alright here you got the second installment...again so sorry it came so soon after the first and so near the 3rd..... ;)
Monday the 4th of October
There was a planned Tube strike for this day…so we knew that we would be unable to get anywhere in the city on the Tube…and the buses would have been crazy so we had a couple of morning classes but other than that the day was free for the students.
Many chose to go back to the British Museum to continue exploring but Stephanie and I decided to find some free wifi to load pictures!
We were successful and found a nice little chain coffee/sandwich shop just down the road…we spent a couple of hours there just enjoying the internet, chatting, and reading. Sigh. Got to love those times!
OH! And We also made GUACAMOLE! Ha ha I know that is random, but not really, because you see when we were in Portobello road we bought a ton of avocados and a ton of limes for just 2 pounds…so per Mindy’s suggestion we made Guacamole!—I love guacamole…and we bought some diet coke and squeezed the extra limes in it! Wow so great! Ha ha
So all in all even though there was a tube strike it was a wonderful day.
Tuesday the 5th of October
Tuesday’s are trip days.
And our destinations were Blenheim Palace and Oxford.
Blenheim Palace was built for the Duke of Marlborough after he won the battle of Blenheim against France; the Palace was built between 1705 and 1724.
The grounds were awesome and the Palace was also very impressive. The World War II British Prime Minister Winston Churchill was born in the Palace, because the Dukedom belongs to his family; his cousin was the Duke of Marlborough during Churchill’s lifetime.
We spent the morning exploring the Palace and going on an excellent guided tour; after exploring the grounds briefly we hopped back on the bus and headed to Oxford!
Lauren was really excited to go to Oxford because she and her husband just moved there, because Tyler (her husband) is in graduate school getting his MBA.
I have been to Oxford before with my Mom and loved it; it is a great college town, buzzing with student activity. When we went it was “fresher week” which is the week when all of the 1st time students come and have orientation basically—so it was SUPER busy.
We had lunch at “the Eagle and the Child” which is the shop where C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien met with their writing “group” the Inklings back in the day to write, share and discus! So wonderful! Lunch wasn’t too bad either! My mom and I ate their when we visited so it was fun to go back, made me miss my mom but fun to be there again.
We had a guided tour of Oxford with our new good friend Jo; he was hilarious and informative—the perfect balance for a tour guide (as I’m sure I’ve stated before)—he took us around to some of the colleges and talk about some of Oxford’s history.
The system at Oxford is COMPLETELY different from the states or actually completely different from the rest of the world (save Cambridge). There are colleges in the University and you belong to a specific college…so when you apply you do not just apply to Oxford but Jesus College at Oxford. You “pref” your colleges’ (just like when you’re rushing a sorority/fraternity or social club)…and whichever on you get accepted to is where you live, attend classes, eat, play spots for/with, and each college has it’s own library. SO in essence when you go to Oxford you really GO to a more specific college WHICH does not necessarily have to be for a specific major or area of study…yeah I know kind of confusing right!? Ha ha
We had some time to explore after our tour THEN we headed back on the bus to London! Great day!
Wednesday the 6th of October
An exciting day of outings:
We went to the Tower of London! And had a tour with a “beefeater” which is basically one of the Queen’s special soldiers whose sole responsibility is to live in and protect the Tower of London and the Queen (mainly for ceremony these days)—but the beefeater’s or Yeomen Warder’s are distinguished and well decorated men and women of the British armed forces who apply to become warders after (I believe) 25 years of service to Queen and Country.
The tour was fun—I mean not joyful because you see where Ann Boylen and other men and women were beheaded; BUT we did get to see the crown jewels!!!
We had a small window of time before our dinner reservation SO we decided to go to the London Eye! (we had planned to go earlier however because of the tube strike we could not make our original appointment). While the rest of the group waited for a couple of people to show back up I rushed off to buy our tickets for the eye! It was fun “rushing” (not really) through the Tube stops and maneuvering lines to complete my mission! Ha ha
We got on the eye with barley NO time to spare BUT not after a few of the girls ran into Ina Gartener or “the Barefoot Countessa”—yes the famous foodie of the food network! I was super jealous—so let’s talk about it…
The Eye was fun—my mom and I also did this when we were hear last BUT it was great to see the views again! ☺
After the eye we rushed off to make our dinner reservations, which luckily the Organs and their family were able to get there early and “hold” our large table.
Dinner was excellent—Pizza Expresses are everywhere in the city. So I was a little nervous about the quality of food because of it’s chain status but it was SO GOOD! And well priced too.
Thursday the 7th of October
We had a free long weekend so after classes Stephanie, Mindy, and I went off on an adventure to see what the price for “Les Mis” tickets would be—then after that we stopped in at a Starbucks, journaled and talked for a bit THEN we walked around Hyde Park for a couple of hours! It was beautiful and so nice AND we got to see the Peter Pan statue! Mindy said it changed her life! ;) Now that’s a powerful afternoon if I do say so myself.
Friday the 8th of October
Mindy, Stephanie, Lyndsey, and I headed off for a day in Cambridge!!!
Oh my Cambridge I have a special place in my heart for this place…but that is another story for another time…if you would like to know more just ask please! ☺
Ok so we got up not too early because I mean come on it’s a Saturday and we hopped a train off to Cambridge. It is about an hours train ride from London…not bad at all.
We started off our adventure by stopping for coffee at a little shop called “le Gros Franc” or in English the Fat Frenchman…bahahaha
After our little stop for caffinee and a little conversation we continued our walk to the center of town…I knew basically where we were headed (aka look for the old tall buildings) but we had to paused a few times to look at the map BUT we eventually made it!
Cambridge, like Oxford, is a collection of different colleges and one of the colleges was built or commissioned by the monarchy—and because it was commissioned by the monarchy it is known as King’s College. And one of the things you must see if you go to Cambridge is the King’s College Cathedral……………..
Beautiful.
It is Gothic and huge and the stained glass is excellently bright and it is just a beautiful place to be ☺
We also walked the ground of King’s College, which were so so green especially against the grey English sky.
Oh.
But before we could walk the ground it took 9 people to figure out HOW to open the freaking church door! NO joke it was actually pretty hilarious watching all of these grown people try and figure out how to open this huge wooden door. Finally one of the men who was trying to open the door went and got one of the workers to help us….she figured it out pretty quickly but she also had some trouble which made us all feel a little better I think.
But my goodness I wish you could have seen it; I was trying not to laugh which was difficult because even the smallest giggle just echoed throughout the whole place.
We did not go putting…which is ridding on one of those flat boats that’s pushed by a pole…but we did watch people who were punting. We actually waved at a cute little boy who was in the boat…he waved back…but so did the young college guy who was pushing the boat. Yeah we had a good laugh after that one as well.
It was a bit passed lunch time SO naturally we headed to tea—which as we discovered later does not necessarily mean JUST tea. “Going to tea” can actually mean “going to dinner” or to an entire meal…. yeah I will tell you more about this later…
But anyways we went to tea…and I had Lady Grey tea, which is my ALL TIME FAVORITE TEA! ☺ so that was quite lovely
After tea and a couple of egg sandwiches we continued our wanderings through Cambridge—we headed towards one of the HUGE book stores and basically indulged and reveled in the shop for over an hour…I’m a sucker for books and book shops.
After our book store stop (which also has a soft place in my heart…connected to that story about Cambridge that I told you to ask me about if you’re really interested….that was a mouth full)
Ok I digress…
We started on our way BACK to the train station…which proved to be a much longer walk than we remembered from the morning…along the way we stopped at a little market, the grocery store, and of course the Gap where Mindy got some excellent new jeans!
We FINALLY made it back to the train station…our feets were a bit sore but our return tickets worked (we had been preciously a bit nervous about our return tickets we had bought in the morning working before a certain time in the evening) so we hopped on the train…I sat next to a random sleeping man BUT all in all it was a wonderfully magnificent day.
Saturday the 9th of October
Oh this day was a great day NOT only because it was the weekend BUT BECAUSE Stephanie and I went to a Ladies Breakfast put on by the Church that I have previously mentioned; the lady, Jen, whom Steph and I had coffee with invited us to come to their annual “Full English Ladies Breakfast”
So of course we said “YES” because who doesn’t like free food and who doesn’t love fellowshipping with amazing Christian women!?!
We headed out around 9 a.m. and made our way to Chris and Brian’s (Chris is a woman) apartment! Found the apartment quickly and easily and made our way down (they live on the bottom flat) into their precious living room.
It was so fun to actually BE with “normal” Englishmen and women…we weren’t in a touristy place, which don’t get me wrong I love those, but we were in a person’s home and we got to spend real face to face time with everyday people. It was wonderful.
A few of the men from the church made the entire breakfast, which was so sweet of them, and so good of them because it was amazing.
NOW a “full English Breakfast” is not too different from what we Americans would call a Sunday brunch or just an “all out Saturday morning feast”.
There are eggs, bacon (their bacon is WAY BETTER here than the states…yeah sorry USA), sausages, chunky potatoes, beans, “grilled/baked” tomatoes, mushrooms, toast, juice, tea, and coffee. No jelly or jam…just butter—but maybe that was just this group of people’s preference however in the other places I’ve been that have served breakfast jelly or condiments are not as abundant as I have found in the states…
EXCEPT
At a “tea”—there are a lot of jellies etc at a “tea”---ok this was one of the topics of conversation at the breakfast table…just like in the states (at least in the south) some people call the evening meal—supper; while others call it—dinner BUT this can be confusing sometimes, especially to the older generation, because they call the afternoon meal “dinner” and the evening meal “supper”…
Ok so you get the cultural implications here…different words meaning different things to older generations but meaning the same exact meal to others…ok this is where the “tea” conversation started.
Europeans, including the English, have different eating schedules shall you say than Americans do---they eat the evening meal WAY LATER than we do. They have either huge breakfasts or huge lunches which causes the evening meal or the earlier meal (depending on which you eat in the larger portion) to be moved around to avoid overeating….or to avoid eating because they are not hungry yet
Ok I’m explaining this WAY too much. The point is because they eat earlier or later etc sometimes when an English person asks you to “tea” it does not necessarily mean just “a pot of” or a “cup of” it can mean a substantial mean during the in-between meal times…so tea can actually mean dinner or excuse me supper.
I know right.
Ha ha so we talked with Jen about this a little more; and Jen (who is from the States) said when she first moved over here and people asked her to tea she would be so confused as to if she needed to eat something before she went or if she would be fed there SO she just had to point blank as them what they meant by the (apparently) universal word—“tea”
Well now that you’ve gotten WAY move information that you wanted (I just thought it was so interesting that something SO SUBTLE could cause so much misunderstanding) I will continue the account of our day.
After breakfast with these wonderful welcoming and just joyful women Stephanie and I headed to Primark to make a “wardrobe” stop…Steph said she was sick of her jeans and wanted more tights (which are basically all anybody wears over here) so we had to stop for some…and we had to fight the crowds but it was worth it because we both got cute CHEAP head bands. ☺
Headed back to the flat to relax…
Mindy was super sweet and made dinner for us—her famous spaghetti sauce AND then after dinner a couple of the students reminded me that I had found a Jazz Club where they have live jazz music!!!! So in a true moment of spontaneity we Mindy, Stephanie, Travis, and I headed of to Ronnie Scott’s---the famous London Jazz Club where greats such as Duke Ellington have preformed!
We were so excited to hear some great music!---but we got there a bit too late and the live music house was full….but the upstairs bar and jazz DJ were not….so we headed up there.
At first we were like “what are we doing here this is not live jazz, it’s not bad jazz just it’s a bunch of people sitting around drinking….” We finally got a seat, hung out, ordered a plate of olives (yes olives) and then something amazing happened…a group of girls hopped onto the dance floor and started to break it down! Ha ha
Eventually the dance floor filled up and so we joined them! And it was so fun because it was just fun goofy dancing, some awesome partner jazz/swing dancing, and just fun!
So we were all glad that we chose to go listen to the jazz DJ (ha ha)
Sunday the 10th of October
Chill day.
Lauren and I went to Hillsong Church in the morning and we just hung out and relaxed the rest of the day. It was perfection ;)
THANK YOU for reading this installment of my London Adventures : ) there is more to come do not fear---even though I’m sure you’re eyes are tired and your brain is a bit weary from my rambling ;)
With a lot of love!
Caroline
Saturday, October 16, 2010
Friday, October 15, 2010
our 1st week in London!
I would like to begin this blog entry by asking your forgiveness for my absence; we have been busy, busy traveling, having fun, and going on adventures—some of which I would like to tell you about!
On Monday the 27th of September we went on a scavenger hunt all over Central London; the point of the scavenger hunt was to familiarize the students with the Tube or Subway system.
We spilt up into 3 groups of 3—I joined one of the groups—and we started off on our adventure. We had ten envelopes with ten different tasks and/or places to do and visit. The hunt was supposed to be around 2 hours…however (and that’s a BIG however) it took us almost 4 hours to complete the entire hunt.
And when we were done we were EXHASUTED! And our feet were killing. BUT we did learn about the city, so I guess the point was accomplished! :)
Tuesday the 28th of September
We had a bus tour of the city! Our guide was a precious woman named Suze; and she was the classic British lady—peppy and cute, making random exclamations and observations, which kept us very entertained.
Wednesday the 29th of September
It was a rainy day…which is obviously not uncommon—but it was a bit worrisome because we were going to an open air play at SHAKESPEAR’S GLOBE THEATHRE!
We were groundlings… which meant we stood at ground level and watched the entire play while standing…great experience because we were literally right up against the stage…however standing for 3 and a half hours takes a toll
BUT
Luckily it did not start to rain until the last hour of the play and even then it was just a drizzle. The play we saw was Henry IV part I and it was excellent! A bit hard to follow, especially since most of us had never read it; but it was great being so close to the actors and the drama! And at the end for “curtain call” the whole cast did basically a line dance! It was really funny! :)
Afterwards Stephanie, Mary, and I went to get Starbucks which was right next to the theatre! And then Mindy and Lyndsey joined us after they’d visited the gift shop at the Globe. Our group is a group of coffee/tea lovers and I am so glad for it!
Thursday the 30th of September
A low-key day—including a short trip to the British Museum in the afternoon, which is actually down the street from our flats! 3-mintue walk tops!
And after we visited the Museum for a little while, Stephanie and I went to Starbucks to meet a lady named Jen Baker. Jen is one of the associate women’s pastors at a local church in London; she is from the states originally but has lived in the UK for the past 8 years. I wanted to find a church to connect with and be somewhat involved with while I was over here, so I found the church online, emailed, them and Jen offered to have coffee with me!
It was wonderful talking with an American who has lived in the city for a long time, and also has a heart for the Lord and the work He is doing in the UK. She was very encouraging and invited us to join them at Sunday services and she also gave us the dates of some women’s events that were coming up and told us we were welcome to join them at those as well.
Going to Sunday services will be more difficult as the semester goes on because we are obligated to join the Wembley Church of Christ congregation as a Harding group once we get more settled in London—but I’m definitely going to go to some women’s events!
Friday the 1st of October
Wow. October! Crazy :)
There is a store chain in the UK (and I’m not sure if it is anywhere else) called Primark—and it is like the Target of England but with just clothes and accessories; extremely similar to Forever XI.
Several of the girls wanted to go on a shopping date so we headed out to Primark—I expected it to be busy BUT I did not expect it to be as busy as it was…it was packed. Like day before Christmas shopping in the movies packed. You just had to accept that you were going to be pushed and that you probably would not get to go into a dressing room unless you waited for 40 minutes SO people were just trying on clothes over other clothes it was INSANE!!!!
I actually ended up putting some tops back because I did not want to wait in line for the dressing rooms! I got some tights however…which p.s. are all the rage. Like tights and a long top…that is what most everyone is wearing! Makes notes U.S. peeps. ;)
After Primark we headed down to H & M to look for me a purse; we were successful! But very tired—so we headed back through the rain to the tube stop and then back to our flat.
I think it was Friday that we had a game night…I could be wrong BUT I don’t think so…ha ha
The students and I had a lazy, crazy, fun game night in the flat—including pigging out on chips and chocolate cake!
We played pico-phone and king frog…and I have not laughed that hard in a long time! It was fun to see everyone’s personalities come out; and fun to just hang out together in our London flat!
(We did make the joke however, that you know you go to Harding when you’re at home playing games on a Friday night! Ha ha but we wall loved it so we weren’t complaining!)
Saturday the 2nd of October
THIS was an excellent day BECAUSE it was the Notting Hill/Portobello Rd Day!
I took the students to Portobello Rd which if you’ve seen the classic Disney film “Bed Knobs and Broomsticks” you know it’s amazing!
The goal of the adventure was not only to enjoy and explore the Saturday market BUT I spilt up the students into pairs and gave them each a food item to find and purchase in the market…the groups were off and the market was wonderful!
I hung out with Stephanie and Mindy on their hunt for blackberries—we found some excellent antiques, bags, trinkets, posters, junk, and food!
Everyone was successful in finding their items and it only started to rain as we were leaving! Lucky us!
After we returned to the flat I headed off to meet Lauren and her husband, Tyler at the grocery store…the plan was to take the food items the students had bought and make an excellent group meal! But we couldn’t get everything at Portobello Rd so we had to fill the holes at the grocery store!
On the menu: Steak with balsamic vinegar and goat cheese, baked potatoes with all of the fixens, caramelized brussels sprouts (yes they were a hit), french bread AND a fruit tart with a granola crunch top over vanilla ice cream!
Mindy, Lauren, and I were cooking up a storm in our tiny kitchen for almost 3 hours (pretty sure) but it was worth it! And we turned out to be an excellent team!
Dinner was amazing—beyond amazing actually.
On Sunday the 3rd of October
Lauren G. Stephanie, and I headed off to the Westminster Community Church! It was a bit of an adventure getting there because a few of the Tube lines closest to the church were under going maintenance (or so we thought) so we had to take an alternate route that involved a lot more walking.
However we made it to church on time and we had a warm welcome by the small but lively congregation! It was wonderful worshiping with brothers and sisters who are different from us and so encouraging to see God’s people loving and living for Him across the world!
Turned out that one of the lines that was supposed to be closed was actually open so we did not have to walk as far to get to the Tube on our way back from church! Which was nice because it was raining rather hard when we left service.
We had a group communion service later that afternoon, where we got to meet the Organ’s son, daughter-in-law and grandson! They visited for the week! So it was fun having them at church with us!
The students had Bible class with Mr. Guy, who is also in school in London, around 4 to 6.30 so I had some time to kill on my hands SO I DECIEDED (after I made a quick trip to Boots—for some shampoo) to go to HILLSONG CHURCH LONDON! Which is right down the street from where we live!
I was so excited because I have been a fan of Hillsong music, which comes out of the Hillsong Church in Sydney, Australia, for the longest time and I was ready to worship and fellowship with more brothers and sisters!
The worship was awesome! And I got to meet a girl from Switzerland and a nice London woman! It was an encouraging time and I was so filled up by God and loved being around other believers who are seeking God’s heart like I am! Community=energizing and excellent!
alright alright well for blogging/dating sake I have divided up my posts by weeks SO because ummm we are actually in our 3rd week i will be posting about our 2nd and 3rd pretty much right after this one...so happy reading! i will try and get them out in a more timely manner as the semester goes on!
with love
On Monday the 27th of September we went on a scavenger hunt all over Central London; the point of the scavenger hunt was to familiarize the students with the Tube or Subway system.
We spilt up into 3 groups of 3—I joined one of the groups—and we started off on our adventure. We had ten envelopes with ten different tasks and/or places to do and visit. The hunt was supposed to be around 2 hours…however (and that’s a BIG however) it took us almost 4 hours to complete the entire hunt.
And when we were done we were EXHASUTED! And our feet were killing. BUT we did learn about the city, so I guess the point was accomplished! :)
Tuesday the 28th of September
We had a bus tour of the city! Our guide was a precious woman named Suze; and she was the classic British lady—peppy and cute, making random exclamations and observations, which kept us very entertained.
Wednesday the 29th of September
It was a rainy day…which is obviously not uncommon—but it was a bit worrisome because we were going to an open air play at SHAKESPEAR’S GLOBE THEATHRE!
We were groundlings… which meant we stood at ground level and watched the entire play while standing…great experience because we were literally right up against the stage…however standing for 3 and a half hours takes a toll
BUT
Luckily it did not start to rain until the last hour of the play and even then it was just a drizzle. The play we saw was Henry IV part I and it was excellent! A bit hard to follow, especially since most of us had never read it; but it was great being so close to the actors and the drama! And at the end for “curtain call” the whole cast did basically a line dance! It was really funny! :)
Afterwards Stephanie, Mary, and I went to get Starbucks which was right next to the theatre! And then Mindy and Lyndsey joined us after they’d visited the gift shop at the Globe. Our group is a group of coffee/tea lovers and I am so glad for it!
Thursday the 30th of September
A low-key day—including a short trip to the British Museum in the afternoon, which is actually down the street from our flats! 3-mintue walk tops!
And after we visited the Museum for a little while, Stephanie and I went to Starbucks to meet a lady named Jen Baker. Jen is one of the associate women’s pastors at a local church in London; she is from the states originally but has lived in the UK for the past 8 years. I wanted to find a church to connect with and be somewhat involved with while I was over here, so I found the church online, emailed, them and Jen offered to have coffee with me!
It was wonderful talking with an American who has lived in the city for a long time, and also has a heart for the Lord and the work He is doing in the UK. She was very encouraging and invited us to join them at Sunday services and she also gave us the dates of some women’s events that were coming up and told us we were welcome to join them at those as well.
Going to Sunday services will be more difficult as the semester goes on because we are obligated to join the Wembley Church of Christ congregation as a Harding group once we get more settled in London—but I’m definitely going to go to some women’s events!
Friday the 1st of October
Wow. October! Crazy :)
There is a store chain in the UK (and I’m not sure if it is anywhere else) called Primark—and it is like the Target of England but with just clothes and accessories; extremely similar to Forever XI.
Several of the girls wanted to go on a shopping date so we headed out to Primark—I expected it to be busy BUT I did not expect it to be as busy as it was…it was packed. Like day before Christmas shopping in the movies packed. You just had to accept that you were going to be pushed and that you probably would not get to go into a dressing room unless you waited for 40 minutes SO people were just trying on clothes over other clothes it was INSANE!!!!
I actually ended up putting some tops back because I did not want to wait in line for the dressing rooms! I got some tights however…which p.s. are all the rage. Like tights and a long top…that is what most everyone is wearing! Makes notes U.S. peeps. ;)
After Primark we headed down to H & M to look for me a purse; we were successful! But very tired—so we headed back through the rain to the tube stop and then back to our flat.
I think it was Friday that we had a game night…I could be wrong BUT I don’t think so…ha ha
The students and I had a lazy, crazy, fun game night in the flat—including pigging out on chips and chocolate cake!
We played pico-phone and king frog…and I have not laughed that hard in a long time! It was fun to see everyone’s personalities come out; and fun to just hang out together in our London flat!
(We did make the joke however, that you know you go to Harding when you’re at home playing games on a Friday night! Ha ha but we wall loved it so we weren’t complaining!)
Saturday the 2nd of October
THIS was an excellent day BECAUSE it was the Notting Hill/Portobello Rd Day!
I took the students to Portobello Rd which if you’ve seen the classic Disney film “Bed Knobs and Broomsticks” you know it’s amazing!
The goal of the adventure was not only to enjoy and explore the Saturday market BUT I spilt up the students into pairs and gave them each a food item to find and purchase in the market…the groups were off and the market was wonderful!
I hung out with Stephanie and Mindy on their hunt for blackberries—we found some excellent antiques, bags, trinkets, posters, junk, and food!
Everyone was successful in finding their items and it only started to rain as we were leaving! Lucky us!
After we returned to the flat I headed off to meet Lauren and her husband, Tyler at the grocery store…the plan was to take the food items the students had bought and make an excellent group meal! But we couldn’t get everything at Portobello Rd so we had to fill the holes at the grocery store!
On the menu: Steak with balsamic vinegar and goat cheese, baked potatoes with all of the fixens, caramelized brussels sprouts (yes they were a hit), french bread AND a fruit tart with a granola crunch top over vanilla ice cream!
Mindy, Lauren, and I were cooking up a storm in our tiny kitchen for almost 3 hours (pretty sure) but it was worth it! And we turned out to be an excellent team!
Dinner was amazing—beyond amazing actually.
On Sunday the 3rd of October
Lauren G. Stephanie, and I headed off to the Westminster Community Church! It was a bit of an adventure getting there because a few of the Tube lines closest to the church were under going maintenance (or so we thought) so we had to take an alternate route that involved a lot more walking.
However we made it to church on time and we had a warm welcome by the small but lively congregation! It was wonderful worshiping with brothers and sisters who are different from us and so encouraging to see God’s people loving and living for Him across the world!
Turned out that one of the lines that was supposed to be closed was actually open so we did not have to walk as far to get to the Tube on our way back from church! Which was nice because it was raining rather hard when we left service.
We had a group communion service later that afternoon, where we got to meet the Organ’s son, daughter-in-law and grandson! They visited for the week! So it was fun having them at church with us!
The students had Bible class with Mr. Guy, who is also in school in London, around 4 to 6.30 so I had some time to kill on my hands SO I DECIEDED (after I made a quick trip to Boots—for some shampoo) to go to HILLSONG CHURCH LONDON! Which is right down the street from where we live!
I was so excited because I have been a fan of Hillsong music, which comes out of the Hillsong Church in Sydney, Australia, for the longest time and I was ready to worship and fellowship with more brothers and sisters!
The worship was awesome! And I got to meet a girl from Switzerland and a nice London woman! It was an encouraging time and I was so filled up by God and loved being around other believers who are seeking God’s heart like I am! Community=energizing and excellent!
alright alright well for blogging/dating sake I have divided up my posts by weeks SO because ummm we are actually in our 3rd week i will be posting about our 2nd and 3rd pretty much right after this one...so happy reading! i will try and get them out in a more timely manner as the semester goes on!
with love
Saturday, September 25, 2010
wandering the UK
Hello everyone! Lots of love to you from across the world ;)
The last time you heard from me I was sitting in a McDonalds in Dublin, Ireland NOT SO ANY LONGER! Ha ha but we have had a lot of adventures in between then and now.
So why don’t I tell you a few of them. :)
FRIDAY
On our first Friday we woke up early ate breakfast all together and headed off to Glenandough (pronounced Glen.da.low) we hopped in our bus driven by an excellently accented Irishman. (I now have a new favorite accent)
It was a windy road, a lot of sheep and rolling hills, but so BEAUTIFUL AND SO GREEN!
We arrived at Glenadough and the highlights of the stop were the over 1,000-year-old Celtic cross in the middle of the medieval grave yard and the building called St Kevin’s Kitchen…yes St. Kevin. The only thing I can picture is Kevin as Cookie Monster from the Office. Sigh.
After a ton of pictures we hopped back onto the bus and headed for Blarney Castle, home of the Blarney Stone, but not before a stop at Subway. Yes came all the way to Ireland to eat a Subway sandwich.
Blarney Castle was excellent. And I was so proud of our group because we all (well most of us) risked our lives to kiss the Blarney Stone! And if you kiss the Blarney stone you are given the gift of blab or the gift of blarney.
Hopped back onto the bus and headed for the small city of Cork. We stopped and had a traditional Irish meal(s) ranging from steak (ha ha) to chicken salad.
SATURDAY
Woke up and headed off to explore a little more of Dublin before we left that afternoon. Stephanie and I explored and looked for wifi…we were unsuccessful in finding wifi but we were successful in making an Irish friend.
A random Irish man, whom we are pretty sure was homeless, came up and talked to us while we were waiting to get back into our hotel. He asked where we were from and we said, “America.” And he said, “What nationally are you?” and we said, “American.” He replied, “I know that, but what is your ancestry?” He looked at me and said, “Are you Israeli……………”
Never heard that before. Ha ha
Lauren walked by soon after and asked us to come “help her” so we were saved. Ha ha
Got all of our bags, met our driver, and headed for the ferry.
After we lugged our bags and checked them we all GOT ON THE FERRY! So exciting. It reminded me of the scene in Indian Jones and the Last Crusade when Jones and his dad get on the blimp. We all had our little seats and there was food…there were no Nazis though so not exactly the same thing.
The ride from Dublin to Holy Head was longer than I thought about 2 and half hours. But there was free wifi, coffee, and the British news so we kept ourselves entertained.
Arrived in Holy Head and met our driver ROBBIE! He drove us around the UK for the entire week! He was excellent.
But any-who we hopped on (which we seem to be doing a lot) our bus for a 3ish hour drive to Ambielside, English in the Lake District. We had a group dinner at a great Italian restaurant attached to our hotel. The rooms we stayed in were all decorated so great and there was a free coffee/tea machine in our building. Yes please.
Sunday
We woke up and had breakfast at a great placed called The Apple Pie Bakery. :) And yes you can have pie for breakfast.
Headed off to Beatrix Potter’s house. It was a bit rainy but still great. The house was so cute and fun really reminded me of the type of place Louisa May would have lived.
After the author of Peter Rabbit’s home we headed to Dove Cottage, which was the early home of William Wordsworth.
A quaint lunch at a local restaurant, a quick look at Wordsworth’s grave and we were off to our hotel.
After a private church service in the Organs’ room we decided what to do for dinner. It was a free night for dinner so Courtney, Lauren, Lyndsey and I got dinner from a little grocery store and had AN OFFICE MARATHON! Yes please. Ha ha
MONDAY
We had a drive a head of us on Monday. After a quick breakfast at the Apple Pie bakery, we drove or Robbie drove us to Scotland! Specifically to see Hadrian’s Wall!
We had the cutest tour guide who reminded me of the historian in Monty Python and the Holy Grail who gets killed….ha ha ha yeah that one. But he was so cute with his little hat and glasses and then his pants were tucked into his socks! And his name you ask?...Dr. Bryan!
Hadrian’s Wall was awesome. Beautiful scenery! The wall/fortress is on the top of a hill so you can see for miles! It was not raining so the sun was shining, the wind was blowing, and there were sheep everywhere. A classic English or Scottish rather countryside.
We not only saw the Roman fortress and Hadrian’s Wall BUT we got to walk on top of one of the sections of the wall! The wall is almost 1,000 years old; so it was very surreal to be there and experience a big part of history.
After we saw the wall we headed off to lunch at the cutest little cottage restaurant BUT not before we discovered that our bus would not turn on….so while our excellent driver Robbie tried to solve the mystery of the broken bus the rest of us took public transportation to the restaurant.
We were at the restaurant for quite a while but with a little dessert and a couple of riddles we passed the time in good form! Ha ha
We found another bus company who offered to take us to Stirling BUT as we were about to load our luggage onto the new bus we get a call from Robbie saying HE’D FIXED OUR ORIGINAL BUS! We were excited but also a bit disappointed when Lauren told us that the replacement bus we would have been on had wifi, satellite tv and Playstations….ha ha it is used for some of the national football clubs.
We got into Stirling but not after a lot of napping took place on the bus.
Lauren, Tyler, and I had Thai food then gathered some snacks for the group because we were watching BRAVEHEART!!!
BECAUSE
We had to ready because we were going to see the William Wallace monument the next day!
TUESDAY
Woke up and had a great British breakfast including tea, eggs, meat, cereal, and toast.
Loaded up our luggage and loaded up the bus to go see the Wallace monument! It is a huge tower with a lot of steps to the top…was I a bit scared…. maybe. I do not enjoy heights BUT I MADE IT and it was WORTH IT! Beautiful view of the Scottish hills!
After the monument we headed to St. Andrews—home of the 4th largest university in the UK and site for one of the greatest golf courses in the world.
It was fun. I wandered off by myself and found a great little coffee shop THEN I found Courtney, Brad, and Lauren on the beach making a sand castle so of course I joined them ha ha
Back on to the bus and onto Edinburgh!
I feel asleep every time we got on the bus so I decided to go to bed early…so I got some cereal from a grocery store and turned in!
WEDNESDAY
We had a tour of Edinburgh! Including the castle and the Royal Mile!
It was fun and a bit adventurous because half of the group got the wrong time for the start of the tour so we had to wait for everyone to start the tour. Ha ha
But once we got the whole group together it was great to see the Castle and the Scottish Crown Jewels! Then after we finished our tour….which was long…but good we grabbed some lunch at a really cute placed called Chocolate soup! They had soups, sandwiches, coffee, and a ton of chocolate desserts! Including, yes, chocolate soup! Ha ha
We all wanted to see the palace where the Queen stays when she comes to Scotland so we headed on down the HUGE HILL! And took a look around…we were confused on some of the Royal Family policits/what makes you a queen and not a queen…basically why is Elizabeth queen and her husband Phillip is not the king…so we got a lesson in British-ness… ha ha and the reason is Elizabeth did not have any brothers so she can be the ruling queen but her husband since he is not in the direct blood line cannot be ruling king….
We were all EXHAUSTED! Well some of us were. A few people decided to climb this great big hill called Arthur’s Seat, which looks over the whole town…I opted for a nap before dinner!
AND DINNER WAS AT THE ELEPHANT HOUSE!!!
AKA THE BIRTH PLACE OF HARRY POTTER!!!
The elephant house was one of the coffee shops J.K. Rowling sat and wrote the beginnings of Harry Potter in! It was great BUT not decorated in H.P. stuff so the place felt authentic and not campy.
GREAT FOOD! And so so so good. Mary and I spilt a burger and a club sandwich (it has become our unofficial tradition to spilt meals! Ha ha)
Then after dinner Stephaine, Mindy, and I went wandering around town. We had some bonding time ;) and go to experience the city at night!
THURSDAY
Another wonderfully full English breakfast at the Hotel Ibis! (my France friends will remember this excellent chain hotel establishment) and headed for York!
Yet another long drive…and more napping. Which is probably good because it helped us all get over jetlag.
We arrived in York around lunchtime, and after a quick bite we headed to the York Minister, which is a huge church, for our tour!
Our guide was funny and informative! The perfect combination. The Minster was beautiful! The outside reminded me a lot of the church in Rheims, the city where I lived in France.
We walked the outer wall of the city and got to explore some of the cute little streets.
After our tour a lot of us waited to go to Even Song, or the Evening singing service at the Minster. It was so beautiful. The little boys that sang were precious, but more importantly it was cool to see the sincerity and the heart behind a lot of the people present. I just love experiencing the heart of God and the hearts of his people all over the world and in so many different settings.
I have been abundantly blessed.
A quick dinner at the hotel….and a lot of laughter….(Yeah for a moment I could not breath. I cannot remember what was being said, but all I know is Brad is one of the funniest people on this trip!) we all turned in for the night BUT not before we ALL AT ONCE tried to get on the hotels internet. That was interesting because the signal was not strong enough to take care of all of us….
FRIDAY
OFF TO LONDON!!!!! WHOO HOO
After ANOTHER EXCELLENT full British breakfast we hopped on our bus, greeted our faithful driver, and friend Robbie we headed to the capital city!
Some more napping and ipod listening; a quick stop for lunch at some services (UK speak for a huge rest stop) WE ARRIVED!!!!!!!!!
Got to our apartments WHICH are down the road from the British Museum! Can’t beat that! Met with the Florida State facility managers (we rent a section of flats or apartments from FSU) and headed to the grocery store.
AND
Oh yeah can’t forget this one…we are on the top floor. And there are 4 or 5 (a lot) of windy, close stairs we must scale to get to our flat…not fun…especially with our huge suitcases…boo.
Ok so we went to the grocery store to get a few things to tide us over for the weekend!
Also Jacqueline Dillion the former director of the London program and the director of the French program I went on invited me and the Organs out for coffee!!! It was so great to see her and to have some amazing coffee! And your know being in London was not a drag either. ;)
Then we all unpacked, settled in, enjoyed the wifi!
WHICH I THOROUGHLY ENJOYED BECAUSE I GOT TO SYKPE WITH ANNA B MIELKE ALL THE WAY IN CALI!
☺
SATURDAY
Today. Today!
I slept until 11…not planned.
Had some breakfast, hung out with the girls! We are all in one big apartment. Stephanie and I are roommates! And there are two other rooms, one with 3 girls and one with 2! We have two bathrooms, a kitchen, and a living room!
Got ready for the day and Stephanie, Mindy, and Mary all decided to come exploring with me and get coffee! A must have at all times!
On our explorations we stopped in a ticket shop to see how much some show tickets for like Wicked or another show would be…the prices were great. Almost half off….and as we are standing there I look at the other girls and was like, “Do you guys want to go see a show today?”
We asked what time the next showing of Chicago was and it was in 40 minutes……SO WE BOUGHT TICKETS (after we found an ATM and got cash) AND WE WENT AND SAW THE SHOW!!!
IT WAS FUN AND SO SPUR OF THE MOMENT (not like me at all ha ha) and wow it was just an amazing show period! And we had GREAT SEATS ON THE FLOOR ALMOST SMACK IN THE MIDDLE! So so great! ;)
Headed back to the apartment and now here I sit.
Ha ha
It has been a busy last week and I am sorry for the lack of details in some areas but I had a lot to tell and I thought an overview was the best! Plus the details have gotten fuzzier as they have gotten farther away.
Thank you for reading! I hope it was fun and I hope that my rambling has been somewhat coherent and grammatically correct.
With much much love please continue to pray for our group and for the Lord to move mightily in the hearts and minds of the students, and all of us, here as they experience and grow this semester!
<>< caroline
The last time you heard from me I was sitting in a McDonalds in Dublin, Ireland NOT SO ANY LONGER! Ha ha but we have had a lot of adventures in between then and now.
So why don’t I tell you a few of them. :)
FRIDAY
On our first Friday we woke up early ate breakfast all together and headed off to Glenandough (pronounced Glen.da.low) we hopped in our bus driven by an excellently accented Irishman. (I now have a new favorite accent)
It was a windy road, a lot of sheep and rolling hills, but so BEAUTIFUL AND SO GREEN!
We arrived at Glenadough and the highlights of the stop were the over 1,000-year-old Celtic cross in the middle of the medieval grave yard and the building called St Kevin’s Kitchen…yes St. Kevin. The only thing I can picture is Kevin as Cookie Monster from the Office. Sigh.
After a ton of pictures we hopped back onto the bus and headed for Blarney Castle, home of the Blarney Stone, but not before a stop at Subway. Yes came all the way to Ireland to eat a Subway sandwich.
Blarney Castle was excellent. And I was so proud of our group because we all (well most of us) risked our lives to kiss the Blarney Stone! And if you kiss the Blarney stone you are given the gift of blab or the gift of blarney.
Hopped back onto the bus and headed for the small city of Cork. We stopped and had a traditional Irish meal(s) ranging from steak (ha ha) to chicken salad.
SATURDAY
Woke up and headed off to explore a little more of Dublin before we left that afternoon. Stephanie and I explored and looked for wifi…we were unsuccessful in finding wifi but we were successful in making an Irish friend.
A random Irish man, whom we are pretty sure was homeless, came up and talked to us while we were waiting to get back into our hotel. He asked where we were from and we said, “America.” And he said, “What nationally are you?” and we said, “American.” He replied, “I know that, but what is your ancestry?” He looked at me and said, “Are you Israeli……………”
Never heard that before. Ha ha
Lauren walked by soon after and asked us to come “help her” so we were saved. Ha ha
Got all of our bags, met our driver, and headed for the ferry.
After we lugged our bags and checked them we all GOT ON THE FERRY! So exciting. It reminded me of the scene in Indian Jones and the Last Crusade when Jones and his dad get on the blimp. We all had our little seats and there was food…there were no Nazis though so not exactly the same thing.
The ride from Dublin to Holy Head was longer than I thought about 2 and half hours. But there was free wifi, coffee, and the British news so we kept ourselves entertained.
Arrived in Holy Head and met our driver ROBBIE! He drove us around the UK for the entire week! He was excellent.
But any-who we hopped on (which we seem to be doing a lot) our bus for a 3ish hour drive to Ambielside, English in the Lake District. We had a group dinner at a great Italian restaurant attached to our hotel. The rooms we stayed in were all decorated so great and there was a free coffee/tea machine in our building. Yes please.
Sunday
We woke up and had breakfast at a great placed called The Apple Pie Bakery. :) And yes you can have pie for breakfast.
Headed off to Beatrix Potter’s house. It was a bit rainy but still great. The house was so cute and fun really reminded me of the type of place Louisa May would have lived.
After the author of Peter Rabbit’s home we headed to Dove Cottage, which was the early home of William Wordsworth.
A quaint lunch at a local restaurant, a quick look at Wordsworth’s grave and we were off to our hotel.
After a private church service in the Organs’ room we decided what to do for dinner. It was a free night for dinner so Courtney, Lauren, Lyndsey and I got dinner from a little grocery store and had AN OFFICE MARATHON! Yes please. Ha ha
MONDAY
We had a drive a head of us on Monday. After a quick breakfast at the Apple Pie bakery, we drove or Robbie drove us to Scotland! Specifically to see Hadrian’s Wall!
We had the cutest tour guide who reminded me of the historian in Monty Python and the Holy Grail who gets killed….ha ha ha yeah that one. But he was so cute with his little hat and glasses and then his pants were tucked into his socks! And his name you ask?...Dr. Bryan!
Hadrian’s Wall was awesome. Beautiful scenery! The wall/fortress is on the top of a hill so you can see for miles! It was not raining so the sun was shining, the wind was blowing, and there were sheep everywhere. A classic English or Scottish rather countryside.
We not only saw the Roman fortress and Hadrian’s Wall BUT we got to walk on top of one of the sections of the wall! The wall is almost 1,000 years old; so it was very surreal to be there and experience a big part of history.
After we saw the wall we headed off to lunch at the cutest little cottage restaurant BUT not before we discovered that our bus would not turn on….so while our excellent driver Robbie tried to solve the mystery of the broken bus the rest of us took public transportation to the restaurant.
We were at the restaurant for quite a while but with a little dessert and a couple of riddles we passed the time in good form! Ha ha
We found another bus company who offered to take us to Stirling BUT as we were about to load our luggage onto the new bus we get a call from Robbie saying HE’D FIXED OUR ORIGINAL BUS! We were excited but also a bit disappointed when Lauren told us that the replacement bus we would have been on had wifi, satellite tv and Playstations….ha ha it is used for some of the national football clubs.
We got into Stirling but not after a lot of napping took place on the bus.
Lauren, Tyler, and I had Thai food then gathered some snacks for the group because we were watching BRAVEHEART!!!
BECAUSE
We had to ready because we were going to see the William Wallace monument the next day!
TUESDAY
Woke up and had a great British breakfast including tea, eggs, meat, cereal, and toast.
Loaded up our luggage and loaded up the bus to go see the Wallace monument! It is a huge tower with a lot of steps to the top…was I a bit scared…. maybe. I do not enjoy heights BUT I MADE IT and it was WORTH IT! Beautiful view of the Scottish hills!
After the monument we headed to St. Andrews—home of the 4th largest university in the UK and site for one of the greatest golf courses in the world.
It was fun. I wandered off by myself and found a great little coffee shop THEN I found Courtney, Brad, and Lauren on the beach making a sand castle so of course I joined them ha ha
Back on to the bus and onto Edinburgh!
I feel asleep every time we got on the bus so I decided to go to bed early…so I got some cereal from a grocery store and turned in!
WEDNESDAY
We had a tour of Edinburgh! Including the castle and the Royal Mile!
It was fun and a bit adventurous because half of the group got the wrong time for the start of the tour so we had to wait for everyone to start the tour. Ha ha
But once we got the whole group together it was great to see the Castle and the Scottish Crown Jewels! Then after we finished our tour….which was long…but good we grabbed some lunch at a really cute placed called Chocolate soup! They had soups, sandwiches, coffee, and a ton of chocolate desserts! Including, yes, chocolate soup! Ha ha
We all wanted to see the palace where the Queen stays when she comes to Scotland so we headed on down the HUGE HILL! And took a look around…we were confused on some of the Royal Family policits/what makes you a queen and not a queen…basically why is Elizabeth queen and her husband Phillip is not the king…so we got a lesson in British-ness… ha ha and the reason is Elizabeth did not have any brothers so she can be the ruling queen but her husband since he is not in the direct blood line cannot be ruling king….
We were all EXHAUSTED! Well some of us were. A few people decided to climb this great big hill called Arthur’s Seat, which looks over the whole town…I opted for a nap before dinner!
AND DINNER WAS AT THE ELEPHANT HOUSE!!!
AKA THE BIRTH PLACE OF HARRY POTTER!!!
The elephant house was one of the coffee shops J.K. Rowling sat and wrote the beginnings of Harry Potter in! It was great BUT not decorated in H.P. stuff so the place felt authentic and not campy.
GREAT FOOD! And so so so good. Mary and I spilt a burger and a club sandwich (it has become our unofficial tradition to spilt meals! Ha ha)
Then after dinner Stephaine, Mindy, and I went wandering around town. We had some bonding time ;) and go to experience the city at night!
THURSDAY
Another wonderfully full English breakfast at the Hotel Ibis! (my France friends will remember this excellent chain hotel establishment) and headed for York!
Yet another long drive…and more napping. Which is probably good because it helped us all get over jetlag.
We arrived in York around lunchtime, and after a quick bite we headed to the York Minister, which is a huge church, for our tour!
Our guide was funny and informative! The perfect combination. The Minster was beautiful! The outside reminded me a lot of the church in Rheims, the city where I lived in France.
We walked the outer wall of the city and got to explore some of the cute little streets.
After our tour a lot of us waited to go to Even Song, or the Evening singing service at the Minster. It was so beautiful. The little boys that sang were precious, but more importantly it was cool to see the sincerity and the heart behind a lot of the people present. I just love experiencing the heart of God and the hearts of his people all over the world and in so many different settings.
I have been abundantly blessed.
A quick dinner at the hotel….and a lot of laughter….(Yeah for a moment I could not breath. I cannot remember what was being said, but all I know is Brad is one of the funniest people on this trip!) we all turned in for the night BUT not before we ALL AT ONCE tried to get on the hotels internet. That was interesting because the signal was not strong enough to take care of all of us….
FRIDAY
OFF TO LONDON!!!!! WHOO HOO
After ANOTHER EXCELLENT full British breakfast we hopped on our bus, greeted our faithful driver, and friend Robbie we headed to the capital city!
Some more napping and ipod listening; a quick stop for lunch at some services (UK speak for a huge rest stop) WE ARRIVED!!!!!!!!!
Got to our apartments WHICH are down the road from the British Museum! Can’t beat that! Met with the Florida State facility managers (we rent a section of flats or apartments from FSU) and headed to the grocery store.
AND
Oh yeah can’t forget this one…we are on the top floor. And there are 4 or 5 (a lot) of windy, close stairs we must scale to get to our flat…not fun…especially with our huge suitcases…boo.
Ok so we went to the grocery store to get a few things to tide us over for the weekend!
Also Jacqueline Dillion the former director of the London program and the director of the French program I went on invited me and the Organs out for coffee!!! It was so great to see her and to have some amazing coffee! And your know being in London was not a drag either. ;)
Then we all unpacked, settled in, enjoyed the wifi!
WHICH I THOROUGHLY ENJOYED BECAUSE I GOT TO SYKPE WITH ANNA B MIELKE ALL THE WAY IN CALI!
☺
SATURDAY
Today. Today!
I slept until 11…not planned.
Had some breakfast, hung out with the girls! We are all in one big apartment. Stephanie and I are roommates! And there are two other rooms, one with 3 girls and one with 2! We have two bathrooms, a kitchen, and a living room!
Got ready for the day and Stephanie, Mindy, and Mary all decided to come exploring with me and get coffee! A must have at all times!
On our explorations we stopped in a ticket shop to see how much some show tickets for like Wicked or another show would be…the prices were great. Almost half off….and as we are standing there I look at the other girls and was like, “Do you guys want to go see a show today?”
We asked what time the next showing of Chicago was and it was in 40 minutes……SO WE BOUGHT TICKETS (after we found an ATM and got cash) AND WE WENT AND SAW THE SHOW!!!
IT WAS FUN AND SO SPUR OF THE MOMENT (not like me at all ha ha) and wow it was just an amazing show period! And we had GREAT SEATS ON THE FLOOR ALMOST SMACK IN THE MIDDLE! So so great! ;)
Headed back to the apartment and now here I sit.
Ha ha
It has been a busy last week and I am sorry for the lack of details in some areas but I had a lot to tell and I thought an overview was the best! Plus the details have gotten fuzzier as they have gotten farther away.
Thank you for reading! I hope it was fun and I hope that my rambling has been somewhat coherent and grammatically correct.
With much much love please continue to pray for our group and for the Lord to move mightily in the hearts and minds of the students, and all of us, here as they experience and grow this semester!
<>< caroline
Saturday, September 18, 2010
heading to ireland!
Ah Dublin we have arrived! :)
Hello dear ones, family and friends, I have arrived with the Harding in England group of students in the wonderful country of Ireland. Whoo hoo
Our flight was about 7 hours and went smoothly, aside from the fact that after riding on the Middle Eastern airline company Emirates this summer I am FOREVER spoiled. Our flight to Dublin did not have two meals and free snacks on request, there were no personal tvs, no hot towels when I arrived and the seats were so small! Bah!!!!! Whew ok now that my rant is finished I will admit that I am being a tad bit of a brat and continue on with what happened after the plane ride. Ha ha
We got into Dublin at 8 a.m., local time, and fyi the time difference is 6 hours different from Central Standard Time.
Our group of 11 (8 students, the Organs (teachers), and me) got off the plane and into the customs line just fine HOWEVER there was only ONE person working at the immigrations and customs desk…for about oh 250ish people. Oh my my my. So we stood standstill in line for almost 45 minutes and the entire process to get through customs took almost 2 hours. They eventually got some more people in help.
BUT
We made it out and everyone got ALL of their luggage. Praise! Then we headed off to meet Lauren Knight and her husband Tyler. Tyler is in school at Oxford and so Lauren has been hired to be the hands and feet of HUE! She is amazing and has done an awesome job coordinating and directing us so far…. I expect to see many more great things ;)
Headed out of the airport and into the crisp 50 degree Ireland air! Very refreshing, especially after only 3ish hours of sleep, which I was grateful for, but still coffee was a must. Loaded all of our bags and selves onto a “coach” which dropped us off at Trinity College where we are staying.
Got our rooms, well most of us got our rooms, several others had to wait for keys, but the room situation was eventually sorted out.
After we dropped our bags off and stared at each other (jet lag) we headed off (yes we hit the ground running) to get a bit of breakfast and meet our first tour guide!
The place we got breakfast had gluten free AND organic options! Needless to say I was very pleased and so was my tummy. We grabbed our cappuccinos and oat bars and headed down to meet our tour guide Lorcan. Lauren described him like this, “Look for the guy who is kind of dressed like a preacher, but cooler…” ha ha so we found Lorcan and he in fact did look like he was wearing a collar, but he also had some sweet glasses that rounded out his look. Ha ha.
We all sat down and got ready for the 1916 Rebellion tour, which goes through the history and significant sights around Dublin that led up to the Irish revolt/rebellion of 1916, which eventually led to the creation of a separate nation state from Britain in 1922.
Lorcan was hilarious. Entertaining but so knowledgeable! He has been leading this tour for 14 years and has co-written a book called Easter Rebellion: 1916 with another one of the tour guides. He said his mother has told him it’s the best book she’s ever read…so I guess we are to judge for ourselves ; )
After the tour we were all a little tired and hungry so we received some cash for lunch and were released upon the city. Sort of we only had an hour before we had to meet up again. Ha ha So I went off with a couple of girls, Lauren and Lyndsey, to find a bathroom, which can be an adventure of its own in Europe BUT we were successful.
And I was also successful in ordering a ham and cheese sandwich from a local vendor…but I had to repeat what I wanted a couple of times because I guess my “thick southern American” accent threw him off. Ha ha It was fun standing in line (messing with/ trying to figure out my UK phone that I am using for the program) and listening to some local high school kids on a lunch break. It feels good to be back in Europe, or rather back in a historically saturated environment. Not that there is no history in American, or even Arkansas, BUT the type of history and the type of essence that rests in most of Europe’s large cities in indescribable and energizing. Like Louisa May Alcott said being in Europe is like walking into a novel.
After lunch we met back up to go and see The Book of Kells…which is one of the oldest and most beautiful illuminated manuscripts! And I was excited because my mom was pumped for me to see it! She saw it on our itinerary and got very excited! Ha ha It was interesting but my favorite part was not the Book of Kells BUT the huge massive awesome library of classic works, letters, and different culturally iconic works of literary. Sigh. It was amazing. I just stood there. It was somewhat like when the Beast, in Beauty and the Beast, lets Belle into his library! Except this place was made of wood and had ropes blocking me from the books…otherwise exactly like Beauty and the Beast ;)
After we sampled the Book of Kells museum which is on the Trinity campus, right down from our rooms, we were let go for the evening…it was only about 4 o’clock and most of us did not want to go to bed yet (even though we are exhausted) in an effort to get our bodies on schedule with this time zone.
So here I sit…in a McDonalds down the road from Trinity with two of the girls, Mindy and Stephanie. We hoped to find free wifi to occupy ourselves with until it was time to go to sleep…however free wifi was not available…so we will see where we find some internet SO I CAN POST THIS and tweet and stay socially connected etc….or as an arrogant former youngest VP and current temp would suggest I should just “Woof”…because it connects ALL social networks : ) if you can tell me the reference you will get a prize and I will be extremely impressed.
Please pray for the transition and meshing of the group; pray for safe travels and a spirit of encouragement and support to flood through our group. : ) God is moving all the time.
Also just a disclaimer I probably, well who knows, but probably will not be blogging every day. I hope to blog every week AT THE MINIMUM and maybe more depending on what the schedule looks like for the week.
Love and prayers to you all. Kisses.
Hello dear ones, family and friends, I have arrived with the Harding in England group of students in the wonderful country of Ireland. Whoo hoo
Our flight was about 7 hours and went smoothly, aside from the fact that after riding on the Middle Eastern airline company Emirates this summer I am FOREVER spoiled. Our flight to Dublin did not have two meals and free snacks on request, there were no personal tvs, no hot towels when I arrived and the seats were so small! Bah!!!!! Whew ok now that my rant is finished I will admit that I am being a tad bit of a brat and continue on with what happened after the plane ride. Ha ha
We got into Dublin at 8 a.m., local time, and fyi the time difference is 6 hours different from Central Standard Time.
Our group of 11 (8 students, the Organs (teachers), and me) got off the plane and into the customs line just fine HOWEVER there was only ONE person working at the immigrations and customs desk…for about oh 250ish people. Oh my my my. So we stood standstill in line for almost 45 minutes and the entire process to get through customs took almost 2 hours. They eventually got some more people in help.
BUT
We made it out and everyone got ALL of their luggage. Praise! Then we headed off to meet Lauren Knight and her husband Tyler. Tyler is in school at Oxford and so Lauren has been hired to be the hands and feet of HUE! She is amazing and has done an awesome job coordinating and directing us so far…. I expect to see many more great things ;)
Headed out of the airport and into the crisp 50 degree Ireland air! Very refreshing, especially after only 3ish hours of sleep, which I was grateful for, but still coffee was a must. Loaded all of our bags and selves onto a “coach” which dropped us off at Trinity College where we are staying.
Got our rooms, well most of us got our rooms, several others had to wait for keys, but the room situation was eventually sorted out.
After we dropped our bags off and stared at each other (jet lag) we headed off (yes we hit the ground running) to get a bit of breakfast and meet our first tour guide!
The place we got breakfast had gluten free AND organic options! Needless to say I was very pleased and so was my tummy. We grabbed our cappuccinos and oat bars and headed down to meet our tour guide Lorcan. Lauren described him like this, “Look for the guy who is kind of dressed like a preacher, but cooler…” ha ha so we found Lorcan and he in fact did look like he was wearing a collar, but he also had some sweet glasses that rounded out his look. Ha ha.
We all sat down and got ready for the 1916 Rebellion tour, which goes through the history and significant sights around Dublin that led up to the Irish revolt/rebellion of 1916, which eventually led to the creation of a separate nation state from Britain in 1922.
Lorcan was hilarious. Entertaining but so knowledgeable! He has been leading this tour for 14 years and has co-written a book called Easter Rebellion: 1916 with another one of the tour guides. He said his mother has told him it’s the best book she’s ever read…so I guess we are to judge for ourselves ; )
After the tour we were all a little tired and hungry so we received some cash for lunch and were released upon the city. Sort of we only had an hour before we had to meet up again. Ha ha So I went off with a couple of girls, Lauren and Lyndsey, to find a bathroom, which can be an adventure of its own in Europe BUT we were successful.
And I was also successful in ordering a ham and cheese sandwich from a local vendor…but I had to repeat what I wanted a couple of times because I guess my “thick southern American” accent threw him off. Ha ha It was fun standing in line (messing with/ trying to figure out my UK phone that I am using for the program) and listening to some local high school kids on a lunch break. It feels good to be back in Europe, or rather back in a historically saturated environment. Not that there is no history in American, or even Arkansas, BUT the type of history and the type of essence that rests in most of Europe’s large cities in indescribable and energizing. Like Louisa May Alcott said being in Europe is like walking into a novel.
After lunch we met back up to go and see The Book of Kells…which is one of the oldest and most beautiful illuminated manuscripts! And I was excited because my mom was pumped for me to see it! She saw it on our itinerary and got very excited! Ha ha It was interesting but my favorite part was not the Book of Kells BUT the huge massive awesome library of classic works, letters, and different culturally iconic works of literary. Sigh. It was amazing. I just stood there. It was somewhat like when the Beast, in Beauty and the Beast, lets Belle into his library! Except this place was made of wood and had ropes blocking me from the books…otherwise exactly like Beauty and the Beast ;)
After we sampled the Book of Kells museum which is on the Trinity campus, right down from our rooms, we were let go for the evening…it was only about 4 o’clock and most of us did not want to go to bed yet (even though we are exhausted) in an effort to get our bodies on schedule with this time zone.
So here I sit…in a McDonalds down the road from Trinity with two of the girls, Mindy and Stephanie. We hoped to find free wifi to occupy ourselves with until it was time to go to sleep…however free wifi was not available…so we will see where we find some internet SO I CAN POST THIS and tweet and stay socially connected etc….or as an arrogant former youngest VP and current temp would suggest I should just “Woof”…because it connects ALL social networks : ) if you can tell me the reference you will get a prize and I will be extremely impressed.
Please pray for the transition and meshing of the group; pray for safe travels and a spirit of encouragement and support to flood through our group. : ) God is moving all the time.
Also just a disclaimer I probably, well who knows, but probably will not be blogging every day. I hope to blog every week AT THE MINIMUM and maybe more depending on what the schedule looks like for the week.
Love and prayers to you all. Kisses.
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