Three days until we leave.
Three days until I see Ireland.
Five days until I leave Europe for who knows how long.
Five days until I get to eat Giordano's.
Five days until I see my brothers, parents, cousins and aunt!
Ten days until I see even more family, and they get to meet the love of my life!
Thirteen days since I dropped off film to be put on a photo CD.
Twenty days since I got engaged.
Thirty-four days since I've seen my family.
Fourty-five days since I've seen my sister.

That's enough math for today.

Italian City, English Language, African Cast

We took a trip yesterday to Stratford-upon-Avon. Fun fact of the day is that 'Avon' means river, so when you say 'River Avon,' you're saying 'river river.' It didn't rain, which was a plus, and we had some interesting encounters with swans!

We got to see a performance of Julius Ceasar, set in Africa, with all the original lanugage at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre. It was SO good! I had never seen Shakespeare acted before, so it was a great experience to be introduced to it the way it was meant to be seen.

We also found the Peter Rabbit shop! I got these adorable little cards with beautiful Beatrix Potter prints on them, and they also had beautiful postcards of the original Alice in Wonderland illustrations. I will not be sending them to anyone, though. Just enjoying them for myself :)

It is hard to believe that we have only a week and a half left! Especially with all the school work! Speaking of which, what am I doing on the computer!

I was struck by this at first, but I wanted to share: there are so many birds of different types here. It is so great. There are many ducks, which is great. We see swans somewhat regularly, and there are these kind of geese (i think) which are much more beautiful than your average Canadian Goose. Perhaps they're called English Geese? We see magpies sometimes, and of course a ridiculous amount of pigeons. We take this footpath beside the river to get into town, and part of it goes under these train tracks. There is always an obnoxious amount of pigeons underneath there coo-ing, and it kind of echoes. It's quite spooky. But I enjoy the fowl in general.

Well, I'm quite sorry to say that this news has been on facebook, but I will reiterate it here for those of you lucky souls who do not have facebook:

Ian and I are engaged! Enjoy this photo which Kaia put together of photos I took. We had a picnic out at Godstow Abbey (mentioned before) and then he proposed, right in the middle of these beautiful monastic ruins and trees and wildflowers around!

I finally met my tutor, Philip Wheatley, on Monday! It was simply the loveliest of experiences. I met him in the main entrance to the Bodlian Library, and he invited me to walk with him -- a much more invigorating choice than sitting and talking. We circled the Radcliffe Camera and talked about time and Virginia Woolf. I'm so excited for my first paper (and uncontrollably nervous as well!)

 Now, going back in time (because each day has been memorably exciting, I feel I should give the day-by-day -- yes, that was a play on words with play-by-play -- dad will be proud of me for making a reference to sports without much distaste).

  Sunday, we went to St. Aldates Church in the morning, where I ran into Ruth Marks! (For the non-Cornerstone Church members reading, she is a good friend of Kaia's, and her family has been attending my church for most of our lives!) I knew she was in the area, but we mysteriously hadn't met up yet, though we had tried. Not sure how that works... but we met there, and she invited us (Ian, Ruta and I -- or should I just the Oxford comma since I'm here and say "Ian, Ruta, and I") to a student dinner/bible study group on Thursdays (of which today happens to be one!). 


 Later on Sunday, after a "family dinner" with the Cornerstone [Univ] group of pizza -- some burnt, some unburnt -- we attended Evensong at Christ Church College. Now Ian and I will often break out in singing liturgically "God Save the Queeeeen," particularly if we happen to be in a place with a good, resounding echo, which are available all throughout the hundreds-of-years-old buildings. 


Monday, our class took a nice, long walk out to the remains of Godstow Abbey. Fun fact #1 about Godstow is that Henry II impregnated one of the nuns there, afterwhich the informational board said, it became know for its "hospitality" the the young men around. Perhaps this was an inspiration for Monty Python?

Anyway, the more interesting: Fun fact #2 about Godstow: it is the place where Charles Dodgeson (who you may know more affectionately as Lewis Carroll) took the dean of Christ Church College's daughters, one of whom was named Alice, and picnicked and told stories to. If you don't get where I'm going with this, I'll take it one step further and say that one day they spotted a rabbit run down a rabbit hole, and this inspired one of the stories Dodgeson so loved to tell the girls. This turned into Alice in Wonderland! So, we had our class there regarding Alice in Wonderland.  That night was the night I met with Philip.

 Tuesday, I spent the whole day about the Bodlian, reading, reading, reading. We also met our final roommate -- Ziyi. From China. We had been expecting her that day, only we were surprised when we realized the she was a he! Yes, Ziyi likes us to call him Frost. So, Tuesday also consisted of Ian and I taking him out about Oxford to show him around. He is very sweet, and asks questions. He is studying philosophy.

 Wednesday, we were reading in the Bodlian in the morning, and we planned to meet at the Eagle and Child at 3pm. Well, right around 2,45, which was when we planned to leave, it started to downpour. So we had a good, soaking walk to the iconic pub and as soon as we got there, it ceased to rain... why? Anyway, we had a good final "class" time discussing JRR Tolkein's "On Fairy Stories." Then we went to a formal dinner at Christ Church College as a farewell to Professor VanDyke, who flew off at 5am this morning. Rough. (Feel free to pray for him if you read today for his safe travel and healthy transition back to American time and life.)

 On the docket for today: Read. Dinner/Bible study at St. Aldate's. Both Ruta and Ian have their first REAL tutorial today with their first papers! (Also a prayer!) For tomorrow: Read. Visit New College in the afternoon (I have not been there yet). Ian and I are having a date night tomorrow :) Well, after that exhaustive (though hopefully entertaining) post, I think I will leave to to heave a sigh of relief, and I will go read!

I admit, I have not been faithful to writing much. But I assure you it is because I am having a wondrous time, not because I have nothing to say!! Ian, Ruta, and I had a lovely few days in London, finishing it off with seeing Les Mierables, as promised. It was fabulous.

Our professors' flight was canceled, but we came to Oxford on Tuesday as planned, got settled in and began orientation on Wednesday; our profs also arrived that day. That lasted until Thursday, and then we took a day trip to London!

 It was quite strange to go back after just being there, but it was great to have a chance to see some new things. We took some time (though hardly enough) on Charring Cross Road, famous for its many, many book shops, and then tubed over to the Tate Modern Art Gallery, which was fascinating! We saw Damien Hirst's diamond-encrusted skull, Salvador Dali's Metamorphosis of Narcissus, and so many more interesting pieces of art.

 Yesterday, we had our first class to discuss Studies in Words by C.S. Lewis and Owen Barfield's similar work. We got to discuss it on Addison's walk, which is at Magdalen College, and is the walk which Lewis and Tolkien would often take together after supper; at the end of one such walk was the pivotal point when Lewis actually became a Christian.

 In the evening, I went to a play with Professor Van Dyke and Ian called Vita and Virginia. It is a play that the "playwright" took the letters of these two women authors (Vita Sackville-West and Virginia Woolf) and put it into an unconventional play format. It was really well done, and was also very helpful for me in thinking about my tutorial on Virginia Woolf!

On our way back, we literally stumbled upon the Eagle and Child, the pub where Lewis and Tolkein would meet, and we spent some time in the "Rabbit Room," Their room which they would come to every Tuesday morning.

Lon-Don

Here we are! Ruta, Ian, and I finally found each other. Ruta and I were supposed to meet at 10. We were supposed to meet up at 12. We all found each other around 3pm. What happened in between is questionalbe, and at this point we are all so scarred that I'm not sure we really want to figure out what happened. We are all together now. That is what matters. We've just been wandering the city, seeing sights, taking photos, laughing, trying to figure out the tube, the works. ::SOME PHOTOS::

The Next Adventure

First, a shout out to Debbie Jenks, because she comments so often, and I really like that. I miss having you guys around, and I love having Ellyn's photo on my wall!

 Second, I don't think very many people are aware that I'm going to England... in two days! (though I will arrive in 3 days... the strange time warp thing...) So I thought I should inform those who are still interested... I think I will do my best to resurrect this blog to keep you updated with photos and adventures!

 I am going to Oxford for 5 weeks with school to take two courses: - One on CS Lewis, Tolkein, Lewis Carroll (Alice in WOnderland!), and their views of languages. We have two COrnerstone professors who will be with us teaching the course. - One on Virginia Woolf, a early 20th c. feminist writer (!) who I have been reading aggressively for the past two weeks to try to have all 9 (??!) of her novels finished by the time I have my first OXFORD TUTORIAL with my OXFORD TUTOR!!

 We have a SUPER small group going. Two Cornerstone undergrads -- me and Ian; a friend of mine, Ruta, from Lithuania (I can't wait to see her again!); and a graduate student from Cornerstone, Tracy. We will have two proffessors -- Michaels Pasquale and Van Dyke (both of their names are Michael -- so I made it plural!) Ian, Ruta and I are spending a few days in London, sight-seeing, finding free things like museums (almost all are free!!) and gardens, and then SEEING LES MISERABLES AT QUEENS THEATRE!!!!!!! (which is a funny story -- Ian has owed that to me since my sophomore year of high school, when he did not come to see it on Europe trip, and saw phantom of the opera with girls he was flirting with instead) and then we pack our bags and head out to the University.

We just got our schedule -- we have some fantastic trips planned -- to stratford-on-avon, Windsor castle, and more! I can't wait to see some spots where Harry Potter was filmed, wear dinner robes, and STUDY AT THE OXFORD!

 prayer requests:
- I'm really actually quite a poor reader, so I am nervous about finishing these books, and the rigorous study. I think it won't be too hard to balance time, since we will meet for both classes only once a week, but I hope to still do well!
 - Safe travel! Ian is currently in Ireland (!) with his parents. They are coming home, and he, Ruta and I need to meet in London with no cell phones! I have been stressing out probably more than I should about this. Please pray that God will (as he already does) have the control, and more so that I will know that and be ok with it! Words of encouragement welcome!
- Ruta flies in to London tomorrow, actually, and will stay with her uncle for a few days.
- Group dynamic. In such a small group, I really pray that Ian and I can not be couple-y. We want to find time to spend together, but we also don't want to take advantage of the possibly "romantic" nature of the trip. Of course, Ruta is a good friend, who I haven't seen in months, so I know I will want to spend time with her, and I know the two of them will get along, because they're both WONDERFUL people.
- I have really just been worrying more than I should be. (Can you tell with all the prayer requests!!) I need to give up control and rest in God's hands. I have been nervous with Ian being overseas the last week (even though I was overseas for months before!!), and I need to remember that I don't have control, whether Ian is near or far. I want to enjoy the experience instead of worrying about what is to come.

Lettuce Heads

Today in my thrilling job at food service, I was washing heads of lettuce. What we do is we have to sanitize the sink, then fill it up with water and heads, then dab the lettuce heads around a few times before taking them out. While dunking heads of lettuce in the water, I couldn't help but be reminded of the Russian sauna experience when we hit each other with wet bundles of branches.

Same Sky

It is still the same sky here as there.
It is still the same God here as there.
We are still the same people here as there.
I am still the same me here as there.

But it is not the same language here as there.
And it is not the same groceries here as there.
And we are not the same people here as there.
And I am not the same me here as there.

But it is still the same God here as there.