So, as you can tell, I have not blogged for the past month or so. So much has happened! Here is rundown on the life of my adventures in London, February, 2012.
I am fondly known as "the frog," due to a hat that I bought at Portobello Road that I wear on every walk and on every day trip. :) It's very warm.
On February 1st, all 23 of us moved to homestay. Every year, the program allows us students to stay with families around the London area. Courteney and I have been living in Alexandra Palace, a suburb just a hop, skip, and a 30-minute tube and train ride away from central London. Our family is Mr. Paul, Mrs. Sue, 13 year-old Honor, and Pippin, a (relatively) friendly orange cat. It's been nice to have home-cooked meals, to get the milk and orange juice in the morning after they've been delivered to the door, and to have a room to relax in that's big enough to hold our stuff and let us sleep in bed at the same time. Downside: no Celtic breakfast. Upside: it's good to be in a home. We move out officially tomorrow morning when we head out on Spring Tour. We've been really blessed to have this time with our family.
The first weekend of homestay, we had a free Saturday, so Courteney and I went to Dublin, Ireland! :) This was so much fun! We were the ultimate tourists and took a hop-on-hop-off tour of the city, which means that we got on a bus, had a guide (in an Irish accent) speaking to us about all the things we were seeing, but we got to get off at sites we wanted to explore more thoroughly. I got to see Trinity College, Dublin Castle, various parks, and I saw (but did not enter) the zoo. My favorite part of the day was walking through St. Stephen's Green, a huge park in the middle of the city with ponds and staircases to hidden statues and fun things to climb. Dublin is smaller than London but with just as many tourists. There is a lot more room to breathe than there is in London. It was exciting (and slightly overwhelming) to roam a new city. I was constantly amazed by the fact that I was in IRELAND. But when I stepped off the Tube back on Oxford Street in London the next day, I heaved an immense sigh of relief, pleased beyond words to be HOME again. Home. It's hard to believe how in love I am with this city and how comfortable I am here. :)
Our other free day this month was last Wednesday, when Becca and I took a train to Bournemouth to visit David, one of my teammates from this summer. It was so good to ride in a CAR again!!! It's strange to think that I had not ridden in a car since I left the States. It almost seemed like the summer again...seeing the sea, watching boys play soccer (football) on the beach, seeing the wild horses in the New Forest....such a great day. We toured a cemetery with the most beautiful headstones I have ever seen, hung out at David's "granny flat," and had a good time all around. It's always fun to catch up with friends, especially one that I spent three and a half months with. We realized that we had not been in Ocean City for six months, which was weird.
This month we have had day trips to Greenwich, Downhouse, Canterbury and Dover, Cambridge, and Tintern Abbey. When we took the boat to Greenwich, I was amazed because it had snowed the night before. It was super cold and windy, but it was so pretty with snow all over the giant hill. We stood on the Prime Meridian, toured the old observatory, and some (I watched) ran/slid down the snow-covered hill. Downhouse was beautiful. Though I do not agree with Darwin's thought process, he was a brilliant man, and a good head of his family. It was cool to learn about him and his family and walk the grounds of the house. I especially enjoyed walking on the Sand Walk--a path through the grounds that Darwin would walk every day. Dover Castle was SO MUCH FUN!! The wind was so strong that I thought it would blow me over. We explored the castle, climbed to the top and saw the city and the English Channel, toured the Secret Wartime Tunnels, and saw the old chapel and lighthouse. We put our feet in the English Channel (super cold) on the shores of the White Cliffs of Dover. We proceeded to Canterbury, where I met 3 guys trying to form a band, and wandered through Canterbury Cathedral, spot of the martyrdom of Thomas a'Beckett. Dr. Parks took us through Cambridge. Punting on the river, wandering through the middle of some of the colleges, shopping in the market, climbing a hill overlooking the city, and clambering into a HUGE climbing tree marked our visit.
Yesterday we went to Tintern Abbey (if you've read Wordsworth, you have heard of this place). Tintern Abbey is the site of a ruined monastery located in Wye Valley in Wales. The building is absolutely vast. So beautiful. There's no roof, and it was a beautiful day, so the light and shadows were incredible. The group played freeze tag, hide and seek, and sharks and minnows inside of the large room. Most of the group went on a huge hike to the top of the hills, to the Devil's Pulpit. It was a hard going, getting up there, but the view was totally worth it. So gorgeous!! I was amazed that I could see the whole valley, the Abbey, the town, the river....all from this one spot. For the first time this trip, I was so hot that I was down to only my long-sleeved shirt, with the sleeves rolled up. (We were all hot....and it was about 60 degrees Fahrenheit. You know you've lived in the cold too long when Mississippians say that 60 is hot.)
On the way back down, I was alone, and just reflected on the beauty of God's nature and His creativity. Yesterday was Leap Day, which is a significant day in my family because it's my older sister's birthday. She has now spent 24 years in the arms of Christ, worshipping in the glory of His presence. It was very hard for me to be so far away from my family that day, but in every step I took, I heard, "I am with you ALWAYS," and I knew that no matter how far I am from my family (whom I will see when they come in a week!), my Savior is ALWAYS with me, walking beside me, carrying me, loving me.
Basic run-down of the past month:
Plays I've seen:
-Phantom of the Opera (so good, but couldn't see the chandelier)
-The House of Bernarda Alba (absolutely incredible cast, all women, very dark play)
-She Stoops to Conquer (so funny)
-Traveling Light (about film, I liked the story a lot, but the ending was weird)
-The Changeling (HATED it)
-Long Day's Journey into Night (yet another dark play about a morphine addict and her family)
-Rosenkavalier (an opera. We couldn't see the surtitles. I fell asleep during the entire third act. First time I've fallen asleep in something. Super hot in the theatre. Good story, though.)
-Noises Off (SO FUNNY!! Probably my favorite play that I've seen with the program, next to Guys and Dolls)
-War Horse (play and movie, on my own. The puppetry was INCREDIBLE. I enjoyed this play a lot.)
-Singing in the Rain (my favorite musical I've seen. It was so much fun!! I was on the second row and got wet in the rain scene! The cast was entertaining, and it was a great experience.)
Walks we've been on:
-Central Criminal Courts
-Globe Theatre (my favorite tour!)
-Westminster Abbey
-Jack the Ripper
-Shakespeare and Dickens (Southwark)
-Plague and Fire
-Wesley House
Other things of interest:
-Valentine's Day Concert at the Barbican
-seeing a court trial
-Sir John Soane's Museum (packrat to the extreme!)
-Foundling Museum
-All Souls seminar on storytelling
-attended a taping of That Sunday Night Show (I would not recommend watching this)
-watching the sunset in Richmond
-Hillsong with Matt Redman
-trip to the Royal Institution
-exploring Regent's Park
-journaling in Hyde's Park/Kensington Gardens
Books I've read:
-Little Women
-The Wind in the Willows
-She Stoops to Conquer
-War Horse
-Mrs. Dalloway
-Peter Pan
-Tess of the d'Ubervilles (current)
-Jesus Calling (daily)
-The Cross of Christ (current)
So, in conclusion, London is great (getting warmer every day), we haven't killed each other yet (this might change on Spring Tour), and God is always proving His sovereignty. I have no idea what's happening this summer, but I know that He has a plan. I get to see my family in a week, and before then I get to tour Scotland and Wales. ^_^ Ephesians is blessing my life, and I am constantly reminded in the prophets that God promises to care for His people even when we turn away. These have been the adventures of the London Froggy. :)
I am fondly known as "the frog," due to a hat that I bought at Portobello Road that I wear on every walk and on every day trip. :) It's very warm.
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| The Stage of the Globe Theatre |
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| St. Paul's Cathedral across the River Thames |
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| Dublin Castle--the only remaining turret of the Medieval castle |
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| Irish mailbox |
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| Snow in Alexandra Palace |
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| The Eye from the boat to Greenwich |
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| Look! My feet are in two hemispheres! |
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| Froggy in the Pulpit |
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| In front of Dover Castle |
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| Micheal wishes he could be as good of a froggy as I am. |
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| Initial reaction to the English Channel |
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| Canterbury Cathedral |
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| Regent's Park |
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| David and I in at the beach in Bournemouth |
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| Me, David, and Becca in the New Forest (that's old) |
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| Wild Horses in the New Forest |
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| Becca, Michelle, and I with Daniel, who played Cosmo in Singing in the Rain |
On February 1st, all 23 of us moved to homestay. Every year, the program allows us students to stay with families around the London area. Courteney and I have been living in Alexandra Palace, a suburb just a hop, skip, and a 30-minute tube and train ride away from central London. Our family is Mr. Paul, Mrs. Sue, 13 year-old Honor, and Pippin, a (relatively) friendly orange cat. It's been nice to have home-cooked meals, to get the milk and orange juice in the morning after they've been delivered to the door, and to have a room to relax in that's big enough to hold our stuff and let us sleep in bed at the same time. Downside: no Celtic breakfast. Upside: it's good to be in a home. We move out officially tomorrow morning when we head out on Spring Tour. We've been really blessed to have this time with our family.
The first weekend of homestay, we had a free Saturday, so Courteney and I went to Dublin, Ireland! :) This was so much fun! We were the ultimate tourists and took a hop-on-hop-off tour of the city, which means that we got on a bus, had a guide (in an Irish accent) speaking to us about all the things we were seeing, but we got to get off at sites we wanted to explore more thoroughly. I got to see Trinity College, Dublin Castle, various parks, and I saw (but did not enter) the zoo. My favorite part of the day was walking through St. Stephen's Green, a huge park in the middle of the city with ponds and staircases to hidden statues and fun things to climb. Dublin is smaller than London but with just as many tourists. There is a lot more room to breathe than there is in London. It was exciting (and slightly overwhelming) to roam a new city. I was constantly amazed by the fact that I was in IRELAND. But when I stepped off the Tube back on Oxford Street in London the next day, I heaved an immense sigh of relief, pleased beyond words to be HOME again. Home. It's hard to believe how in love I am with this city and how comfortable I am here. :)
Our other free day this month was last Wednesday, when Becca and I took a train to Bournemouth to visit David, one of my teammates from this summer. It was so good to ride in a CAR again!!! It's strange to think that I had not ridden in a car since I left the States. It almost seemed like the summer again...seeing the sea, watching boys play soccer (football) on the beach, seeing the wild horses in the New Forest....such a great day. We toured a cemetery with the most beautiful headstones I have ever seen, hung out at David's "granny flat," and had a good time all around. It's always fun to catch up with friends, especially one that I spent three and a half months with. We realized that we had not been in Ocean City for six months, which was weird.
This month we have had day trips to Greenwich, Downhouse, Canterbury and Dover, Cambridge, and Tintern Abbey. When we took the boat to Greenwich, I was amazed because it had snowed the night before. It was super cold and windy, but it was so pretty with snow all over the giant hill. We stood on the Prime Meridian, toured the old observatory, and some (I watched) ran/slid down the snow-covered hill. Downhouse was beautiful. Though I do not agree with Darwin's thought process, he was a brilliant man, and a good head of his family. It was cool to learn about him and his family and walk the grounds of the house. I especially enjoyed walking on the Sand Walk--a path through the grounds that Darwin would walk every day. Dover Castle was SO MUCH FUN!! The wind was so strong that I thought it would blow me over. We explored the castle, climbed to the top and saw the city and the English Channel, toured the Secret Wartime Tunnels, and saw the old chapel and lighthouse. We put our feet in the English Channel (super cold) on the shores of the White Cliffs of Dover. We proceeded to Canterbury, where I met 3 guys trying to form a band, and wandered through Canterbury Cathedral, spot of the martyrdom of Thomas a'Beckett. Dr. Parks took us through Cambridge. Punting on the river, wandering through the middle of some of the colleges, shopping in the market, climbing a hill overlooking the city, and clambering into a HUGE climbing tree marked our visit.
Yesterday we went to Tintern Abbey (if you've read Wordsworth, you have heard of this place). Tintern Abbey is the site of a ruined monastery located in Wye Valley in Wales. The building is absolutely vast. So beautiful. There's no roof, and it was a beautiful day, so the light and shadows were incredible. The group played freeze tag, hide and seek, and sharks and minnows inside of the large room. Most of the group went on a huge hike to the top of the hills, to the Devil's Pulpit. It was a hard going, getting up there, but the view was totally worth it. So gorgeous!! I was amazed that I could see the whole valley, the Abbey, the town, the river....all from this one spot. For the first time this trip, I was so hot that I was down to only my long-sleeved shirt, with the sleeves rolled up. (We were all hot....and it was about 60 degrees Fahrenheit. You know you've lived in the cold too long when Mississippians say that 60 is hot.)
On the way back down, I was alone, and just reflected on the beauty of God's nature and His creativity. Yesterday was Leap Day, which is a significant day in my family because it's my older sister's birthday. She has now spent 24 years in the arms of Christ, worshipping in the glory of His presence. It was very hard for me to be so far away from my family that day, but in every step I took, I heard, "I am with you ALWAYS," and I knew that no matter how far I am from my family (whom I will see when they come in a week!), my Savior is ALWAYS with me, walking beside me, carrying me, loving me.
Basic run-down of the past month:
Plays I've seen:
-Phantom of the Opera (so good, but couldn't see the chandelier)
-The House of Bernarda Alba (absolutely incredible cast, all women, very dark play)
-She Stoops to Conquer (so funny)
-Traveling Light (about film, I liked the story a lot, but the ending was weird)
-The Changeling (HATED it)
-Long Day's Journey into Night (yet another dark play about a morphine addict and her family)
-Rosenkavalier (an opera. We couldn't see the surtitles. I fell asleep during the entire third act. First time I've fallen asleep in something. Super hot in the theatre. Good story, though.)
-Noises Off (SO FUNNY!! Probably my favorite play that I've seen with the program, next to Guys and Dolls)
-War Horse (play and movie, on my own. The puppetry was INCREDIBLE. I enjoyed this play a lot.)
-Singing in the Rain (my favorite musical I've seen. It was so much fun!! I was on the second row and got wet in the rain scene! The cast was entertaining, and it was a great experience.)
Walks we've been on:
-Central Criminal Courts
-Globe Theatre (my favorite tour!)
-Westminster Abbey
-Jack the Ripper
-Shakespeare and Dickens (Southwark)
-Plague and Fire
-Wesley House
Other things of interest:
-Valentine's Day Concert at the Barbican
-seeing a court trial
-Sir John Soane's Museum (packrat to the extreme!)
-Foundling Museum
-All Souls seminar on storytelling
-attended a taping of That Sunday Night Show (I would not recommend watching this)
-watching the sunset in Richmond
-Hillsong with Matt Redman
-trip to the Royal Institution
-exploring Regent's Park
-journaling in Hyde's Park/Kensington Gardens
Books I've read:
-Little Women
-The Wind in the Willows
-She Stoops to Conquer
-War Horse
-Mrs. Dalloway
-Peter Pan
-Tess of the d'Ubervilles (current)
-Jesus Calling (daily)
-The Cross of Christ (current)
So, in conclusion, London is great (getting warmer every day), we haven't killed each other yet (this might change on Spring Tour), and God is always proving His sovereignty. I have no idea what's happening this summer, but I know that He has a plan. I get to see my family in a week, and before then I get to tour Scotland and Wales. ^_^ Ephesians is blessing my life, and I am constantly reminded in the prophets that God promises to care for His people even when we turn away. These have been the adventures of the London Froggy. :)
lovelovelovelove
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