Keep Calm and...JK Don't I'm in London

Wednesday night was certainly an adventure. My lovely friends Megan and Caitlyn came with me to Bloomsbury Baptist Church to check out their Wednesday night "XChange" thingamajig. We didn't know what to expect, we just knew there might be dinner and definitely a Bible study involved. It was a blast! Granted, the three of us aren't the type to talk endlessly to people we've just met [shout out to Ashley, who-in a very hyped up state-showed me each and every one of her belongings within the first thirty minutes of meeting her at camp this past summer! She's so fun.], but we eased into talking with everyone and getting to know each other. The people there were all so kind and very generous, as they provided a yummy dinner of pork, veggies, rice, and curry (but not especially spicy, nothing too crazy). The 12 or so of  us enjoyed green tea ice cream, meringue, vanilla ice cream, green tea kit-kats, and whipped cream for dessert. Did it sound strange? Yes. Did the kit-kats look weird? Certainly. Was it delicious? Absolutely. Louise gave us the disclaimer that nothing about the meal was "British-esk", but she did introduce us to a "Queen approved" sweet topping (for ice cream, porridge  oatmeal, whatever) called Golden Syrup. It's totally a thing.

After cleaning up everyone went to a little side room where we had a very speedy reading and discussion on the 13th chapter of Revelation. The one thing most surprising to me proved to be how in depth the study was, and I enjoyed it immensely. It was getting on the later side, but we all went to the pub for a little bit just to hang out, and we had interesting discussion on the politics of the United Kingdom and current hot topics (such as gay marriage in the church, which coincidentally I used as a topic for an assignment earlier this week, the issues with the despicable lack of enough affordable housing in the greater London area, and other drama associated with the city life). We returned and I watched some Downton Abbey on Netflix (because all of season 3 is available here) before crashing.

This morning, Megan and I checked out a small museum at the Holocaust Exhibit and Wiener Library just a block or so away from the Pickwick. It was fascinating, sharing stories of women who helped save lives, reading on the immense sacrifices made by so many, and looking at actual documents from those times. They had cards from children lucky enough to escape and join foster families here in Britain. Additionally, apparently Bloomsbury (the area we live-especially the buildings right around our hostel!) was a sanctuary for many during that time. Here's a few pictures that Megan took:

This afternoon we toured the British Museum for my Art class. We all ended up dragging at the end because all the standing and walking began to wear on us. However, the most delightful thing ever happened: we walked into a room full of Monet's impressionist pieces. He's my favorite, and in case you have interest in what I'm interested in, Renior comes as a close second as my favorite overall painter.

Tonight, some of us went to Shakespeare's Head pub, and we were all especially excited because it was Caitlyn's first time there! It's definitely a favorite of all of us here with great prices, great food, and a great atmosphere.

Oh, and we got tickets to see Les Mis for next Thursday night!!! Super excited!!!

Yoga Bunny Detox

You know that feeling, when a huge weight is lifted from your shoulders? When you finish that last page of reading for an extraordinarily cumbersome reading? When you finally turn in that paper? And then you just sit, because you're exhausted, or possibly because this seems the opportune time for that laziness to kick in? That's exactly how I will feel later in this semester. [It may or may not involve a twenty page paper and the usual procrastination on my part.] In addition, the above is an over-dramatization of my feelings this afternoon after a good amount of reading which I'd characteristically put off till almost as last minute as possible. Story of my life!

But really, my life is filled to the brim with mishaps and adventures. If I were to overanalyze myself, I may say that I enjoy putting schoolwork off as long as possible because the challenge of finishing everything in the nick of time is just a lot of fun. Then again, I may also analyze myself and realize how lazy I really am. If I were in a job interview, I would describe it as my "laid back" personality, it makes me seem exceedingly more desirable as an employee than if I were to tell tales of my lethargy. (That's an exclusive excerpt from my "How To Do A Good Job Interview 101". You're welcome.)

Anyhow, back to adventure which is my life. The past couple days have probably been the least adventurous thus far on this venture, but I'm in London and that means two things:

1. I can't complain. I'm so thankful to get to be here and have all these amazing truly once in a lifetime experiences. 
2. I still have pictures and stories! Get excited, y'all.

First off, let me take you back to Sunday....

 this is where we went to church

All Saints

pretty sweet building, eh?

we were excited

and Megan had curled her hair

i have the cutest friends

they're great

I mentioned it at the end of a previous blog post, along with a wonderful misadventure from Sunday afternoon. Misadventures may just be the best sort of adventures. There's nothing like making a spectacle of yourself in a foreign country, asking at least five (legitimately, no exaggeration) different workers at five different shops how to get somewhere. And, on top of that, ending up waltzing back into the first place we'd tried (the right restaurant, the wrong specific location) and eating there in front of an amused waitress. Such is my life. In the words of one of the culprits for obesity in America: "I'm lovin' it!"

For my British Life and Culture class on Monday, we got to tour the Tower of London and see the Crown Jewels (no pictures there, for obvious reasons).

there it is

the Tower of London

on the edge of the

one square mile

City of London

 the "beefeaters" live over there

don't know what those are?

click here 

 fun facts

also

£1=$1.57
everything's expensive

 we got to see lots of armor too

up in the white tower

way cool

cheerio!

but really, no one says that here

and of course on the way out

we had to get a picture 

in front of the Tower Bridge

and a couple other tourists

 Yesterday

we got to see Kiss Me, Kate

 It was such a fun show! 

I really enjoyed the story line

 the songs were fun

and we all had a great time!

okay

this looks like a weird drink

but

it's delicious

and

i still don't really know what it is

but

it seems healthy

or something

 the view out my window

it's actually been pretty sunny 

off and on

so pretty

did I mention I live on the fourth (British third) floor?

no joke, I'm noticing more defined calves

winning

 one of the best things ever

putting energy instead of calories

brilliant

 Also, my friends got FREE tickets for the two of them to go see LION KING tonight!!! I'm so excited for them, Caitlyn and I literally screamed when Emma told us the news! Happy Wednesday, y'all!

Spectating and Speculating

So this weekend was simply bunches of fun.

Saturday morning we went to Buckingham Palace to see the Changing of the Guard, we actually had a decent spot and it was fun to see it all! [disclaimer: I did steal a couple of pictures...what can I say, my friends have fancy cameras, okay?]

The four of us [me, Taylor, Megan, and Caitlyn] decided to go ahead and get up and have an adventure, since Saturday was our first entirely free day so far! We all happened to be wearing coordinating colors, which we didn't even notice till this picture was taken.

 It was a glorious day! The sun was out, and it was warm enough that we didn't have to wear our heavy coats! I woke up that morning, looked out the window, and then opened up and stuck my head out the window because it was simply stunning and I was so thrilled.

We were so excited and actually had a pretty good spot to watch everything!

There was a lot of marching around and yelling by the apparent leader (or whatever the appropriate term is) of the group. As you can see, there were people everywhere outside of the gates.

It was kind of like a big, super official and uniform, parade. Everyone was strangely silent as all this occurred, with little talking between spectators and it was as if people had a certain reverence for the tradition. Very different from what it probably would be like back home.

They actually came pretty close at one point, seeming to greet the crowd (and by greet I mean they would walk up close-ish to the gate and then turn around and approach the opposite side).

And then the horses came by on the street. How fun!

Afterward we took some pictures. It's crazy how many different languages we were hearing around us!

Jumping pic fail.

It was a lot of fun.

After that we went to Primark-which was partly a great thing but also a terrible idea. It's like a Forever 21, but a billion times better and with significantly better deals (for the most part...we were paying in pounds). Following that we headed home to relax, hang out, and attempt some productivity in our reading.

Today we went to All Saint's for church, which I really enjoyed. Someone from church invited us out to eat at Nando's with a group of them for lunch. So Kristen and I headed off to find it. Apparently neither of us were paying much attention, because it took us quite a while to find Nando's, and when we got there it appeared that we were at the wrong one! So we set off to find the next closest one, which was unsuccessful. Just as we were giving up, we came across an area that looked familiar, and it turns out we went in a massive square, because we ended up at the same Nando's we had dropped by the first time, so we just gave up and ate there. We speculated about where the correct Nando's could possibly be (because apparently no one in London knows anything about directions or information about the city) or if we had somehow missed them, and then moved on with our lives and enjoyed some lunch at long last. Thankfully, both of us had been looking forward to eating there because it's been talked up quite a bit, apparently One Direction eats there or something, and it has fairly affordable prices. It was fun because there were all these different sauces, some of them were pretty spicy, but we went ahead and tried the hottest one there and it was surprisingly bearable! Lots of fun and the adventure was worth feeling a little lost for a couple moments!!

Anyway, it's getting late, both of my roomies are asleep, and I have class in the morning. Cheers!

Chilled but Chipper

Here's to having internet that works. It's been a bit spotty here, which resulted in very little communication between my family and I over the past few days. It's getting a bit better and for some reason Skype seems to be the most reliable way to stay in touch (strange, since Skype tends to be more of a problem back home, but hey, I'm not complaining!). It's been a great week, guys. I'll give y'all a summary of my Tuesday-Thursday [Not starting with Monday because I covered that here and here] and then we can get to the exciting part (C. S. Lewis' home and Oxford), of which I have an overzealous excitement for and quantity of pictures.

Tuesday: My Lewis and Tolkien class was just as anticipated: absolutely fantastic. Dr. Hooten-Wilson related exceptionally well to us, laid down how the semester would be, shared some background on both authors, and by the end of class completely blew my mind. Fabulous class. This week we're reading the first book of Lewis' "Space Trilogy" (he referred to it as his "Ransom Trilogy". Wonder why? Read the books for yourself!).

That night, we all went to see The Magistrate. A well done show with musical interludes between the set and scene changes (I don't know what officially constitutes a show as a musical, but I'm moderately confident that this wasn't one). I learned the meaning of British Comedy from this show, which was...interesting. The best way I can think of to describe British comedy (based on The Magistrate, at least) is this: slapstick humor that is worth a smile, sometimes a chuckle, and very rarely an outright laugh. It's like classic cartoon humor in that it's simple and usually dependent on the actions, rather than the words (although there are puns as well. And I love puns.). The engineering of the stage sets were superb, with a slanted pop-out storybook kind of theme. A very well done show that was fun and outright hysterical to the British audience.

Wednesday: My longer day of classes (you see, each class meets for about three hours at a time). I had my Political Theology class in the morning, which I enjoyed significantly more than anticipated, and Christian Ethics in the afternoon. Both classes look to involve a lot of hard work, but I predict that I'll like and learn a lot from both. For lunch Emma, Jase, and I went to Shakespeare's Head, an inexpensive (by British standards) but delicious pub close to where we live. That night we went to another show. I didn't take any pictures, as I was not especially excited after the show. This show, Fair Em, was a Shakespeare wannabe.  There was music incorporated here and there throughout the show, especially to set and transition scenes. This would have been much better if the writer/s had been able to make up their mind as to what type of music they'd like. There were madrigal, jazzy, almost coffeehouse ish, and other music styles which I don't quite recall. Additionally, if a show is to claim to be similar to Shakespeare, I expect wit (as this show was a comedy), of which there was a minute quantity. Despite not particularly being impressed with the show itself, the actors all did a good job. A fun night out, but many of us were tired and ready to chill when we got back home.

Thursday: I didn't have class till 1, so my dear friend Megan and I went out exploring around Piccadilly Circus, Trafalgar Square, and the area between. Here's some pictures from that adventure:

 Megan and I

obviously

 the national gallery

a cool fountain

some statues

 check out Big Ben over yonder

 us with the lion

and what appears to be a Canadian flag

in the background

 ever since The Lion King

lions have been my favorite animal

and also because both Lydia and Lion

begin with "L"

 i was pretty stoaked

 trafalgar square and i

 this could be a postcard

if it wasn't so cloudy

that's St. Martin In the Fields church

That afternoon, we had our Art History/Appreciation class, which was uneventful. It looks to be a great class since we get to go to museums every class meeting from here on. Following that we went out shopping, where I got hit on by a strange Indian guy, had some great conversation and laughs with friends, and did a little shopping (the kind where you go to stores but don't actually end up buying anything).

Friday: The day trip to Oxford!!! The highlights are below, and all of the pictures are featured here at my Oxford in pictures post, for those of you who would like to see everything I experienced (more pictures from Lewis' home and a lot of gorgeous architecture in Oxford). I was colder this day than I have ever been in my life, but it was a lot of fun!

 took a few pictures on the bus ride over

i'd fallen asleep 

sometime between london and here

when i woke up

it was combination

winter wonderland

and narnia

(there were more trees at that point)

 the former home of C. S. Lewis!!!!!!!

 it's called the kilns

no wonder he was such a great writer

look at that cute place

 of course

i had to get a picture with it too

 the library

and the lady showing us about the place did a great job

 fun fact: it's assumed that Lewis had a photographic memory

he would ask students to pick any book

from his shelves

read a sentence from the book

and Lewis had this uncanny ability to not only recall

but recite

the entire passage back to the student

 the Eagle and Child sign from Lewis' day

(that was the pub Lewis and Tolkien frequented

and where they held their Inklings meetings)

[the Inklings were a society of writers and scholars

who would meet periodically

and share pieces of whatever they were currently working on]

 some time period appropriate literature

 it's really a cool desk

 that typewriter was an original

few things in the house were

unfortunately

that picture is of Joy

(who married Lewis)

with a shotgun

she was an American

 such cute tea pots

[some owners of the Kilns in the 70's totally changed the house

since, it has been remodeled to be almost exactly the way it was 

when Lewis lived there

with the exception, however, of the filth associated 

with this bachelor pad]

this was like a play room for Joy's sons

in the attic

it may not look exciting

but if you were to step on that floor

your foot would go through the floor of the attic

and into the ceiling of the kitchen

true story

 this was in Lewis' study

real people live and study in his home currently

thus the laptop

 Lewis' room

and another nice view 

trying to find Narnia

Lewis loved visiting this pond

 it's something the man and I have in common

loving nature

it's pretty

 blurry pic

but that's Emma

she's great

and my roommate

 our tour guide, Jane, was great

and way cute

check out that great scarf/hat combo

 Dr. Taylor, thrilled to be back to the town of his alma mater

the whole town basically looks like a castle

it's fantastic

 made to commemorate 

some martyrs   

 the dancing in Goblet of Fire

[Harry Potter]

was filmed in there   

   

 inspiration for the great dining hall

in Harry Potter

[they couldn't film here because

it wasn't big enough

and closing it down 

would be awfully inconvenient]

 otherwise known as

"The Bird and the Baby"

and this is where

Tolkien and Lewis met

as part of the Inklings,

a kind of literary discussion society

 Christ's Church Cathedral

cool ceilings

the quad

at Christ's Church

Needless to say, it was a fabulous and beautiful day.