The Lord Provides. He really does.

God has really blessed me in so many ways. We are pretty much settled here in Canterbury. We have been to the city a few times now and we know our way around.

The city of Canterbury is what I imagine the stereotypical English countryside to be: huge, lush fields of grass dotted with oak trees, a clean, non polluted river full of fish and moor hens instead of plastic soda bottles and floating chip bags, and old brick buildings that have been around hundreds of years before our country even existed. There is so much character to it. It's just so......so...English. I don't know how else to put it.

This past week has been Freshers' Week, like our welcome week. So there has been no classes, or modules as they call them. Kevin and I have made a lot of friends at the Christian union on campus. They are really great people. Sometimes we just sat and talked for hours on a grassy hill overlooking the city and the cathedral. I guess that's no big deal to them. I think otherwise.

We also have been planning a lot of our trips throughout Europe. I mean, who wouldn't? We are going to meet up with our friend, Janice, who is studying in Cordoba, Spain. So far, we have booked Barcelona, Switzerland, Germany, Paris, and London. Hopefully, we'll get to Greece, Rome, Italy in general, and Vienna or Copenhagen (Which one is better? We need advice). So our flight to Bremen, Germany is only 10 pounds ($15) round trip. Isn't that a boondoggle (new word my mom says all the time)? Not all the flights are like that but still flying around Europe is pretty reasonable. Oh, we also found out we can take a bus to Dover. You know, white cliffs of Dover. Then take a ferry from Dover to Calais, France for only 8 pounds. I'm excited.

I am also really excited because we found a church here. We went this morning. It's called The City Church Canterbury. One of the main concerns I had was finding a church here. I was really involved in my church last past couple years in San Diego and I wanted to find a place where I could grow in and meet a body of Christ followers. It was the request I shared when we did the rock prayers with my friends at the very end of summer. God is so good! He provided this church; it's great. They meet at Canterbury High School, just like how Flood meets at Kearny High school. The congregation is mostly made up of students as well. They started a series called "How to be truly Happy" and we are going to go through the Sermon on the Mount found in Matthew.

Today, our pastor, Tom, shared about how our culture elevates the self but in reality we need to lower ourselves. It's so true, we are all broken people and we need a Savior to rescue us from the wrong things that we do. We are so blessed that we do not have to rely on our own doings but that we are saved by God's grace alone. That is something that we all could use a reminder in; read Romans 4 if you get the change today. It feels so good to have a church here; my heart is full of joy.

By the way, the chocolate is unbelievable here. I finished off my huge Galaxy bar while writing this post. Kevin is quite happy about that. Shelty, I'll bring some back don't worry.

Here are some pictures of Canterbury from the past few days. 

 

 

The Brilliant City of Canterbury

So as of a few days ago, we are all moved into the University of Kent in Canterbury. It's what you would think of as the typical English countryside. One of my new British friends said its known as the "garden of England." It's so green and full of open fields...I'll post on the campus later.

Anyways, people are really nice here. Kevin and I met the Christian Union and made a lot of new friends. They are so funny. We asked them what were some typical American foods and they said "apple pie, PB & J's and Reese's peanut butter cups, oh and hot dogs!" We told them that we had pb and j's that day and they were amazed. "So American, how cute", I guess. More like we don't have any pots or pans yet and we were hungry. But they are really great people, I can't wait to learn more about them. 

So yesterday, we went into our city of Canterbury. It's about a 30-40 minute walk....it's kinda long. I think that Kevin thought it was short but hey, potato, pahtahto. The walk is through a lush foresty woodland and through fields and then houses that resemble Privet Drive, but still its kinda far.

As we got into the main heart of town, it looks like Disneyland...only it's actually old.

 

We passed places that were around during the middle ages, now turned into Starbucks. It happens.

There was a gentleman selling fruit. I bought some strawberries, honey pears, greengages, which are like plums but they are sweet, tart, and have this pleasant green taste. They were all grown from around Kent, which I love. There is a Kent Food & Wine Festival that I am excited for this weekend. 

We visited the Canterbury Cathedral, it was AMAZING.


Founded in 602, the cathedral is one of oldest in England.

It is the cathedral for the Archbishop of Canterbury who is the  leader for the Church of England.

Then we got much needed kitchen supplies which are a lot cheaper here than in America, surprisingly. We ate lunch at a Thai place but the building from from the middle ages. It was really cool to see the thai elephant paintings hung on a white plaster wall with wood beams. 

I can't wait to explore this city more, it's a perfect town. Not too small and not to large. There are a bunch of places to get food too, that makes me a happier person.

Cheers!

London: the city that has basically everything.

 
We have seen A LOT of London these past 5 days. Kevin, my roommate from last year and one of my best friends, and I are getting pretty good at navigating the subterranean maze known as the tube as well as walking around the ancient city, if I do say so myself. Even one of the native Brits asked us where Covent garden was, when we told him the direction in our American accents, his face made one of those unforgettable faces, too bad I didn't have a camera ready. Here is a condensed version of our London trip with pictures so you can follow along without being too bored. 

Day 1

-Covent Garden

-National Gallery where works from Van Gogh, Raphael, and Michaelangelo are displayed

-accidentally wandered into Big Ben and House of Parliament. 

-Natural History Museum
 
- basically like a zoo except that all the animals aren't as lively (their dead) and stuffed. 

Honestly, I think it's pretty interesting because it was the way that the first zoologists studied animals. 

Day 2

-British Museum. 

There was too much to see here. Last year Kevin and I took an Egyptian art class at school. We were able to see so many of the piece we studied. 

Alisa, we wished you could see it with us!

It was chock full of artifacts and pieces of history from all over the world including the Rosetta stone, pieces from Nineveh, Sphinx's beard, head from Easter island. The list goes on and on.

-King's Cross where scenes from Harry Potter was filmed. Story: I went to the ticket area to a rather large gentleman and said "Hi, I'--" "Harry Potter?, platform 9 3/4, turn left and then another left" "Thankssss." How did he know? 

-British Library. There were original works from Mozart and Beethoven, notes from Leonardo di Vinci's notebook on flight, Jane Austen's writing desk, the original, handwritten copy of the Alice's Adventures Under Ground by Lewis Carrol (the first Alice in Wonderland), the Gutenberg Bible, the first copy of Beowulf that was written down, and so so much more. Sadly, no cameras were allowed. 

-Soho 

- Chinatown. Hearing a Chinese, British accents is one of those things that I will never get used to. "Ver you lie to siet?" Crazy.

Day 3 (this ones a doozy)

-Westminster Abby. The pope was due in today. So there was police and security gates everywhere. 

-House of Parliament

-Big Ben

-London Eye

-Tate Modern

-Borough Market. I hope to do a whole post about this one Salt&Spatula. Check in a day or so. : )

-Millenium Bridge

-Shakespeare's Globe Theatre

-London Bridge, it's not exciting at all. It's grey and cement. The cool one is the Tower bridge.

-St. Paul's Cathedral

-Tower Bridge

-Buckingham Palace. Her majesty wasn't there; she was with the Pope. "You know the Pope, God's friend the Pope." (quote from Mr. Sugimura)

-National Portrait Gallery

-UC orientation

Day 4

-Tate Modern, why not again? This time we had a tour guide.

-Thames Cruise. We saw the sites from the last day from the comfort of a ferry.

-Walking tour of London. Good thing this was at the same time the Pope was going to travel thorugh central London. It was cool to see all the police though. Every time a head of state visits, they put the UK Union flag and the other flag all the way down parade route.

-Wagamama. Japanese fusion restaurant. enough said.

Day 5

-academic orientation

-arrived to Canterbury

-checked in and registered. Now what? We don't know. We asked about orientation and then had the same puzzled look that we did. Oh well. class starts in a week. Time to meet and greet. Maybe a trip to Paris is in order. 

London was an amazing city, so rich in culture and history. The food was great too. We ate Korean, Thai, Chinese, and British food, with so many more to try. All the museum were free. I love that. It's great how anyone who wants to learn can go and learn for free. On that happy note, I am going to sleep. Cheers!

I'm packing up.

Well, the time has come. I can't believe it is already here. In less than 24 hours I will be on a plane headed to London. This semester I will be studying abroad at the University of Kent in Canterbury, England. It's about an hour southeast of London. The original Canterbury Tales were written by Chaucer at the end of the 14th century. They were stories of people  who took the pilgrimage to the Canterbury Cathedral. I can't wait to see the famous cathedral myself but unlike the pilgrims, my travels won't end there. This blog will tell of my tales and stories while living in the European continent.  

As some of you know, I created a food blog a little over six months ago called Salt & Spatula, it was formerly called Dorm(cooked).  Check it out if you haven't already. I'm kinda obsessed with food, I'll more than admit it. I even packed my favorite spatula to cook with. While I'm abroad and travelling around, I'll be updating this blog as well with anything that has to do with food. Hopefully it will be full of Barcelonian tapas, Parisian pastries, Roman pastas and pizzas, and London....um....fish and chips? OK, so the UK doesn't have the greatest food rep but honestly, it's really improving due to the influence of Asian, Indian, and European cuisines. But hey, they speak English right. At least I know what I'll be ordering.

I am really to see what God has in-store for this semester. I am really going to miss my home church, Flood, especially because I was a children's and youth intern last year. I can't wait to experience God not just as the God of America but also the Ruler and Savior of the entire world. His love transcends all borders and it doesn't matter if there are physical borders or language barriers; nothing can stop the love of Christ. I hope to show His love to those I meet and bring others to Him.  I would appreciate your prayers that I would find a body of Christ-followers on campus. I desire a place where I can grow in Christ and have fellowship with others. On this trip, I want God and showing His love to be my first priority. Here I go!