass (which usually everyone but professors are absolutely forbidden to walk on, but it's open for general use ONLY during this term, exam term, to let undergrads let off steam by playing frisbee on the lawns) towards Clare Hall, where I jumped into formalwear and flats, packed my heels and a friend's borrowed Cambridge gown, and headed off to a dinner meeting of the Grown-Up Students' Network, a club started by my friend for the many adults who pursue degrees at Cambridge, undergrads and grads.

-SUPER FUN formal dinner, my first wearing a real Cambridge gown (= a U.S. graduation gown + Harry Potter's but even more ridiculous-looking) because it was at a college that requires gowns at dinner. The other "grown-up students" were just so fun, and all very interesting people who chose to leave their real world jobs, homes, etc to come back to school. Four types of wine later (red, white, port, dessert... ) we were jolly friends. :)

-Walked home (in my flats...) with a few "grown-ups", ran into a bunch of stragglers from a lecture and dinner held at Clare Hall tonight, including people from my department. Chatted about the proper way to do oral history.

Books, writing, community. Is this really my life? Pinch me.