I know I recently posted a list of things that I don't really like about being here, and it's true that living in a foreign country is weirdly challenging at times. However, it is also often freakishly amazing, particularly when you are living at Cambridge University. This can manifest itself in many ways, but one of the key ones is the density of famous people here. Not only does Cambridge draw some of the most interesting people from all fields to come and lecture (Sydney Brenner is giving a talk this month!) but day to day life here is fraught with celebrities.
For example, the other night, on the way into town to meet friends, I saw Stephen Hawking. No big deal, he was just being wheeled around on King's Parade. A man walking next to me said "Good evening Professor Hawking." I was torn whether or not to a.) take a picture, b.) awkwardly walk up and say something embarrassing like "wow, you're stephen hawking", or c.) just keep following him. Clearly I chose option c.
That was pretty cool (read awesome), but then the next day something equally awesome happened. I was reading the Times online and they had an article about Robert Edwards who just won the Nobel in Medicine for pioneering in vitro fertilization. It was interesting, so I was reading the article, and turns out Dr. Edwards did a lot of his work at Cambridge. Cool. But Cambridge is a big place right? Well, it turns out that Dr. Edwards is in fact a fellow at Churchill College! Haven't seen him yet, but I'm still hoping!
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