Pt. 4 Field Trip #2, etc.

6. Ely and Cambridge (10/18)

The morning of the second field trip was a disaster. I guess it could have been worse. I had set my alarm for 7, because I knew the bus was scheduled to leave at 8:30 am. Unfortunately, I never heard my alarm. My clock read 8:40 am when I woke up. I went into a bit of a panic; I was sure that I had been left behind.

I don’t think I’ve ever gotten dressed that quickly. I was in such a rush though, that I neglected some important things, like washing my face (I know, I know) or grabbing a scarf. I flew out the door, across campus, past the security gate, and up the road. Fortunately, I wasn’t the only one running behind that morning, and I managed to get there just as the bus was beginning to pull away. It gave me a scare though.

The bus ride to Ely was around two hours long, so I had time to let the adrenaline rush subside and take a nap. We arrived in Ely to sunshine and a nice little apple festival, but no professor in sight. After much confusion…we were first told that there were no tours that day, then we were told to talk to Sue, one person talked to her, then she told the next person she wasn’t Sue, then they wanted us to pay for a tour…finally Professor Lotz arrived and showed the receipt proving that we had already booked and paid for our tour of Ely Cathedral.

The tour guide was a bent, elderly gentleman with little hearing and a big sense of humor. Despite his age and arthritic stride, he was quite lively and gave us a lot of interesting information about the cathedral. As we walked around, we enjoyed hearing the choir rehearsing for the evening festival. It was really beautiful.

Once we had finished our tour, we walked around the block to the site of Oliver Cromwell’s house, where we took another tour given by a lady in Puritan costume. The “Lord Protector” was an interesting character, and the simplicity of the Puritan lifestyle he led was a curious contrast to the enormity of his influence on England’s history.

We were already running behind, so our class loaded back onto the bus to head to Cambridge. Aryn and I were a bit concerned because we were really late and Eric had been waiting for us. Fortunately, he was very flexible and willingly waited another hour for us to attend a lecture with Dr. Ian Randall, which was a fascinating take on evangelicalism and its roots in England.

Directly after the lecture we met up with Eric again. He took us to The Beef Baron, a pub in Cambridge that’s known for its burgers—our first in England. Aryn ordered a pesto burger that came out with about a half-inch thick layer of pesto. I had a Reggae Reggae burger with spicy sauce. We ate fast enough to get indigestion, but we still had so much to see.

Eric took us on a bit of a whirlwind tour around Cambridge. We pretended that we were students at Cambridge and walked into St. John’s College. We crossed the Bridge of Sighs (no, it isn’t really a sad bridge), watched people punting badly (i.e. bumping into each other, and one girl even fell into the river), searched unsuccessfully for the Mathematics bridge (that’s its side job), tried free samples at the 200 year old fudge shop, fed the ducks (they were following Aryn and her baguette) visited Emmanuel College (Eric’s school).

Eric dropped us off at King’s College, where we attended Evensong. Inside of the cathedral is magnificent and awe-inspiringly. We couldn’t see much from where we were sitting though, especially because the congregation is cut off by the large wooden screen. The music was really beautiful, but we did a lot of sitting down, standing up, sitting down, and standing up again. The dimmed lights and floating music really had a soporific effect on me. All the same, Evensong was quite impressive.

Cambridge really fulfilled all of my expectations. It’s almost exactly what I dreamt university life would be like in my young girlish imagination. I suppose it’s strange for an elementary student to create fantasies about collegiate life, but my parents were ROCK sponsors for a long time. I grew up around collegians. Plus, it was awesome getting to hang out with Eric. Yay for connections.

7. Miscellaneous notes

You all may be reading these entries and thinking, “When in the world does Lynnette ever get around to studying?” But actually, I’ve been about a week or two ahead in all of my reading. I’m reading a little over two novels a week, plus I have to write reflections on all our field trips. I have a book in my bag with me at all times, so that I can pull it out on the bus or on the Tube. Plus, there are days that I stay in all day to read.

Aryn and I sometimes get together for dinner. One night she made sukiyaki, which was a really amazing home-cooked meal for students. And then last night, Aryn cooked pasta and I provided homemade garlic bread (thank you Ariel). This afternoon, I had lunch with my Japanese friend Suzuko, and we had a really great chat. She did make the mistake of asking me about my favorite foods; I think I talked about 10 minutes before I realized I had gotten carried away.

Tonight was Rachael’s turn to cook the floor dinner tonight: salmon, vegetarian imitation chicken (made from corn), rice, asparagus, all with a nice mushroom cream sauce. We finished off the meal with lemon cheesecake. Everything tasted great. I always enjoy hanging out with my flatmates. Sadly, our classes are becoming more consuming and we have less time to just relax and spend time together. So our floor dinners are really great.

I can’t believe it’s already been a month and a half since I left Orange County. We actually only have about eight or nine weeks left in the term. Part of me feels like, I’m only now adjusting to life here and making friends, and I’m leaving so soon. Another part of me is beginning to feel drawn towards the future, towards my last semester and then seeing what God has in store for me post-graduation. And the last part of me (that sounds strange) wonders whether or not I have enough time to finish all of my coursework and visit places I want to see and make good friends at church and everything else that I want to do while I’m here.

Anyways, now you all know what I’ve been up to for the last couple of weeks. I think I binge-blogged. Or something like that. Now I probably won’t want to blog for a long time. I’ve procrastinated long enough—now it’s time to get some more reading done. I feel like I haven’t been very interesting on this blog. Oh well.

Pt. 3 Central London and CCiL

4. Chinatown/Covent Garden/Japan Centre (10/15)

Aryn and I were craving Chinese food, so we decided to take Dani with us to London’s Chinatown, a list of our friend Sam’s recommended restaurants in hand. I was also hoping to find the Chinese grocery stores, but we got so hungry that all we wanted to do was sit down and eat. We found an inexpensive Cantonese restaurant and had won ton mein soup noodles there.

We decided that we needed to walk off lunch, so we wandered from Leicester Square to Covent Garden, browsing clothing shops (we stumbled across Aryn’s favorite designer Ted Baker) and used bookstores. I found the perfect gift for Ariel—a signed T.S. Eliot essay—but unfortunately, it was way beyond my student’s budget. It gave me a brief moment of excitement though.

Since we had already wandered so far, we decided to continue on to Piccadilly Circus in search of the Japan Centre, where we were able to buy Asian groceries. Aryn bought the ingredients for sukiyaki that we cooked later in the week. Oishii desu! We basically hit the mother lode.

5. CCiL and Central DCG (10/12, 10/17, 10/19)

Despite the fact that I’m only here in London for a few months, I wanted to find a good church here where I could get plugged in as much as possible. I really enjoyed St. Paul’s Hammersmith, where Justin and Andy settled down. For some reason, though, I felt really determined to find a Chinese church here.

So I searched online (much to their amusement) and found Chinese Church in London. They have around 7 congregations all over London, with one English service in nearby Hammersmith. I dragged Aryn with me to Sunday service a week ago and we both really enjoyed it. They had a guest speaker that day—an Australian—who preached a message on prayer. And this past week was also a guest speaker. I’m eager to hear a sermon from CCiL’s Pastor Ong.

Anyways, we got to meet some of the university students who attend CCiL and hang out with them for lunch (yummy Chinese food, and free for newcomers). One of those students we met is a guy named Eric, who is studying at Cambridge. More on him later.

I also wanted to join one of the fellowship groups at CCiL. Sadly, my Biola class is at the exact same time as the university fellowship, 360, on Wednesday nights. Since I can’t attend that group, they invited me to go to Central DCG (District Caring Group), which is the young adult fellowship (think Kaleo).

So this past Friday, I made my first trip into Central London on my own (I usually have at least one other person with me any time I go into London). I felt so proud and accomplished for getting to church and back by myself. Central DCG is actually held at CCiL’s other site—the Soho Outreach Centre, or SOC. I’m not sure why there are so many acronyms at this church.

Since I didn’t want to travel during rush hour, I left pretty early and had quite a lot of down time before fellowship started. I wandered around Chinatown and FINALLY found all of the grocery stores. I still had time to kill after that, so I walked down to the Malaysian restaurant I had seen on our last visit to Leicester Square. I got some strange looks, but I sat inside the café and enjoyed a cold glass teh tarik (teh ice?) and journalled.

The SOC was only a two minute walk from there. I arrived and joined all of the young adults as they ate their various dinners. Because most of them are working, they either brought frozen dinners or ordered takeaway from the nearby Chinese restaurants. I tried very hard to meet everyone and memorize all of their names.

My first night there was the first night of small groups. I guess they knew that I would be coming, because they had already assigned me to one. It’s quite interesting. Our small group, at least for that night, had three Cantonese (one born in HK and raised in New Zealand, one born and raised in England, and myself from the US), one black Jamaican, and one Caucasian London native. Alex (the BBC) and Rob (the white one) are my small group leaders.

It was really neat, because we broke up into our respective groups, and my group spent the rest of the evening sharing our testimonies (which were AMAZING) and preparing shoeboxes for Operation Christmas Child. It was only my first time, but I’m definitely excited to see what God has in store for Central DCG this term.

This past Sunday, Aryn and I were back again for Sunday English service. This time, Pastor Ong actually came up and introduced himself to us personally. He even mentioned the possibility of inviting us over for dinner sometime. That made us really happy.

After service, we were contemplating eating lunch at CCiL (the food looked and smelled delicious), but Hannah invited us to join the university students for lunch at a nearby, reasonably priced café. We got to spend time with Roselle, Sam (the foodie friend I met last week) and Tim, whom we were meeting for the first time. After lunch, we dropped Roselle off at the Tube Station and went shopping in Hammersmith. Don’t worry, I didn’t do any major damage. I only wanted two pairs of long socks and a one-pound Nalgene bottle.

Because it was cold, we decided that McFlurries sounded good. We found four red counter stools facing to the west wall of McDonald’s, adjacent with another counter facing south. Tim, trying to be polite, sat in the inconveniently-placed corner seat. We were just settling down and beginning to enjoy our ice cream when suddenly, we noticed that Tim was leaning over the counter with a really confused look on his face.

I heard a girl behind me mutter a quick, “thank you” as I turned. Then I noticed that a girl was suddenly sitting on Tim’s stool, forcing him to stand and lean awkwardly onto the counter. After a about half a minute, the girl finally realized that she had actually tried to take Tim’s stool while he was still on it!

Poor Tim whispered incredulously, “Why do these things always happen to me?” Aryn, Sam, and I almost choked on our ice cream. We all had a really difficult time trying to hold in our hysterical laughter. The girl muttered a quick apology and found another chair, bringing an end to a horribly awkward situation.

Pt. 2 Tower of London, Legoland, and Field Trip #1

It seems like every time I sit down to blog, I’m always starting off with an apology. So I’ll forego the apology and dive right in. These past two weeks made me feel like I'm always going, going, going. Perhaps my pace of life has adjusted to London’s metropolitan pace. I don’t have the energy to write an in-depth entry on all I’ve seen and experienced here—and I’m sure you don’t have the patience to read it if I did. I've tried to make up for my belatedness with lots of pictures, so enjoy!

1. Tower of London (10/10)

Aryn and I joined a big group of girls to visit the Tower of London, but we ended up splitting into more manageable-sized groups. We had a bit of an adventure reaching our destination because of construction on the Tube, meaning we had to walk instead. After a detour across the Tower Bridge, we finally made it to the Tower of London.

It was one of the sites I wanted to see because I never had a chance to during my last visit to London. We got to do all of the touristy things: standing on the moving conveyor belt for a glance at the Crown Jewels, checking out the torture devices, and of course, hitting up the Tower gift shops. The White Tower actually had some really cool exhibits of weapons and armory.

Afterwards, we had even more adventures trying to meet up with Dani’s friend’s friend (yes, that’s how it works when you’re studying abroad) at Green Park, and trying to settle on a place for dinner. By the end of the day, we were completely exhausted.

2. Legoland Windsor (10/11)

Aryn and her family are a bit obsessed with all things Lego, so she was looking for someone to accompany her to the Legoland in Windsor. I thought, “Why not?” So we headed out bright and early for an hour and a half train ride from nearby Barnes Station to Waterloo Station to Windsor.

I won’t go into great detail, but the weather at Legoland was absolutely gorgeous. Plus, we pretty much had the park to ourselves. We only really had to wait in one line the entire day. The Miniland is amazing too; Aryn and I were excited that we pretty much got to see all of Europe. The Lego replica of London was awesome too. It even had moving Underground subway cars. The rides are pretty mild, but we did get to enjoy a live action Johnny Thunder show. It was…REALLY CHEESY. Aryn and I loved it.

We decided to stay in Windsor for dinner, picking the Crooked House, where I had a jacket potato and the most wonderful berry milkshake I think I’ve ever tasted. We were quite pleased with ourselves. Plus, the walls of the house really are crooked. It's crazy.

3. Verulamium/St. Alban’s/Jordan Quaker meeting house/Milton’s cottage (10/12)

This was a field trip to the site of the ancient Roman city of Verulamium. We made a quick visit to the museum, which was only slightly interesting. But I enjoyed looking out at the grassy hills covered in a light gray blanket of mist.

St. Alban’s is situated on the top of a hill next to the main village. We had a cute little elderly lady as our tour guide; the cathedral there is the site of St. Alban’s shrine, set up in memory of England’s first Christian martyr. We had the opportunity to visit a Quaker meeting house and the resting place of William Penn.

From there we took a tour of John Milton’s cottage. It was pretty amazing to stand in the room where he completed Paradise Lost. I loved the curator there, too; he was so enthusiastic about Milton and all that he represented for British politics, history, and literature. Some of us even ate apples from Milton’s own garden.

Pt. I Windsor, Stonehenge, Bath

The difficulty with blogs is that if you neglect them for too long, they’re hard to go back to. It’s not necessarily because the blogger is inexcusably lazy, nor that it’s somehow hard to pick up one’s previous train of thought. The main problem, at least in my experience, is that covering more than two or three days’ worth of activity and subsequent musings proves to be an altogether daunting task.

In order to prevent this from becoming an insurmountable obstacle to my blog’s longevity, I am opting to break this into smaller chunks—say two or three reasonably-sized parts. So if the continuity between my entries seems less than desirable, it’s because I’m attempting the uphill climb (which, as you will see, is going to be a common thread throughout these entries) and making up lost ground.

On Saturday (the 4th), I went with a large group of my girls from Biola on a bus tour to Windsor, Stonehenge, and Bath. I had actually already visited the last two sites during my sophomore year of high school, but I thought it’d be nice to go again. I think I mostly slept or listened to my ipod during the bus ride. Our tour guide gave her entire presentation in both English and Spanish.

When we first boarded the bus, Jennifer had tried to smuggle some chips (better known as “fries” in the States) on board in her purse, to munch on in secret. Our scrupulous tour guide, however, was able to sniff her out. She came to the back of the bus where we were seated and announced, “I smell chips. Whoever brought them on the bus, please keep them wrapped and tucked away until we arrive. Thank you.” It was very difficult to keep a straight face, especially after seeing the look on Jennifer’s face.

Windsor was really beautiful. The castle is surrounded by the quaint little town, and the walls of the castle sit on bright, verdant grass. It’s a striking contrast between the cold, hard stone walls, the carefully nurtured gardens, and the fantastically ornate interior of Windsor. There’s so much history there; we didn’t have nearly enough time.

My favorite part of the entire tour there was the doll house, in which the entirety of Windsor Castle was replicated in miniature, with real working electricity and plumbing. The silver plates had exact mini silver plate replicas, artists donated real miniature oil paintings to match the genuine work, and the miniature crown jewels are just as real as their larger counterparts. It’s really amazing.

Stonehenge isn’t as big or as exciting as the travel guides make it out to be. Last time I went, the most thrilling part was bumping into three of my elementary school teachers by accident. This time was fun because, as we walked around the circumference of the stones, we had a great time taking some really fun pictures. On the plains, the strong winds and sharp drizzle meant that we were happy to be back in our nice warm bus.

By the time we reached Bath, it was raining lightly but steadily. Fortunately, the museum is mostly indoors. My memories of the Roman baths came rushing back to me when I entered the museum. It wasn’t any more exciting the second time around. But it’s still neat to see the kind of technology they employed during ancient times, and to see how the hot springs affected the culture of the peoples who lived there.

On the way back, my friend Sarah P. (to differentiate her from Sarah R.) asked if I wanted to stop at Wagamama’s, one of her favorite London noodle bars. Jessica returned from England singing its praises, so I readily agreed to give it a try.

I was moderately pleased with my chicken ramen. I thought it was a bit bland for ramen, but it’s supposed to be a modern organic, healthy foods kind of restaurant. I think next time I’ll go for yakisoba or something else on the menu. It was still really fun to talk and enjoy hot food on a cold, wet night. To top it all off, we dropped by the convenience store and picked up ice cream bars. Toffee vanilla crunch bars are amazing—even in cold weather.

Monday through Wednesday is the uneventful part of my week, since those are my class days. I spend that time doing nothing but going to class and reading my assigned books. Honestly, I don’t think I even left the flat for two or so days. I might have gone to run an errand or two around campus, but for the most part, I stay in and enjoy the sunlight through my window.

Tuesdays, as always, we have our flat dinner. For me, that’s the highlight of my three working days. Each week, another member of the flat prepares a meal that will feed all six of us. Last week was Amy’s turn, so this week, Toni prepared three homemade pizzas—all vegetarian (meet is expensive) and all delicious. I love feta cheese and pineapple (thanks Ariel) on pizza.

Besides enjoying good food, we always seem to have a good time just being together and having a laugh. I don’t mean this in the way that Rachael usually says it, which translates more into “you’re kidding me.” I mean that we always have a great time just hanging out together. One night, we even sat around a laptop watching Japanese human tetris and Iron Chef on YouTube.

More often than not, we’ll all somehow end up in the lounge, drinking tea and having biscuits. Yes, it makes me feel very British. I’m really thankful for my flatmates—that we not only get along, but that we really enjoy spending time together. They’re such a fun bunch of people, and without them, I think I’d be really lonely. I haven’t made as many friends here as I would like, since I only have two classes and only get to see my classmates once a week.

Besides the flat dinner, the only exciting thing for me is rewarding myself with an episode of an Asian drama. I’ve gotten to the point where the best way for me to get work done is to bribe myself. For every 50 to 100 pages of reading, I get to watch one episode. It works really well, too, because by that time, my brain needs a break, and sometimes, I’ll eat lunch or dinner while I watch. It’s nerdy, but hey, I’m working hard to get ahead in my reading.

Somehow, I feel like that was a really anti-climactic way of ending my entry. Oh well. You can look forward to my next entry. It will cover my trips to both Legoland and the Tower of London. Thanks again for your patience!

You Can't Hurry Love

Normally, the only day that I have to wake up even remotely early is Monday, for my 9 am class. So I’ve been my usual nocturnal self, staying up late and getting up even later. Today, however, I was up around 9:25 and ready by 10. Rachael (my floor rep) and I had coffee and tea, respectively, and toast, before heading out to London.

The sun was out but the air was crisp as we made the brisk walk down the street from Roehampton to Barnes Station, where we took the train into Central London. From there we hopped onto the Tube and, instead of coming up for air, we walked through the tunnels to the entrance of the Victoria and Albert Museum.

Rachael’s family friend gave her tickets to the special Supremes exhibit at the V&A, so Rachael invited me to make good use of them. We walked slowly through the exhibit, reading about the Civil Rights movement, Motown, and the rise of the girl group. It was kind of strange to read about American history in the middle of London, but I thoroughly enjoyed it.

The Supremes were trendsetters in both music and fashion (especially in the African-American community), and the costumes they wore on stage are absolutely amazing: extravagant, brightly colored, and drowned in sequins. The Supremes wore everything from mini-skirts to pencil skirts, fake eyelashes, winged sleeves, and enormous wigs.

The background music was a mix of the Supremes, the Temptations, Smokey Robinson, and other Motown hits. Listening to Oldies really brought back old memories of sitting in the Mazda with my dad when I was little, listening to the radio. “Daddy, who is this?” I would quiz him. He was almost always able to tell me the title of the song, who sang it, and where he was the first time he heard it.

After we exited the exhibit, we decided to wander our way through some of the other interesting galleries of the V&A, including the Islamic/Turkish, Chinese, Thai, and Japanese rooms. It was fun just to walk through them, stopping to admire the beauty or craftsmanship on display, while chatting about family, food, weapons, religion, language, and everything in between.

The smell of hot food came wafting in from somewhere nearby, and we were beginning to get hungry, but opted to head up to the third floor in search of the jewelry exhibit. We had a quick “look-see,” as Rachael says, around the ancient instruments gallery before making our way to the jewelry rooms.

The first thing that caught our attention was the touch screen that allowed you to design your very own digital ring. Rachael and I couldn’t decide if it was really cool or if we were just easily amused. But what girl can say no to the opportunity to design her perfect engagement ring? But like they say, "you can't hurry love."

I admit, when it comes to jewelry, the girly-ness in me comes out. Especially when it comes to rings and earrings. We browsed through the timeline of jewelry; some of it was gaudy, some plain, some intricate, some extraordinary. Rachael and I came to the conclusion that we have to marry the right person if we want to be decked out in the kind of stuff we saw there.

Following the jewelry exhibit, we decided that we couldn’t stand it anymore and embarked on a quest for a decently-priced restaurant in (slighty posh) Knightsbridge (as in, a block from Harrod’s). God answered my morning’s prayers and we quickly stumbled across Taro, a self-proclaimed “Sushi Noodle Bar.”

A quick browse of their menu convinced us that our search was over. We were lucky enough to make it right before they closed for the pre-dinner break. Rachael, on my suggestion, ordered the chicken curry rice, and I had the syoyu ramen (I think it’s actually shoyu ramen?). I was unreasonably excited; I had been craving real ramen since before I left the States.

The food was delicious…or we were hungry…or both. Either way, Rachael and I definitely enjoyed ourselves, and managed to make it out of Taro—to our surprise—each paying under 10 pounds (including drinks). Food in London is expensive, so we were quite pleased with our fortuitous gastronomic find. Needless to say, we left the restaurant with full stomachs and happy hearts.

On another note, the weather today changed a bit as we were walking around. The wind is beginning to get chilly now; it’s beginning to really look and feel like I’m living in London. Despite the dreariness of it, there’s something strangely beautiful and romantic about it.

I spent this evening with some of the Biola girls, alternately planning out tomorrow’s excursion and watching episodes of “Friends” on DVD. Amy was sweet enough to make fajitas for everyone, and Dani (our adopted non-Biola American friend) baked brownies and cookies. We’re spoiled, aren’t we?

I tried to be responsible and do some reading tonight, too, but alas, there are more exciting things than dragging myself through The Jungle (Upton Sinclair). I’m dreading how early I have to wake up tomorrow morning, but I think it’ll be fun. I guess you’ll just have to keep reading to find out about my upcoming adventures!

P.S. Did anybody catch the title?

I need a new word for "interesting."

I keep telling myself that I need to blog, but I’ve been duly uninspired as of late. Did that sentence sound a little British? I really couldn’t do an accent even if you paid me, so I suppose that’s as close as I’ll ever get. It’s been about 5 days since my last entry, so I really shouldn’t put it off any longer.

On Saturday, the boys and I ventured into Central London to see the Tate Modern museum. It’s a fairly boring brick building that sits right up against the Millennium Bridge. But once you go inside, the entire atmosphere changes. It really is modern. The interior is awesome.

The interesting thing about doing anything with the boys is that they go at their own pace. I don’t know if it’s because he’s the oldest, the tallest, or the most level-headed, but we normally follow Justin. Justin and Andy both have super long legs, so Stephen and I are usually trailing behind, doing our best to maintain a reasonable distance.

But once we entered the Tate Modern, all three of the boys slowed down considerably. We meandered through the halls, examining some pieces with great interest and tilting our heads at others. I’m always surprised at what qualifies as “modern art.” I was excited to see work from the likes of Picasso and Mondrian, as well as some of the 4D installations and photo exhibits.

Whenever I visit museums, I’m always interested in the way they arrange and display the exhibits. It’s really a science in itself to discreetly or unconsciously direct the visitors through the museum to see each work. And I learned my lesson well: Always read the signs at the entrances of exhibits. Otherwise, you run the risk of walking unexpectedly into some very, very disturbing works of art—especially at a modern art museum.

We might have stayed longer, but we did quite a lot of walking (including up and down several flights of stairs), and Stephen remembered that he doesn’t really like museums. We were making our way back by tube and bus, and I asked the boys if they wouldn’t mind accompanying me to find Edith Wharton’s The Age of Innocence, which I needed for class. Being the gentlemen that they are, they readily acquiesced.

Strangely enough, however, when we got off at Putney and walked across the bridge, we realized that we picked the worst possible time to go book hunting. At that very moment, we were surrounded by a huge flood of people either coming from or going to a football match (that’s soccer for you American readers).

There were even police escorts to make sure that everyone was on their best behavior, regardless of what color uniforms they wore. Despite a few small delays—and our amazement at their immense football pride—we made it to the book shop and I was able to make my purchase.
Sunday morning, I had intended to visit the Chinese church. But Saturday night, people were in our courtyard yelling, singing, and laughing until about 3 or 4 am. I finally got fed up and fell asleep with my headphones in and ipod on. Needless to say, I was exhausted when I woke up, and decided to sleep in.

Sunday evening, though, I joined the boys again for evening service at St. Paul’s Hammersmith, an Anglican church in (duh) Hammersmith. We arrived early and munched on crisps (chips) and juice while we waited for service to start. Hospitality, I think, is one of their gifts there.

The service was nice; they have a very contemporary worship style mixed with a couple traditional hymns. The female drummer reminded me of Josephine back home. This weekend was a special visitors’ welcome event, so instead of their usual sermon, they had an actress/comedian from their church give her (very hilarious) testimony of how God pursued her.

The theme she kept emphasizing was synchronicity—the way that certain things happen at the exact time that they’re supposed to, so that they make a huge impact in our lives. We must be cautious not to discount the things that God is doing by writing things off as mere coincidence. When we look at the synchronicity of our lives, we see how God when He has provided for us or answered our prayers in His perfect timing.

The most interesting part of the night, though, was the after-service fellowship and refreshments. They served pita and hummus, crisps, juice, wine, and beer. I have never seen alcohol served at a church event before. It was foreign and strange to us, but I believe that fits in quite naturally with British church culture. I do want to go back again to hear what their preaching is really like.

Classes started (for me, anyways) on Monday. I have both of my Roehampton courses on Monday, for three hours each. I can’t really say too much yet, since I’ve only been to one session of each, but I’m pretty excited for what I’ll be learning this semester. I’m taking a travel writing course, which isn’t quite what I expected, and a 20th Century American literature course.

My travel writing professor seems pretty laid back for the most part. She’s kind of what I imagine an English professor would look like. She has striking gray eyebrows and gravity-defying, curly gray hair. But she seems very friendly and I think her teaching style makes the material intriguing for me, regardless of the expectations I might have had for the class.

My American literature professor is a bald, robust man, with an ear piercing and booming voice. He talks rather fast, and reminds me a little bit of Professor Smith in the way he takes apart the text for interpretation. I love how he forces us to really think about what we’re reading and how we’re reading it. He’s very high energy though, and I felt worn out once his class ended.

Tonight we had our Biola course on British Spirituality. Professor Lotz is an American who studied at Cambridge and now lives and works as an evangelical theology professor in London. He’s also got a good sense of humor, and the history behind British spirituality is really fascinating. I like the way that he asks us to think about our own spirituality and the forces that shapes the way we practice our faith as well.

All of my classes move rather fast, since they’re only once a week. This means that I have somewhere between 2 and 3 books to read every week, for a grand total of (I think) 23 books for the entire semester. In addition to that, I have two large papers for each class. I need to work really hard to stay on top of all my reading and writing.

Other than that, my week has been generally uneventful. Last night we had our weekly flat dinner. Amy, the girl who lives across from me, cooked for us. We had a stuffed tomato as a starter, followed by bacon-wrapped chicken, accompanied by broccoli, zucchini, and potatoes covered in a marinara-type sauce. For dessert, she brought out a chocolate gateau cake.

It was really fun to just sit around the dinner table eating, talking, and laughing together. I’m really thankful for my flatmates, and for the chance to get to know them better. Even tonight, we unintentionally gathered in our lounge and just started chatting away. Tom and I tried to do some reading, as well.

I wanted to think of a clever way to tie everything up, but now I’m too tired and need to go to sleep. I can hear a group of strange people congregating in our hall for no apparent reason. Please keep praying for me and keeping in touch with me. Hopefully I’ll have more interesting tales to tell that will inspire to be better about keeping up this blog.