A Conglomeration of Sorts

So throughout my day, I now find myself saying "Self, you should post that on the blog because it's quite fascinating, and others might think so too...especially if they're trying to find anything to do to get out of homework, and they've already spent a considerable amount of time on Facebook or Pinterest." Then again, school just started yesterday for you Biolans, so there might not be that much procrastinating yet! I hope it's going well by the way :) Sad I can't share it with you!

Anyway, so I thought I would put a bunch of random England thoughts/events in one blog post, so I could get you updated :)

First, the snow most definitely did not show up this weekend. Sad. It was incredibly cold, though; mostly in the low 30's...which is pretty different for me! (Right now it's 30 degrees outside!!! Brr!) So the snow has to come soon, right? It says it might snow on Sunday, so we can hope! This was the view outside my window :)

Secondly...fun fact: chocolate candy here is very yummy! Even the Nutella tastes better because they use palm oil instead of high fructose corn syrup, so I personally really like it. Plus, there are fun random candy bars here that I will occasionally try. Take the Aero bar for example. Looks weird, but it's just bubbly mint-fluffiness encased in a chocolatey coating. Delicious.

I also would take the time to give a short list of things I realized I LOVE and will continue even after I return to the good 'ol US of A.

1. Afternoon tea: Like I said, someone's always making tea; therefore, I have had tea at least twice a day since I've been here. English Breakfast - my personal favorite so far. AND it has to be in a mug or teacup; preferably a teacup because it's the perfect little amount for the afternoon. This shall happen. Anyone is welcome to join me for tea on a daily basis when I return :)

2. Footnotes: This may seem really random, but many tutors prefer them to in-text citations, and I have now discovered their magic. SO much easier.

3. Great Time Management: 'Nuff said.

4. Books vs. Internet Sources: I want to use books more than internet sources when I get back...though, this may be difficult because the Biola Library doesn't have as much stock as Oxford. We'll make do, though!

5. Cooking: My lovely cooking buddy Charlotte and I have to cook for 8 people on Monday nights, and we're both probably considered newbies in the kitchen compared to everyone here. It's been great learning, though! In the last three weeks, we've made Chicken Tortilla Soup, Chicken Tikka Masala, and Gnocchi with a homemade tomato sauce - we're pretty proud of ourselves :) So I'd like to continue when I get back!

6. Bike: I'd love to get one when I get back...cheaper than gas, and I love riding into town everyday! It takes about 15 minutes, so it's really nice in the morning to wake me up, too. However, don't fret...I won't be keeping the whole left-side of the road thing.

That's all I can think of for now...

Ok, more random stuff possibly? You can stop reading now if you wish...if not, read on...

This weekend, we were bored on a Saturday night, and my Junior Dean (kind of an RC?) had this mass-produced, cheap Truth or Dare game that involved chocolate, so of course we were in. Turns out, the truths and dares were pretty lame (I think it was made for families), so the truths were things like: "What's your best friend's worst habit?" (Sure, take the Truth pressure off of you), or "Have you ever had a crush?" (Nope, never.) Then the dares were things like: "Rub noses with the person to your right," (which just makes people uncomfortable depending who's next to them) or "Sing 30 seconds of an ABBA song." (ABBA?)  

Nonetheless, there were some pretty entertaining ones, such as Melisa standing on her head while reciting the alphabet backwards:

OR, even watching Tom try to belly dance...

We also watched Subiksha, our JD, spill tea on Zak's leg, which was a highlight...but probably not for him because he had to ice it for the remainder of the evening.

We then played Telephone Pictionary, which is always a fan favorite.

Overall, we made that game of horrible tasting chocolate and childish truth or dares a success.

Alrighty, that's all I'll write for now...there's probably a million more things I could talk about, but I'll save it for next time to break it up :) Cheers!

P.S. - I don't have any differences at the moment! I suppose that means I'll just have a good solid list for next time :)

Had to Share...

I know it's been less than 24 hours since I wrote my last post, but I was just so super excited about this, I had to share.

First of all, hello Mr. Sun...I'd almost forgotten what you looked like. (Sunny and chilly today!)

Second of all...well, the picture below explains it all.  I ran screaming into our kitchen that it's going to snow and, forgetting that the majority of my housemates are from the eastern US/Canada...I was the only one that was excited (save for Miss Elisabeth from Santa Cruz).

I will (hopefully!) finally be able to wake up to snow outside my window. Best. Day(s). Ever.
Pictures to follow.

A Random Thing or Two...

First of all, I am writing yet another one of those lovely long weekly papers I talked about last week. However, though it is due Friday, I am attempting to get a good start on it tonight. Problem is, I'm under the weather! :( I've had a stuffy nose and a bit of a cough for the last couple days, and it's not very fun...especially when it's pretty cold outside! I'm managing well, though; riding my bike for at least a half an hour each day keeps me nice, healthy, and exhausted.

Random thought number dos: BLACK PUDDING.
For those of you that don't know what it is...read about it here. When my lovely church friends explained it to me, I had to try to keep my dinner down. Minus 2 points JUST for that, England. No one should ever consume that...unless they took culinary advice from Anne Rice or Stephenie Meyer. Two things that should never occur.

And all that's left is...an essay on William Blake OR Great Divorce?

Hopefully, my procrastination is your entertainment WHILE procrastinating.

Until next time!

Oh, and we can't forget...England: 9, USA: 4. England, you know what you did.

This is just to say...

...that I have quite talented housemates.  I thought their various skills were too good not to share.

1.) An obnoxious amount of the lovelies play a musical instrument and/or sing...and they're GOOD. Therefore, I get to hear heavenly music as I complete my homework. Hence, the video. Compliments of Elisabeth, Christy, and Connor. They're rockstars.

2.) Everyone here seems to be able to cook yummy food. Cool part - most of them are dudes. Major props. They will not have a problem finding ladies.  PLUS, some of them have the added bonus of being able to take a rabbit, skin it out in the yard, and cook it for dinner...Anthony from Pennsylvania, represent. Meet Thumper.

3.) They all have a superhuman ability to study quietly in the living room for an extended amount of time.  It's actually quite fascinating - I get peer pressure to study rather than forget schoolwork...probably (ok, definitely) something that's good for me.

4.) A lot of them have a heart for the Lord and constantly learning more about Him, and they are so encouraging to me, especially when missing Biola :)

Oh, and only one difference that I noticed today:

• Homeless in Oxford > Homeless in America. They always have cute, dirty dogs with them, and they sell magazines or newspapers. Way to be proactive, England!

If we're counting last post too, I'm afraid the score is somewhere around:

• England: 11, USA: 4. It's okay, America! Half of you say you like Europe better anyway!

Until next time, love you all :)

Keeping My Promise!

Longest Sushi Conveyor Belt!

My sketchy/lovely bus stop for 40 min.

Countdown to London Olympics 2012!

Buckingham Palace

Miss Charlotte and I at Westminster Abbey!

I promised I would blog today, and I'd like to keep that promise!
So...London was amazing! We were doing a lot of walking, so it was pretty exhausting, but it's LONDON, so it was definitely worth it. Simon, one of the faculty of our program, led us on a tour through some of the sights, which was fantastic. As you'll see in the pictures, we went to Buckingham Palace, Parliament, Downing Street where the Prime Minister resides, Trafalgar Square, and Westminster Abbey. I did get a picture with a guard, but some of the pictures are on my friend's camera, so I'll get those up when I can!

School's been great! I love the tutorial system so much better than the education system in the US (so far), but that seems to be the consensus of most of the other American students with me as well. What happens is that every day, I have a lecture to go to, which involves all of the English Department students from all of the colleges at Oxford. Therefore, I am essentially taking classes as an Oxford student, which is incredible. It's so different - they have about an hour to lecture us, so they jump right into it. No introduction of themselves or the course...they just start talking about the subject...which makes a lot of sense considering we're there to learn about the subject rather than getting charmed by our professor. Although, it is appealing that the classes are way more relational in the US too. Anyway, so so far, I have gone to lectures entitled: The Culture Debate (context of culture during literature in history), American Modernist Poetry, and Literature and the Mind. They're all pretty interesting...what makes it even better is that neither I nor the other students are getting tested on the material or have to write papers; we just go and listen. Their system is interesting, actually; they go to one-on-one tutorials and lectures for 3 years, and at the end of the 3 year period, they take cumulative examinations that determine whether they graduate or not. Scary in one sense, but good in the other because they actually have to retain the information. THEN, I have about 3 books to read and a 2,000 word paper to write each week for my tutorials, which are one-on-one. My first tutorial was yesterday, and I wrote a paper on Phantastes after reading it and Lilith, both by George MacDonald who was, C.S. Lewis states, his greatest inspiration. This week, I'm reading The Great Divorce and some of William Blake's poetry to supplement it. It's a lot of work, but I've enjoyed it so far immensely. My days mostly consist of waking up, riding my bike (which is getting less scary!) into town, running errands, and then going to the library all day until my food group has family dinner at 6:00 pm when we all eat a homemade meal together. I try to get lots of reading and writing done during the day so that by the time dinner rolls around, I've called it a day :) We'll see how well I'll stick to that! I am determined!

Funny story of the week (perhaps the whole time that I've been here):
Yesterday, I was invited over for a game/pudding night at my church small group leader's house, but to get there, I decided to take the bus since it was further away. Getting there worked out ok...I was stuck at one of the stops for 40 minutes, but I found entertainment in studying the ground, checking my watch, and eavesdropping. On the way BACK, however, I got on a bus and heard an immense amount of loud singing. As I turned to walk into the bus, I was greeted with a loud "HULLO!" from a group of about 30 drunk college kids in Halloween costumes. ?? I'm talkin corsets, glitter, fairy wings, rag dolls, dyed hair, makeup, heels, and...a kid in a cowboy hat. That began talking to me.
"Hey, I know you're American...where are you from?" He's a little tipsy too...leaning in to hear me because they are belting it out in the back of the bus. I told him California.
"Oh! My ex-girlfriend's from there! Say, do you like Folger's coffee?" Only he pronounced the "g" like as in "goat"
Then he said he LOVED Lucky Charms and Butterfingers, so he order all three of those things from offline. Then he mentioned that Hershey's tasted horrible (and it does, compared to the chocolate here!). They all got off at the same stop and, of course, shouted "GOODBYE!" to me before exiting. Very friendly. Very drunk. Very entertaining.

I found out later that this is a thing in Oxford, I guess. Getting dressed up in costumes and going to clubs for someone's birthday. That there is them Brits lettin loose. Craziness.

BUT I did make it home safely, and I have realized it's probably not the smartest thing to take public transportation during the night. When I came in view of my house and saw everyone in the kitchen window, I practically ran toward it, smiling because I was home :)

That's all the updates I'll give for now, but I have a few more differences, I believe :)

Here we go!

• Serviette = napkin. I think it sounds more like a waiter.

• Pick-up line = chat-up line. Pick-up sounds like you're just adding someone on to your entourage...chat-up sounds way friendlier. I like it.

• They say we've got it "sorted" instead of "figured out". Either one works, right?
  

• Restroom = loo or toilet. Toilet makes way more logical sense than RESTroom. It's taken some getting used to saying, though!

• Catch Phrase/Taboo = Articulate. Way harder for me, since I have no idea about British pop culture. I learned, though!
  

• This one's a more well-known one, but: Pants = trousers. Pants are your underwear. Way more posh sounding, England.
  

• They don't give you the option of straight-up coffee at cafes...only things like lattes, mochas, cappuccinos, etc. They don't know why you would want it by itself. USA for the WIN!
  

• Lights in all of the domestic bathrooms I've been in have had pull strings rather than switches...kind of easier.

• The average dinner time is around 8 pm...somebody mentioned having dinner at 6, and they were like, "Wow, that is quite early!" This is mostly because they have tea in the late afternoon, which holds them over until dinner.
  

• I don't know if I said this one in the beginning, but the trash can is, indeed, the rubbish bin. Way more fun to say.

• This is just kind of interesting: many English folk have now begun asking if you're from Canada rather than just assuming you're American. The Canadians would get really upset and harshly say they were NOT Americans, so the British don't want to offend anyone.

I'm sure there are many more, but I will save them for next time. Until then, I hope to update you soon, and I'm thankful for all of your prayers! Love you!

Coming Soon!

Hello,
Just wanted to give you guys a quick update and let you know that pictures from London will eventually be up on here! I just need a bit more time since I have my first paper due on FRIDAY! Ah! And I need to finish my 2 books assigned! For those of you that are familiar with my usual study habits - you should be proud! I'm managing my time pretty well (Ask Charlotte if you don't believe me!), and I'm going to bed around 11:30 or midnight almost every night and waking up at 8:00! I'd like to give you guys more updates, but it would be quick and lame and really no fun at all for both you OR me, so I'll wait until I can give more details about how amazing this experience has been thus far :) At the very LEAST expect a detailed update by the end of the week for sure.

Love you all!

Some prayer requests if my trip pops into your head!

• Continuation of good time management
• For me to desire and follow through with spending time with God each day
• Safety when riding my bike or walking around
• For me to glorify God in what I say and do

End of Orientation

Hello All,
I apologize for not having written the last couple days; to be honest, it was because there wasn't much to write about! Starting Monday, I've had orientation with my Oxford program for the whole day. We're watching videos about British History, learning traffic laws for our "cycles," learning the British style of writing an essay (completely different!), and drinking lots and LOTS of tea! That's like their snack break - in between breakfast and lunch, and in between lunch and dinner, AND even during the evening AFTER dinner if we choose. SO. MUCH. TEA. Always. But I'm really learning to like it...I didn't much care for it before, but I'm really enjoying our tea times :)

On Monday, the "RD" ("JR" here) of the other dorm, Sam, took us on a mini-tour of Oxford. He was an undergraduate here and is currently going to grad school, so he knew many of the fun traditions that Oxford students have; however, though secret societies here do exist, he refused to tell us about any of them. Because he'd have to kill us, of course. We saw many of the colleges, including Merton College, one of the arguably oldest colleges at Oxford, which was established some time around the 1250's! To give you an idea, that's more than 200 YEARS before Columbus even discovered America! Two hundred years ago, America was still a youngin! Oxford's old, yo! Actually, the second oldest in the world and the first oldest in the English speaking world, so it's pretty dang awesome to walk around and attend here! People like T.S. Eliot, C.S. Lewis, Tolkien, TONS of prime ministers, Oscar Wilde, and so many others have gone here! So I must say, it is quite a pleasure to study at the same university as them.

ANYWAYS! So yesterday, after learning about British history (which is quite fascinating might I add), we rode our bikes (which is still TERRIFYING) to the Bodleian Library (1602, 2nd largest in Britain, AND where Harry Potter library scenes were filmed :) and Radcliffe Camera (1739), which are the most iconic parts of Oxford. They were BOTH there during the Revolutionary War before America was a nation! That's insane too!You can't get in without an Oxford ID, so it's quite fun to watch the tourists watch a group of American students get right in. These buildings now have an underground passageway between them called the Gladstone Link, and today we walked in one building and out another, which is pretty crazy too :) I also received the lecture list of lectures I can choose to attend throughout the semester. I am required to go to 32 throughout the term, so I'll pretty much be going to one each day. Other than that, I've just been reading and spending all of today in the library to get ready for my first 2,000 word essay that's due next week! Gah! It's going to be a lot of work but I know it'll be worth it. I'm reading Phantastes and Lilith by George MacDonald, and I'll let you know what I think of them when I'm done. Though, perhaps, you're much more interested in my more exciting endeavors. Which! is why I'm happy to tell you that this weekend, I will be traveling to LONDON! I'm quite excited since we get to see all of the touristy things, and then during mid-term break I get to travel to Wales! Looking forward to those :) Until then, though, I will keep you updated whenever there's interesting information to be written about.

Oh! I also visited the church's young adult group tonight, and it was fantastic; I'm meeting with my leader for coffee or tea next week, so I felt very welcomed :)

More differences! These are just too good and fun not to put in.

• "Nappy" = Diaper. Not sure which one is weirder.

• The ATM asked me if I wanted an "advice slip"...to which I pressed no, because I supposed it was advice on my banking account balances? Turns out, that means "receipt". Receipt makes a bit more sense - sorry Brits.

• Running a red light = "Jumping" a red light. Neither makes sense. Perhaps "rushing"? I should run a country.

• Preservatives are pretty much illegal in the UK...anything that's harmful in food, at least. Oh, and they do look at Americans as being obese...I got a magazine article read to me the other day that said something like "be sure to stay fit, rather than obese...like an American." Way to be healthy, Britain. Way to be arrogant, Britain. (Although they are thinner, so I do suppose they have bragging rights.)
  

• Also, people here are SUPER reserved and sometimes a bit awkward. Eye contact with strangers, even if you're talking with them, pretty much never happens. I asked a manager of a store if he had hampers for dirty clothes in stock; without looking at me the entire time, he said, "No, we don't," and turned away to restock stuff. He turned in my direction, though! This isn't the case with all British people I've come in contact with, but many of them are like this. I am not this way AT ALL, so it's been an adjustment...depending on my mood, I'll either go along with it and try to make a straight face as long as possible or I make them extremely uncomfortable by smiling and making pretty strong American eye contact. Either way, I've loved being in the city walking around :)

• Sweaters = "jumpers". This was actually one of the only ones where I had NO idea what they were talking about...I was looking for Osh Kosh B'Gosh overalls or a romper. They think sweaters sound gross...with good reason when you think about it. Score for the UK.

• Planners = "Diaries." I suppose they call "diaries" journals...either one. It's a draw.

So I believe our score is quite possibly now somewhere around: British - 5, Americans - 2. We'll see how this plays out.

Ok, that's all for now...I may not post until Saturday night or Sunday depending on if anything happens before London :) Love and miss you all!

Our view outside of Wycliffe Hall during tea time

Some of my lovely new friends sipping tea

Part of Christ Church

Sporting fields...set up for Rugby, of course

Classic Radcliffe Camera across from...

the Bodleian Library and...

...and both of these are connected underground by the Gladstone Link. They look a bit like Storm Troopers, yes?

First Sunday Here...

Today was really great! I was kind of nervous about what church I should go to, because there's not a huge selection in England, but I had a lot of help from students and leaders in my program that regularly go to church here at Oxford. I ended up visiting one of the churches which, like most of the others, would be classified as Evangelical Anglican. It was actually really incredible; the worship was very beautiful...hymns that had naturally beautiful rhythm to them, and there was one that was SO good to sing, being in England. Here's one of the verses:

Come, young and old from every land
Men and women of the faith;
Come, those with full or empty hands -
Find the riches of His grace.
Over all the world, His people sing -
Shore to shore we hear them call
The Truth that cries through every age:
"Our God is all in all"!

Rejoice, Rejoice! Let every tongue rejoice!
One heart, one voice; O Church of Christ, rejoice!

It was just such a beautiful reminder that no matter where I'm at in the world, I'm bonded by the blood of Christ to people that I have never even met! Even when communicating may be hard in a country that has a different language other than England, you are still able to praise God together with your voices and be brothers and sisters in Christ! So incredible! They were all very friendly, and after the service at their short tea reception, there was a staff member that gave us information about small groups, so I'll probably end up staying there rather than church hopping until my head explodes (and the term ends).

Afterwards, we walked to the grocery store where the cashier told me she loved my American accent, which pretty much made my day, because they sound so much more sophisticated than me! But I guess if they're used to their own, I would probably sound pretty interesting to them when I talk because I'm usually smiling and pretty enthusiastic and friendly. They're pretty reserved, and I've realized they can look super annoyed but be completely fine...although, I realize this isn't probably always the case when there's a random group of Americans walking around.


This evening, we had another tea at the school in Oxford I'm studying at, and afterward we had a very entertaining game of travel pictionary and He Said, She Said (I think it was called...very similar to the former). I feel a lot closer to the students I live with as each day passes :)

Oh! Some more differences, just to keep the list going :)

• Fire hydrants are way bigger; not sure why.

• Fire Department = Fire Brigade. The British version sounds quite more noble and heroic if you ask me. They win this one too.

• After the light turns red, it doesn't turn green usually, it turns or blinks yellow THEN green. Much safer. Especially when you're me, on a bicycle, riding on the wrong side of the road, afraid for my life.

• The pastor today said that King Xerxes' bubble was pricked, not burst. Burst is more emphatic...pricked reminds me of needles popping a bubble, which sounds more painful.

So...I believe our scores of clearly better national objects is somewhere along the lines of...Americans: 1, British: 3.

Oh! P.S...I found out from one of the guys I live with that Emma Watson's parents live a few doors down from us. They found out when they went caroling this last December popped by the Watsons' place. I propose we use the excuse of delivering Valentine's or hunting for Easter eggs when the time comes, yes? 1/2jk

P.P.S. - Sorry if these blogs are really strange...I'm writing them really late at night and don't reread them so please excuse the odd stream of consciousness that this probably is.

Love you all, and I'll take pictures of the church soon!

A Lovely First Day

First of all, I said that I would pictures up today, so I thought I would hold true to that promise :) This is the view of what's out our room window, to give you an idea of how blessed I am to be here! The weather today I felt was pretty chilly (between 46-48 degrees), but I thought it was funny that I heard another girl tell her friend that it was pretty warm out...I think she's from more Northern US, so that would explain it :) still...quite nippy for me!

I woke up today around 8 (super proud of myself!) and was able to socialize and read a little bit until we had a mini-orientation at noon, with a BBQ at 2:30...the leaders or "RD's" are being pretty accommodating giving us pretty typical American food (so far, we've had pizza hut and hamburgers for dinner), but after this next week it's all on our own, so I'm excited to try more local food.

Some people played croquet on the lawn, some people hung out and had tea, so the afternoon was really nice and mellow. We got our bikes from "the bike guy" whose name obviously escapes me - I never thought I would be enthralled by their accents because the only time I hear them is when people from California are imitating them - but his accent is pretty much a harsher version of Jude Law's maybe? And I will readily admit that I'm a fan of legit British accents. Our RD, Subiksha, lived for a long time in India, Wales, and Oxford, so she's kind of acquired all three of those location's accents, and that's fun to listen to as well :)

Also, some exciting news is that I walked with a lovely group of people to the Eagle and Child, which is the pub where Tolkien and C.S. Lewis met every Tuesday with the Inklings, a group of friends that would discuss their ideas and literature they were working on. On the way, we stopped and went down a small street which had a building that someone said C.S. Lewis would give lectures at. She said that he would come out of the door, into the alleyway and across from his door was another door that had fawns on either side; THEN to his right was a lovely typical British lamp post in the middle of the road. (Coincidence, I think NOT!). So, naturally I took pictures. They're lame because it was nighttime (which happens at around 4 or 4:30, by the way!), so sorry if the quality isn't the best. From the pictures, you can pretty much get an idea of what I saw, though :)

I wanted to order Fish and Chips at the pub, naturally, but they said they ran out (??), so I had the equivalent of mozzarella sticks, but with Brie cheese. It was delightful. We also had some bread and butter pudding and sticky toffee pudding, which were perfectly sweet without being super rich, so that was yummy too.

P.S. more fun differences:

• When you're "in line," you're "in queue,". A girl from the house and I were wanting to order our food, and she asked if they were in line - they said yes...(confused maybe?...or perhaps not really understanding and just nodding in agreement at whatever it was these odd Americans were asking them), so then another girl that had been here asked if they were in queue after about ten minutes. We asked again, using the magic word and Voila! Done deal, they said no, we got our food, our stomachs were happy.

• "Popsicles"="Ice Lollies." Sorry America, they definitely win on that one.

• "Manky" = "Dirty or filthy?" Maybe that one's in the US too; I just haven't heard it.

• "Yield" sign = "Give Way" sign

• The equivalent of "Cinnamon Toast Crunch" is called "Curiously Cinnamon" here. I haven't tried it yet, and I'm curious. Ha! Ok, I'm done.

• Their version of a CVS is Boots, which is a brand I think they also carry in America, so it's pretty common, but I bought the Boots brand of shampoo / conditioner today because it was buy one, get one free, AND I get to use British hair care products rather than Pantene, which tickles me pink.

That's all I've got for now...it's about 1:30 am here, which means it's about 5:30 pm or 8:30 pm depending on which coast you're on :), so I hope you all had lovely days! Appreciate all of the well wishes and prayers!

Some of my housemates at Eagle and Child with me :)

I'm Here!!!

Hello all :)

Just wanted to give a quick update to say that I have safely arrived and am all settled into my house! After leaving my house at 3 a.m. Los Angeles time and getting here in England in the morning (middle of the night LA time), I am exhausted! I had great flights, and when we got here, the weather was nice and crisp - made me feel like I was in Big Bear...except for I'm in another country...and not in the mountains...anyway,

We got to the bus station at the airport, and the first experience I had with the different British terms was that they asked me if I wanted my food "in or take away" rather than "for here or to go," but it was pretty self explanatory, so hopefully I didn't look completely confused to them!

It's absolutely beautiful here; I got moved into my house where there are almost 40 other American students living with me. My room is actually pretty big, and there's three of us: Charlotte, me, and another girl named Victoria who is beginning her second semester at Oxford. She's been a great help when Charlotte and I have questions :)

I'm sorry that I don't have any pictures up - I didn't get a chance to take any, really, since we were running around to try to get where we needed to go, but we made it! Later in the day after we unpacked, I laid down for what I thought was going to be a 20 minute nap, and I guess Charlotte laid down too, because 3 hours later we got a knock on our door from some other girls saying we missed the initial welcome! So, we scurried downstairs, though a little late, in time for pizza with everyone still hanging out. There I met most of the people I'll be living with, and they all seem lovely :)

So, all in all, really tiring day, dragging and dropping luggage, looking confused in airports, but having a great time overall :) Just wanted to give a quick update to let you know that I am, indeed, alive and kicking.

Love and miss you all!

Almost There!

So, I thought since I would be leaving the country for a few short months, I would stick with helpful cliche of creating a blog. So if you're dying to know what I'll be spending my days with while away at Oxford, here is the place to see it! I've decided to not go on Facebook, answer my phone, Instagram, etc. until I return so that I can be fully and completely present where God has placed me in the UK.

For a little bit of background if you're not quite sure what I'm doing, I will be on a plane in a little under 48 hours headed for good 'ol Oxford, England. Cheerio. I will be studying C.S. Lewis and Creative Writing at the University as well as traveling to London, meeting British folk, and, I'm sure, eating some yummy pub food.

I'm really excited about my time over there and, though I realize it will be a huge academic challenge, I am blessed to be able to travel abroad for a semester and grow so much (hopefully!) academically, meet new people, and grow spiritually as well.

I'm the kind of person where I would commit to writing every single day (or something of the sort) and then fall off the face of the planet once I actually get there, SO I don't want to make any promises; BUT I will say this: I really do hope to commit to updating on here at least once a week. No promises, but hopefully I'll follow through!

Many prayers would be much appreciated for safety, strength for and dedication to my crazy academic schedule, and that I take advantage of every opportunity God gives me over there.
Here's to a once in a lifetime adventure!
Love you all!