Fun Fact about England: It is against the law to have light switches or outlets in the bathrooms in England because they are worried people will electricute themselves by dropping things in the water. To turn on the light you pull a long string that hangs down from the light fixture.
Last night Kelsey, Bernice, Elizabeth and I all went to a pub for dinner. This is how a pub works, you go in and seat yourself and when you have decided what you want you go up to the bar and order your food (or drink). It was fun I had chicken and a salad, it was a lot of fun though. We sat around and talked and watched people dressed up in different costumes and walk up stairs to some private party. After we were going to go back to Bernice's house (she actually lives in a house not owned by the university) and watch the office. At her house we met her roommate Kate, she is an American and she is 31 and the "mother hen" of the house. We ended up talking to her for an hour or so, but it was lovely because she gave us a lot of useful information about banks, telephones, transportation, pretty much anything we could think of. After our millions of questions we tried to watch the office but it failed. Apparently hulu, pandora, and I think grooveshark do not work outside of the United States, we tried a website called surfthechannel but it said that we had watched 72 minutes that day (which was not true) so I will have to watch it another time, along with the biggest loser.
Kelsey, Elizabeth and I all walked home for the night it was about midnight when I got home, and I cam home to some noisy drunk people. One of my roommates had some people over and they drank a little too much. I went up stairs to see what was going on and found that only two of them were really drunk the other two were casually drinking. I really didn't mind staying up late and talking to them, this one kid Tyler and I talked for a while, he asked me a lot of questions about Barry which was really hard for me to talk about without crying but I somehow managed to do it. After a while my roommate got really sick from drinking too much, she was really embarassed she assured me about 20 times that she never drinks and she is known as a prude and kept apologizng. All of her friends said it was true, so I am not too worried about it, she had a really rough start getting here and everything so I think she got caught up in all the emotions.
I didn't end up going to bed until 2:00am but I slept the whole night and woke up at 8:30 this morning. I finally ate breakfast after not eating it for 2 days, it was amazing and reminded me of home since it was granola and yogurt! I met Bernice, Elizabeth and Kate for church and we tried Hull Community Church. Unfortunately we couldn't stay for the whole thing because we had a city tour at noon, but it was interesting. We had worship for 45 minutes, and then the sermon was about hope. I was worried I wouldn't know any of the songs but we sang a couple hillsong united which was really great "My God is the God who provides!" Next week we are going to try another church, but who knows I might end up back there.
We went on a bus to take a tour of the City Center (down town) and it was a lot of fun. "Mr. Hull" took us down town and showed us all of the historic buildings and pubs and told us some very interesting facts. ( I will post pictures later)
After the tour we were set free down town. Kelsey, Bernice and I went and got cellphones which was a huge amazing accomplishment. We ended up going to T-mobile Kelsey and I got to keep our phones from America (we actually have the same phone) and we just got SIM card for the United Kingdom and a pay as you go plan. I also went and got a converter because I bought one for Europe and not the U.K. which was another accomplishment.
Afterwards we went to another pub for lunch/dinner, and yes I ate chicken...again its pretty much the only thing I can eat that does not have wheat in it. The portions here are very large and thankfully one of the workers was able to scrounge up a to go box for Bernice and I since we had quite a bit of chicken left over.
Later tonight we are going to karaoke I don't know if I will sing but it will be fun to watch. Tomorrow we get to officially register, figure out what time our classes are and sign up for them (they do everything in person and by paper here so it is really frustrating, they are very behind in technology wise), hopefully open up a bank account, register with a doctor, and grocery shop!
I have much to do but thankfully I have friends to do it with.
Today I was getting slightly worried about finances, but I know God will provide so I am trying not to worry too much.
"My God is the God who provides!!"
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Saturday, January 30, 2010
It's a New Dawn, It's a New Day
God truly loves me and is totally taking care of me. After I wrote my rather depressing and quite emotional blog, I came home only to find all of my housemates there, it was great. One of them is from Chicago, which is nice to live with one American, one is from Sweden, and the other France (and you all know how much I love France). Amandine (my French housemate), Ilda(my Swedish housemate) and I all went to the party together which is where I discovered how naive I am. Apparently a "party" is really a club, so I had my first club experience last night and it was very...interesting. Basically they play really loud music and everyone sits around and talks and drinks and then when they are a little buzzed they will dance. That is definitely not my scene so Amandine and I left the party and went home. We got home at around midnight so I just got ready for bed and then went to sleep. It took me a while to fall asleep but I finally did. I woke up thinking that it was seven in the morning only to discover it was only 2:30am. I was so upset, I was cold, my stomach was hurting so bed and I couldn't even sleep. I woke up and opened the door and my housemate Ilda was just coming back. She asked me if I was okay, she was worried that she woke me up, but I told her that she didn't and told her what was wrong. She was so sweet, she talked to me and calmed me down and got me a glass of water. After she left I decided to try my ipod as a sleeping remedy. I decided to listen to a KC boiler room podcost called "Lean on Him" by Adam Cox, it seemed quite fitting for my mood. It was really great and really encouraging, and reminded me that I was not alone and that God was taking care of me.I don't quite remember it all because I ended up falling asleep but it really calmed me down and allowed me to sleep through the night until 7:30 this morning, when I woke up to a podcast called "Transition" by Pete Greig which was...ironic.
This morning I woke up and took a shower, and got ready for our orientation at 9:00am it was nice to semi start a routine. During the orientation meeting I started to feel really sick so I went to the bathroom and ended up throwing up. I am not sure if it was because I ate a granola bar with wheat in it yesterday or if it was because it was the only thing I had eaten in a day and half. Either way I felt a lot better after that, and was able to carry on for the rest of orientation. I met a few American girls today, one from Iowa named Elizabeth, one from Wisconsin named Bearnice and then I met up again with Kelsey. We all went out to lunch at a pub where I thankfully found something to eat without wheat in it (New York chicken) but I started feeling sick again so I couldn't eat it all. It was nice to talk to some Americans and I found out Kelsey and I were feeling the exact same way which was comforting. We walked around the town and found some shops I bought wheat free cereal and yogurt for £1.98! I am going to buy more groceries when we go on our city tour tomorrow.
I found a church down the road called Hull Community Church and Bearnice and I are going to go tomorrow morning together. She is involved in InterVarsity at her school in Wisconsin, which is such an answered prayer. I really wanted to find a Christian friend and I did, thank you Jesus!
Classes are suppose to start Monday but we have to sort out everything with our modules (classes) so I might not start my classes until next week, it all just depends.
I think that is everything for now, by the way all of my thoughts are in a British accent, it is rather funny!
This morning I woke up and took a shower, and got ready for our orientation at 9:00am it was nice to semi start a routine. During the orientation meeting I started to feel really sick so I went to the bathroom and ended up throwing up. I am not sure if it was because I ate a granola bar with wheat in it yesterday or if it was because it was the only thing I had eaten in a day and half. Either way I felt a lot better after that, and was able to carry on for the rest of orientation. I met a few American girls today, one from Iowa named Elizabeth, one from Wisconsin named Bearnice and then I met up again with Kelsey. We all went out to lunch at a pub where I thankfully found something to eat without wheat in it (New York chicken) but I started feeling sick again so I couldn't eat it all. It was nice to talk to some Americans and I found out Kelsey and I were feeling the exact same way which was comforting. We walked around the town and found some shops I bought wheat free cereal and yogurt for £1.98! I am going to buy more groceries when we go on our city tour tomorrow.
I found a church down the road called Hull Community Church and Bearnice and I are going to go tomorrow morning together. She is involved in InterVarsity at her school in Wisconsin, which is such an answered prayer. I really wanted to find a Christian friend and I did, thank you Jesus!
Classes are suppose to start Monday but we have to sort out everything with our modules (classes) so I might not start my classes until next week, it all just depends.
I think that is everything for now, by the way all of my thoughts are in a British accent, it is rather funny!
Friday, January 29, 2010
The Journey/Temporary Home
Well here it is...the long awaited blog post.
The goodbyes at the airport were to my surprise quite emotional...yes even my hard heart cracked a little bit. Although I must say it was not much help having Barry there, my mom crying (who NEVER cries about things like this) my dad, and my dera friend Patty came to surprise me and see me off. I held myself together as best as I could and said my goodbyes and was off. My flights went smoothly, they were long but both arrived and departed on time. I had no trouble with my flights (except that I almost missed my flight from Georgia!) Thankfully God had an eye for me this whole trip! I did not sleep at all on the plane (so if this blog makes no sense that is why), once our plane landed in England I met a girl on my flight named Kelsey who was going to the same school so we walked together and helped each other out. We waited in customs for probably 15 minutes and went to claim our baggage, we were the first people from our school to arrive which consequently allowed us to have wait an hour and half before we could leave the airport. Once we left the airport it was a 2 hour drive to the school, I tried to dose on and off on the drive because I was feeling sick but it didn't really work. Once we were at the University of Hull we had a quick introductory meeting and were taking to our housing...and that is where I sadly had to depart from my friend Kelsey with no way of getting a hold of her. I went to my housing and to my unfortunate surprise none of my housemates have arrived yet...so I was very alone. I left my house to get some money and to purchase an internet cable so I could have internet in my room. I came back from my adventure only to be disappointed that the cable doesn't fit. So, I had no sleep, I had yet to cry, I was alone...so I cracked. I just broke down and started crying, wishing to give anything to come back to America. After much praying and calming myself down I managed to unpack everything and decided to feel more comfortable. I decided I would just go to sleep and in the morning things would be better. Well... ended up only being able to sleep for a couple of hours. Bored out of my mind I took a walk to the library and that brings me to where I am now...writing this blog in the computer lab. There is a party tonight for all the international students at 11:00-midnight so hopefully that will cheer me up and get my mind off things. I still feel really sick, I need to eat but I don't have any food and I don't see anything around.
Prayers are much needed and appreciated.
Tomorrow we have orientation and tours and I think once everything gets figured out I will feel much better.
That is all for now.
Ps: Carrie Underwood's new CD makes for great airplane music!
The goodbyes at the airport were to my surprise quite emotional...yes even my hard heart cracked a little bit. Although I must say it was not much help having Barry there, my mom crying (who NEVER cries about things like this) my dad, and my dera friend Patty came to surprise me and see me off. I held myself together as best as I could and said my goodbyes and was off. My flights went smoothly, they were long but both arrived and departed on time. I had no trouble with my flights (except that I almost missed my flight from Georgia!) Thankfully God had an eye for me this whole trip! I did not sleep at all on the plane (so if this blog makes no sense that is why), once our plane landed in England I met a girl on my flight named Kelsey who was going to the same school so we walked together and helped each other out. We waited in customs for probably 15 minutes and went to claim our baggage, we were the first people from our school to arrive which consequently allowed us to have wait an hour and half before we could leave the airport. Once we left the airport it was a 2 hour drive to the school, I tried to dose on and off on the drive because I was feeling sick but it didn't really work. Once we were at the University of Hull we had a quick introductory meeting and were taking to our housing...and that is where I sadly had to depart from my friend Kelsey with no way of getting a hold of her. I went to my housing and to my unfortunate surprise none of my housemates have arrived yet...so I was very alone. I left my house to get some money and to purchase an internet cable so I could have internet in my room. I came back from my adventure only to be disappointed that the cable doesn't fit. So, I had no sleep, I had yet to cry, I was alone...so I cracked. I just broke down and started crying, wishing to give anything to come back to America. After much praying and calming myself down I managed to unpack everything and decided to feel more comfortable. I decided I would just go to sleep and in the morning things would be better. Well... ended up only being able to sleep for a couple of hours. Bored out of my mind I took a walk to the library and that brings me to where I am now...writing this blog in the computer lab. There is a party tonight for all the international students at 11:00-midnight so hopefully that will cheer me up and get my mind off things. I still feel really sick, I need to eat but I don't have any food and I don't see anything around.
Prayers are much needed and appreciated.
Tomorrow we have orientation and tours and I think once everything gets figured out I will feel much better.
That is all for now.
Ps: Carrie Underwood's new CD makes for great airplane music!
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
The Reason Why
I had a friend email me some questions asking why I am studying abroad and such and we both thought the answers to these questions would be a great blog post.
I will start with the reason why I am going. I am studying abroad for a few reasons. One, because ever since high school I have wanted to study abroad and travel the world (especially Europe) originally France was my country of choice but after weighing the pros and cons of taking courses in a foreign language I started looking at English speaking countries. After looking at schools in the Netherlands, Sweden, and England I obviously decided on England. My choice to study at the University of Hull in England came from discovering how many education classes (Elementary Education being my major) they had and assuming that at least one of them would transfer to NAU. I picked out a few education classes that sounded similar to the ones NAU offered and to my disappointment found out that not a single one would transfer for credit towards my major.
So, I spent a day in depression (Barry and Emily can attest to this) but the next day I decided that I wasn't going to let that stop. I knew God wanted me to go abroad, I could just feel it and I wasn't going to let a few credits get in my way. It was getting down to the wire and I had to scramble some elective last minute classes together and submit my application to the study abroad office. It was two days before my application was due and I received an urgent email that evening from my adviser explaining that my application needed to be in England by tomorrow. I was panicking and again started to doubt whether this was really possible, but thankfully God is so much bigger then deadlines. I managed (by the grace of God) to pull everything together that morning, and take my application to the study abroad office so that it could be faxed over to the University of Hull that day, and they received it and I was accepted. I also received a study abroad scholarship, the way everything was falling together perfectly I knew this was something that God wanted me to do because I couldn't have planned it this way even if I wanted to.
I also want to study abroad in Europe because I think that people often overlook that area of the world. So often we go on missions trips to third world countries (which is absolutely amazing and I am all for it), but we forget that there are countries in Europe that need Jesus Christ just as much. I want to be a light in England and the countries I travel to throughout Europe, I want to show them Jesus, real love, and hope. I pray I can do that in every aspect of my life while I am over there.
I was also asked, what do I hope to learn, and give back to England, and how do I want to grow while I am there. Since I am entering into a new culture, I really want to learn everything there is to know about European culture (I know, I know, cliche) and I want to share with them everything I have to offer (mainly Jesus and his love). Since I have never been out of the country and I have never been truly on my own I expect to grow in so many ways, I expect to become more outgoing since it will almost be a necessity, I expect to gain more confidence, and to stretch and grow in my relationship with God on a completely new level.
The last question I am going to answer (at least for tonight this post is getting rather long) is "What is the state of my heart as I am preparing to leave for England." Honestly, it is a mixture of emotions, I am so excited to finally be going I feel like I have been talking about it for so long and now it is coming to life, plus I get to see and discover a whole new part of the world. I feel anxious and nervous because I have no idea what to expect or really what is going to happen once I get over there, (and I am nervous about wandering around the airport all by myself.) I feel really stressed because I hate packing, and I have to pack up my life for 6 months in 100 pounds, and there is so much I still need to get done. I of course am feeling sad, I hate saying goodbye and I have been doing it for the past two weeks, its weird to think I won't be seeing any of these people for about 6 months, but I surprisingly haven't really cried yet (I know, I'm heartless!) and my last feeling I hate to say is jealousy. Seeing all my friends at NAU post pictures and statuses about their weeks, friends and routines, it makes me sad that I am going to be missing out. Of course I will have an amazing time, but I am going to miss everyone and my routine. I am going to miss going to class and seeing friend from IV, prayer team meeting (family hang out =]) bible study, Intervarsity, prayer lunch, having deep heartfelt discussions about Jesus, reading and trading books (even though I will still be doing that), grocery shopping, Northland, and randomly getting together with friends to eat, hang out, and enjoy each others company.
I hope this answers some questions that anyone had, and I apologize for how lengthy this post is
I will start with the reason why I am going. I am studying abroad for a few reasons. One, because ever since high school I have wanted to study abroad and travel the world (especially Europe) originally France was my country of choice but after weighing the pros and cons of taking courses in a foreign language I started looking at English speaking countries. After looking at schools in the Netherlands, Sweden, and England I obviously decided on England. My choice to study at the University of Hull in England came from discovering how many education classes (Elementary Education being my major) they had and assuming that at least one of them would transfer to NAU. I picked out a few education classes that sounded similar to the ones NAU offered and to my disappointment found out that not a single one would transfer for credit towards my major.
So, I spent a day in depression (Barry and Emily can attest to this) but the next day I decided that I wasn't going to let that stop. I knew God wanted me to go abroad, I could just feel it and I wasn't going to let a few credits get in my way. It was getting down to the wire and I had to scramble some elective last minute classes together and submit my application to the study abroad office. It was two days before my application was due and I received an urgent email that evening from my adviser explaining that my application needed to be in England by tomorrow. I was panicking and again started to doubt whether this was really possible, but thankfully God is so much bigger then deadlines. I managed (by the grace of God) to pull everything together that morning, and take my application to the study abroad office so that it could be faxed over to the University of Hull that day, and they received it and I was accepted. I also received a study abroad scholarship, the way everything was falling together perfectly I knew this was something that God wanted me to do because I couldn't have planned it this way even if I wanted to.
I also want to study abroad in Europe because I think that people often overlook that area of the world. So often we go on missions trips to third world countries (which is absolutely amazing and I am all for it), but we forget that there are countries in Europe that need Jesus Christ just as much. I want to be a light in England and the countries I travel to throughout Europe, I want to show them Jesus, real love, and hope. I pray I can do that in every aspect of my life while I am over there.
I was also asked, what do I hope to learn, and give back to England, and how do I want to grow while I am there. Since I am entering into a new culture, I really want to learn everything there is to know about European culture (I know, I know, cliche) and I want to share with them everything I have to offer (mainly Jesus and his love). Since I have never been out of the country and I have never been truly on my own I expect to grow in so many ways, I expect to become more outgoing since it will almost be a necessity, I expect to gain more confidence, and to stretch and grow in my relationship with God on a completely new level.
The last question I am going to answer (at least for tonight this post is getting rather long) is "What is the state of my heart as I am preparing to leave for England." Honestly, it is a mixture of emotions, I am so excited to finally be going I feel like I have been talking about it for so long and now it is coming to life, plus I get to see and discover a whole new part of the world. I feel anxious and nervous because I have no idea what to expect or really what is going to happen once I get over there, (and I am nervous about wandering around the airport all by myself.) I feel really stressed because I hate packing, and I have to pack up my life for 6 months in 100 pounds, and there is so much I still need to get done. I of course am feeling sad, I hate saying goodbye and I have been doing it for the past two weeks, its weird to think I won't be seeing any of these people for about 6 months, but I surprisingly haven't really cried yet (I know, I'm heartless!) and my last feeling I hate to say is jealousy. Seeing all my friends at NAU post pictures and statuses about their weeks, friends and routines, it makes me sad that I am going to be missing out. Of course I will have an amazing time, but I am going to miss everyone and my routine. I am going to miss going to class and seeing friend from IV, prayer team meeting (family hang out =]) bible study, Intervarsity, prayer lunch, having deep heartfelt discussions about Jesus, reading and trading books (even though I will still be doing that), grocery shopping, Northland, and randomly getting together with friends to eat, hang out, and enjoy each others company.
I hope this answers some questions that anyone had, and I apologize for how lengthy this post is
Monday, January 18, 2010
Welcome
Hello everyone and welcome to my blog. I am writing this blog for two reasons: one because writing a blog is a requirement for my study abroad scholarship, and two because I thought writing a blog would be a great way to keep everyone up to date on what I will be doing these next 5 months.
I hope you enjoy my blog and feel free to check out the other blogs that I read.
Alida Oegema: http://alidaoegema.blogspot.com/
Bridget Gee: http://iamstitch.wordpress.com/
Anthony Gee: http://anthonygee.wordpress.com/
Ally Liem: http://allison-liem.blogspot.com/
Jessica Stephenson: http://jessicastephenson.wordpress.com/
All of these people have really valuable and important things to say, so if you have the time you should read them!
I hope you enjoy my blog and feel free to check out the other blogs that I read.
Alida Oegema: http://alidaoegema.blogspot.com/
Bridget Gee: http://iamstitch.wordpress.com/
Anthony Gee: http://anthonygee.wordpress.com/
Ally Liem: http://allison-liem.blogspot.com/
Jessica Stephenson: http://jessicastephenson.wordpress.com/
All of these people have really valuable and important things to say, so if you have the time you should read them!
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