Routine update #1.
Obama won! EuroCup starting soon :)The landlady finally got the internet connection up and running. Haven't been blogging because I have been using lab internet sporadically (checking email is fine, but blogging is a bit... too much?), or internet cafe (when it costs like £1.20 an hour, there are more important things to do?), or not at all... So when I am at home, I had been either i) eating ii) sleeping iii) reading.
The UK is the place for snacks. 46p for 12 small packets of potato crisps, 27p for a roll of chocolate digestive biscuits, £2 for 2 huge bags of M&Ms or 2 huge packets of Kit-Kat, £2 for 15 apples, 50p for 4 cups of caramel creme dessert; foodwise, £2 for 3 litres of juice, £3 for 4 packets of frozen dinner, 20p for a packet of breakfast rolls, etc. Fresh foods e.g. meat is not cheap though - either the same or more expensive than Maryland.
Cambridge is a fantastic place because everything is centralised. There is everything that you will need, including Chinese food and Chinese groceries, within a 0.5 mile radius of the city centre. It is just that, I am based 50 minutes walk via a short-cut (4 miles) or a £1.70 bus ride away from the city centre. That doesn't stop me from going there at all though.
Khian Hong and Chen Li came on Sunday - and I showed them around town a bit yesterday after work. I basically managed to explain enough stuff to satisfy the curiosity of both of them - I was quite amazed by myself actually. I don't even live here and I can actually guide :P That is mostly based on my previous trip, input from friends here and also a bit of Wikipedia :P
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Sir Tim Hunt came down to CIMR to talk today! He is such a nice guy. His lecture was fantastic - how I wish I can have lecturers like him - and Khian Hong and me went to clash the dialogue session. We didn't ask him anything because we were not supposed to be there basically (although I wanted very much to ask him to compare American and British science) :P But when asked to comment on how 'Cambridge has changed', he said this (which I have heard more than once from more senior people from my lab):
'nowadays Cambridge UGs are expecting to be spoonfed ... they become very good at MCQs and writing essays ... but that is not what the reality is! Instead of something as 'virtual' ... things that are practical, hands-on ... are better...'
He graduated from Cambridge as a UG, as a PhD, he used to supervise students here, and he was a Junior Proctor. He moved to ICRF Clare Hall in 1991.
So, I didn't come up with this... Nobel laureates said it first, and I followed...
Though I believe that he would be an awesome teacher and mentor to whoever that is lucky enough...
Haha so far my working experience here has been pretty positive. By the end of these 11 weeks I will know whether I will 'definitely apply here for graduate school and if I can find a suitable lab I will definitely come' :)
Labels: Life
