Summer update

I started this blog primarily to give those who were curious a glimpse of my life abroad -- a response to the impossible, flustering question, "How's Cambridge?!"  I also like that I'm writing down the medium-sized picture of what's going on every week or so, because while I keep a diary, it's mostly ramblings about how I'm feeling, not information that I'll want to remember later.  In any case, though, I don't feel comfortable just leaving the blog alone while I'm at home, so here's a little update on how I passed July.

As you know, I've been reading up on my new buddy J.M. Kemble (see previous post).  This involves cycling out to the Stanford library a few times a week and reading in the Lane Reading Room.

It's funny, but when I walked in for the first time this summer, I was staggered -- almost offended -- by how much empty, open space there is between all the furniture in there.  I hadn't thought about this before, but the Cambridge libraries pretty much all cram books and bookcases as tightly as possible into the space they have.  Stanford's space felt like luxury indeed.

Dear, quick-tempered Kemble continues to amuse and enlighten.  I get the sense that he would have been a fun guy to invite to dinner.  No doubt I'm just indulging a fantasy, but it's fun to get to know someone from the past to whom few people really pay attention.  I feel like we're buddies in a way that, I suspect, I will never feel about Tennyson.  Maybe that's because T. could be grouchy and arrogant, but I think also because he's such common property that I can't get a sense of intimacy.

I've also started a bit of reading for a different presentation, which I learned recently I'll be giving at the end of September.  This one is just an interdisciplinary colloquium within Cambridge, so I'm less nervous about it.  The topic was so precisely on something I could talk about that I was pretty confident I'd get it, but it's always a great ego boost to get accepted.  Plus, it gives me the chance to essentially do a book report on something I have to read for my dissertation anyway.  I'll bore you with details another time.

The other big time sink has been learning to scuba dive.  I'm taking a trip to Fiji in less than a week, and I was informed by good authorities that I simply could not go without scuba diving.  So twice a week I've reported to the local dive shop, where paper tests and pool sessions prepared me for the ocean dives this last weekend.  Said dives took place in Monterey Bay, in the cold, cold Pacific Ocean.  I was fairly nervous, but my instructor was a real pro, and there were only three students, so everything was very calm and controlled.  And having been to the Monterey Bay Aquarium many, many times, noodling around underwater was just like being inside the aquarium.  What's scary about that?

So now I am a certified scuba diver -- hurray!  I've been so distracted with that process and with reading that the trip itself has snuck up on me.  Only a few more days before I leave, so it's time to start packing!