Finals week.

Okay, so it's the last week of school, and it's really overwhelming.

Monday I went to Oxfam for the last time, and said goodbye there, and bought some groceries on the way home. I did some homework, and went to my last KEEN session on Monday night.

Tuesday I went to both of my classes, did more homework, finished my tutorial/research paper, and baked three batches of cookies to share, all of which were gone within 12 hours. That's what happens here.

And today I slept in, turned in my tutorial, studied a little bit but mostly procrastinated, went to our last prayer group at the Wiggins (teachers), and had a game night with some girls in the other house.

I have my last class tomorrow, one final Friday, and one final Monday, and early early Wednesday morning we leave for Texas! One week from today!

And if anyone in Abilene is reading this, I'll be in Abilene on the 8th and 9th. Come find me.

For anyone in the Dallas area reading this, I'll be back around after my Maymester class in Abilene ends May 23rd, so seek me out. I will very much want to see people before leaving on June 9th for my summer in Mexico, soon after which I return to be a Junior (Upperclassman!) at ACU in the fall. CRAZY.

Busy Weekend

Okay, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. And Sunday too.

Thursday, I woke up, went to class, and then met Katie and we took the train to London. It was pretty neat. We went to see Westminster Abbey, and paid too much money to go inside, so I took pictures, even though I wasn't supposed to. After Westminster, we took some telephone booth pictures, went to Tower Bridge and Tower of London, and took pictures at platform 9 3/4. Then we were heading to eat dinner, when we stumbled upon a huge crowd and wondered what it was. It happened to be the London premiere of Iron Man, and we got to see Gwyneth Paltrow, Terrance Howard, and Robert Downey Jr. on the red carpet. It was so amazing. Then, after quickly getting some pizza from a stand, we ran for 5 or six blocks to get to the theater where Phantom of the Opera was. We saw that, and it was amazing as well.

On Friday I didn't do much. I did some homework, and I slept a whole lot.

On Saturday I woke up and went with another friend, Jessica, to London again. We were going to see Les Mis, but they were sold out when we got there, so we went to the London Zoo, and the went to eat at the Texas Embassy, which has fairly authentic Tex-Mex, and had all sorts of Texas bumper stickers, like "Don't Mess With Texas", "He's not kinky, he's my governor", and almost all of the colleges (UT, Baylor, A&M, Hardin Simmons, McMurry, ACU, TCU, and the like). After a wonderful meal, we went to see Westminster again, and then caught several buses and made our way home to Oxford.

On Sunday I did homework, and watched some movies online. 9 at 9 was wonderful, we just got to sing and pray the whole time. I'm going to be so sad to leave this wonderful place.

Crazy Thursday

Okay, so Thursday, yesterday, I slept in and woke up just in time for my C.S. Lewis class. That was fun and interesting as always. After class though, the real fun began.

I met one of my friends, Katie, and we went to the train station to go to London. We were late, but our train was even later, and because of that, we didn't have and stops, we just went straight to London. After we got there, we went to Westminster Abbey, and went inside to look around. They charged me 10 pounds, and that upset me, so I took pictures inside even though I wasn't supposed to. We saw lots and lots of famous dead peoples tombs, like Queen Elizabeth I, Issac Newton, Charles Darwin, Lord Byron, Lord Tennyson, Geoffery Chaucer, and more. It was crazy. We also saw the coronation chair. After that we walked by Downing Street, where the Prime Minister lives, but it had lots of guards. On the way we took some red phone booth pictures.

After that we went and picked up our ticket to Phantom of the Opera, and went to see the Ritz...which is very ritzy. We went and saw the Tower of London, and the Tower Bridge, and stopped on the underground at King's Cross to take pictures at Platform 9 3/4.

After that we were on our way to dinner at Leicester Square, where we stumbled upon Gwyneth Paltrow, Robert Downey Jr, and Terrence Howard and their London red carpet movie premiere. Crazy! We got pictures too! That was very exciting...Katie and I had been talking all day about how so many people on our trip have seen famous people in England, but we hadn't....and now we have!














After that we got some pizza from a stand, and ran about five blocks to make it to the start of Phantom. We mad it, got our seats, and enjoyed a really wonderful show. I loved it. Afterwards we took a train back to Oxford, where we finally got to sleep.

Italy

Wow. So I have seven crazy days to write about.

Last Wednesday we left around lunch time, and caught a bus to the airport, and flew into Rome. We got in late, took a bus into the city and then walked to our hostel. It was very small, and only two bathrooms for almost 30 people, but not too bad.

We woke up on Thursday and walked to the Colosseum. We waited in line, and then got to walk around the Colosseum and the Roman Forum. We saw where Shakespeare placed Julius Caesar's death, (not the actual place though), and after we saw all of that, we went out to lunch. After a long lunch (the Italians like to eat slowly), we walked across town. We got the first of many gelato, saw the Trevi fountain, and I threw in two coins. You can find out what that means if you want to. After that we saw the Spanish steps, went to several piazza's, and eventually got dinner at a little pizzeria. We ate, and then went back to the hostel and played cards.

On Friday morning we got up and took the metro to Vatican City, where we went to the Vatican Museum and to St. Peter's Basilica. The Sistine Chapel was really cool, but a lot smaller than I thought that it would be. St. Peter's was really cool, and I didn't realize that St. Peter is buried there. After we saw that, we went to see the Pantheon, which was cool, and then went to relax at the Circus Maximus. After an hour or so there, we headed back to the hostel. I met my friend Catherine who's studying in Rome this semester while everyone else had dinner at the hostel. We got to walk around and get lost in Rome, catch up, and even enjoy some really good pizza, and then she left to catch the metro before it closed. I met back up with my group at the hostel, and we went and walked around the Colosseum at night, before heading back to sleep.

On Saturday we caught a morning train to Florence, and took a bus to our hostel. After settling in, we went and walked around the town. We went to see the famous Duomo, and I went to go see Michelangelo's David, which was incredible. We went to the market, and did some shopping before dinner. For dinner we went out to a little pasta shop, and then afterwards, we walked over to the hostel that two others from our group were staying at, and swam in their swimming pool before walking up to the roof to look at the city. Becky also hit her head, and probably had a concussion. So we headed home, stopping only for gelato on the way.

The next day we slept in, which was wonderful, and then me and Karissa went to Pisa for the afternoon. I also bought some Italian sunglasses along the way. We had a beautiful train ride through Tuscany, and walked through Pisa to get to the leaning tower, which really is leaning, it's kinda creepy. We spent a couple of hours there, and took lots and lots of pictures before heading back. On the way back to the train station, I had the best and cheapest gelato I think I had in Italy. It was so wonderful. So after going to the market in Florence, we met back up with the rest of the group and went out to an Italian restaurant for dinner. After walking around a little more at night to see the town, we went back to the hostel to pack and get ready to leave in the morning.

Monday morning we got up, and walked to the train station, and took a train to Venice. The trip took longer than we thought, and we got there around 1. However, the buses had changed routes, and I found out that I can read a little bit of Italian. I let the group know what had changed, and we finally caught the right bus to our hotel, not hostel. It was outside the city, and still expensive, but everything inside the city was at least twice as expensive. Everything in Venice is expensive. We got checked in, and went to explore the town for a few hours. Venice is very confusing and we got lost several times, but we found our way eventually. We did some shopping, fed the pigeons in St. Marcos square, walked along the riverwalk, got ripped off at dinner by cover and service charges, saw the Bridge of Sighs, and most excitingly, got an evening gondola ride. It was amazing. Like everything else in Venice, expensive, but oh so amazing. After the gondola, we went back to St. Marcos square, which was flooding due to high tide. All around Venice there are raised platforms for people to walk on when it floods. Apparently Venice is sinking.

The next morning we left our bags at the hotel, as they were going to meet us in the city with our bags to take us to the airport later. So we went back to Venice, fed the pigeons again, walked around, did some more shopping, played cards in a restaurant for a while, visited a church, and slowly made our way to the place where our shuttle would meet us. Then the shuttle took us to the airport. However, our plane was 40 minutes delayed, and while they boarded both the front and back of the plane, they only let us out of the front, so we were the last ones off. Plus we didn't land at the terminal, so we had to take a train there, and there were only two people working immigration for 3 or 4 planes of people. All that combined, we missed our bus, and had to change our tickets to get back later. By making several connections and begging one bus driver, we made it back to Oxford around 5am. I got to sleep all morning, which was wonderful, but everyone else had class at 9.

Well, for the rest of Wednesday, I slept in, did some homework, went out and got some groceries and lunch, and generally relaxed. It was a lovely day.

Worship in St. Michael's at the North Gate

Wow. Okay. So today I didn't do much other than homework. I didn't go to church because I slept through my alarm. I worked on homework, and was productive. So far I've written 1400 of the 1800 that I need to have done in the next hour or so.

However, tonight was amazing. We were told that we needed shoes and jackets for 9 at 9 tonight, and without knowing our destination, we went to St. Michael's at the North Gate, the church that used to be at the North wall of the city. The church was dark and quite, and Chris Shim (who provides) somehow was given a key to the church. So we had worship there. We took communion, prayed, read scripture, and sang. And during several of the songs that we sang, I almost started crying it was so powerful. It was amazing.

My Canterbury Tale

So this morning I took a personal pilgrimage to Canterbury Cathedral. I woke up early, caught the train, and then the other two trains, and finally made it to Canterbury around lunch. I was a little frustrated because on the underground there was a whole lot of German high school students who were screaming across the train at each other. I walked around Canterbury for a while, relaxed, and had a Subway Sweet Onion Chicken Teriaki sandwich, which may sound unimportant, but I've been craving it for a long time. It was so good.

After that, I went to the Cathedral. It's actual name apparently is Christ Church Cathedral, but everyone calls it Canterbury Cathedral. Another interesting fact is that the great gate into the Cathedral is bordered by a Starbucks. I got there, walked around, loved it. They had a really amazing modern stations of the cross in the crypt that I went through, and I stood in the place where Thomas Beckett was murdered, also the spot where Archbishop Robert Runcie and Pope John Paul II knelt together in prayer. I also saw the candle that marked where Beckett's shrine used to be, before it was destroyed by order of King Henry VIII.

Interestingly enough, this was also the destination of many pilgrims, as noted in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, in which the pilgrims were on their way to the shrine in Canterbury Cathedral.

I walked around the Cathedral, enjoyed the chapels and the cloisters, and the crypt. The Kent Youth Orchestra was playing, so there was a nice sound in the background the whole time.

After walking all around the Cathedral, I walked around the outside, and enjoyed the ground. It then started looking like it was going to rain, so I headed back to the train station. Only a few minute after I had gotten to the train station, the downpour began, so I had good timing and stayed dry. Yay! After a long train ride home, I got to relax all evening. I felt a lot better, having had some time to myself, and now, there's less than a month before I come home! For a little while that is.

Motivation

Well, today was not nearly as exciting as the last few days in Paris.

But I did manage to work up the motivation to write two of my papers, search my room and find my alarm clock, and get train tickets to Canterbury. That last part was the hardest. I really don't like the 30 minute walk there and back. So I got a muffin to make me feel better. It worked.

I also watched some movies online. That was not productive. But it was entertaining.

Paris

Okay, so it's been a while, since I've been in Paris. And now you, reading this, will get to hear more than you want about it. Because it was amazing.

We left early on Saturday morning, to the bus to London, and then took the Eurostar train to Paris. It goes through the "chunnel", the tunnel under the English Chanel. After we got there and settled in to out hostel, I went with a group and walked to the Eiffel Tower, which was about 50 minutes from our hostel. We walked by Notre Dame, which was right down the street. We finally got to the Eiffel Tower (which is so much bigger than it seems), and we took pictures there, and then got food from an overpriced tourist stand, and spent the rest of our evening on the Fat Tire Bike Tour, which was amazing. It was probably the best night of the semester. We started off with a warning that we were playing sharks and minnows, we were the minnows, and buses and other traffic are the sharks. But no worries, we stayed together and had florescent vests on. We ate ice cream at this amazing little cafe, and our tour guide was a cute college grad from Texas. In fact, most of the people who work there are Texas college grads, since the founder is as well. It was interesting for the first few minuets as I had to learn to relearn how to ride a bike. On the tour we saw Pont Neuf which you may recognize from the Bourne movies, or as the oldest bridge in Paris. We rode our bikes through the outside of the Louvre, and build a human pyramid by the Louvre pyramid. We saw the tunnel where Princess Diana was killed, and the little Statue of Liberty. We saw the Eiffel Tower sparkle as it does every hour on the hour after dark. At the very end of the evening we had to race back to get to it in time to take pictures. We got to take a boat down the river and look at all of the sights. We rode our bikes through tree lined streets in Paris at nights. Amazing. After the bike tour we got crepes at a stand, and then took the metro back to the hostel late at night.

On Sunday morning I got up, and went to Notre Dame, but we misunderstood the church times, so we only caught the end of the service. But we stayed and took a few pictures, and then went to the Louvre. I saw the Mona Lisa, Venus de Milo, and Winged Victory. We walked around for a while, but since it was Sunday, and it was free, it was hot, crowded and stuffy inside. So we left, got some sandwiches at a stand, and then went and climbed to the top of Notre Dame. We saw the Great Bell, a.k.a. Quasimodo's bell, and learned that a Chimera is an ornamental monster while a gargoyle drains rainwater. There was a great view of the city from there. However, after climbing those 400 steps, we were tired, and went back to the hostel for a nap before dinner. We had dinner at the hostel, and then went out for crepes. I had a nutella banana crepe, it was so good. Then we went back to the hostel to sleep.

On Monday we woke up, took the metro to the Arc de Triumphe, saw it, and then walked down to the Eiffel tower to see the olympic torch. I was with Becky and we were going to meet Krisann and Karissa at the bridge by the tower. But we got there and it was blocked off by police. So we walked down to the next bridge and back, and found that the road leading to the tower was blocked. I had some nice conversations with French police offices as we tried to figure out what do to. By wonderful change, we found Krisann and Karissa in the crowd that was already gathering to watch. After a few more conversations with police officers, we found a place on the other side of the road to watch the torch come by. While we were waiting, there were some fights that broke out between the human rights/tibet supporters and the Chinese who were there. It was the most police I have ever seen in my life, and they all lined up agains the crowd like you see in movies with riots. They even had to tackle some people who ran out to extinguish the torch and drag them off the street. It was rather dramatic. When the torch finally came through, it was surrounded by three levels of security. After that chaos, where we did get to see the torch (that was really cool), we went to a Chinese restaurant around the corner for lunch. After that we went to the Opera house were the Phantom of the Opera was set or created or something. The auditorium was closed, so me and Becky didn't pay to go in, but we waited for Katie and Karissa, who did. Then we walked home, did a little bit of shopping on the way, rested and then had dinner at the hostel again. After dinner me and Becky and Krisann went to get ice cream at the cafe we went to on the bike tour. As we were coming back, I was feeling a little sad and homesick. I passed a group of girls going to Sacre Cour and Moulin Rouge and thought that I wouldn't go with them, that I would just rest that night, but then I knew that resting would just be an excuse to lie in bed homesick. So I ran to my room, grabbed my bag, and caught up with them. And I'm so glad that I did. After a metro and way too many steps, we got up to Sacre Cour, took pictures of the city at night, and walked around the church, which was beautiful. After that we walked down the red light district to Moulin Rouge to take some pictures. We got some very yummy Parisian pastries on the way. And finally, after that, we went home to bed, and by that time I was tired, and reconnected to community, so I felt better.

On Tuesday, I got up, and went with a group to Versailles. We waited in line for several hours to get tickets and get in, but it was so lovely. I saw the Hall of Mirrors, the King and Queen's rooms, the door that Marie Antionette escaped through, and the beautiful gardens and fountains. On the way back into Paris, I asked for a milkshake from MacDonald's, and got a sundae, but it was delicious. I was late meeting Krisann and Becky at the Eiffel Tower, but just as I was leaving the metro, they walked by, and we got to walk there together. We got to the tower, and the other girls were going to go to the top, but having a slight fear of heights, I wasn't going to go. But I ended up going. The tower is 1,063 feet tall. According to Wikipedia, "when the tower was completed in 1889 it was the world's tallest tower — a title it retained until 1930 when New York Citys Chrysler Building (1,047 ft tall) was completed." And I went to the top of it. I think it was the highest I've ever been. We took the elevator, but I still think I almost passed out of fright. It was good once I got to the top though. And it was an amazing view. After we went down, we went to this cute little cafe for dinner, where I had roast chicken for dinner, with French fries in France, and Creme Brulee for dessert. Yum. Our waiter was so sweet too. When dinner was over, Krisann and I went to go take some more pictures, and then split up for a minute so she could go to the bathroom and I could check out a stand. When I was walking to meet her under the tower, I noticed all of the street vendors running. Apparently it's illegal for them to sell there, and they were being chased by police on bikes. Well anyways, one of the vendors dropped some of his little Eiffel Towers, and so I got one. Just one though, I was sad that the mob of other tourists noticed as well. But after that, it was starting to get late, so we went back to the hostel for the night, and I read and then went to sleep.

On Wednesday morning I went with Becky and Katie first to a really nice pastry shop named "Paul". I got a strawberry tart. Then we went and saw a bookstore Katie liked, did some shopping, and then went to see Victor Hugo's house and the place where the Bastille used to be. After that we did a little bit more shopping, and went to go get one last crepe before we left. As it was lunch time, I decided to get a savory crepe instead of a sweet one, and got a ham, egg, and cheese crepe. It was huge, and I couldn't finish it (we met one of the boys there, and he gladly helped me out), but it was so so so so good. mmmmm. After that we went back to the hostel, got our bags, and all 40 of us trouped through the metro to the train station, onto the Eurostar, on the bus in London, and back to the houses where we crashed after traveling for so long. I got nothing productive done that evening.

Today I slept in because class was canceled, and worked on homework. Slowly I'm getting everything done, but on Wedesday, I leave for Italy for a week. Oh goodness, it never stops.

And I'm Off Again.

I'm gone until Wednesday night. Don't miss me too much, I'll be in Paris.

Today I tried to catch up on schoolwork and get ready for Paris. Oh, and laundry too. Terribly exciting, I know. Sometimes life is like that.

Someday though, I'm gonna make a list of all the cool things I've done, and it's going to be pretty neat.

And as for Mexico this summer, now I'm going to Morelia, and the dates are still working out. Wow, I hope this all works out.

Two days.

Okay, so yesterday was kinda cool, today, not so much.

Yesterday I woke up, and went and toured three different Oxford colleges: Keble, New College, and Magdalene. Keble is interesting because they broke the mold and build out of brick. New College was the first to use the quadrangle, and they also have a large chunk of the original city wall, as well as some really interesting and cool decor in their chapel. Magdalene is beautiful, and also the college that C.S. Lewis taught at. And on the way home I went to Ben's Cookies for a double chocolate chip cookie and a cup of milk. Mmm.

I forget which day it was, but one day this week we also got to go eat dinner outside because it was beautiful and warm and still light outside. Amazing.

Today however, was my day that I got to spend inside writing papers.
Tomorrow may be that day as well. Woo!

What a beautiful day.

It's been such wonderful weather here in England for the past couple of days. I love it.

Today I woke up, and went to "class", where we met in the common room and watched the first half of "Shadowlands" because Cole Bennett, my C.S. Lewis teacher is teaching at this huge English conference in New Orleans. They paid to fly him in from England. He's such a good teacher.

After class I went to work at Oxfam for a few hours. After grabbing some milk at Sainsbury's I came home, read an Agitha Christie novel, had some dinner, and now I'm trying to do homework while watching a movie.