So, I wasn't nearly as proactive with this blog as I was with my French one, but I guess this will be the end of this adventure. I'm back in Indiana, surrounded by college life and Indiana landscape. It's currently snowing and it reminds me of when I stepped out of my classroom in France and I saw people using their umbrellas to keep the "white rain" off of their heads... I bet if I did that here, so many people would laugh and wonder why I was doing such a thing. It makes me miss Europe. I saw people use their umbrellas in snowstorms in the UK as well. When you think about it, it's actually quite practical. I mean, why put up with snow blowing in your face when you can use an umbrella to block the flakes from flying into your eyes? I guess the rational behind using umbrellas during a snowstorm isn't quite as silly to me anymore.
I knew that being back in the US would be quite an adjustment, I just didn't understand how much of an adjustment. Not only are you walking around a college campus all the time and running into the same people who speak your language, but you are in a constant routine of going to class, doing homework, pretending you're doing homework, going to the DC, hanging out with friends, etc. I can no longer get "lost" in the city of Tours or London and watch other cultures interact. I miss having to pay extra to be able to sit down to drink my coffee, as weird as that sounds. I miss walking by patisseries and smelling the freshly baked breads and pastries. I miss needing to watch where I step so I don't step in dog poo. Weird, huh? It feels silly being back on a college campus. It felt like I was done with college last spring, yet I'm back again, trying to fit into the same mold as last year. It's impossible. People move on and change. I've changed. It's a bittersweet thing to realize that I will never fit the same way with certain people again. Don't get me wrong- growing up and preparing for the real world is a beautiful and necessary thing... It's just that it moves faster than I'd like sometimes.
I feel like I'm caught in a twilight zone of sorts... I don't really know where I am and I don't know what's normal to feel. I don't know how to act around people I used to know really well and I even want to disappear sometimes. I feel like a freshman all over yet I'm so over this college-thing. I'm hoping those feelings will change once I really start processing and realizing which part of my life I'm in. This is the part where you can't rush time... time will rush you.
Friday, February 5, 2010
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Oxford, Shakespeare, and C.S. Lewis
Quite the action-packed title, isn't it? I feel like that's what the last couple of days have been... The only reason I have time to write a little on here is because we're burning time before going back to London. We'll be grabbing a train out of here and then finding our way to the hotel at the edge of Hyde Park, where we'll be living for the rest of our trip.
So far, we've walked a lot and experienced a lot of great literary things. York will always hold a special place in my heart, I have loved being in Oxford. It had the smaller town feel, even though it is larger than York. I've gotten to talk to a lot of people, too. Yesterday at breakfast, I talked with a man from Yorkshire and it was great to hear some of his stories and what was going on with him. Before, I would not have been one of those people to talk to complete strangers, but I guess I'm getting more comfortable with strange situations... if meeting strangers can be considered strange... ;)
Stratford-upon-Avon was a great little town, but the obvious toll that tourism took on it really bugged me. It was very obvious that everyone wanted to visit the town of Shakespeare, but it's really all just relics that could have been during the time of the great author... and it felt creepy after a while. It could almost be considered a form of idolatry, if you take it to the extreme. I mean, you're following the life and marveling at the possessions of a deceased person... and that just seems wrong to me. I mean, I enjoyed seeing the houses and learning more about Shakespeare, but it started to bother me greatly.
Visiting the Kilns, C.S. Lewis' house, felt different. While there are things that were put to the artifact status, the house is still lived in by students and isn't a museum. I have to admit, I'm a little more biased toward Lewis, so I was a little more interested with the story... Overall, it was a great experience.
I'm glad to be leaving Oxford, mainly because our room at the hostel STUNK really badly. When we first entered into the room, it smelled strongly of mildew and b.o. Every time we would come back from walking around the town, people would remove their soaked socks and the room would smell even worse... I'm so thankful that we'll be in a hotel for the next two weeks. I'm hoping it will smell pleasant... or at least tolerable ;)
I've learned a lot here and it's hard to imagine that we'll be going over even more information and literature. Looking at the syllabus, we've only discussed 1/4 of the material for the course... The next two weeks are going to be very intense. Thankfully there will not be as much traveling or time lost with that. I'll just need to be intentional with the use of my time.
Now back to London...
So far, we've walked a lot and experienced a lot of great literary things. York will always hold a special place in my heart, I have loved being in Oxford. It had the smaller town feel, even though it is larger than York. I've gotten to talk to a lot of people, too. Yesterday at breakfast, I talked with a man from Yorkshire and it was great to hear some of his stories and what was going on with him. Before, I would not have been one of those people to talk to complete strangers, but I guess I'm getting more comfortable with strange situations... if meeting strangers can be considered strange... ;)
Stratford-upon-Avon was a great little town, but the obvious toll that tourism took on it really bugged me. It was very obvious that everyone wanted to visit the town of Shakespeare, but it's really all just relics that could have been during the time of the great author... and it felt creepy after a while. It could almost be considered a form of idolatry, if you take it to the extreme. I mean, you're following the life and marveling at the possessions of a deceased person... and that just seems wrong to me. I mean, I enjoyed seeing the houses and learning more about Shakespeare, but it started to bother me greatly.
Visiting the Kilns, C.S. Lewis' house, felt different. While there are things that were put to the artifact status, the house is still lived in by students and isn't a museum. I have to admit, I'm a little more biased toward Lewis, so I was a little more interested with the story... Overall, it was a great experience.
I'm glad to be leaving Oxford, mainly because our room at the hostel STUNK really badly. When we first entered into the room, it smelled strongly of mildew and b.o. Every time we would come back from walking around the town, people would remove their soaked socks and the room would smell even worse... I'm so thankful that we'll be in a hotel for the next two weeks. I'm hoping it will smell pleasant... or at least tolerable ;)
I've learned a lot here and it's hard to imagine that we'll be going over even more information and literature. Looking at the syllabus, we've only discussed 1/4 of the material for the course... The next two weeks are going to be very intense. Thankfully there will not be as much traveling or time lost with that. I'll just need to be intentional with the use of my time.
Now back to London...
Saturday, January 9, 2010
Scotland isn't quite as green as I'd thought it'd be
Being here just a little under 24 hours has given me some perspective of the culture here and it's definitely anti-tourist in the winter. The city itself is beautiful, even though I wish I could be back in York.
York had a homey feel, much like Tours, with the medieval quarters and the cathedrals and the small shops that weren't really tourist-y. Now, we're surrounded by tourist shops and cold stone buildings. We visited the Writers' Museum and St. Giles Cathedral yesterday. The Museum was really neat. It has three different authors tributed: Sir Walter Scott, Robert Burns, and Robert Louis Stevenson. These three men were (and are) Scotland's most famous authors/poets. I was really excited to see that. I also enjoyed St. Giles Cathedral. It was different from the one in York. This cathedral is a Presbyterian church, rather than Anglican or Catholic.
Today, we're visiting Edinburgh Castle and the University of Edinburgh. It's chilly, but I'm looking forward to walking around in the city during the day. The sun rises later here, which I thought was pretty interesting.
Later!
York had a homey feel, much like Tours, with the medieval quarters and the cathedrals and the small shops that weren't really tourist-y. Now, we're surrounded by tourist shops and cold stone buildings. We visited the Writers' Museum and St. Giles Cathedral yesterday. The Museum was really neat. It has three different authors tributed: Sir Walter Scott, Robert Burns, and Robert Louis Stevenson. These three men were (and are) Scotland's most famous authors/poets. I was really excited to see that. I also enjoyed St. Giles Cathedral. It was different from the one in York. This cathedral is a Presbyterian church, rather than Anglican or Catholic.
Today, we're visiting Edinburgh Castle and the University of Edinburgh. It's chilly, but I'm looking forward to walking around in the city during the day. The sun rises later here, which I thought was pretty interesting.
Later!
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
It's a bit chilly...
Traveling to London was a nice experience. Every thing is delayed due to weather. Of course, England is seeing a bit more snow than France did... Our plan was delayed about an hour, but that didn't really matter to us because we didn't have any connecting flights, thankfully. We checked into our hostel right across from the St. Pancreas (sp?) station. The hostel was really nice and clean, but Dr. Baker had to buy towels for us. First souvenir: a towel from a hostel in London. Not bad. Everyone was exhausted, but we tried to force ourselves to stay awake. We all met up again and went walking for a little while. We went into a restaurant called "Giraffe" for lunch and I had a pretty nice salad. It was nice to eat all together as a group, but everyone was so tired. I was really amused to watch the people slump as the food processed and the warmth started lulling them to sleep. Afterwards, we did a small walk around St. Paul's Church where Eliza Doolittle sold flowers in "My Fair Lady" which made me pretty happy. We walked around a little on our own for about 30 minutes before meeting up as a group where Dr. Baker met us with truffles. I guess I'm spoiled by French chocolates... but they were pretty good.
We then went back to the hostel where we took showers and struggled to stay awake. One of my roommates was fast asleep by 5pm. I was asleep by 6:45pm... and I was trying to stay up later... At least we got some good sleep. This morning, we went to breakfast and I had a pretty substantial meal, which was good because lunch was a long way off. We had checked out of the hostel by 8:45am and on the train to York by 9:30am.
London is a pretty city. Different than Paris or Tours, but that's quite alright. We got on a train to go to York today and we were delayed yet again. Arriving in York an hour later than we had planned, we went straight to the Youth hostel via taxis and got settled before going out to find lunch (at 2pm) and then on to York Minster. We ate a small "hole-in-the-wall" sandwich shop called "Doorsteps" where the workers were extremely nice and it had yummy cheap food. I'll probably buy my lunch there tomorrow. York is a very nice town, reminding me a little more of the small towns I saw in France, although the personalities were different. We went to the Epiphany service at York Minster this evening, which was interesting. I can honestly say that I've been to an Anglican service in a cathedral now. Woot.
We went exploring before and after the service and that was great. We went into a Beatrix Potter shop and all of us girls went "oh, so cute!" to just about everything. After the service, we all split up to go to different places for dinner. My group started out as six, but we lost two because they went ahead... we ended up at an Indian restaurant in a pub... figure that one out. We just ate rice and then split a dessert, but it was quite an experience. The waiters spoke very little English and they said "Thank you" whenever they handed you anything. When we ordered the rice, it came in a small silver dish which we were going to eat out of until the waiter told us to put it on our plates... oopsies. We had a good laugh. Then, they took forever to give us the check, so I was going to go up and ask for the check... And I was going to ask in French for fun, but I took pity on the small Indian guy so I just asked, "Can we get the check, please?" to which he responded, "The bill." And I said, "Yes, the bill." Then he said, "Thank you." and walked away. That was one of the strangest exchanges I've had yet. Laughed with that one, too.
Now, I'm chilling in the lobby of the hostel. Tomorrow, we'll go on a tour of York Minster and I'll give my presentation... hooray!
Until next time!
We then went back to the hostel where we took showers and struggled to stay awake. One of my roommates was fast asleep by 5pm. I was asleep by 6:45pm... and I was trying to stay up later... At least we got some good sleep. This morning, we went to breakfast and I had a pretty substantial meal, which was good because lunch was a long way off. We had checked out of the hostel by 8:45am and on the train to York by 9:30am.
London is a pretty city. Different than Paris or Tours, but that's quite alright. We got on a train to go to York today and we were delayed yet again. Arriving in York an hour later than we had planned, we went straight to the Youth hostel via taxis and got settled before going out to find lunch (at 2pm) and then on to York Minster. We ate a small "hole-in-the-wall" sandwich shop called "Doorsteps" where the workers were extremely nice and it had yummy cheap food. I'll probably buy my lunch there tomorrow. York is a very nice town, reminding me a little more of the small towns I saw in France, although the personalities were different. We went to the Epiphany service at York Minster this evening, which was interesting. I can honestly say that I've been to an Anglican service in a cathedral now. Woot.
We went exploring before and after the service and that was great. We went into a Beatrix Potter shop and all of us girls went "oh, so cute!" to just about everything. After the service, we all split up to go to different places for dinner. My group started out as six, but we lost two because they went ahead... we ended up at an Indian restaurant in a pub... figure that one out. We just ate rice and then split a dessert, but it was quite an experience. The waiters spoke very little English and they said "Thank you" whenever they handed you anything. When we ordered the rice, it came in a small silver dish which we were going to eat out of until the waiter told us to put it on our plates... oopsies. We had a good laugh. Then, they took forever to give us the check, so I was going to go up and ask for the check... And I was going to ask in French for fun, but I took pity on the small Indian guy so I just asked, "Can we get the check, please?" to which he responded, "The bill." And I said, "Yes, the bill." Then he said, "Thank you." and walked away. That was one of the strangest exchanges I've had yet. Laughed with that one, too.
Now, I'm chilling in the lobby of the hostel. Tomorrow, we'll go on a tour of York Minster and I'll give my presentation... hooray!
Until next time!
Friday, January 1, 2010
Here we go...
Today is the first day of 2010 and I will spend it packing and jamming all the time I have into different segments to hang out with family and friends... Then, at the crack of dawn tomorrow, I will be driving with my father to Chicago in my college junk-laden car. It's a little complicated, but I can safely say that I get by with a little help from my friends. London has never been a big dream like France, but I'm going anyway. When I started going to Taylor University, I saw pictures of the London program and always wished that I could go, thinking there was no way I could do both France and England, much less in the same school year. When the opportunity arouse, I jumped on it and even planned on spending Christmas in Europe, not returning to the States until spring semester starts in February. I guess this goes to show, yet again, the difference between what God had planned and what I wanted to happen. Eventually, I realized that coming home would be the best decision, and it really has been. Time has kicked into warp speed and I feel like nothing will slow down until I reach the corn fields of Upland, Indiana.
The thought of England and London are very overwhelming at this point, much like France was right before I left. There are certain things that will never change... I think I will always feel apprehensive about leaving the country for extended periods of time. Although, this time, I console myself by saying, "It's only 3.5 weeks... Paris was 2.5 and that went really well."
That being said, I have to go work on packing and getting the rest of my college junk in order and spend the last day in Colorado Springs in a meaningful way... It's going to be a busy next 24 hours, but I can do it. My dad and I plan on pulling out of here around 5am tomorrow, so I'll be on the road in less than 24 hours... We'll see how the procrastination of packing works... Let's hope that I get done in time ;)
Please be praying for safe travels (especially with the airport issues right now) and that the activities go smoothly. Even though I was abroad last semester, this will be completely different, I'm convinced of that. I guess I'm ready though, because God is making this happen...
The thought of England and London are very overwhelming at this point, much like France was right before I left. There are certain things that will never change... I think I will always feel apprehensive about leaving the country for extended periods of time. Although, this time, I console myself by saying, "It's only 3.5 weeks... Paris was 2.5 and that went really well."
That being said, I have to go work on packing and getting the rest of my college junk in order and spend the last day in Colorado Springs in a meaningful way... It's going to be a busy next 24 hours, but I can do it. My dad and I plan on pulling out of here around 5am tomorrow, so I'll be on the road in less than 24 hours... We'll see how the procrastination of packing works... Let's hope that I get done in time ;)
Please be praying for safe travels (especially with the airport issues right now) and that the activities go smoothly. Even though I was abroad last semester, this will be completely different, I'm convinced of that. I guess I'm ready though, because God is making this happen...
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