To Cambridge

It took me 10 minutes to get to Balham Station, and another 12 minutes to reach Victoria Station by the overhead train. I had to walk for a while to find the coach station where I booked a 10 pound ticket to Cambridge. I waited in number 10 for half an hour until the driver ushered us to the coach, which then serpented its way through the clean London streets.

All the way to Cambridge, the flash of memories went back. I wanted to visit Britain for the second time to improve my English, to talk to people, to get to know and cherish the culture and the language I teach in Tunisia and to work on my PhD in some of the best libraries in the world. This country has meant a lot to me, and memories from my first visit in 2001 were still vivid in my mind.

It took us one hour to leave London and vast sceneries started to show up. The green lash countryside, as described by Shamma, was coming into view and clean fast cars of all makes were hitting the road in the opposite direction. We arrived at Cambridge at half past twelve. Because I did not have a map, I asked the driver if he knew where Pembroke College was, but he said that he never heard of such a place. I walked for about half an hour until I found my destination. The first person I met was a professor who showed me the way to the porter’s lodge. I was given some keys and told that my room was in a postgraduate kind of hostel at some distance from Pembroke. So, again, dragging my heavy suitcase I made my way to my new place. The porter was kind enough to walk outside the college and show me which way I should take. Finally, I arrived at Grange Road number 6.