A Whirlwind Weekend in London

Steve came to visit this weekend! It was really good to see him, and to have a little taste of home. We only really had Friday and Saturday to do stuff, and we were both exhausted (after 4 hours of sleep for me and none for Steve), so we didn’t get to do everything we had planned, but we still had fun! We went to Harrod’s and got fancy chocolates from a giant chocolatier room, Covent Garden (not actually a garden- it’s a piazza), Leicester Square and had pizza with the pigeons, took a bus tour of London (Steve almost dozed off several times! Haha.), hung out at the flat, went with Liz, Liz, and Sam to Cookies & Cream (a restaurant full of cake!), had breakfast at a café, walked a little through Regent’s Park, went to Portabello Road market and bought each other presents, saw Big Ben (When we walked around the corner and it appeared, Steve was like "WOAH!" because he wasn’t expecting it to be so big!), went to the river as it was getting dark and saw Big Ben and the London Eye all lit up, watched the Lord Mayor’s Show fireworks from a bridge on the river, walked along the river at night and saw St. Paul’s Cathedral and the Millenium Bridge, had dinner at the Spaghetti House, saw The Lion King (It was excellent! The music, costumes, and set were amazing!), went to my church and introduced Steve to my British (and Swedish, Scottish, and Irish) friends, had lunch at a pub and bought Steve a drink a month early for his 21st birthday (since when I get back I won’t be old enough to anymore!), rode around on the buses and tube, and that’s mostly it. It’s actually quite a lot for two days. We never made it inside any of the buildings we planned to see (Tower Bridge, Tower of London, Big Ben, St. Paul’s, Westminster Abbey, etc.) and we didn’t get to Oxford Street, Primrose Hill, Buckingham Palace, or our boat cruise (they stopped them early for the fireworks). But it was definitely fun to have a weekend in London (since I’ve been away every weekend) and just to spend some time with Steve. Plus I think it was a good experience for him, and I’m glad he got to see some of what I’ve been doing over here. And he did very well on his first flight, which was 7 hours and across the Atlantic! So, it was a good weekend. It did make me miss home a little more, but my family is coming next week for Thanksgiving, and then I will be home before you know it! I can’t believe I’ve been here for 2 and a half months and will be home soon! I will miss a lot of the things here, I think, but it will be good to be home. I was thinking about it today, and made a little list!


Things I will miss about London:
My flatmates (they’ll be at IWU, but it won’t be quite the same)
British accents and hearing things like "Johnny, you are being quite naughty!"
Walks around London
Free museums
Awesome classes
Three of the coolest professors ever
The flat and little things like Corky Romano’s head in the fireplace
The tube and how easy it is to get around the city
Great theatre and getting to see lots of shows
Being able to easily hop on a train or plane for a weekend away
Big Ben and the other London sites
Lilt (like an intense version of Squirt)
Double Decker Nuts bars
Double decker buses
Roses Monday and trips to Cookies & Cream
My church
the diversity
Pubs
Indian food
And I’m sure there’s lots more!


Some things I’ll be glad to come home to:
Friends and family, of course
InterVarsity and APO
Pedestrian right-of-way!
A one-minute walk to class
Fun times in Magill
Sunshine
Real pizza
Money in dollars, and things costing less
Superstores
More than 5 TV stations
A dishwasher
Not sharing one teeny washing machine with 11 people
Internet access in my dorm and house
Mexican food (the Engmanns’, and restaurants too)
Taco Bell (despite that it usually upsets my stomach)
Non-frozen meals (yes, I actually miss Saga!)
Snow (although I might retract that one)
Christmas
Apple cider (not Scrumpy’s)
Cheese fries, snow crab, and chilli (don’t ask, I’ve just been wanting them)
Familiarity (though maybe things will seem foreign after 3 months)

Maybe I’ll add to them as I think of more, which I’m sure I will. I can’t really think of much more to tell you, though I’m pretty sure there must be. This week I’m going to do homework (I have a book, a quiz, two finals, a group of essays, a 10 page paper, a critique and two projects left to do in the next couple weeks!), meet up with Amanda, see Hamlet with my class, and go to Venice! I’m going with Liz S. and we have a hotel right on one of the main canals, possibly with a balcony overlooking it! And hopefully it will be warmer than London! I’m an icicle! Then a few days later the familia is coming, and then the semester is basically over! Aah! Well, I better go get on some of that stuff. Have a good week!!!

~Jen

"If your surname is Dumpty, don’t call your child Humpty. He probably jumped off that wall." (Haha.)

Hi! I got my classes today and promised some people I'd post my schedule for next semester, so here it is:

Practical Criticism T R 8-9:15 w/ Bray
Fencing M W 10-10:50 w/ Smith
Sexuality and Christianity M W 1-2:15 w/ DeConick
Social Problems T R 9:25-10:40 w/ Sikora
Modern Spanish Lit T R 10:50-12:05 w/ Ferraddans

Anyone have any classes with me????

Today Jen and I got to meet with our dear friend Kayode's mom who lives in London! We went to the Nigerian Embassy, where she works as the personal assistant to the High Commissioner! It was pretty cool. She was very sweet and greeted us with hugs and everything! She took us to lunch at the Sherlock Holmes pub, and we talked about her job, raising kids, education, and Kayode, of course! :) So, that was awesome. We're gonna try to meet up with her again. Yay for Karunwis!

We also went to the Dali Museum today. It was quite different from the typical art museums. Weirder. But cool. And we saw Ray Liota! I actually didn't know who he was, but for those of you who do, maybe you'll be impressed. We also think we saw Uncle Vernon walking down the street by school, which is entirely possible, since he is in London. He looked skinnier, though.

Well, I should go. Gotta go eat dinner and get ready for Steve to come tomorrow! (Gotta leave for the airport at 5am!)
Bye all!
~Jen

"The only difference between a madman and me is that I'm not mad." -Salvador Dali

I went to Bristol, but where was the Rennaissance Faire?

Hiya! (That's what the British students say when they greet you.)
I'm in London and doing well. I have emerged from the post-election week unharmed by Bush haters, and the train accident that happened in England on Saturday. The 12 of us took a train to Bristol on Friday, and on Saturday there was a bad train wreck on a line that I thought was the same as the one we were on the day before, but it was a slightly different one. We're all ok, but it's sad for the people who weren't. Don't worry about me, though- I am in good hands! As far as Bush haters, I actually haven't really seen anything negative from people over here following the election, though beforehand it seemed there would be. The strongest Bush haters I've encountered seem to be living in my flat, and teaching my religion class! Last night I went to church with Jon for a college-age youth group (which was so good after not being at InterVarsity, DRL, the Wonderland, small group, and especially the Annex for so long!) and afterwards we got to talk to a lot of the people, who are from all over the world, just like us: Brazil, Japan, India, Ireland, Sweden, England, Spain, etc. They asked us about the election a little bit and especially wanted to know who we voted for! (All we told them was that we didn't really want to talk about it, but we were pretty sure that Jon and I each voted for different people, and that it was a hard choice because there are big things about each candidate we don't like.) The two we were mostly talking to, Chris from Brazil and a girl from Japan, said that they don't really have strong opinions about it, they're mostly just curious. We got to ask them about the general feeling towards Americans abroad, which was very interesting. We tend to get the feeling (maybe from classes or the media or something) that most of the world doesn't like Americans, but they didn't think that was true. They said that in their countries Americans are joked about sometimes as being pretty ignorant about geography (which both Jon and I agreed with) and arrogant, thinking we run the world (though it's basically true, Chris said). And the girl (I don't know how to spell her name, but it starts with a K!) said she worked in a cinema in London and at the concession stand, whenever someone came up and ordered a large coke and a large popcorn, the employees said, "Oh, they must be Americans." We have found that we do drink a lot more than they do in England, not just pop but even water. We're always asking for more when we eat out, because they give us such tiny glasses, and the large soda at McDonalds is like our medium. (Yes, I used both 'pop' and 'soda' to please you all!)Anyway, they said even though they make fun of us sometimes, they each thought that under that, Americans are really admired. K said that in Japan if her friends see one of us, they get all giddy and tell everyone they just saw an American! :) Chris said that though Brazilians put us down, everyone would probably love to come to America, but not everyone can. So, it was very interesting to get different perspectives on what people around the world think of us, though I'm sure other people have views different from theirs. It was comforting to know that people don't hate us, and some even admire us.

Anyway, Bristol! We had our final class trip to Bristol this weekend. Bristol was alright, sort of just another English city. On Friday we checked into our hotel. I think it was the first hotel we've stayed at so far, and I appreciated the comfort as opposed to a hostel with creaky bunk beds, 10-20 people to a room, and people coming in drunk at all hours of the night! I don't mind hostels, but a few people do, and we had a bit of a fiasco in York when Dr. Hatcher didn't tell us we were staying at a hostel and some of us had brought laptops and things. Anyway, the hotel was nice, and I shared a room with Jen, just like at the flat. We were pretty much free to do what we wanted all day, so she and I walked quite a ways up a steep hill (no, not both ways) to the Clifton Suspension Bridge. It was a beautiful view from up there. We could see the whole city, which, like the river, was not very pretty, but there were lots of trees near the bridge that were just changing colours, which I love! As we were about to head back, a hot air balloon appeared and went across above the bridge. We also found some pretty spots to take pictures. So, it was worth the hike, and we had much better weather than the people who went on Saturday. In the evening, Jen went to see a play and I couldn't find anyone else, so I made Ramen (well, the British version.) in the room, using a gladware type sandwhich container, an electric tea kettle, and a teaspoon. Haha. I sat there with my innovative dinner and watched a special about an upcoming ballroom dance competition! What a funny night in England. I thought everyone else had gone out and I didn't want to sit in the hotel by myself all night, so I got my discman and went for a nice walk around the city (don't worry, it's not a Chicago or New York type city). I found a bench in the city centre where I could see some fireworks (a day early for Guy Fawkes Day), so I enjoyed those for a while. Then I saw some boys with ice skates and remembered seeing an ice rink on the map. I thought it would be fun to go ice skating, especially if it was an outdoor rink, so I went in search of it. I found it, and it was indoors, and I didn't think it would be fun in there by myself, so I kept walking. I had just gotten to a place where I figured it wouldn't be good to walk around in alone, so I was going to go back to the hotel, when I saw there were missed calls on my phone. It was Pat, Sam, Liz H., Matt, and Allison, wanting to know if I wanted to go ice skating! How about that! So, we went ice skating (and Jen came too after the play). It was so much fun! The rink wasn't that impressive, and they don't clear the ice halfway through like we do, but I like to ice skate and haven't done it in a while. It was fun to just sail across the ice, and I was better than I remembered, so I kind of surprised myself. I didn't fall at all, though it was close once when I was being silly and trying to run in place, when the front of my skate caught on the ice, and I flew forward. But good ol' Jon caught me! It was good to just have fun with a bunch of people! We hung out in the hotel bar for a bit, watched some TV in the boys' room, and that was pretty much it. Saturday we had a fabulous breakfast included in our stay, which was a nice surprise when we're buying our own meals. We went as a class to John Wesley's meeting hall in Bristol, and there was an actor who came and played the part of John Wesley (founder of the Methodist church). It was funny and good. Then we went to the house of his brother Charles Wesley (world's greatest hymn writer, I'm told). He wrote thousands of hymns and songs. The only one I can think of right now is the Christmas song 'Hark! The Herald Angels Sing'. We took a tour of his house and learned about him. In the afternoon we all went to University of Bristol. We didn't really see the college, we just met with a professor, Gavin DeCosta. He is an Indian Catholic Christian, along with other things that make him unique and interesting to talk to. We talked, as usual, about pluralism, this time relating to Christianity. It was an intense conversation, to say the least. They have been lately. That can definitely be good and a place for new learning experiences, except that the only ones Dr. Hatcher seems to want us to have are ones that line up with his opinions, so that is frustrating. I have been having some problems with him, in and out of the classroom. A lot of people have, actually. But they may not be the kinds of things to write about online, so I'll keep them to myself for now. Anyway, some of us went to a pub after the talk to get some dinner and watch the 'football' game, and then we walked around at night looking for fireworks. It was rainy, but even so, I don't think Guy Fawkes Day fireworks are quite what we Americans expect, being used to 4th of July. It was still fun, though. More hanging out in the room and at the bar watching more football, and the next day was just a museum about Empire, shopping with Jen, and going back to London!

So, that was my weekend. What are you all up to out there?

~Jen



"I lift up my eyes to the hills- where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord , the Maker of heaven and earth. He will not let your foot slip- he who watches over you will not slumber; indeed, he who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. The Lord watches over you- the Lord is your shade at your right hand; the sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon by night. The Lord will keep you from all harm- he will watch over your life; the Lord will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore. " Psalm 121

Hi.

Hello out there in the great big internet void! I don't really know who reads this, so I don't know who I am writing to, but HI and I hope you are doing well!

I'm still in one piece over here on the other side of the ocean, even though most of the world is probably pretty angry at us for re-electing GWB. I haven't been attacked or anything! There was a lot of coverage of the election, which was cool, though I wonder if I got a much different perspective on it from what you guys got over there. We watched Wednesday morning before class and Bush was the projected winner, but they didn't know for sure, and then in the evening, we watched Kerry's concession speech and Cheney's speech too, though they didn't show Bush's when I was watching! It was kind of fun to hang out at the Hatchers and have chili and watch. I was surrounded by almost all passionate Kerry supporters (well, more like Bush haters) and the minority who supported Bush kept quiet. :-/ I'll refrain from posting my stance online, though. I did vote, though. I almost didn't, but then I suddenly decided to and I ran to the post office, ballot in hand, and paid £5 to send it in some speedy service that would hopefully get it there on time. I don't know if it did or not. I'll pretend it did. Though, it wouldn't really matter much either way for the outcome, no matter who I voted for.

School is going ok. There was an intense discussion in class today when I did the chapter scouting. It was actually just me trying to do my job and Hatcher twisting my words and other people's too, but I won't get into that right now. It could have been frustrating, but I was totally calm about it, and in some odd way, I think it went very well.

That's about it, I think. Class is over for the week. I might go out in London tonight and do something fun, since it seems we're always sitting in the flat doing homework or pretending to. Tomorrow we leave for our final class trip to Bristol. I'm out of internet time, so I'll talk to you later!

-Jen

"He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose." Jim Elliot

No, Pat, not whales the animal, Wales the country!

It’s November already?! Where is the time going? I’ve been here for two months, and have one and a half left, which I’m sure will fly by!

So, the elections… I don’t watch much TV and I only look at the newspaper occasionally, so I don’t really know what is going on (except that it is super close), and what I hear I hear from a foreign perspective. I don’t know what is going to happen. Personally, I don’t really trust Kerry to lead our country and I strongly disagree with some of his policy, but the rest of the world is going to be furious with us if we re-elect Bush. It seems to be the general feeling in just about every country. In the Metro there have been letters Britons have written to Americans asking them not to re-elect Bush, and American responses, and British responses again. Some were intelligent, some were not (particularly some rude American responses), but it is weird to think about how most of the world cares about our election more than a lot of us even do. Stuff about the election has been on TV all day today, and I saw a sticker on a telephone pole on Thursday that said "Dump Bush 2004." We don’t typically know anything about elections in other countries, but there are movements over here to influence the American election. There is a lot riding on it, and it’s going to be messy either way. My guess is that Bush will stay in office, and I don’t know what would happen, but I think lots of problems will follow. We were actually just told today by Professor Fosdal that we should be careful after the elections if we’re out somewhere and people know we’re Americans, especially if Bush wins. Yikes. I’m sure it will be fine, but isn’t it crazy that it’s such a big deal? The Hatcher's invited us over for a little post-election party on Wed. night (Wednesday morning/afternoon your time), so hopefully there will be results by then. Either way, we'll have fun hanging out and eating homemade chili (though probably not as good as yours, mom!)

Well, my weekend in Wales was FABULOUS! By far my favourite thing I’ve done so far. It was just Jen and me, which ended up being good because it was more relaxing, we could get away from the flat and everyone for a couple days, and we didn’t have to go through the hassles of getting a big group on trains and buses and everything. We got to Swansea, the main city, took a couple buses to the front of a little shop in the middle of who knows where, and were picked up by someone from Parc Le Breos. It was a cozy little Bed and Breakfast run by a cute little woman named Olive. I got to sleep in a big bed! J We had a room with 4 beds and a bathroom for the two of us, and a little pot to make tea and coffee. It was nice. The rest of the place had a couple of fireplaces, lots of wood and lots of horse stuff! Olive made our meals and they were good! On Friday after we settled into our room, we took a walk in search of the beach and Pennard Castle. We found it! The castle was just ruins on top of a hill, which looked neat from far away, but we didn’t hike up to it. The beach was amazing! It was Three Cliffs Bay, and it was a beautiful mix of rocky cliffs, green, beach, and ocean! The day was cool and overcast, which you’d think is not good at a beach, but it was perfect. There were only about 4 other people walking around, so we pretty much had the Bay to ourselves to explore. We decided to get over to the three cliffs, which had a hole that made a passage to the beach. After making our way over little rivers, part of the mountain, and a couple great photo ops, we got to the passage and went through to the beach. We were about 30 feet away from the water as the waves rolled in, but within about 3 minutes, the tide had come in and captured us! We were about to be trapped on the wrong side of the cliffs, so we had to make a run for it back under the passage, stomping through the water which soaked our shoes and pants! It was crazy! And that is why you bring an extra pair of socks! (Luckily we both did.)

After a delicious dinner, a hot shower, and a relaxing night in the room writing postcards, journaling, and doing homework, I went to bed early! It was grand. :)

Saturday was our first day of riding- so much fun! I had only ridden a couple times, probably about 12 years ago (Wow, it’s funny that I’m old enough to say I did something 12 years ago). They showed us how do to everything we needed to do, like brush the horses, put on the bridle and saddle, mount the horses and what to do when we rode. About half the people were like me and had only ridden a few times a long time ago, so I wasn’t the only beginner. The horses were very nice, and beautiful! The first day I rode Raschal- I liked him a lot (Though he was still not Sunny.)! We all went slow most of the time, but Raschal liked to trot and would whenever I didn’t stop him. It was funny. It was fun, until that night and the next day when I could hardly sit down! The first day there were about 25 of us, and the second about 10. Three young girls, Lindsey, Sheena, and Josie, led us. They were probably about 25, 16, and 13. They were really good! The second day I rode Brandy, who was also good but didn’t have quite as much spirit as Raschal. Raschal came over to me, looking like he thought I was going to ride him again! It was so cute! I liked Brandy, though she felt the need to walk right at the edge of every path so that I got hit with just about every branch and thorny vine! I also liked two horses we saw in a nearby pasture, whom Jen and I named Ice Cream and Cone. Haha. So, it was really fun to ride, and we rode through beautiful countryside! The second day we rode down by the beach for a little while. Most of it was up on the cliffs though, with amazing views. I think I’ll have some great pictures (which I skillfully took from the top of a horse on the top of the cliffs!).

Oh, and we didn’t know they did the time change here, so I woke up really early on Sunday and showed up to breakfast an hour early! Oops!

So, it was a really great weekend! I did kind of miss Halloween at home, though. We saw people dressed up in Swansea, mostly high schoolers, and the people back at the flat dressed up and carved a pumpkin and baked pumpkin seeds and everything, but I didn’t. Jen and I had to take a series of buses and trains to get back to London, and we spent a few hours in an empty train station. I decided I couldn’t not have candy on Halloween, so I got a Mars bar because it reminded me of when Cary and I trick-or-treated at the Mars Factory and they gave us giant candy bars. J I don’t think they have Mars bars at home, but oh well! I sat there and thought how I would rather be at home than in a train station in Wales. I missed handing out Reese’s peanut butter cups to the kids I babysat for who come over to show me their costumes, and apple cider, and stuff like that. It also kind of made me think about how I’m not a kid anymore. So, it was a little bit of a downer Halloween night, but it was worth it (and the money and the travel time) to ride horses on the coast of Wales! (Besides, I don’t really even like Halloween!) And the next day, Sam gave me a Reese’s since he knew I missed them. :) What a pal!

Well, I think that’s it for now. Classes are going ok. I’m doing well in Shakespeare and History of London (I got an A on that paper I wrote at 6am!), average in Hatcher’s class, and we don’t have any grades in Art until the very end. We’re going to Bristol this weekend and I don’t really know what the plan is, but hopefully it will be a good trip. Steve is coming in 10 days, and my family is coming in 21, I think, for a yummy Thanksgiving dinner made by Liz Schroeder and the gang! In between is a weekend in Venice with Liz! :) Well, I better get to an internet café so I can send this and check my email before class! Cheers! ~Jen

P.S. I will indeed be living in Magill 211, for those of you who were awaiting the word. It’s sad that Lindsey and I won’t be in the house with Jen and Abby, but yay for the good ol’ movie nights with Jack and Kevin and dance parties with Amy and Kelly! Hehe.


"Saddle up your horses, we’ve got a trail to blaze (Woooah-OH!) into the wild blue yonder and God’s amazing grace. Let’s follow our leader into the glorious unknown. This is a life like no other- This is the Great Adventure!" ~Steven Curtis Chapman