Mexican dinner in Cambridge

Cambridge, England

What's going on here? Last night when I returned home from seeing my first movie in Cambridge (Kingdom of Heaven), it was 41 degrees outside...and with the wind it felt 37!

It's May. In fact, we're nearing mid May. What happened to April showers bring May flowers? What happen to warm spring days with sun bathers and short skirts?

We're on a little hiatus here in Cambridge. But to be honest, I don't really mind. Last week when it was warm and muggy (70s), it was killer to fall asleep at night. Remember: no AC.

But things are going great here. I am hammering away on my dissertation, which I am sure excites everyone. Adam has already requested an autographed copy of my final report, so let me know if any other video game fans out there want one too. Okay, so my research is quite narrow and not of interest to many folks...but that's grad school right? (or academia in general?)

We made it to and from Brussels earlier this week for our class trip to the EU. It was neat to see the buildings -- very modern and unimpressive. But the most interesting aspect was talking (or listening) to all of the MEPs and other EU folks about the upcoming constitutional referendum in France (May 29). These guys are stoked to pass the EU constitution. It needs to pass in 20 out of 25 EU countries, but without France and Germany the EU officials say that it's finished. Interesting, because I haven't really met any Europeans that are stoked about the EU, let alone the constitution. I imagine that there are people -- especially the further east you go. But here in the UK, people are especially apathetic. As one MEP pointed out, the Brits typically view it as an economic issue. In part, they are right to view it this way: the UK provides the most financial support to the EU. But one of the main reasons to support the EU, according to this same MEP (from Hungary), is to ensure safety in Europe -- and not war like the 20th century saw. Good point, and perhaps reason enough to join (or pass the constitution, rather). Guess we'll see. One thing is sure after the visit: even though the UK is one of the big 3 in the EU, the constitution will still push on if France/Germany pass it and the UK doesn't. Very interesting to view the politics of all this on a firsthand basis.

Check out my pictures from Brussels here.

On Friday night I dined at Corpus Christi College for an authentic Mexican meal. Ha. Ha ha! Look at that picture at the top of this post. No, actually click on that picture so you can get a close up view. You folks from Texas (and even Louisiana) will be saying "ha" too. That burrito looks more like a hot pocket. In reality, I think that it was one of those microwavable burritos that you can get from HEB ten for $1. Yum. And no margaritas! I teased Paul that margaritas don't exist in this country. But supposedly they do.

We did get a sombrero though. Now that's fun. I plan to wear it back to the US on my flight back. That'll get a few looks from the British Air flight attendants.

Oh, and I almost forgot. We had the British election on May 5. Seems to have been a pretty forgetable election, as there wasn't much excitement. The papers and my friends here said that the drama was down this year because Blair had it locked. Still, it was interesting to see how worked up everyone got here for the US election, and then how calm it was for the UK election.