Cheerio from Cambridge!

I've been here in England for ten days, and I am in already love with it here! The cobblestone streets, the amazing spired churches and old ivy-covered brick buildings, the market at the city center with stalls selling fresh-baked bread and rich ripe fruit ... one of my professors said about English weather, "We get all four seasons in one day!" and I have found that very true. This morning it was sunny and warm, then it began to drizzle and then there was about ten minutes of heavy downpour, and now it is afternoon and the skyis a cloudless blue.

I am taking two English literature courses here at Cambridge: one one Elizabethan poetry and another on the tragic figure in Shakespeare's plays. I am enjoying both courses immensely -- my professors are brilliant yet also very attuned to their students and lead tremendously insightful class discussions, relating the work we read to events across the span of history and into the present day. I leave each class feeling so inspired, even if it is a drizzly gray day outside. I've been trying to take time to write every day ... if it is sunny, I like to take a notebook out to the garden and spend some time there. This past weekend I went into London with some friends, and spent a very pleasant morning writing and people-watching in Hyde Park. To think of all the great writers who have walked these English footpaths! I feel so very lucky to be here. I have also discovered anew how inspiring nature can be, and even when I return home I plan to spend more time writing outdoors. I think a change of scenery once in a while does wonders for the creative process.

What do you think? Do you have a favorite place to write? Do you ever write outdoors? I'd love to hear your comments!