Hey, I'm updating on Laura's computer while she's gone. (Don't worry, I asked ;-) ) Just wanted to let y'all know that I am alive and what I've been doing the past four days...
Friday, I went to the Greenwich Observatory with my 'History of Science in London' class as well as Jemima. It was a lot of fun and really interesting. We got to see all the original models of the first clocks (and most of them were still working!!). We also got to see (and stand on!) the Greenwich meridian!! It was a lot of fun and Jemima and I got to hang out more and talk. It was so good to see her again!
Then, I went to see the opera, Carmen, with the rest of my program. It was good and bad... The music was good, of course. But, it had been translated (badly) into English and in addition to that, they had a little screen at the top of the stage that projected the lyrics...just in case we couldn't understand the ENGLISH.... It was very very distracting... Also, they used cinematography that was odd and just suceeded in confusing us rather than adding to the opera. The director (who is actually a film director who was chosen to put on this opera) had cut out a lot of the dialogue (read: ALL of the dialogue) and that made it very confusing a lot of the time. So, while the music was good, that was about all that was good... :-/ But I'm still really glad that I got to see it and hear it. I recognized several of the songs...I'm guessing I've heard them at home. :-)
Saturday, Jemima and I got together at 10:15 to watch the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace. It was a very elaborate and long performance to change TWO guards who stand in front of the palace... But it was really fun to see all of the people dressed up and to see all the horses. :-D After that we went to the Royal Mews which is where the horses for the royal family are kept as well as the carriages. We found out that mews comes from mutare which is Latin for 'to change' and a mews was where the falcons were kept when they were molting. Once, the Royal Stables, which were at Charing Cross, burned down and King George III moved the horses and carriages to the Mews which was closer (right behind Buckingham Palace). Over time, the mews became associated with horses rather than falcons. But, we got to see some of the horses (!!!!) that served the queen by pulling carriages and things like that. It was really neat! We got to see a bunch of the carriages, too.
That night, I went out with a friend to watch the Rugby World Cup Final between England and South Africa. My friend is from South Africa and they won, so he was really happy. :-) It was a lot of fun to watch a rugby game! I'd never seen a whole game before and it was really interesting and fun to watch. I'll probably try to see UNC's rugby team play when I go back.
On Sunday, I went to church. We had a Filipino guy, Rico, speak and he was really good! We also met some people who were from North Carolina! We found that we had several mutual friends and they invited us to have Thanksgiving dinner with them! Carol, the lady, had gotten pumpkin pie filling, which is unheard of here, sent to her from America. So I'll get to have pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving!! Then we headed back here and I made some more Apple Beth. :-D
Today I haven't done too much. Jemima and I had planned to meet up, but sadly, it didn't work out. But I'm not too worried, because she is going to be visiting Paulien and Gijs at the same time that I do. So, I'll get to see her again! :-D I'm really excited about gettting to see them!
Prayer requests: That I'll be able to get my computer fixed soon. It looks like I'm going to have to find a IBM repair center around here. Hopefully I'll be able to find one and hopefully it won't be too expensive. So, you can pray for that. Also, it wasn't the best time for my computer to die, because I have a bunch of papers coming up in the next couple of weeks. Other than that, stuff is going pretty well. Thanks so much for your prayers!
Monday, October 22, 2007
Friday, October 19, 2007
Computer
Well, my computer died.. Something about a User Interface DLL failure... I'm not sure what it is, but I am trying to figure it out. But just to let you guys know, my updates will be sporadic until I can fix it or get it fixed... Just wanted to let you guys know!
Thursday, October 18, 2007
Jemima!
Today I didn't have any classes and Jemima called me up to tell me she was in London. I met up with her at Big Ben and then we wandered around Buckingham Palace and Hyde Park for several hours, finding several different places that I could see horses, including the Royal Stables!!!! I am so excited about that!! We were going to go immediately to see it, but it had just closed a couple of minutes before we got there, so we are going to go again later. It was sooo fun to talk to Jemima again! It was good to see a familiar face and to talk to her about stuff and not have to explain who each person was every minute.
We talked about camp and about London and all sorts of stuff! We ended up having a couple of slices of cake on the edge of the Hyde Park pond and then I took her back to Victoria station with plans to meet up both tomorrow (she's going to Greenwich with us!!!!) and on Saturday to see the changing of the guard and the Royal Stables!!! It was so nice to see her and get to talk about camp and all our friends there. It was good to hear about her travels and all that.
Tomorrow our History of Science in London class is going to see the Greenwich Maritime Museum and Observatory. That should be so fun! And it will be awesome to have Jemima along with us!! I'm really interested in seeing all the stuff they have, especially the chronometers. I think it'll be a fun field trip!
Prayer requests: I got a good night's sleep last night!! It felt really good and my tendonitis hasn't been hurting today! It was so good to see Jemima! And I'm really excited that I'll get to see her again tomorrow and on Saturday! Thanks so much for your prayers!
We talked about camp and about London and all sorts of stuff! We ended up having a couple of slices of cake on the edge of the Hyde Park pond and then I took her back to Victoria station with plans to meet up both tomorrow (she's going to Greenwich with us!!!!) and on Saturday to see the changing of the guard and the Royal Stables!!! It was so nice to see her and get to talk about camp and all our friends there. It was good to hear about her travels and all that.
Tomorrow our History of Science in London class is going to see the Greenwich Maritime Museum and Observatory. That should be so fun! And it will be awesome to have Jemima along with us!! I'm really interested in seeing all the stuff they have, especially the chronometers. I think it'll be a fun field trip!
Prayer requests: I got a good night's sleep last night!! It felt really good and my tendonitis hasn't been hurting today! It was so good to see Jemima! And I'm really excited that I'll get to see her again tomorrow and on Saturday! Thanks so much for your prayers!
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
Exploring London
On Saturday I had to register for classes so I decided to stay close to home. I went to Pollock's Toy Museum which is just a couple blocks away from me, I found. It was rather disappointing after all the other museums that I've been to. It was a bunch of toys crammed in a small house, normal size relative to houses here. The toys were all crammed in small cases and covered with dust. But it was still a lot of fun to see all the old toys and all the different countries that they were from. Then I headed back to the flat and registered for classes at 1:30.
Sunday I went to church and then headed back to the flat. That afternoon I made some Camper Stew (which is not made of campers, contrary to the apparently popular belief) and some Apple Beth. It actually turned out much better than I had hoped! I didn't have the right sugar for the 'Yucky Dough' that goes on the Apple Beth, because apparently our 'powdered sugar' they call 'icing sugar' which I found out after the fact... But it ended up very good anyway. I just have 4 different types of sugar on my shelf now...
On Monday I went to the London Aquarium. That was a ton of fun! They had a huge tank in the middle of the whole building that you could see on both floors. There were several places on both floors where you could see the tank. In this tank were maybe half a dozen sharks as well as lots of sting rays and other larger fish. I believe that there were several different types of sharks. Some looked more different than others. They also had freshwater fish, rainforest fish, and tropical fish and there were also small jellyfish and seahorses! There was also a 'petting pool' where we could pet sting rays. I got to pet one, on the top it was rough and felt a bit like sand paper and on the bottom it felt like jello. It was really neat! I had a lot of fun wandering around and looking at all the different animals.
That night, everyone came back from Ireland and France. It was interesting because I had gotten used to having the room to myself and not really ever talking to anyone so it was a shock when I suddenly had 2 roommates again. It took me a bit to readjust and get used to having to talk and having to share 'my' space with 2 other people and having to relinquish the idea that it was 'my' space. It was an interesting adjustment.
On Tuesday I had music class and then we went to a vocal performance at the Royal College of Music by Jennifer Smith and some of her students. It was a very good performance of a bunch of French poems. After that I had science class. We talked about our field trip for Friday. We are going to the Greenwich Maritime Museum. I am excited about that! It'll be interesting to see all of the old chronometers and other developments as well as the Greenwich meridian.
This morning we went to the Cabinet War Rooms which is basically a bunker that Churchill and his close cabinet worked in during the entirety of World War II. That was amazing!!! After the war was over, they had taken only what they needed from the bunker and then sealed it off. Then a while ago it was opened back up and people set it up the way it would have looked with some of the original furniture and wax figures and opened it up as a museum. It was amazing to walk around in there and imagine what it had been like. They even had most of the original maps still on the walls from 1945. Someone had drawn a Hitler on one of the maps in one meeting room and in another room you could see pin marks in the maps marking the progress of sea and air craft. It was awe inspiring to see all of that and imagine Churchill walking around in the halls and talking to FDR on the secret secure telephone that Bell Telephone had installed in a room that had been a broom closet. I spent about 2 hours wandering around and looking at stuff... I was so absorbed by it all that I forgot to take pictures until the very end and then went *back* through and took a couple pictures. It was really amazing.
After that I had Shakespeare class and we talked about King Lear and then we had WWII class and talked a bit about the Cabinet War Rooms since that had been a class field trip. Then we talked about the Italy front during WWII.
And I just finished talking to my sister on Skype. It was fun to talk to her again and catch up. :-)
Prayer Requests: Patience and more sleep. I think that's about it. Thanks so much!!
Sunday I went to church and then headed back to the flat. That afternoon I made some Camper Stew (which is not made of campers, contrary to the apparently popular belief) and some Apple Beth. It actually turned out much better than I had hoped! I didn't have the right sugar for the 'Yucky Dough' that goes on the Apple Beth, because apparently our 'powdered sugar' they call 'icing sugar' which I found out after the fact... But it ended up very good anyway. I just have 4 different types of sugar on my shelf now...
On Monday I went to the London Aquarium. That was a ton of fun! They had a huge tank in the middle of the whole building that you could see on both floors. There were several places on both floors where you could see the tank. In this tank were maybe half a dozen sharks as well as lots of sting rays and other larger fish. I believe that there were several different types of sharks. Some looked more different than others. They also had freshwater fish, rainforest fish, and tropical fish and there were also small jellyfish and seahorses! There was also a 'petting pool' where we could pet sting rays. I got to pet one, on the top it was rough and felt a bit like sand paper and on the bottom it felt like jello. It was really neat! I had a lot of fun wandering around and looking at all the different animals.
That night, everyone came back from Ireland and France. It was interesting because I had gotten used to having the room to myself and not really ever talking to anyone so it was a shock when I suddenly had 2 roommates again. It took me a bit to readjust and get used to having to talk and having to share 'my' space with 2 other people and having to relinquish the idea that it was 'my' space. It was an interesting adjustment.
On Tuesday I had music class and then we went to a vocal performance at the Royal College of Music by Jennifer Smith and some of her students. It was a very good performance of a bunch of French poems. After that I had science class. We talked about our field trip for Friday. We are going to the Greenwich Maritime Museum. I am excited about that! It'll be interesting to see all of the old chronometers and other developments as well as the Greenwich meridian.
This morning we went to the Cabinet War Rooms which is basically a bunker that Churchill and his close cabinet worked in during the entirety of World War II. That was amazing!!! After the war was over, they had taken only what they needed from the bunker and then sealed it off. Then a while ago it was opened back up and people set it up the way it would have looked with some of the original furniture and wax figures and opened it up as a museum. It was amazing to walk around in there and imagine what it had been like. They even had most of the original maps still on the walls from 1945. Someone had drawn a Hitler on one of the maps in one meeting room and in another room you could see pin marks in the maps marking the progress of sea and air craft. It was awe inspiring to see all of that and imagine Churchill walking around in the halls and talking to FDR on the secret secure telephone that Bell Telephone had installed in a room that had been a broom closet. I spent about 2 hours wandering around and looking at stuff... I was so absorbed by it all that I forgot to take pictures until the very end and then went *back* through and took a couple pictures. It was really amazing.
After that I had Shakespeare class and we talked about King Lear and then we had WWII class and talked a bit about the Cabinet War Rooms since that had been a class field trip. Then we talked about the Italy front during WWII.
And I just finished talking to my sister on Skype. It was fun to talk to her again and catch up. :-)
Prayer Requests: Patience and more sleep. I think that's about it. Thanks so much!!
Friday, October 12, 2007
Craziness!
Tuesday we had music class and after music class, Laura's parents took us (Laura, Heather, David, and I) out to eat! They were really sweet! After that, I had science class and our teacher postponed the field trip. Which was a bit disappointing because that was the reason I was not going to Dublin with everyone else, because I want to go to Greenwich. Everyone had already made their plans for the weekend. So, all of my friends are gone this weekend.
That night we (the whole program) went to see MacBeth at a nearby theatre. I was interested in seeing it because Patrick Stewart was playing MacBeth. It was a very good interpretation of MacBeth. It was set in communist Russia. They had a very stark looking set: a very bare room with white tile walls, a sink, a counter, and a refrigerator with a television on top. It was a very scary play with a lot of blood and a lot of loud sudden noises. I enjoyed it as a play, but it is definitely not something I would have chosen to go to on my own.
On Wednesday I had Shakespeare class and we talked about MacBeth and Love's Labours Lost. I ended up telling our teacher that I went twice and she was very happy that I liked it so much! Then we had a short break so I came back and made guacamole for dinner. :-) Then we had WWII class.
Thursday we (Heather, Chris, little Katherine, and I) had been invited to have dinner with Dr. Oehler and his wife. He gave us some things to get for him. He wants us to get to know our neighborhood better so he sent us to get cheeses and dessert. He sent us to two different places to get each thing. We got to taste cheeses at the cheese monger. It was fun.
Dinner at Dr. Oehler's flat was a lot of fun. At first we were pretty stiff and uncomfortable but after a while we relaxed and had fun talking to Dr. Oehler and Alice, his wife.
Yesterday pretty much everybody left for Dublin (and Tracy left for Paris). I decided that I wasn't going to sit around here the whole weekend and miss them. So I made a plan for myself to see different places that I probably wouldn't go with my friends here. Yesterday I went to the Museum of Natural History. It was a lot of fun! I probably only saw about a fourth of the museum, but it was the fourth that I really wanted to see. Perhaps I'll go back with Jemima when she gets here.
I really loved seeing all the mammals and the birds (surprise, surprise). I also listened to a little recording about the sounds and songs that marine mammals make. It was really interesting to hear all the different sounds. Did you know that whales sing songs that have themes and different phrases within the themes? It was really neat to listen to a whale and hear the theme and the different phrases!
I also spent a lot of time in the bird room. It was a lot of fun to see all the different birds there. I also got to see a bunch of hummingbird nests, which were amazing! But it made me sad when I saw a huge display of hundreds of hummingbirds that had been someone's personal collection. They had tons of the same kind of hummingbirds. It made me sad that so many little birds had to die for someone's whim.
Today I am going to go to Pollock's Toy Museum. I found out that it is really close to me! After that I have to register for classes for next semester. I also might call up on of my friends who is here in London now and get together with him. I haven't seen him since summer 2006, so it'll be neat to see him again.
Tomorrow, after church and lunch, if there is time, I want to go to the London Aquarium. On Monday I am planning to go to see the London Zoo! I wanted to go horseback riding in Hyde Park, or in any park that I can in London, but I am finding that it is extremely expensive. I guess I'll just wait until the end of the semester to see if I have enough money left (which is looking very very unlikely) and then I might be able to go... We'll see.
Prayer requests: That everyone would have safe travels this weekend. That registering for classes would go well this afternoon (morning, EST). Thanks so much!!!
That night we (the whole program) went to see MacBeth at a nearby theatre. I was interested in seeing it because Patrick Stewart was playing MacBeth. It was a very good interpretation of MacBeth. It was set in communist Russia. They had a very stark looking set: a very bare room with white tile walls, a sink, a counter, and a refrigerator with a television on top. It was a very scary play with a lot of blood and a lot of loud sudden noises. I enjoyed it as a play, but it is definitely not something I would have chosen to go to on my own.
On Wednesday I had Shakespeare class and we talked about MacBeth and Love's Labours Lost. I ended up telling our teacher that I went twice and she was very happy that I liked it so much! Then we had a short break so I came back and made guacamole for dinner. :-) Then we had WWII class.
Thursday we (Heather, Chris, little Katherine, and I) had been invited to have dinner with Dr. Oehler and his wife. He gave us some things to get for him. He wants us to get to know our neighborhood better so he sent us to get cheeses and dessert. He sent us to two different places to get each thing. We got to taste cheeses at the cheese monger. It was fun.
Dinner at Dr. Oehler's flat was a lot of fun. At first we were pretty stiff and uncomfortable but after a while we relaxed and had fun talking to Dr. Oehler and Alice, his wife.
Yesterday pretty much everybody left for Dublin (and Tracy left for Paris). I decided that I wasn't going to sit around here the whole weekend and miss them. So I made a plan for myself to see different places that I probably wouldn't go with my friends here. Yesterday I went to the Museum of Natural History. It was a lot of fun! I probably only saw about a fourth of the museum, but it was the fourth that I really wanted to see. Perhaps I'll go back with Jemima when she gets here.
I really loved seeing all the mammals and the birds (surprise, surprise). I also listened to a little recording about the sounds and songs that marine mammals make. It was really interesting to hear all the different sounds. Did you know that whales sing songs that have themes and different phrases within the themes? It was really neat to listen to a whale and hear the theme and the different phrases!
I also spent a lot of time in the bird room. It was a lot of fun to see all the different birds there. I also got to see a bunch of hummingbird nests, which were amazing! But it made me sad when I saw a huge display of hundreds of hummingbirds that had been someone's personal collection. They had tons of the same kind of hummingbirds. It made me sad that so many little birds had to die for someone's whim.
Today I am going to go to Pollock's Toy Museum. I found out that it is really close to me! After that I have to register for classes for next semester. I also might call up on of my friends who is here in London now and get together with him. I haven't seen him since summer 2006, so it'll be neat to see him again.
Tomorrow, after church and lunch, if there is time, I want to go to the London Aquarium. On Monday I am planning to go to see the London Zoo! I wanted to go horseback riding in Hyde Park, or in any park that I can in London, but I am finding that it is extremely expensive. I guess I'll just wait until the end of the semester to see if I have enough money left (which is looking very very unlikely) and then I might be able to go... We'll see.
Prayer requests: That everyone would have safe travels this weekend. That registering for classes would go well this afternoon (morning, EST). Thanks so much!!!
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
Tower of London, the Ritz, and Spamalot
On Monday I met Papa and Ann at their hotel at noon and we went down to the Tower Bridge and had lunch at a little restaurant. I had Shepherd's Pie, which was really good!
Then we went to the Tower of London and got a tour with one of the Beefeaters. He was really funny and told us a ton of interesting stories about the people who had lived and died there. It is really interesting because all of the Beefeaters who give tours actually live in the Tower of London, so it is still making history.
After the tour, since it didn't cover everything, we went to see the Royal Jewels. They were beautiful! We went on the Tower Walk and saw where different people had been imprisoned. We also saw several crowns that had had borrowed jewels in them that had been removed. They looked so sad. They didn't look at all like what they should have been. They were pitiful to see.
After the Tower of London, we went to high tea at the Ritz! That was a lot of fun! The food there was great and so was the tea! We had a bunch of different finger sandwiches as well as scones and pastries. Ann told me that the original reason for high tea was because back when women wore corsets, they were so prone to fainting (because they couldn't breathe) that they had to eat before the regular dinner around 8 pm, or 20:00 as they would most likely say here. The Ritz was very very fancy, of course, and they had live music.
After high tea, we went to se Spamalot. That was a lot of fun and very funny! It was the basic plot of Monty Python and the Holy Grail, only with more songs and with a few minor changes. It was really funny! We really enjoyed it.
After that, I got the stuff that Mama had sent me :-) and then said goodbye to Papa and Ann since they were leaving on Tuesday and I had class then.
Then we went to the Tower of London and got a tour with one of the Beefeaters. He was really funny and told us a ton of interesting stories about the people who had lived and died there. It is really interesting because all of the Beefeaters who give tours actually live in the Tower of London, so it is still making history.
After the tour, since it didn't cover everything, we went to see the Royal Jewels. They were beautiful! We went on the Tower Walk and saw where different people had been imprisoned. We also saw several crowns that had had borrowed jewels in them that had been removed. They looked so sad. They didn't look at all like what they should have been. They were pitiful to see.
After the Tower of London, we went to high tea at the Ritz! That was a lot of fun! The food there was great and so was the tea! We had a bunch of different finger sandwiches as well as scones and pastries. Ann told me that the original reason for high tea was because back when women wore corsets, they were so prone to fainting (because they couldn't breathe) that they had to eat before the regular dinner around 8 pm, or 20:00 as they would most likely say here. The Ritz was very very fancy, of course, and they had live music.
After high tea, we went to se Spamalot. That was a lot of fun and very funny! It was the basic plot of Monty Python and the Holy Grail, only with more songs and with a few minor changes. It was really funny! We really enjoyed it.
After that, I got the stuff that Mama had sent me :-) and then said goodbye to Papa and Ann since they were leaving on Tuesday and I had class then.
Sunday, October 7, 2007
Every Nation and Cheese
Today, I went to church with Papa and Ann. Some other people from the program showed up, Katherine, Katlin, and David. Laura also showed up with her parents, who are very sweet! Church was really good. It was very refreshing and afterwards I got to briefly meet some other students. I am thinking about going on their student retreat, but it costs 40 pounds and I don't know if I can afford that. I am thinking of making a budget for myself so that I know I can make it through the semester. That will be interesting.
After church, we went out to eat at the Hamburger Union. It was very good! We all enjoyed the food and it is really close to my flat, so I might end up going there again, providing my proposed budget will allow it. :-)
After that, they went back to the hotel and I came back to the flat and read some more Bleak House and then took a little cat nap while Tracy banged around. Then I made a quick spaghetti dish for myself and then headed over to the Winston House.
Tonight Dr. Oehler and his wife, Alice put on a little cheese tasting. They had four different kinds of cheese from around England. They were pretty good although there was really only one that I really liked. It was called Seator's Orkney. It was soft and buttery and didn't have a strong bite to it. I enjoyed it. Ann and Papa came and got to meet a bunch of the people in my program. Then there was a movie that they were going to show, but Ann and Papa decided to head out since they were so tired and I decided I didn't really want to see another war movie... Since I've been here, in the last two or mabye three weeks I have seen: The Gladiator, Braveheart, and The Wind That Shakes The Barley. I figure that is enough gory, violent movies to last me for quite a while. So I came back here and watched Evan Almighty and was very happy to get look at my cousin. :-) Yay, Jesse!!!
Prayer Requests: That Ann and Papa's luggage will get here....very very soon...before they leave... Because it has a bunch of stuff that I need and they need clean clothes... I think that's all for now. Thank you so much!
After church, we went out to eat at the Hamburger Union. It was very good! We all enjoyed the food and it is really close to my flat, so I might end up going there again, providing my proposed budget will allow it. :-)
After that, they went back to the hotel and I came back to the flat and read some more Bleak House and then took a little cat nap while Tracy banged around. Then I made a quick spaghetti dish for myself and then headed over to the Winston House.
Tonight Dr. Oehler and his wife, Alice put on a little cheese tasting. They had four different kinds of cheese from around England. They were pretty good although there was really only one that I really liked. It was called Seator's Orkney. It was soft and buttery and didn't have a strong bite to it. I enjoyed it. Ann and Papa came and got to meet a bunch of the people in my program. Then there was a movie that they were going to show, but Ann and Papa decided to head out since they were so tired and I decided I didn't really want to see another war movie... Since I've been here, in the last two or mabye three weeks I have seen: The Gladiator, Braveheart, and The Wind That Shakes The Barley. I figure that is enough gory, violent movies to last me for quite a while. So I came back here and watched Evan Almighty and was very happy to get look at my cousin. :-) Yay, Jesse!!!
Prayer Requests: That Ann and Papa's luggage will get here....very very soon...before they leave... Because it has a bunch of stuff that I need and they need clean clothes... I think that's all for now. Thank you so much!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)