At last, a Londoner.

I think I'm finally feeling like I belong here. Or at least it's finally hit me that I'm here for a while, and I like that thought. This is in large part due to the intense schedule our profs and program directors planned for us these past few days. There is no area of Central London that I do not know! When I last blogged, we were just about to embark on our Neighborhood Walk. I think they should change it to "Neighborhood" Walk or All of London Walk because we walked around our "neighborhood" for FOUR hours. Yeahh. I blame that saunter for the holes already forming in my boots. But despite the tired feet and misleading title, it was a great walk and very informative, even interesting at points! That night we saw the musical Les Miserables and it was as amazing as it is made out to be. The music is, of course, incredible, the story heart-warming and the actors impressive. It was a great experience.

Saturday was the day I had been preparing for for weeks! If you saw me as much as three weeks before I left, you probably caught wind of me talking about this event or saw my nose shoved in a London map or guidebook. This was the day of The Great Tube Rallye!!!!! Essentially, the 22 of us students were divided into 5 groups and we were given a list of things to do and/or find around the city and we were to complete the tasks and make it back to our flats in under 7 hours. Child's play, right? WRONG!
    1. It was FREEZING, naturally.
    2. Some of these tasks were near impossible, or at least confusing enough to frustrate you to no end.
    3. There may have been only 9 major places to go to, but each had several things to find AND navigating the city was more difficult than the straight-lined map made it out to be.
    4. Our ever so kind profs had intentionally placed items on the list that they knew were not there, but we didn't know which. Talk about frustrating!

At the end of the day my team was just happy to make it back to the flat, even if we had skipped a few of the items and made up a few of the others. But good news: we came in a close second and won 5 pounds a piece! So essentially I got paid $8 to exercise for 7 hours. If only someone paid me every time I wanted to go running.

Sunday we went to our first London church and it just happened to be the ole Westminster Abbey. Not too shabby for our first Church of England experience. It was indeed beautiful inside and the service (a Sung Eucharist) was surprisingly moving. It was definitely different than most of what I have experienced, but I found that if you really put in the effort and focused, the worship was very meaningful. The afternoon was about eating and a bit of exploring. Then that night I finally met up with the brother and his girlfriend, Julie, for supper at a gastro pub (meaning they are more of a sit-down restaurant than just bar) and we got to catch up, which was great. Our next plans possibly include oil painting at their house. I'm not exactly an artist, but it should be a funny experiment!

Monday started "classes". That one is appropriately in quotes, because, well, classes aren't exactly real here. We meet once a week and in one we watch a film every time and then write a paper on it and discuss it the next week. Simple! In another it's a simple lecture, reading, and tests. Another is reading and discussing. Another is going to see shows and then discussing those. Don't get me wrong - we're learning plenty, it just seems that the professors are interpreting this experience as much of a vacation as we are! The final class, though, - British History and Culture - is probably the most real class I have taken. In this one I have already taken 9 pages of notes (front and back). The format is that we go on walks around various parts of the city, and later country, and learn about the history and/or culture of that spot. THEN we take just the one exam at the very end, and that alone will determine our course grade. IT'S TERRIFYING. So if you talk to me the week before April 11, you'll know why I sound like a crazy person. I am, however, very intrigued by what we'll be learning in that class and all of the others. No matter how challenging or not, I hope to glean as much as possible from each course.

Every few minutes I am reminded how very blessed I am to be able to be here and participate in this amazing program. We are in a beautiful city with a rich history and we get to LIVE here! Today my friends Kaitlyn, Kristin, and I went for a run through Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens. It was definitely different from Lion's Park or ACU's track, and breath-taking for sure. Next time I'll bring my real camera. Today's excursion with the phone camera ended in disaster when the phone refused to send the pics to my email : / But next time I'll see Peter Pan and it will be great!

Kaitlyn and I topped off the afternoon with a relaxing stop off at a coffee shop in our neighborhood. And who knows what tonight holds! Hope you are all safe and well. Have a great Wednesday!

Also, tomorrow's my half-birthday, so feel free to send me half cheesecakes, half cards, and half-written checks!