Ha ha I love the accents over here. I love the life and the vivacity that their words have when they pop out of their mouths…generally different accents or languages have this affect on me aesthetically BUT I just had to comment it on it.
Ok NOW for an account into our 6th week {oh my goodness so long} in London!
Monday the 1st of November
Aside the fact that November is my birthday month, I love this month because of the fall associations and the family celebrations that come from it.
However on this November 1 I was still not feeling too well…if you read my account of our 5th week in London you know that I was plague by a crazy cold/fever thing since Thursday…and it continued into our 6th week.
I got up Monday morning—got dressed and ready for chapel—I was determined to feel better especially since Tuesday was my BIRTHDAY!!!
We basically concluded after chapel that I’d been having a low grade fever…this would explain the prolonged illness, the headache, the tiredness etc.
But in my efforts to feel better I went out to coffee with a student…but in the midst of fanning myself and a bit of nausea I decided to go back to bed…and that in a nutshell was my Monday.
Lame.
Tuesday the 2nd of November
MY 23rd BIRTHDAY!!!!
AND A TRAVEL DAY!!!!
We headed to Stonehenge and Salisbury---
Woke up. Got ready. Put on my shiny blue ‘happy birthday’ garland crown {it’s just the garland for decorating rooms but I made it into a CROWN! ;) }
Drove on to the Stones at the Henge…got some coffee. Got my audio guide and headed across the road and towards the STONES!
The audio guide us that the sight and what we see today is the result of over 3 waves of construction and different influences…they neglected to tell us about the aliens…but don’t worry we all know who REALLY made the rock formation ;)
We got to the sight around 10 a.m. and it was not very crowded but after we’d been there about 10 minutes a HOARD of Asian tourists spilled onto the sight! They were snapping photos all over the place---but the funniest part of the morning was probably when two of the girls, Courtney and Mindy, walked up to Stephanie and I very quickly and said,
“You will never guess what just happened!”
And I was like, “Oh no did you attack some Asian tourists?”
And they said, “NO! They attacked us!”
Some random Asian men had asked to take pictures with Courtney and Mindy and then all of the sudden a whole group of people stopped to take pictures with them in front of the stones….so freaking random. Then one of the men kissed Courtney on the cheek after the photo shoot was over…
We hopped back on the bus drove down the windy roads for a bit…and unfortunately I got car sick…I still was not feeling 100 percent and the wobbly bus ride did not help.
We stopped at Avery…another standing stone sight…but my goal at this stop was to find sustenance because when I get car sick eating helps…after about a 10 minutes search through the small town I found some potatoes chips and diet coke! Ha ha not ideal but better than nothing.
{an impromptu birthday photo shoot at Avery! like my crown?}
I found the group wandering through the Avery stones which stood in a green field covered with sheep poo…so that was a bit of a challenge to navigate BUT not as much of a challenge as trying to climb over a fence to get back to our bus…
Another 40 minute drive…a little nap and we arrived in Salisbury! Which is NOT the home of the Salisbury steak…just FYI ;)
It was lunchtime so we hopped off the bus and everyone so sweetly accompanied me for a Birthday lunch celebration! It was so fun and nice to be with everyone—but probably this best moment was when they all sang happy birthday as Lauren out a BEAUTIFUL CAKE {candles and all}!
And there was also a man in the pub, his name was Vince, and it was his birthday as well! He kissed my hand and wished me a happy birthday! He also offered me a drink but I kindly declined! Check out my new blog for a more B-day details and pictures {even Vince makes an appearance}
After cake we made our way to the beautiful cathedral in Salisbury complete with yellow fallen leaves that covered the front lawn. Sigh. It was a perfect fall day and reminded me of why I love having my birthday in the fall!!!!
We checked out the cathedral, which has the tallest spire in the UK, and also has one of the only 4 surviving copies of the Magna Carta. The famous document King John signed in the 12th century to give more rights over to the public and the influential Lord’s etc.
After an impromptu photo shoot in the fallen leaves we rushed back to the bus!
It was a great day and an especially wonderful birthday!!!!
Wednesday the 3rd of November
Alrighty then the day after my birthday ;)
I was still feeling tired especially after our busy day before…so I slept in and made it my goal to actually get up and leave the flat! I was feeling better so I decided to venture out to Starbucks with my good friends Stephanie and Mindy!
We chatted and read, and just enjoyed the essence that is Starbucks in the UK---and the essence is especially full of CHRISTMAS! Because the Brits don’t celebrate Thanksgiving {hello we have Thanksgiving because we peaced out on them….} so after Halloween they have NOTHING stopping them from starting up the Christmas celebrations…and you know what…I kind of like it.
I like seeing Christmas lights on the trees and snowmen in the shop windows—red garlands hanging from ceilings and Christmas flavored coffees featured. Sigh. I don’t hate it. Although I am going to miss the honey ham and stuffing…but we are going to do our best to have our own HUE FEAST!
Maybe it was all of the Christmas decorations or maybe it was just because I was feeling a little better BUT I was in a baking mood. And if you know me you know that I do not {or try to avoid eating} white flour and sugar. Just for personal dietary and health reasons…so one of my favorite things to make is whole wheat chocolate chip cookies, because as weird as it sounds I use Splenda to sweeten them so they are ‘healthier’ for you.
And don’t poo-poo them just yet because my brothers LOVE THEM! And the first time I made them just thought they were ‘normal’ chocolate chip cookies!
But any ways…I picked up a couple of things from the store and headed back to the flat to make some cookies! They didn’t have chocolate chips, but they did have REALLY cheap dark chocolate bars {off brand} so I bought some of those and chopped them up…yes dark chocolate chunks! Amazing.
Our oven got a little crazy and slightly burnt a couple of the cookies but over all they were AMAZING and they were a HUGE HIT with the girls!
Yet another accomplish for whole wheat ;)
Also it was fun baking because we were simultaneously watching ‘Sixteen Candles!
Mindy’s mom sent her a package and in it included some movies…one of which was the classic 80s film starring Molly Ringwald. But the crazy part was is MINDY AND LAUREN HAD NEVER SEEN IT!
So Steph and I excitedly prepared them for one of the best moments of their lives! {well that’s probably an exaggeration but we were excited to watch a fun movie together}
And with the smell of chocolate chip cookies wafting in from the kitchen we watched with laughter and tears {jk} ‘Sixteen Candles’ and they loved it! And we’re so glad because we love it. Ha ha
So all in all it was a great night! And I was feeling TONS BETTER! PRAISE THANK YOU JESUS!
Thursday the 4th of November
Today was museum day! And we made our way to the ‘attic of London’ the Victoria and Albert {the V & A} museum.
It has everything from fashion exhibitions, paintings, sculptures, tombs, architecture, basically anything and everything the UK has collected over the last couple of centuries hence the nick name “attic of London’
It was fun wandering about but it was a lot to take in.
Mindy and I, my faithful museum buddy, wanted to see a couple of specific things, such as a plaster caste of Da Vinci’s ‘David’ and this huge column thing that is in Rome {I don’t’ remember the name! for shame}
One of the coolest things we saw was a collection of costumes, sets, designs, and videos of theatre actors, actress, directors, chorographers, etc. it was very cool seeing all of the costumes and watching videos about techniques.
After the museum we all met up at the famous excellent noodle bar called Wagamama’s for a group meal!
{it has started to get darker earlier, as in the states, around 4.30 p.m. so that threw everyone off so by the time we arrived at Wagamama’s we were super hungry!}
Friday the 5th of November
Remember, Remember the 5th of November!
Bonfire and Fireworks celebrations were happing this weekend in memory/celebration of when Guy Fawkes tried to blow up Parliament…yeah I think that’s what he tried to do. {ha ha}
But instead of joining in the London festivities Stephanie and I headed to Oxford to visit Lauren Knight and see what all this hype in Oxford is about ;)
We hopped on a train from London Paddington station {and no I did not see any abandoned bears…thank goodness} and arrived in about an hour to a rainy Oxford and a smiling Lauren!
We headed over to her and her husband’s flat {her husband Tyler is in the MBA program at Oxford and Lauren is the coordinator for the HUE program} and it is so cute! Small but has a window looking out onto one of the sources of the Thames River! And a playground, with some noisy kids, but hey better than noisy college students ;)
Lauren showed us around town {we had been on a group tour there and I had also been once before with my mom but it was fun to get a ‘residence’ view of the town} and we had dinner at this Italian restaurant that is owned by the UK equivalent Martha Stewart this guy named Jamie. And I cannot for the life of me remember his last name or the name of the restaurant BUT I can tell you that we waited for almost 40 minutes to get a table and it was one of the most delicious burgers I’ve ever had in my whole life…yeah not exaggerating here it was fabulous!
After dinner we wandered about a bit more, but it was rainy so we did not stay out long, but we did get a taste of Oxford night life and the fashions appropriate for going out…the girls were wearing high platform heels and short mini skirts with no jackets in freezing rainy weather!!! I do not know why or how they were doing it but they were and I think they are crazy!
We headed back to Lauren’s flat and made our cute little palate bed thing on their living room floor! We feel asleep to the noises of their neighbor’s whiney dog ;)
Saturday the 6th of November
We slept in because it’s Saturday and we’re lazy like that—and that’s what you do at sleep over right!? ;)
Lauren made cinnamon sugar toast and coffee—it was great! {I had banana and peanut butter but the coffee was perfect and the toast smelled amazing}
Then we got dressed and prepared ourselves for more wandering about the town! And it is so cute and just well enchanting—you kind of have to look around and say ‘how is this real?’
Here is a great example of one of those moments---we ate lunch at this precious outdoor café in the Radcliffe {pretty sure that’s the name} courtyard…outside of the University Church of St Mary’s. So basically we were in an outdoor café sitting in-between these two beautiful buildings that are hundreds of years old, just sipping on our coffees and slurping ours soups.
And then as we are finishing up eating a group of graduates happened to walk by on procession for their degrees {when they graduate they sign up for a day to ‘walk’ and a group of students, who are ‘walking’ that day, proceed through the town in their black robes, lined with white fur on the hoods, in basically a processional on their way to receive their degrees} and while this is happening bells from the church are ringing….
What an amazing and picturesque moment! So wonderful and so Oxford!
After lunch we took some photos, walked some more, it’s just such a beautiful place—stopped at a charity shop {basically a goodwill but for specific charities and a bit nicer} and then we made a final stop at Primark…
I do not remember if I’ve mentioned Primark, I’m pretty sure I have, but it is basically like a Wal-mart of Target but with just clothes and accessories…and they are super cheap! A pair of tights, which in the states would be like 10 dollars, is only 2 pounds here! Which is basically half of what they cost in the States!
So basically this is the place where we have several times been sucked in and came out with probably more items than we needed to…
Stephanie got the real jewels on this trip a part of peep-toe pumps for 12 pounds! Girls that is basically 20 dollars USD and I got an amazing chunky scarf {which I’ve been wanting for a while} for 8 pounds about 15 USD.
I know be jealous ;)
We headed back to Lauren’s grabbed our stuff and booked it to the train station!
We got there literally 2 minutes before our train for London left…and because we got there so close to departure time we had to stand up the whole ride….not the beset 45 minutes of my life but it was fine. A good friend and good convo always solves those situations.
We got back to the flat after a bit of a trek through the underground BUT we made it and we were tired from our Oxford adventure!
But we were glad we’d gone and so blessed to just relax and hang our with Lauren for the day!
Sunday the 7th of November
Today. : )
Today has been a good day—woke up for church. Ventured out to Wembley. Our trek takes us about an 1 and a half a little longer if we miss the bus, but not too bad because we only have to change one time to hop on a bus! And that is super nice!
The people at this church are just precious and SO FRIENDLY! They refuse to shake your hand they will only give hugs! I love that! I talked with a few women this morning one from Nigeria and the other a local who is actual headed off the Texas this next week for a friend’s daughters wedding! : )
After church we headed back and most of the students got pizza but I made a grocery store run…and what was intended to be a quick trip turned into my ‘big shop’ for the week! Ha ha there were so many great deal on veggies and hummus that I just decided to go ahead and get what I needed!
I also went a little crazy and made a chicken rice and veggies dish for lunch…and for dinner and probably tomorrow’s lunch…I made way more than I needed to! Ha ha but it was really good! I guess it’s a good thing I enjoy cooking because Lord willing I will be cooking for more than me one of these days and better to enjoy it than hate it---right? ;)
Thank you for listening/reading my ramblings I’m so blessed to have faithful readers and I really appreciate it!
Continue to pray for our group! That we utilize our last few weeks in London to encourage each other and just have fun! Oh and to make sure and study ;) who wants to study when Big Ben is 10 minutes walk away?
With much love,
<>< caroline
1 comment:
i want to be you.
and not just because you live in Europe.
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