101 Days in Europe

Ninety-Nine Days [Due to Snow] One Hundred and One Days In Europe.

Seven Countries.

Fourteen Cities.

Twenty New Passport Stamps.

Countless trips on Planes, Trains, Cars, the Tube, Coaches, Metros, Buses, Taxis, Ferries, Funiculars, and Countless Miles of Walking.

I miss Canterbury already and I haven't even left the country yet. It's a city filled great history, ancient buildings and amazing people. I would definitely go back in a heart beat.

God has really blessed us on these past three months. I can't believe how fast they have flown by. It seems like just yesterday when we first touched down in London for the first time.

Even thought we are stuck in London because of the snow, God still has worked things out. We are staying with our friends in London in a warm house. We could be living in the airport for three days or in a hostel with all our stuff. God really does provide.

He has blessed us throughout this entire trip from barely making flights to having a light load of course work to getting to know great people.

While being here, God has reminded me of His unconditional love for us. It doesn't matter what we've done or will do in the future, He loves us the same. That thought still amazes me.

One of the things that I was worried about was finding a church and a community of friends. When we moved in, we found a flyer for the Christian Union and City Church Canterbury. God gave us a clear sign of His provision from the beginning.

I've learned how to trust Him more and more. When I didn't worry as much, I found that things worked out for us. When flights were cancelled or delayed, God provided us a way to get back to Canterbury safely. He kept us safe on our travels as well.

We also learned about the church in England. It was amazing to see people from all over the world worshiping the same God. Our Lord isn't stopped by border or different cultures. He is above all of that is working in peoples' lives around the world.

With all of these blessings, I needed to make sure I was giving God the thanks that He deserves. He was the one who had provided us a way to go to Europe. He was the one watching over and us and keeping us safe. He was the one who provided a community to join and friends to get to know.

When we first arrived in Canterbury, we were warmly welcomed and it helped us adjust to life in another country. I am so blessed to have met these amazing people. I see Canterbury now as not just a place to visit but another home and I see my friends that I have made as apart of my family...my family with an English accent. You guys are the ones who have made this experience for me. I can't thank you all enough - this post is for you. Kevin and I really appreciate our books that you all signed and gave to us. They are the best souvenir we have from our time in Europe. When, not if, you guys visit California, you are more than welcome to stay with us and we'll show you our country this time. I am going to miss you all a lot. I will remember this experience for the rest of my life. Thank you guys, and Thank you God.

Stuck in Snowed-in London but God is good.

Saturday was an adventure to say the least. We planned to leave our campus at 2pm, take the uni bus into town and see our church's Christmas program at 4pm and then take the coach into London at 7pm and then stay with our friend Charlotte.

God had other plans.

At about 1pm, the skies turned white and snow fell and fell and fell. We packed up and got ready as soon as we could but by that time (2:30pm) no uni buses were running. We called taxis and they weren't running. We asked our friend, Josh, to pick us up. He tried to get up the hill but roads were closed. So our only option was to take all 3 bags of luggage each and trudge through the 8 inches of fresh snow a mile and a half into town. It was probably the hardest thing we've had to do since we got here. My suitcase handle broke too so that didn't make things easier. Two very very very long hours later with blistered hands and sore backs, we arrived at the train station (Our coach was cancelled when one inch of snow fell).

God allowed the trains to be running. We had just enough time to run into town and give our friends, Josh, Dave, David, and Laurence, a good-bye hug.

 Then we hopped on the train and arrived in London. That was the last train of the day and the trains were probably not going to run the next day due to ice.

Charlotte and her brother, Justin, picked us up and the Chin family welcomed us into their home. We were so blessed to be in a house with all our luggage and all in one piece. Their church small group was having their Christmas dinner that night, so Kevin and I joined in the carols, games, and feasting. Their family is the best.

Yesterday, we went to church with their family right by parliament, big Ben, and Westminster abbey. Then Charlotte, Kevin and I enjoyed [what we thought would be] our last day in London.

We went to one of Jamie Oliver's Italian restaurants. They make all their pasta on site. The rabbit ragu was quite nice I must say.

My favorite part was that the children's menus were viewfinders. AMAZING.

Then we went to the British Museum to see a special exhibition on the Egyptian Book of the Dead. Kevin and I took a class on Egyptian art dealing with the afterlife so it was really neat to see all the things we learned about.

Then we headed to the 2012 Olympic Village which is still being constructed. We saw the Olympic Stadium.

And the Aquatics Centre.

Hopefully, I can come back and see them completed and during the summer when there is no snow.

Speaking of snow, our flight for tomorrow was cancelled. Thanks to Mr. King and our travel agent, we were able to book a flight for Wednesday, so two days later. Thank you God for the Chins who are allowing us to stay with them. Things could be so much worse. We could be stranded in a hostel in London with all our stuff or sitting in the airport without blankets and food for three days. They are amazing and we appreciate them so much.

It's funny how England can't handle the snow. We haven't even seen a snow plow since we've been here. England shuts down with 6 inches of snow, the US shuts down with 6 feet. Despite all of this, I love still love England. Life's an adventure.

We woke up this morning and found a fox sleeping seeking shelter under a bench in the Chin's backyard.

Packing up, some good byes, and final day to explore town.

So we are almost done packing. It's a miracle that I've managed to fit everything in, thanks Christine for that extra duffel, I'm so glad I brought it. It's packed full.

This morning we had our last American Breakfast on Fridays. This tradition has been going on for the past seven weeks. We've got the whole process down to a science and now sadly its over.

This is Josh. We're trying to convince him to move to California.

After breakfast, we walked into town for our final day of exploring. We are leaving for London tomorrow night after our church's Christmas program, Xmas Factor (X Factor is like American Idol. Their version is with puppets, I'm excited). So today we wanted to visit our places throughout the city to say good bye.

We walked down into the city with our friend Sarah.

Sarah has an amazing voice and has a HUGE heart for Jesus

Doug came along too.

Doug is one of the best around. One of his many claims to fame is that he was on the TV show Shipwrecked (think English Survivor). Sorry Doug, more people need to know how amazing you are.

We did some last minute shopping around town. It was lightly snowing but it didn't settle so it was quite nice. It felt quite Christmasy. We said goodbye to our favorite book shops and the Cathedral. Man, I'm going to miss that Cathedral. After that we had to say good bye to Doug. That was a hard one. I hope to see him soon in California.

Then we went with the church interns Josh, Dave, and Sarah to run an errand to Herne Bay. We wanted to hang out with them and didn't have anything else to do, so why not?

As sad as today was it was a really great day. Tomorrow we are finishing up our packing and then heading down to Xmas Factor with all our suitcases. I anticipate some tears will be shed tomorrow, as we say good bye to our friends for a very very long time. Then onto London we go. We are staying with our friend Charlotte's family. On Sunday we are going to say good bye to London. Hopefully, we can squeeze a tour of the future Olympics sites in.

Then Monday morning we fly our to CALIFORNIA!!! See you all soon very, very soon.

By the way, I finally post about the food in Athens on Salt & Spatula. Check it out.

Some things I have learned about my great friends, the English.

After being here for over three months, I have come to know the English culture pretty well. They do speak English here but there are certain words that are different. Here are a few of my favourites/favorites:

fairylights - Christmas lights

wellys - rain boots

cheers - thanks

aubergines - eggplants

courjettes- zucchini

pram - stroller for young babies, think carriage

pushchair - wheel chair

kirby grip - bobby pins   

jelly - Jello

gutted - disappointed

uni - university  Also, College here is not uni. It's kinda like in between high school and uni. 

diary - calendar   I thought everyone wrote "Dear Diary, ..." for the first couple of weeks here.

torches - flashlight

sledge - sled   When it snowed here, we all went sledging.

braces - suspenders

fringe - bangs (hair)

jumper - sweatshirt

trainers - shoes

pants - underwear  This can be a little tricky. If let's say I wanted to wear shorts instead of pants.

trousers - pants

bin - trash can  This one still throws me. Some of English friends say "trash can" in a very American accent so we understand them. Gotta love 'em.

Brillant - awesome  If you're really cool, you say Brill.

So when I get back, I maybe saying some of these words. Now you will be able to understand what I'm saying. Also, many people asked if I would get an accent while being here. We're kinda got one. We still talk in a Californian accent but our inflection sometimes goes English. When Chelsea and Janice visited they said that they could tell that our speaking was more Englishy.

Kevin and I have also learned things about the amazing country known as England.

1. People are weighed in stones. 1 stone equals 14 pounds.
2. Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches are strange and are "so American." I guess in their mind they think peanut butter and jello which is quite weird, I agree with them on that
3. The English LOVE to queue and HATE those who jump the queue/those who are slightly to the right or left. Other European countries do not know how to form lines and make a mob or cut in front of people. We learned this while travelling around Greece and Spain.
4. Having a building built in the 1400's is a normal thing. So normal in fact that they converted one into a starbucks in Canterbury.
5. I love when our English mates pronounce very American words in an English accent. For example, our friend, Doug, pronounced Shamu's name "Shimooo (one syllable). We love you Doug.
6. Their whole country is smaller than our state of California, yet pretty much every city has their own accent. We're getting pretty good at telling accents apart...well kinda.
7. Instead of saying "What's their name?" they say "What are they called?"
8. England can't handle snow. Airports, buses, schools, train stations, and roads shut down. One would think after hundreds of years, they could get it.
9. English food is actually really good. Food here is fresh and not processed. I'm quite content with it.
10. Tea must be with milk and two sugars. It's the only way to go.

I really love English people. They're brill. You know what else is brill? Their coins. Like our state quarters, their 2009 coins when aligned form the royal shield of the UK. It took me forever but I finally got them all.

There is a possible chance of snow this weekend...please pray that it won't. We're checking the weather every five seconds. Our flight out of the country is on Monday at noon. Just to make sure we're not stuck in Canterbury, we are going to leave on Saturday afternoon and stay with our friend, Charlotte, who lives in North London. That means we'll have a day in London to say good bye to England. We're planning to take a 2012 Olympic site tour, see the Egyptian book of the dead in the British Museum (We took a class on it and its a special exhibition) and eat at one of Jamie Oliver's restaurants. This all means that we have less than two day in Canterbury. CRAZY.


I have a confession. Canterbury is my favorite city in the world. That is a huge statement to say but I realized I love California but I don't necessarily love a particular city as much as I love Canterbury. Don't get me wrong, California is still on top (Sorry, English friends). 


I should get packing, my stuff has doubled since I got here. Good night! California, I see you in 5 days.

Candlelit Christmas Carol Cathedral Service and a Farewell Party of sorts.

The night before we left for Greece, we had the amazing opportunity to attend a candlelit Christmas carol service at the Canterbury Cathedral - try saying that ten times fast. 

Hundreds of Uni students joined members of the community in singing to our God who was born over two thousand years ago. Have a listen.

We were each given a candle and during some part of the service, the lights were turned out and the massive Cathedral was lit by pure candlelit.

This is one of my new favorite Christmas Carols: The Holly and The Ivy.

 It was unbelievable and instantly brought me into the Christmas spirit.  

So Kevin and I realized that we have only four days left in the amazing city of Canterbury. Where has the time gone? We are going to leave on Saturday afternoon for London and spend our last Sunday in my favorite big city at the future Olympic 2012 sites and hopefully eat at Jamie Oliver's restaurant. Then we we fly out of the country on Monday at noon. Well, at least that's the plan. Rumor has it that snow is due on Friday, Saturday and Sunday which is no good for England and our flight out of here. I guess it's all in God's hands. I feel like I'm some kind of Christmas movie trying to get back before the 25th. It should all work out fine.

Tonight, we had a Farewell to the Americans Party. We ate pizookie, homemade apple pie, and played fish bowl and Mafia. It was such a good night.

I have made so many great friends here and I am so blessed to have them in my life. God has really blessed me. I don't know what I'm going to do when I get back. Good thing there is skype and facebook!

Athens, Greece: ancient history, tasty food, and helpful people

This weekend Kevin and I went on our last trip: Athens, Greece. 

One of the mains reasons that we wanted to visit, besides it being Greece, was because this term we are taking two classes on Greek history. One of them is Gods, Myths, and Heroes: Religion in Ancient Greece and the other one is Greek Art and Architecture. Our amazing professor, Efrosyni Boutsikas, told us which sites to see and gave us insider tips on Greece. Kevin and I learned alot in these classes and we are very very fortunate to have her as a professor. 

Day 1

We were pretty sleep deprived since Italy. I mean we did leave for Greece less than 2 days after returning plus school, planning and friends. So by the time we made it to Gatwick airport via the train, it was about midnight and we were pooped. We slept on the comfy plastic seats for about five hours which I think is pretty good for sleep in an airport. We then boarded our plane at 9am, flew to Greece in 3.5 hours and arrived in Athens at around 2pm (They're two hours ahead of England). So after walking to train to plane to bus to walking again, we were already quite tired. We were thinking it was going to be hot in Greece, it was 75 a day or two before but when we landed we saw things falling from the sky. We thought it was ash or something...nope, it was SNOW. SNOW IN ATHENS. I've never heard of such a thing. 


We found one of the restautants that I researched called Scholarhio in Plaka (Tripodon 14). You must find this place if you are ever in Athens. It's a traditional family style restaurant. They bring you 18 traditional dishes of the day ranging from moussaka to cheese pies (tiropita). You choose 5 and enjoy. 

We got the moussaka, bekri mezdes (stewed pork in wine), horta (boiled wild greens with lemon), tiropita, and keftedes (meatballs in tomato sauce). It was all so delicious. With this place, we were able to try 5 different Greek dishes. 

We were stuffed and very very sleepy. We relaxed and planned our day in the hostel.


Day 2


So a few things to mention about Athens. One, check the stike times. There were public transportation strikes every day that we were there so just plan accordingly. Two, during the winter, most of the archaeological sites and museums are free on Sundays.  We paid the low cost of nothing for all of them. Three, there is usually a student discount for transportation and museums. So ask away. 


We managed to pack everything ancient Greek into one day. We started with the National Archaeological museum in the morning which was free. We took the metro there and it was only 50 cents one way. 

We saw the Artemision Bronze which is either Zeus or Poseidon; it depends whether he is holding a lightning bolt or trident. 

Then we headed to the Acropolis. By this time the sun had come out and it was around 60 degrees, which is quite warm to us. We were SO EXCITED to see the acropolis after learning all about it in our classes. 

temple of athena nike

the parthenon

the erechthion with the sacred olive tree

Then walked to the Acropolis museum which was built last summer. Because we were English students, we got in for free! We were quite happy as we found out that basically the whole Parthenon is in the British Museum. The British museum says they have about half but in the acropolis museum there were only a few of the statues of the pediments that were original. So how did the 65 friezes, 19 pediment statues, 15 metopes, a column and one of the caryatid (women columns) end up in the British museum? It's quite an interesting story. The whole story is here but basically in the early 1800's, Lord Elgin had received permission to make drawings of the Parthenon from the Ottomans who ruled Athens at the time. But then Athens was going to be attacked so he was able to legally take the pieces from the Parthenon back with him to England for use in his own house. However, he was so broke that the British Museum bought them for only 34,000 pounds. He ended up penniless and broke. 


Of course, Greece wants the artifacts back but the British Museum has not complied. It's a big debate in art history. Should all of the art be kept in one place? What if something were to happen to the art? The UK is in a more stable economic environment than Greece so they have the capabilities to protect the art. It's a debate which keeps going back and forth.


After the museum, we headed to the Ancient agora and Roman agora. 

temple of zeus

The ancient agora was the central public space in ancient Greece. The temple of Hephaestus is the best preserved Greek temple. It was built in around 400BC and its still standing.

Then we hiked up Filipappous hill which boasts the best view of the acropolis and the Parthenon. 

Day 3


We started our day with a visit to the national gardens and parliament. We saw the changing of the guards who protect the tomb of the unknown soldier. 

We then walked around the Central Market which is a large, noisy, and crazy food market where you can buy all kinds of produce, grains, fish, meat, lamb, meat, and more lamb. We ate gyros for about 2 euro. They were quite tasty.

Kevin and I were sitting in Monastiraki square people watching. There are tons of pigeons in Greece and they aren't afraid of people. Maybe they should be. We saw this strange man grab a pigeon and hold it for a few minutes as if it were like a ball. Then he proceeded to stuff it in his backpack. Crazy man. We half laughed and half were confused.


We then took the train to the airport and started the final journey to Canterbury. On the plane, the steward was advertising newspapers and while in flight he read the headline "Suicide Bomber lives in England." I don't think the word "bomb" should ever be used on a plane let alone suicide bomber in England. 


After England, Greece was one of my favorite countries to visit. The people are so nice. We had people give us metro tickets, asked us if we needed directions and just say hi to us. My advice to anyone travelling to Athens would be check the strikes days, check for free museum days, check for student discounts, and stay in Plaka. It's centrally located between the temple of Zeus, the acropolis and syntagma square.

I can't believe this was our last trip in Europe. What's is more crazy is that I will be sleeping in my own bed in San Leandro, California is less than a week. I want to spend time with people here but at the same time, I  can't wait to see my family and friends. If only there was a way they could use a portkey to get to us. I'll have to think about that one. 

Orvieto and Tivoli, Italy.

So on Monday, Kevin and I took the train to Orvieto.

This town is located in the region of Umbria near Rome. It reminded of an Italian version on Canterbury. For example, it's an hour and half outside a major city. There is an amazing church in the city called the duomo.

The city take a few hours to explore. It was a great time to soak in the Italian-ness of it all.

 We walked around the cliffs which served as protection during its ancient history. They also gave views of the valleys.

We walked around the shops selling painted ceramics and other local art. There were many restaurants as well. We ended up eating at a restaurant called L'oste del Rei where I got the pappardelle with wild boar ragu. It was the best thing I ate in Italy.

We had a great day in Orvieto, I highly recommend taking a trip out there. It only costs about 9 euro round trip on the train.

Another day trip that I suggest is to Tivoli.

Tivoli is a city about 30 minutes away from Rome. We explored the city and went to the Villa D'Este, a villa built in the 1500's.

 It's a great example of Renaissance architecture and has many, many fountains.

These trips were really relaxing. It was nice to get out of the big cities for awhile and to soak up the Italian culture. Tonight we're heading to Gatwick airport again. This time we're going to Athens. Less than 36 hours ago I was in Rome and now we're heading to Greece. Three countries in four days. I need sleep, I guess that's what the plane is for. 

Time is passing by so quickly. One week from Monday, I will be home in California. I really miss friends and family back home. I can't wait to see all of you. Another issue is trying to repack everything. I think my stuff has doubled in quantity since we've been here. Well, I guess I should pack for Greece now. I'll be back on Monday night.