King Lear, All-nighters, Brighton, and more...

Well, another week has rolled around, and considering I'm at a moment of lull between my two projects (due back to back) I thought I would write a quick post on life in Oxford.

Due to the fact that I had friends here right before 4th week, and my minor tutor having to move our 4th week meeting to 5th week, and keeping Charles and Erin's boys for three days... I got behind. Majorly behind in ways that are never good.
Normally around here we have something we call "5th week blues" or "the 5th week slump". That would have been last week. Unfortunately, I had no time to have a slump, as I have had so much to do so close together.
However, I'm on the cusp of being finished with everything, minus one composition project due tomorrow afternoon, that I should finish at some point.

So backing up a little,
Last week, I had a paper due on Wednesday, and a Composition project due on Thursday. I screwed up my own life by not starting my paper fast enough since I lost two days of research being in London, and ended up pulling an all-nighter that Tuesday night to finish in time. When I was visiting Penelope later on Wednesday morning (as opposed to 7 am, when I finally finished my paper and decided bed wasn't worth my time...) she invited me to go to St. Michael's with them for an Ash Wednesday service. The service was really interesting, considering all I had ever heard about Anglicans was that they were like Roman Catholics minus the pope. Similarities could be drawn for sure, but they are vastly different from what I could tell. Obviously I have been to Evensong services, but that's sort of different from going to a full blown service like that one.

On Thursday I had one of the worst days of the term, but only for all the little inconsequential things. Like being splashed by a car, and then a bus while I was walking to my tutorial. Being harassed by immature boys on the back of the bus, having had far too little sleep the night previous, and none the night before that. And on top of all of this, Tesco called that morning and informed me they couldn't deliver my order since my credit card had failed to validate.
You think Mastercard would realize I live in England now.
You would think.
After a terrible morning/afternoon (but a decent tutorial) I came home to realize I had so much homework, I wasn't sure when I was going to shower and sleep in the next week.
In retrospect, it wasn't as bad as I feared, but on Thursday it looked bleak. So I had to skip Bible study, which some know is the only reason I stay sane from week to week. Sad day.

Friday was spent studying, traversing to tutorial, and then my Friday night consisted of a hot date.
With my kitchen.
I scrubbed that thing from top to bottom. It was very pretty when I finished.
Although our fridge still smells like something crawled in there and died, and no one can figure out what in the world it could be. Ugh.

Saturday I studied. And felt like a loser since I didn't venture out of the house once. In fact, I only left my bedroom to reheat some leftovers and grab the salsa out of the fridge.

Sunday the Warners had a tea party at their house in the afternoon, which is always great great fun. Penelope always goes out of her way to make sure I can eat things, and she made her homemade fairy cakes gluten-free, and meringue cake with berries again. So great. During the tea it came up that some folks are doing a little traveling over the next couple of weeks. My housemate Chrissy, and I both caught the travel bug, and promptly sat down and planned a trip.
We're going to Brighton next week for three nights.
Because we can.

Monday night we journeyed to Stratford to see King Lear, a production put on by the RSC, Royal Shakespeare Company. Not anywhere near as gory as I feared, and an incredibly powerful production. Although, the set distracted me a little. As did their indecisiveness in costuming:
"Were we in WWI or pre-Medieval Britain? Did anyone actually know?!"
-Jacquie Rawles, the tutor who accompanied our trip.
Otherwise, a great production.

The last two days were spent in a flurry of paper writing and compositional exercises. After tutorial tomorrow afternoon, I'm catching a train to London to meet a group of friends so we can all see Love Never Dies, the "sequel" to Phantom of the Opera.
We plan to laugh voraciously at the ridiculousness it has to be.

That's my week.
I'm busy. Way busy.
Can spring break be here yet?

Canterbury and beyond! Or maybe just Canterbury!

Weekend of November 21/22

Hey, I’m getting closer! Very soon it will be time to write about our big Ireland trip. 

Then I really haven’t done anything interesting during this term. 

I’ll probably do this next term too, write about the craziness that will be my spring break.

But more on that later.

CaNtErBuRy! 

We really enjoyed this weekend, and it was fun for Rebekah and me to have someone new to travel with. Namely my housemate (and classmate from Jewell!) Lora! She was really great, and Canterbury was a big deal for her, so she did lots of the research for places to stay. It was a first for her, and a first for my sister to NOT be involved in the planning. Rebekah let us handle everything (mwah ha ha ha). Evil laughter aside, good weekend all around. 

Well, except for how it started. Lora started our morning at a few minutes after six, by sliding down the last few stairs on our staircase. We finally decided it was just a mild sprain, and she was determined to keep the trips plans since we’d been looking forward to it for so long. So she and I finished packing our belongings and some sandwiches for the day and ran to catch the 7:15 bus right around the corner from us. Well, I thought it was the 7:15, turned out to be the 7:23. And everyone knows how I like to run early for everything, buses especially. So we stood there for ... awhile. Sorry Lora! 

After a very bumpy ride (pretty sure that bus was THE oldest in the fleet) we made it to Reading and practically ran to Rebekah’s apartment since we were cold and damp. After a little repacking (and a little using the facilities) we were on our way! 

We arrived in Canterbury about 11 am and went straight to St Martin’s church, the oldest church to still be in everyday use for worship. The church was really neat, especially realizing it was old enough to be there for Queen Bertha to have worshipped in! From there we unsuccessfully tried to find the Westgate Towers on the SatNav. Emphasis on “unsuccessfully”. This SatNav thing is kind of a hit or miss situation. It’s either fantastic, or lacking a little. 

So we gave up and went in search of the Tourist Info Center, a much more easily located building. After locating it and obtaining a free map of the city, we went to the Roman museum, munching the lunches I had packed along the way. 

The Roman Museum was definitely neat, there was a reconstructed marketplace exhibition and a lot of excavation (looked a lot like our trip to Bath!) After a little “reconnoitering” (I stuck that word in just for you Dad!) we headed again for the Westgate Towers. 

On the way we became distracted by the Thomas Beckett hospital, which was a place for pilgrims to stay when coming to the shrine for Thomas Beckett. The place still houses elderly men and women who don’t have the means to take care of themselves monetarily. After that we finally located the Westgate Towers, the original entrance to Canterbury. While we were there we managed to snag a double red phone booh photo together. It will go well in my themed scrapbook (which has turned into phone booths around Europe, check back for details as it develops). 

From there we headed to the cathedral so we would have time to look around before Evensong started. When we arrived, someone had just had a heart attack and they had the entire entrance to the Nave shut down because of ambulances. Eek. 

They were however letting people in through an entrance by the choir, so we wandered around and snapped photos, visited Thomas Beckett’s shrine (or the site of the former shrine) and then grabbed front row seats for Evensong. A truly lovely service, and we even convinced one of the wardens to take a photo of all three of us right before things got started. 

After that our parking had almost expired so we grabbed the car and headed out to the B&B. Again, the SatNav made a fail, but after a couple of phone cals we made it. After even more navigational problems trying to find a particular pub for dinner we finally gave up and went back to the hotel restaurant. There was a little confusion as I desperately tried to find something that was gluten-free, but disaster was averted when I finally managed to get through our waitress’ head what my problem was. The joys of eating in a limited restaurant with an allergy/intolerance.

After that we all collapsed, it had been a busy day. 

After breakfast on Sunday we headed to St. Augustine’s Abbey. 

The day was very clear and pretty, just a little nippy. Rebekah and I had complimentary admission because we’re English Heritage members (a fact I plan to abuse royally during my summer trip up to and through Scotland), but obviously Lora should have needed to pay an entrance fee. The guy manning the till ended up letting her in free when he realized she was with Rebekah and me, because we were members. So nice! There was also a free audio guide included. Woo! 

Highly informative. 

I may know more than I wanted to. 

Towards the end of the touring it began to grow more and more overcast and cold, so Rebekah and I wimped out for the last little pathway and went inside to try some Mead. 

After a quick run by the ruins of the old Norman Castle we headed home because it was pouring rain (welcome to England!). Once we were in Reading we split up and Lora and I headed back to Oxford, leaving Rebekah at her apartment.

What a great weekend. Pictures are available here! 

Love

It's Valentine's day. Normally a day to strike fear into the hearts of men, excitement into women, and dread into the heart of every single person who did not get a date.
Well, generally.
I've always boycotted the holiday. I find it sickening, and unnecessary for the most part. I've also never had a significant other over the holiday. Maybe that helps.
But what I am reminded of this year, as I am overseas, exploring new opportunities, forging a closer relationship with God, missing family and friends, and developing new relationships with other family and friends, is that Valentine's Day might be a nice opportunity to sit back and reflect on the love(s) in life.

In my Focus group at St. Ebbe's, we're studying the book of Philippians. It's been very helpful to me to have those deep discussions about love and rejoicing, and why we love, and why we rejoice.


"being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ"
Philippians 1:6

These verses are highly comforting, and I think these things often of all of family and friends.

I am blessed because I have parents who love and support me, even when I drive them crazy. Who support endless career changes, emotional breakdowns, medical testing, and ridiculous cases of nerves, and everything in between with love, a love that overwhelms me at times. My parents pray often, together, apart, with family, it does not matter, they both are people of prayer, and when I find myself fretting or upset about something, because of their example, I often remember to pray. Mostly because of how many times they have prayed for me.
"As for me, I will call upon God, and the Lord shall save me. Evening and morning and at noon I will pray, and cry aloud, and He shall hear my voice."
Psalms 55:16-17


I am blessed with a large family, who care about each other. Three incredible, godly brothers, two wonderful sisters-in-law who are sweet and loving, and a sister who is my absolute best friend. We share a bond of family, but also a bond of love. Out of our sibling set I am clearly the crazy one, yet they all tolerate my nonsensical behavior very well. Not just very well, but with graciousness, and encouragement. They lift me up, and when I am upset or down about something, I can generally call one or all of them to find that little pick-me-up that I'm craving.

"I thank my God upon every remembrance of you"

Philippians 1:3

I am blessed with friends who not only love me, but love one another, making for fun groupings where we can get together and enjoy each others company. I have been through enough in the last year and a half with my health, my faith, my education, everything in my life has been touched in one manner or another, and these friends are the people who did not abandon me, but stood firmly by my side, holding my hand at times, pulling me at others, pushing me forwards at still other times. 

"that is, that I may be encouraged together with you by the mutual faith both of you and me."

Romans 1:12

These blessings are almost too much at times when I think about it, but it is what keeps me going, it is what helps me remember the purpose of life, and I am extremely grateful.

Valentine's doesn't have to be all about gushy couples. 

It's true.

Busy!

This last weekend two friends came to visit, which has kept me plenty busy, and the next two and a half days I'm off to London to keep my brother and sister-in-law's kids for them. Life is definitely rolling along, but here are a couple of musings for the week:

1. The London Eye is a handy way to show you the entire city of London... in a half an hour.

2. Staying up until 4 am repeatedly is not considered an all-nighter if you spend it talking with your friends because you can't handle wasting any time while they're visiting.

3. Occasionally crazy people give you commentary on your life. Your job is to take that into account, and laugh later with friends. (There's a story for that).

4. Teatime is every time.

5. Toast with Nutella at 3 am are calories that don't count because you're not actually awake.

6. Crocheting is not an adequate replacement for practicing the piano 2 hours every day. I'm about to go crazy over here.

7. The train into London is cheaper than the bus after you've purchased the 16-25 railcard. Round trip at off-peak times with a PLUS-BUS pass for Oxford on the day of my return costs a little less than a round trip on the LondonTube. And there's less travel time. And I won't get bus-sick. How Fan-Tas-Tic is that?

8. Tacking 63 photos onto your wall takes a lot of time.

9. I now own more sweaters than all other items in my wardrobe combined. This is what a study-year in England will do to you.

10. The Spice Counter at the Farmers Market has the coolest things. Including a gluten-free cereal I was really really missing from the States. Hello Enviro Kids Cocoa puffs!!!

11. I really miss my sister. :(

Stonehenge and Bath

The weekend of October 31/November 1 Rebekah and I visited Stonehenge and the city of Bath, both major highlights for me for probably my life, but especially for this year. 

We drove straight to Stonehenge on Saturday, and actually went in and walked around (it’s rather expensive normally, but we’re English Heritage members, and that’s one of the free perks to being a member). There was also a free audio guide for the site (like all good EH sites) that was mostly informative, although just a wee bit on the cheesy side. I have about a million photos of Stonehenge... i.e. a bunch of photos about rocks. 

After we left Stonehenge we drove into Bath, where apparently there was a big rugby match going on... hence no parking. In the entire city. We finally found a spot and headed into the City Centre. After a little debate and more than a little confusion, we found the Jane Austen Center, which was a blast. Jane Austen is one of my heroes in life (not heroin no... sounds too druggy...) so the center was absolutely fascinating for us. They talked not only about her specific life but also about what Bath would have been like during the Georgian era. Absolutely fascinating. 

We were going to stop and have a bite to eat there at the JA Center’s cafe, since they had a gluten-free sign on the cafe window, but oh my goodness it was crowded. So we decided to eat our packed lunch while walking to the Assembly Rooms. Now this is where the joke/dream/running gag of my Regency Era wedding started. I do however have my entire wedding mapped out now. 

All I need is a willing male participant now.

After the Assembly Rooms we headed down towards the Pump Room/Royal Baths/Bath Abbey area. There was a wedding in Bath Abbey and we realized we were still a little hungry, so grabbed a snack (yay for hot chocolate!) at Costa Coffee. When we did go to Bath Abbey they offered us one of two guides... the adult which had boring info, or the children’s activity sheet. Guess which was we went? Oh yeah... the children’s activity sheet! 

After that we did a little bookstore shopping on our way to the car since it was beginning to get dark. When we started out we pulled out the Sat Nav to figure out where Grosvenor Lodge, our B&B for the night, was located. Unfortunately the Sat Nav decided to spazz out on us, so after a long time of trying to decide what to do, we ended up driving around in the dark with me using the Blackberry’s built in Sat Nav, constantly refreshing the Maps application. Now we laugh, but then we definitely did not. Upon finally arriving at the B&B we found Colin, who runs the place, and has Celiac’s Disease. In our opinion this place deserves a 5 ****** rating... it’s rare for me to go somewhere and feel entirely confident that they aren’t going to screw up my breakfast and secretly kill me. I’ve had more meals remade because it’s come with toast on the side and I’ve had to give them the evil eye. Colin however, having the same disease understood all the issues, and even had some amazing toast and sausages (special treats for me!) in the morning. It was absolutely wonderful. If you go to Bath and you have CD, I really do suggest you stay with Colin, it’s well worth the visit. 

On Sunday we went to the #1 Royal Crescent House Museum, which was completely furnished the way it would have been in the Georgian era when Bath was at the height of it’s popularity. After that we went to the Roman Baths and did a little time travel back 2000 years, from there we ran through the Pump Room to try our free glass of sulphur water (oh so gross) before heading back to Reading. A full and busy weekend by any standards! 

Photos of us being crazy can be viewed here!