Soaking in Cambridge

It seems me that time moves at a much faster pace than people expect or desire. I look back at my 3 years at CSP. It feels now as if those three years took but an instant. Three of my 24 years of life (that's 12% of my life) seems to have gone by in the blink of an eye. This summer is another great example. Living with Matt and Josh was a blast but those two months feel as though they never even happened. I mention this because I know that the same fate awaits my year here in England. In a couple years I will be talking about that flash of an instant that I spent in Cambridge. So what do I do? While I still desire to accomplish all my goals from the previous post, including if not especially becoming a better student, I do not want to waste the whole year with my nose in a book. Lets face it I can put my nose in a book and read anywhere in the world. (Quite frankly if I am going to miss out on the culture and wonder of a city because I do nothing but school work it seems that St. Louis is really the best place to be.) I think the answer rests in little things (which I have been trying to employ) such as not biking to and from the University as fast as I possibly can. Perhaps King's College Chapel is always worthy of a second or third glance. I think getting lost in the City Centre and not particularly trying to get back on track right away is a good way to soak in the city. I simply cannot let this year be experienced primarily in a 10' X 8' monk cell of a room. At the same time my education is the reason I am here. This is not just some big long vacation. It would also be an injustice if I did not put everything I can into my learning while I am here. This is why I am trying to find the little things that can make my stay more meaningful and less likely to become a jumbled mix of memories that seemed to have taken place in a single moment.