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.