Tuesday Night is the new Friday Night, apparently.

So it's Tuesday night and since 96.8% of people have no lectures tomorrow they act like its Friday night. It doesn't bother me really, honestly. Right now I am hanging out with Nick, Shelty and Kevin via tok box. PTL for technology. 

I love it here so much. Though the one really annoying thing is that every Wednesday morning at any time between 7:30-9:30, they test the buildings fire alarms. Once a term, I understand. But every week? Last Wednesday, it went off 3 times before they stopped it. Oh well.

Last week I had my first week of classes...though I still feel like I'm in summer. This is the BIG boondoggle my mom has been talking about since I told her. I am only taking 2 classes and I'll get 24 UC units back. So one would think that I would have to camp in the library the whole time. Well, it turns out that I only have 6 hours of class a week. Two hours Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. It's kinda amazing, I have to admit. I am taking Greek Art and Architecture and gods, Myths, and Heroes:Religion in Ancient Greece with 20 people in each. They both are so interesting and it's a nice change from the normal 300+ science classes that I'm used to. I hope to do some of my reading on this huge grassy hill overlooking the city and cathedral.

Despite all of that scholastic greatness, this week I am pretty swamped with a 20 minute presentation on the sanctuary and temple of Poseidon in Sounion that I am giving this Friday. That's the main reason for the lack of blogging. 

It's been great here. Kevin and I are starting to get really connected with friends here as well as the Christian Union and City Church. God is good, really really good. I can't wait to see what He has in store for the next few months. 

We were in the city the other day and I had the best fish & chips that I've ever had. Perfectly battered and golden brown and delicious (as Alton Brown would say GBD). The cod was tender and moist. A splash of malt vinegar and a sprinkle of salt was all that my soon-to-be-clogged arteries needed. 

This weekend, we are going to Barcelona. We are meeting up with our friend, Janice, who is studying abroad in Cordoba, Spain. I am so excited and can't wait to go tapas bar hopping. 


Alright, off to bed. Cheers!

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!

Rocks in the Pocket

Today we all went to Chelsea's house (Shelty's dog house). It was bittersweet in that Shelty was leaving the Bay and moving back to Nebraska but Bethany was coming home from Haiti and Allison, Shelty's roommate from last year, just got engaged.

We had a grand ole time playing hand and foot, the new game Keener taught us, making cookie dough, taking fun pictures, and playing nertz. The best part of the night for me was when we had a much needed Jesus time.

     We talked about carrying the burdens of one another. We read Mark 2, the story of how Jesus heals the paralytic. The four friends had so much faith and love for their paralyzed friend that they carried him to Jesus, dug a hole into the roof, and lowered him down.Verse 5 says "When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, "Son, your sins are forgiven." The obvious hero in this passage is our course Jesus who has power to forgive sins as well as to heal people, that's why He's God. But taking a closer look, it was when Jesus saw the faith of the friends that healed the paralytic. They cared so much for their friend that they literally carried him to Jesus. These friends were probably the ones who took care of their friend - feeding, changing, and tending to his daily needs.

     We each took small rocks and wrote our initials on them. Going around in a circle, we each shared something that has been a burden on us this summer or an anxiety for the coming year- represented by the rock. We then threw our burdens into a pile and picked up the burden of another. We then spent a good amount of time in prayer. What a blessing it is to talk to our Father that like in the midst of my closest friends. I am going to try to remember to keep my rock in my pocket for at least the next week. Every time I feel it, I will pray for my person and it's also a reminder that I am being prayed for, which is definitely encouraging. We could all use it. 

Blessing of the day: that I have friends who are broken like me and help me carry my burdens.

I am blessed with God-loving friends.

Right now, I am filled with the joy that only God can give. I am so thankful for my friends, specifically the ones at home, many of whom I have known since the days of pokemon, and plus tallies. We have become a family which supports each other, prays for one another and desires to see each one follow the path that God has laid for us.

We have the light and love of Christ inside of us. How we express his love to others is up to us. We don't show His love in the same way. It's obvious that God has given us different strengths and talents so we can further His kingdom, it wouldn't make sense for all of us to have the same gifts. Because of these gifts, we show God's love to others in different ways. Some maybe more empathetic so they can minister to others emotionally; others still maybe more hospitable so they can minister to people's physical needs of food and shelter. The picture above is a reminder that we all have light but how God uses it to benefit His people is different.

I was also reminded how different we all are yet how we all fit together like a big, happy puzzle.It amazes me to see how God is working in all of our lives in such different ministries that work together to build up the body of Christ. I Corinthians 12. One is ministering to girls in a very secular sorority, another is the RA for girls in a Christian university, some are working in youth ministry (junior high, high school, and media) , another college fellowship. God has placed us in such different areas yet we are all working together to spread the love of Christ. How cool is God that He can do that.

Matt and Kim came back from a two week trip to Haiti. It was so awesome to hear how God was working through their team. Kim was working with orphans and children teaching them the love of Christ in the tent city. Matt was on the discipleship team; his stories are evidences of how God is working in the lives of his followers. It is also really nice to have part of our family back. One of our sisters, Bethany, is still in Haiti. Please pray for her.

 We made tikka masala, played nertz, devoured mango pudding and a huge pazookie, sang Happy Birthday to Kim, and took crazy/amazing pictures. amen.

Nick took all these gems.

Blessing of the day: this one is obvious: my friends who love God and seek to put him first in their lives.