Clothes!

I finally got my other suitcase!!!! I am soooo happy! It was here this afternoon when I came back after our orientations at about 3pm. Before, when I was talking to people online and they would ask me how London was I would usually be enthusiastic, but I knew that when my clothes got here, I would be very happy and content. :-)

Today we had orientation for our flats and the rules surrounding said flats. Then we got our computers set up to be able to print from the printers we have in the Winston House. The Winston House is a house about a 5 minute walk from our flats that is owned by UNC. This is where we will have our classes. There are also printers for us to print out our papers and we have a small, rather limited library.

After that, we had orientation at the London University Student Union, known as ULU. We saw all that they had to offer and we got our cards to get into the ULU. It is a rather small union, compared to the one at UNC, but we will be happy to make use of its services! They have a bunch of clubs that look interesting. Some of the more random ones were: lifesaving, orienteering, rifle, and London Revelation Rock Gospel Choir. I'm interested in the Art club, the Ski and Snow club, and the Agape club, which I assume is a Christian club. Most of the universities in England don't seem to start for two more weeks, so those clubs won't start up for a while yet.

After that, we had a while to get lunch so Laura, Heather, Mary and I got lunch at the British Museum and wandered around, exploring it a bit. There was an exhibit that had all the prescription pills for a man and a woman laid out over their lifetime. The pills were laid out in chronological order so you could see when the lady started taking pills for her breast cancer and when the man had to take pain relievers for his broken ankle. It was insane how many pills they took, but it made me think about how many pills I take, regularly or not. The man had died of a heart attack. The display noted that he took more pills in the last 10 year of his life than the first 66. But the woman is still alive and 'going strong' according to the display. It was interesting to see how much we rely on medicine now.

Then we had orientation at the Senate House Library. The library is large, not quite as big as Davis Library at UNC, but it is much, much more confusing. There are stairs that pop out in random places and take you places you didn't mean to go and the rooms are not self explanatory. You walk into any room and I can guarantee that it will have books, desks, and computers. There aren't many signs to tell you where things are. Also, their classification system is very different from the one we use at UNC. I suppose it will take a while to get used to it, but I guess by the end of the semester I'll know my way around there pretty well.

Oh, last night, one of my roommates, Laura went to church at this church that I'd heard of. They have both morning services and a night service. Since we had a tour of London in the morning, she went to the evening service. I wanted to go, but (1) I had no clothes and (2) I had to wait for them to deliver one of my bags. But she enjoyed it so I am looking forward to visiting next week. They also have a newcomers night tomorrow night and I think we are going to try and go to that. They also have Bible studies for students and other ministries that look very interesting to me. I'm really excited about getting to check it out.

And now, I believe I will watch 'The Gods Must Be Crazy'. :-) I hope ya'll are all doing well!!

Flat!

This is me with one of my roommates. We were wandering around the outside of the British Museum looking for places to eat Saturday evening when we happened upon a little Thai place. It was delicious! I had satay and coconut rice and they were really really good. We'll definitely have to go there again.

Well, I've explored my flat. 'Fully equipped kitchen' awakened images of plenty of dishes, tupperware to store leftovers in, measuring cups, and lots of pots and pans. In actuality, we have three knives, spoons, forks, plates, bowls, mugs, and pots. There are no pans and there are no measuring cups except for one glass cup that measures in pints and decalitres... Needless to say, we're going to have to buy several things so that we can make food in any sort of capacity...


This is our little flat kitchen. I like to call it our 'closet kitchen' because it is so small. It really is like a closet that they converted into a kitchen. One of my roommates aptly noted that you could cook without hardly moving. I suppose it's a blessing in disguise. ;-)

I have one of my bags now. Sadly it was not the one with all of my clothes... Hopefully that one will come tomorrow... At some point I have to figure out how to work our telephone. I tried to call the airport today, but for some reason the number wouldn't work. But hopefully I can figure that out.

We went on a quick tour of London by bus today. Apparently you can rent a horse and ride around Hyde Park. We saw several people riding as we passed by. Hopefully I'll get a chance to go riding in the park. There were a lot of other places that I'd like to go, but I can't really remember them all right now. But it was fun to see a lot of London. Hopefully I'll get to know the city a lot better by the end of the semester.

I'm in London!!

I made it to London in one piece and I found my flat without too much trouble. The only problem is that my luggage is still in New York. The people at the airport said that it should get there tomorrow about the same time I got in today and that they would call me and send it to me. I took the tube to Bloomsbury and then wandered around for a little while, mislead by the differences between "Square" versus "Place". If there's a "Bedford Square" then there's a "Bedford Place", a "Bedford Street" and so on... So I finally figured out the difference and got my keys and made it to the flat without collapsing. The flats are nice; rather small, but nice. I think some of us are going to go get some food and some converters for the plugs. Then at 5pm we are all going to head down to where we have class and have some food with our program director.

Prayer requests: That my luggage will make it here tomorrow and that I'll be able to adjust to the time difference and get some good sleep tonight, as I was falling asleep on the tube... Thanks ya'll!

Waiting

As I write this I am sitting in JFK International Airport waiting for my flight to London. I probably won’t be able to post this until Saturday or Sunday.

My first flight went well, I sat beside a girl my age who had finished her studies and was working for a telephone company in Egypt. She was with her family who had come to America for summer vacation and they were heading back to Egypt. I had a lot of fun talking to her about all sorts of stuff. It was interesting to learn more about Egypt and the culture there and she was interested to learn about what kind of stuff I did in college.

Now I have about 2 hours until I leave for London. This flight is going to be draining. I am already tired since I didn’t sleep too much last night and then navigating my way around 2 different airports and doing so much new stuff in one day has drained me. But God will provide the strength I need. I just hope I can get a little sleep on the way over. I’m less worried about getting from the airport to the flats and all that, still a little worried, but less so. Right now my main concern is the fact that one of my legs is hurting…I think I cut the circulation off on the first flight and now it is rebelling…. But hopefully on this flight, I’ll be able to stretch out a little more… We’ll see.

There’s not really much to tell about this airport or anything… It’s huge, but that’s about it… There’s a little kid running around and shouting, but this terminal is pretty big so it’s not bothersome or anything. I’d like to take a nap, but there are armrests between the seats, so I wouldn’t be able to lay down… I suppose I’ll figure something out…. Anyway, that’s about all for now. I’m sure I’ll have plenty to tell you at the end of Saturday.

I’ll probably put prayer requests at the end of each post for those of you who would like to pray for me. Don’t feel like you have to, but any prayer is appreciated! I’d be happy to pray for anyone, you can just post it in a comment or send me an email. :-)

Prayer requests: That I would be able to get enough rest before classes start. And that the jet lag wouldn’t be too bad.

Suitcases and craziness

I am done with camp now and beginning to work on getting ready for England. As I do this, it is dawning on me that I will be living out of a suitcase for four more months... Only this time, I will have even less that I am able to take with me. Having traveled and lived abroad before, I don't believe this will be as hard for me as for other people in my program. The actual packing process has yet to begin, so we will see how it goes...

On a similar note, I am realizing how much I have yet to do that *must* be done before I leave... That is in addition to seeing all of my friends off and saying final goodbyes to friends at camp. I have yet to get a English Heritage pass, which will allow quick and much cheaper access to many of the sightseeing places that we will be going. There are also many different things that I need to buy such as warm, waterproof walking shoes and a warm, waterproof jacket... The list gets longer and the amount of money that I have to spend on them seems to get smaller and smaller... But, then, I guess that is how it always is. But in the end I know that God will provide. So, I shall leave you now to go search for some warm waterproof walking shoes and jackets that *hopefully* don't cost a fortune, since I don't happen to possess said fortune...

BritRail pass and places to visit!

Well, I finally bought my BritRail pass. I'm not sure how long it'll take to get to the house, but I'm excited! Means I get to travel around Great Britain more easily. I have yet to buy my English Heritage pass, but I'm planning on getting that soon. Camp is beginning the end so I've started thinking more about this coming semester and what it's going to be like.

I'll have to compile a bunch of my mom's recipes so that I can make some good food while I'm over there. Not to say English don't eat good food; I just know that I'll want some good homemade kind of food. I'm excited about all the places that I want to go. I'll have to make a list and decide which are the most important because I'm pretty sure I won't be able to visit all of the places that I want to go. I am definitely going to Holland and Germany and Florence, in addition to Scotland and Ireland. Outside of that, I only have vague ideas of where I want to go. In Germany, Holland, and Florence I'll have friends who can show me around and tell me great places to see and eat. I think I'd like to visit Greece if I have the time and money. But I don't know if that is straying too far from England. I don't really have a clear idea of distances there and how much it would cost to get from place to place. I am guessing I'll have a clearer idea after getting there and traveling around some.

Any suggestions on other great places to visit?

Plane tickets!!

I finally have my plane tickets! I'll be leaving on September 7th and getting back on December 20th. I'm really excited! I'm a little preoccupied with camp right now, but I'm still really looking forward to all the new experiences I'll have in London and around Europe! I have several friends who live around Europe whom I plan to visit and hopefully they will know of good places for me to see and eat! I still have a couple things that I need to get before I leave like warm waterproof boots, a BritRail pass, and an English Heritage pass which will help me save a lot of money traveling and going to touristy places. It's going to be a great experience!