Beginnings

Sorry for being out of the league for a while, with the consequence that much has happened over the past five days.

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Mon, Oct 1 : Tried getting up at 5:00 am for my morning run. Failed.

Had meeting with tutor at 9:20 in the morning. Turned up prompt. There people there coming straight out of bed, after all the partying the night before (remember the formal hall and the chaplain's squash?) One person said he'd awoken in someone else's bed, with no clue how he got there. He was still wearing the same suit as the night before.

9:20 am: met tutor along with the rest of her wards in her room. Nice big room. I don't think she stays there. Is a lawyer. Tutors are supposed to care about the general well-being of the wards. The Director of Studies (DoS) takes care of the academic well-being. Meeting lasted about half an hour. She went through an enormous list of points she'd received from the university. Nothing much, calculators and stuff. Random.

Got a message from one of the Physics Directors of Studies, saying that since a Dr Malte Grosche was in charge of Part II this year, I should write to him directly. Did so. He replied saying I should meet him on Tuesday at 11 am.

Wrote to Stephen Layton, the DoS of music as the chaplain had suggested. He replied promptly asking me to meet him at 7 pm on Wednesday. Made another mental note.

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Tuesday, Oct 2 :
Tried getting up in the morning for my morning run. Couldn't. Woke up at 7, had a bath and went for breakfast. Then went for a first-year Natural Sciences meeting in College. Found out that it was literally for first years - those joining part 1a of the course. Humoured myself with the antics of the profs and the obvious differences between the righteous exaggerations of the chemist and the ponderous whispers of the mathematician. Found my to-be DoS Dr Malte Grosche to be there also. Afterwards, the DoS's were assigned to all freshers. At that time hailed Dr Grosche, reminded him I'd meet him at 11 and escaped from the room and from being assigned arbitrarily to some other DoS.

11:00 am: time to meet Grosche. Couldn't find his name on his door. Though I was at the wrong place. Tried all other doors in the courtyard. Then though I'd go to the porters (like gyps, except that the head porter had a car) to ask where he stays, when I met the Doc himself coming up the stairs. Said he was ate since he'd gone to print out some part 1b (second year) question papers for me to look at. Went to his room with him. Got fixed some coffee with milk but w/o sugar (ugh). Showed him my syllabus. He showed me the papers. Chatted with him a bit about where to join. He was convinced joining third year would be fine, except that it might be too much for me. He advised me to attend the classes and see for myself. Happily acquiesced. The he said he wouldn't want to get into trouble himself and so asked me to work out some of the problems in those exam papers and give them to him. He's given me two weeks to do that. Yippee :)

Lunch: don't remember where I ate. Met Shivam and others and went to the Cambridge University societies fair. Stood for 45 minutes in a kilometer-long line to get in. Inside the hall was jam-packed with no place to stand. Spent an hour and signed up for many socs, including the Cambridge University Music society, Queen's College choir, Homerton college choir, cambridge chess club, Cambridge Wireless society (amateur radio enthusiasts), the Ceilidh Band (instrumentalists, putting up gigs in various places during the year), Cadenza (a-capella singers, i.e. they sing w/o accompanying music: listen to this: http://www.societies.cam.ac.uk/cadenza/music/blue_moon.mp3 !!). Came back. Went to John's and surprised Nandhini in her room (she hadn't been to the societies fair with us).

7:30 pm : started making aloo tikkis, though Girija insisted they were cutlets. Finished by around 10 pm, with a soggy mass of potatoes and peas. Some of them did turn out not too bad, but others, especially those made w/o any bread for a binding agent (my idea to put in the bread :D - should have remembered on time :( ), were a disaster. Woved never to try anything more complicated than a butterscotch cream cake with cherries, nuts and pineapple, again. Dislodged ourselves from Edmund's. Came home and fell asleep.

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Wednesday, Oct 3 :
Tried getting up in the morning for my morning run. Failed a third time. Got ready, went for breakfast. Had cereal (rice/wheat flakes) with milk, half-fried egg and toast. Not bad for a pound.

Pushed off for the Cavendish lab at ten to nine.Shivam had asked me to be there at nine. Got lost on the way on the road he's suggested. Couldn't find a JJ Thomson Avenue. Turned out I hadn't walked far enough. It's FAR from college. VERY far. At least on that road. Reached at 9:30 just as the intro talk was about to begin.

9:30 AM had introductory talk on part II Physics in the Cavendish lab. They basically outlined the course structure, stuff I'd already read and re-read many times before coming here. They put up a list on OHP of people registered for part II physics. Found my name absent (understandably) and Shivam's name present (inexplicably). turns out he's registered at some point. After the talk, when and met the teaching-office secretary. She asked if I'd do the registering or if she should. Tried to be smart and said I'd do it. Came back to college and tried. Couldn't.

1 PM : met tutor for lunch, along with the rest of her wards in a restaurant close by. Had "Char grilled Chicken Caesar Salad with Fresh Anchovies, Parmesan & Croutons. Didn't find any anchovies, Dessert was "Chocolate and Peanut Mousse Cake in a biscuit and sponge base, served with cream". Didn't taste very different from a chocolate pastry. Quite nice, though the 'salad' part of the chicken Caesar salad was bitter.

3 PM : went for Trinity college library tour. Librarian was more interested in telling us that there were over a quarter of a million books in the library and that Trinity was so rich that if there were a book not there that we wanted, "tell us and we will buy it for you", than telling us how to get around the place and how to issue and return books. Hung around in the library for a while

5 PM : Finally unpacked and put all the stuff away. Emptied all suitcases. Folded newspaper to put in the drawers. Nandhini appeared. Chatted and unpacked simultaneously. Went with her to look for notebooks to write on.

6:15 PM: Got late and rushed with her to the St. John's College choir evensong. Left in the middle to go and meet Stephen Layton, the music DoS. Found his place in the college with a bit of trouble. Was made to stand in a corner and give an on-the spot audition (!) Was told that chapel choir would not do and that I could try the Trinity Singers or the university choir. Drat. Went back to St. John's. Bumped into the chaplain on the way, jogging. Informed him of developments. He was surprised I'd been given an o-t-s audition. Met Nandhini again. Left with her for St. Edmund's where they were having a barbecue night. Stole some food, polished it and then returned. Dropped her at John's, came back to Trinity and went to bed.

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Thursday, Oct 4 : Tried getting up in the morning again and this time succeeded. Planned a jogging route, which looked a bit short, but went for it anyway. In no time was back at the door of Trinity. Gave up and went in, had a bath and got ready for the day. Went for breakfast. Had only milk and cereal, wanting to reach the lecture on time, today being the day of the first lecture. Found the way to the Cavendish lab from Trinity myself. Reached in 20 minutes. Found a number of cardboard boxes with printed handout sitting outside the lecture theater. Found Shivam inside, reading them. Then had the first computational physics lecture. Terribly boring. Beginning with Babbage (father of computers), all pictures and history. LCD was used. Couldn't decide if the prof was a sir or a ma'am. Not sure even now. Next lecture was on thermal physics and stat mech. Fact that I can't remember anything about that lecture says how much fun we found it. After lectures, went up to the department library and registered. Then sat in the sun inside the building and read up the comp phy handouts. Finished them and went with Shivam to Edmund's.

Took him and his bundles of cash and deposited both in the bank. Bought some chicken salami and buns at Sainsbury's. Took them to Trinity to heat, but didn't have sauce or knife. Discovered note from college parents inviting me to dinner at 7:15. Got a mail saying Ceilidh band freshers meet was today b/w 8 and 10. Pushed off to Edmund's again. Made and ate three salami-burger-sandwiches. Got sick of them by the end of the second. Came back to college. Found email saying Trinity singers rehearsal was today at 7:30. Moments of some confusion. Decided on the Trinity singers. Sent no-thanks note to college parents. Missed dinner. Rehearsal in the chapel lasted from 7:30 to 9:30. We're doing Brahms' "A German Requiem". Concert is on the 26th of Nov. Missed Ceilidh Band freshers. Made friends with the pianist at the end. Asked where one could practice. Was informed of the existence of music practice rooms under the clock tower.

9:45 PM : Back to room. Used some more emergency rations, this time a pizza-flavoured pasta. Went off to sleep.

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Friday, Oct 5 : Went for morning run again at six. Came back, had a bath. Fire alarm kept ringing for brief snatches. Gave me a start. Each room has a siren inside. Dunno why it rang. Went for breakfast. Had cereal, milk, egg and toast. Went to class. Reached in 17 minutes this time. Got another bunch of handouts. Today we had Advanced Quantum Physics and "Relativity, Electrodynamics and Light". First guy repeated Schrodinger equation. Second guy repeated Maxwell's equations. Enjoyed the second. Prof had got some polarisers and make-shift quarter-wave plates (a polythene bag). Fun lecture. Again in a dilemma as to where to lunch. Came back to college with Shivam. Went to Sainsbury's and got some sandwiches. Shivam picked up a chicken tikka roll. Came to Trinity. Sandwiched. Shivam left for his residence at Edmund's and took the tikka roll along. I slept a bit. Fire alarm went off. Grudgingly went down the stairs. Found a porter coming to turn it off.

2:30 PM: Sat down to study. Worked out some problems of the first question paper. Went to Senior tutor's clerk and got my maintenance allowance. Check for 2300 Sterlings! Yippee :D Took the Brahm's requiem, went to get the key to a music practice room from the porters lodge, was asked which room I wanted, said I hadn't seen any, took key for room 1, wasted ten minutes trying to find where the practice rooms were, then another couple, peeping in at all of them, to see what the difference was. Each room has a piano and a conductor's stand. Could hear a soprano trilling in room 6. Sat down in room 1 for my allotted 30 minutes and made learnt half of the first song.

4:30 PM: Returned the key to the porters. Came back to room and studied a bit more. Couldn't recollect why you can't reach absolute zero. All kinds of things blow up, but don't remember what. Went to supervision assignment meeting. Was afraid I'd miss dinner, since they were scheduled at the same time. Waited until my DoS appeared. Was told I wasn't needed, since the Univ deptt would asign supervisors to part II students. Escaped to hall. Had sauteed potatoes (56 pence), french beans (cut in long pieces, boiled and with some nice boiled corn: 56 pence) and one red shimla mirch stuffed with rice (179 pence). Everything was very bland, except the shimla mirch, which had cheese, but it was better when I added some salt to it. Damned expensive. Why don't they subsidise hall food?

Back here and writing mail thereafter. Will go back and study. Planning to finish one qpaper today. Any help on the absolute zero? We all know we all know all. So no problem if I ask a know-all for a bit of know, no?

Tanmoy