KNOW-IT-ALL

The undergrads are returning this weekend, all 8000-ish of them, and the town is clogged with stressed students and parents trying to find their way around Cambridge's labyrinth of streets and to their colleges. I feel great!

You see, I know what's going on this year, and I am able to sit back and enjoy all of the excitement rather than being swept along overwhelmed by the current. I feel almost smug as I cycle cooly between packed lanes of vehicles, mobbed crowds and other intrepid cyclists. I know where I am going! I know where to buy food, and which pubs to avoid! I already have my phone and internet connections hooked up! So many useful tidbits from a year spent here!

The more people ask me for directions the more I feel like I know what I'm doing. Not in a superior sort of way, but more in a "yeah, this is my town" sort of way. I like being able to help people (there's my good ol' GAP mentality kicking in again) and I like not being the new kid in town anymore. I'm feeling comfortable, triumphant, happy.