December 28-29

       Yesterday morning, I woke up with a headache, but that didn't stop me from making more pancakes! You guys are gonna think I'm a pig after all these posts about pancakes! But maybe I am . . . I shared them, if that makes a difference. They were delicious as usual, and they were even better with nutella. After breakfast and trying to get some work done, my headache wouldn't go away so I took a nap. In the past 8 months or so, I have developed this new weakness of wanting to take naps too soon after I wake up. I don't know what that's all about, but it surfaces every now and then. When I woke up, my headache was gone and I got to work on some homework. The next thing I know, Sarah comes barging in my room (she tried to knock but I had my earbuds in) a while later telling me that she almost chopped off her finger trying to cut herself some leftover Christmas ham! I grabbed my mini first aid kit and wrapped her finger in gauze. She must have overdramatized the situation because I didn't see any blood.
       With her all patched up, I decided to take a break from my work and take a walk. I layered up and power walked for an hour hoping that the physical exertion would help me sleep better than I had the past few nights. It didn't really work, but at least I was awake and feeling good afterwards. Instead of getting right back to homework, I got distracted by music and spent some solid time jammin' and eating dinner. More whole wheat spaghetti - yum. It hits the spot everytime. When I finally sat down and faced the music (literally, I had music homework to do), I got overwhelmed by the whole academic situation over here again. I don't really want to go into detail right now because it makes me tense to think about it. Sarah came into my room a little later to decompress from her homework too, so we both had a chance to vent. Aside from all that, yesterday was pretty uneventful actually. I was trying to make a dent in my homework before Ashley got here so I would have less to worry about. It didn't entirely work, but oh well. That's how things go over here. I'll figure it out.
       This morning, I set my alarm for 5:50 and woke up to a club beat version of Katy Perry's "California Girls" which I hate. I literally plugged the ear that wasn't on my pillow with my finger and tried to cram the pillow over my ear to block out that crap. Next, "Over the Rainbow" by Israel (something or other . . . you know, that fat Hawaiian guy who plays the ukulele?) came on, and I thought, "Now this is the kind of music you're supposed to wake up to." Norah Jones was up next, but I wasn't diggin' it so I finally got up and turned off my alarm. After some leftover pancakes and some tea, I caught my cab to Oakwood (the shuttle doesn't run that early) and hopped on the tube for the 1.5. hour ride to Heathrow to meet Ashley! To make a long story short, I ended up waiting at the airport for 4.5 hours, but Ash finally made it! She had missed her connection in Chicago and had to catch the next flight out to London. After all the disappointment over Natalie's flight being cancelled, I was starting to think something like that was going to happen with Ashley and I would have to spend my last week here sightseeing by myself. Well, she made it but her bag didn't (of course something like that would happen). She was chill about it, and we're hoping it arrives before we both head back to the States! I've got enough to cover her in the meantime.
       From the airport, we went back to campus to get her settled in, ate dinner, watched Rat Race and just chilled. Later, we went out with Sarah and Kim to a pub called Ye Old Cherry Tree because we thought the name was entertaining enough to warrant a visit. It was so adorable! The pubs over here are very cozy and cute. I had fish cakes and chips (fries), and my stomach is very happy and full right now. Surprisingly, Ash seemed very energetic considering her long journey here and her high level of sleep deprivation. The four of us had a very nice evening out and made it back to Oakwood just in time to catch the last shuttle bus back to campus.
       I'm starting to lose a bit of motivation with making these posts particularly interesting, but I'm getting really excited to be coming home in a week! Ash and I are gonna go out with a bang. We were hoping to make it over to Dublin, but we decided against it for a number of reasons. So, London has our full attention, and we're gonna rock this town!

Prayer Request of the Day: That we would enjoy as much as possible before we leave!

December 26-27

        I think it's almost time for me to come home. I woke up at least 3 times Saturday night thinking I was at home. As I rolled around in bed until 10 am only half-concious, I thought, "I have the whole day free. Maybe I'll go to the gym (24 Hour Fitness). Ya, I'll go to the gym. Good plan." Then I came to my senses and realized where I was and that there is sadly no 24 over here, and the campus gym is closed for winter break. Lame. All this English food is starting to take a toll on my figure! The day after Christmas is always a bad time to reevaluate your fitness level though. Honestly, it's a bit cruel. I'll get down to business when I get home. 24, here I come! (In 2 weeks...)
       A number of the tube lines were down yesterday because of a strike, so I stayed in all day. The morning slipped by as I ate, chugged a bunch of tea from my lovely Viennese teapot, and sat at the computer. I managed to make some progress on my homework, but I couldn't really get into the zone. If I were at home, I would have gone to the gym to calm down and work out my restlessness, but that wasn't an option. I worked on and listened to music instead. Sarah, Kim, and I had leftovers for lunch in the kitchen, and then we finished White Christmas. It was a lazy day, and I had trouble falling asleep because of a general lack of physical exertion.
       Today, I made up for yesterday's laziness. I was up at 8, and was working on homework by 10:30. Thankfully, I managed to get a good amount done in the next 4 hours or so, but there's still so much to do! Lately, I have found that I focus better on composing literary papers if I'm listening to music while doing it. That has never been the case in the past; I've always needed silence. Over here, my brain somehow works better when I'm listening to The Script or some other mediocre (in a good way) band that's interesting enough to not be boring but that's not too wacky to be distracting. Needtobreathe and Thriving Ivory helped me out a bit too. A little after 2, I laid the homework aside to hit the town with Kim.
       The tube ride into town seems to be getting longer and longer as the weeks go by. Slowly, we made our way to theatre central and did some research on what was cheapest. Wicked was our first choice of the night, but the cheapest tickets were 65 pounds = NO THANKS. Instead, we settled on Beauty and the Beast at the National Theatre, and Sarah joined us later for that. 5 pound tickets = SCORE (even though we had to stand half the time). Before the show, Kim and I spent some time in Camden Town falling in love with everything about it. Do you ever go into shopping shock when you see so many things you want but you end up buying nothing? That's what happened, plus we didn't have much time to load up on stuff because we had to make it to the theater which is on the other side of town. We grabbed ourselves some take away calzones and headed for the tube.
       Like I said, we managed to score 5 pound tickets to Beauty and the Beast which was quite different from the Disney version, but it was absolutely fantastic! The National Theatre must have a number of mini theaters inside of it, because ours was very cozy, in a good way but the overall building is huge. There were tons of kids there with their parents, and it was so cute to hear them all responding to questions from the actors during the play and to see them eating ice cream that their parents had bought them at the interval (intermission). The girl who played Beauty (not called Belle) looked like Meryl Streep - totally cool - and she was a great actress too. The beast was more of a rat than a lion figure, and there were lots of other idiosyncratic elements of the play that made it very enjoyable and original. After the show, Sarah, Kim, and I headed back to campus on the long tube ride, stopped off at Tesco for some groceries, and then had some leftover apple pie and ice cream. Now, I'm full, happy, and sleepy. Goodnight!

Prayer Request of the Day: That my last week and a half would be everything it is supposed to be and that I would tie up all the loose ends.

December 24-25

       If I can't be home for the holidays, I say that being in London is a pretty sweet alternative. How many times am I gonna get to do that? On Christmas Eve, my friends Sarah and Kim and I went to the city. We took the tube, of course, and missed our stop for the first time since we've been here because we were talking about food : ) Quick fix, and we landed right across the river from the London Eye, our number 1 destination that day. The sun was out, and the view from the ground and from up in the London Eye was incredible! (pics are already on facebook). I half expected Peter Pan to fly by Big Ben, but of course that didn't happen. After the Eye, we headed to St. Paul's Cathedral in hopes of catching their 4:00 Christmas Eve service. Woah. I laughed when I saw the line of people waiting to get in. We got there at about 3, and the line was already wrapped around the building! Seriously, it was way worse then Disneyland. Those people must have been waiting for hours! Needless to say, we gave up. We found a pub around the corner and had a snack. Like I said, I was out with Sarah and Kim. It was a very interesting experience to watch what happened when their blood sugars dropped from hunger. I was a little worried, I must say. Neither of them are diabetic (or else they would probably be dead after all the chocolate we've been eating lately), but they were totally spacing out on me! I gently sat them down in the pub, helped them decide on something for us all to share (their ludic decision-making ability was cloudy at this point), and went to order for us. They perked right up when they ate something, but I was starting to think I was the crazy one! I'm glad I had a big breakfast that morning or else we all might have been stranded on a street corner somewhere trying to remember our names. Just kidding, it wasn't that bad, but I'll just say I'm thankful for food and its rejuvenating qualities and move on from there. After we finished at the pub, we went to Asda for a few last-minute things for our Christmas dinner and then went back to campus.
       I had 2 mince pies for dinner (which are far from nutritious), and then promptly grabbed my guitar to go jam in the stairwell where I found some fantastic acoustics! I surfed the internet for chords to Christmas songs and had myself a "merry little Christmas" Eve, and my friends joined me a bit later for a Christmas carol session. It was super fun :) We had originally planned on going to Christ Church's Christmas Eve service, but we were all too tired. I'm glad we stayed in. Really, how many days out of the year can I jam to Christmas carols on my guitar without looking crazy? Just a few, so I took advantage of it. We ate tons of cookies and chilled in the stairwell for a couple hours. There was hardly anyone around, except one of the security guards and a few other people. It turns out that the guard on duty is a music fan also, so we talked shop a bit and he gave me a few tips on artists to listen to. Kim, Sarah, and I ended our fabulous Christmas Eve by watching a bit of White Christmas with our mugs of hot chocolate :) We were too tired to make it all the way through, but we stayed up until midnight, wished each other a "Happy Christmas!" and went to sleep.
       I woke up a couple times that night thinking I was at Grandma's house. How disorienting! I definately woke up in London, and got to work on some Christmas morning pancakes! Yum. We ate our fill and then walked to church. It hasn't snowed for a number of days now, but there is still a bunch of leftover snow on the ground. My first White Christmas!!! Honestly, I think the whole "White Christmas" ideal is overrated. Maybe that's the beach girl in me, but I'm not a big fan of slipping around on frozen snow while walking to church. Come to think of it, I'm not a fan of all the layers I have to wear to keep warm in this winter weather either. To be fair, snow actually has an insulating effect (except on my feet) so it's better than rain, but I prefer sunshine, sand, a tank top, shorts/jeans, and flip flops. Whatever. That's for another day, and I still had a lovely Christmas. At the church service, they played a legit ORGAN with real pipes and everything, and it rocked my world! Ah, it's sounded so beautiful. The lady who led a number of the carols had a really good voice too, so I just listened to her mainly, because they sang some carols I didn't know.
       After the service, we walked back to campus and got to work on our Christmas feast! We chilled in the kitchen all afternoon, took shifts for power naps, and whipped up a whopping good meal! Making Christmas dinner was a first for all 3 of us, so we kept Google close beside us for cooking tips. I would tell you more of the details, but you would probably laugh at our ignorance, so I will just tell you that it all turned out just fine. Our mothers would have been proud, even though they would have laughed at our methods. Between the 3 of us, we made a ham complete with cherries and pineapple, broccoli casserole, sweet potatoes, twice-baked potatoes, corn, dinner rolls, and applie pie (which we bought frozen, I'll admit). We enjoyed our meal in the stairwell, and Sarah brought in her mini Christmas tree to complete the festive scene. We took a couple plates of food down to the security guards, and we still have tons left over! I'm excited for dinner today. After we stuffed ourselves, I pulled out my guitar and we sang some more Christmas carols. In between times, we got to meet each other's families via Skype and hear about all the family celebrations back in the States. Technology is amazing. After that, all that delicious food that was stewing in our stomachs made us all tired, so we parted ways around 10 and wished each other a final "Happy Christmas."

Prayer Request of the Day: Still, that Ashley's flight over here won't be cancelled and that she will arrive safely and on time. We have so much to do!

December 22-23

       I wore brown socks with black shoes today - ewwww. It was too difficult to change once I realized what I had done, so I just tried to hide it by pulling my pant legs down a bit. But I'm skipping ahead. I'll start with yesterday.
       Two of my American friends, Kim and Sarah, were finally back from Edinburgh! There were still recovering from their trip though, so I hit the city again by myself. Before I left, I sat down with God again and we had an interesting exchange. Instead of directly praying the whole time, I ended up writing down my thoughts about my faith as they came to me in the moment. Specifically, I wrote about what I would tell my new non-Christian friends if I could tell them anything just out of the blue. That's where the motivation for the piece came from. It was a liberating exercise, and I posted my thoughts in a note on facebook if you want to read it. The original rough draft went into a little red notebook that I keep in my wallet for moments of inspiration. I'm sorry to say that I don't have many of those, but God gave me one yesterday. Maybe He'll give me more and send some songs along with them. I'm still waiting for that.
       More sightseeing yesterday! I started off at Green Park which is right next to Buckingham Palace and then my way over to the Palace, of course, for some pictures. Even though I had my handy-dandy map, I still got a bit turned around and took the roundabout way toward Hyde Park. I came across a number of monuments on my way, most of which were war memorials. It was like being in D.C., only the British version. Hyde Park is putting on what they call "Winter Wonderland"  which is basically a Christmas carnival and market. It reminded me of the Christmas markets in Vienna actually, minus the amusement park part. (Vienna is better.) Kensington Gardens is right next to Hyde Park, so I decided to make the walk. It was much farther than it looked on the map, but I had time. There is a little lake/pond between the two grounds called The Serpentine which was frozen over, that's how cold it was. There were all kinds of ducks and geese and swans and pigeons swimming in the small edge parts that weren't frozen or else they were just chillin' on the ice. It was a nice but long walk to Kensington Gardens where I didn't actually encounter anything that looked like gardens. I must have missed something, but the whole place just looked like a huge, cold park. Yes, I saw the Peter Pan statue (and totally thought of Winning London, Blee). I wanted to see the Princess Diana Memorial Fountain and the Palace too but it was getting dark and I was getting a bit tired of walking.
       Instead, I walked past the Royal Albert Hall and the Albert Memorial toward the Natural History Museum where I could warm up and walk less. Apparently, this place is supposed to be pretty cool, but I've already told you that I'm not much of a museum person. Still, I feel the need to at least drop by and say hello. I zoomed through a number of the exhibits but found them pretty boring. I had flashbacks to fieldtrips I took in elementary school where they would make you shuffle through museums for what seemed like forever, and I realized that museum-ing by yourself is way better because you can leave whenever you want! The best part of the museum was the Great Hall because the architecture and decorations were breathtaking (facebook pics to follow). After that, I was done and caught the tube back to campus where I tried to work on an essay but got very little done and fell asleep early.
       Today, I woke up feeling a bit frustrated about getting so little homework done the night before, but I quickly got over that. Sarah, Kim, and I went to Asda to get food for our Christmas dinner, and that took up the morning and the first part of the afternoon. Poor Sarah was too sick to go out with us later, but Kim and I went to the city for the afternoon/evening. First, we stopped off at Leicester Square to see what kind of cheap tickets we could find. The deals weren't screaming at us, so we decided to check out the theater where the The Nutcracker is playing instead. I've found that just going to the theater a few hours before a show is the best way to find super cheap tickets. We got tickets for 10 pounds each (SCORE!), and then headed to Harrod's to kill some time. I'm not sure why that place is supposed to be so cool. Apparently it's aimed at a different demographic than any I fall into. It's way too expensive, and I'm not interested in most of the things they sell (possibly because of the price but also because of personal taste). That place is just plain overwhelming, and it's huge! We left pretty quickly to find some dinner before the show.
       We landed at a lovely Italian restaurant where I had a nice glass of red wine, some delicious bruschetta, and a skimpy salad. It looked like they had run out of lettuce, but I didn't want to ask, haha. It looked like a plate full of stuff you would put onto crackers, not a place full of salad. Oh well, I ate most of it and we went to The Nutcracker.
       I'm sad to say that I was very disappointed with the London version of The Nutcracker. Seriously, people what was going on? I'll begin my criticism by saying that I am not a ballerina, and I will never be a ballerina or a choreographer, but I think my opinion as a member of the audience carries some weight at least. The choreography was plain and often uninteresting, a number of the songs were too slow, the storyline was way different, so many of the dancer's movements ignored the cues of the music, and a number of the best parts were left out (such as the lady with the giant dress and the candy-cane dancers). I didn't even clap very much during the span of the show, but instead just sat there with a look of confusion on my face. It's hard for me to fathom that the Sacramento Ballet can put on a production that is 10 times better than one in London. That seems backwards, but it's true, in my opinion anyway for what it's worth. I left the theater laughing out of shock and disappointment. Good thing we only paid 10 pounds for those tickets. Kim and I got Haagen Daas again after the show to redeem the evening, and then we went back to campus.
     Sorry this post wasn't particularly riveting. The creative part of my brain must have already gone to sleep. Or maybe it's in a sugar coma from the Haagen Daas :)

Prayer Request of the Day: That Heathrow would get their act together so my friend Ashley can get here next Wednesday morning!

December 20-21

       Yesterday was a blur. My knee was really bothering me when I woke up, so I decided to stay in for most of the day. I'm pretty sure I ended up taking a nap after breakfast (lame) and doing a lot of nothing for awhile. I looked through a bunch of fine print on easyjet's website in hopes of getting a refund on my Edinburgh booking, but that got discouraging fast (hence the nap). I tried to call them, but I couldn't get through and my phone was really low on minutes. Eventually I got around to working on some homework and actually did make some progress. Pretty quickly, I became distracted by the sunshine outside my window. Everything's still covered with snow, but suddenly I wanted to be outside enjoying a rare spell of sunshine. I needed to go to Tesco to top up (reload) my phone, but I took a little detour which you might appreciate when I get home. With my camera in hand, I recorded a video tour of the campus so you all will have an idea of these grounds I stomp from day to day. The file is too big to put on facebook (I think), so you'll just have to watch it on my computer when I get home. Be forewarned, it kind of feels like you're on a rollercoaster because I was walking most of the time and the video is jerky. It's will probably be one of the most exhilirating/dizzying video tours you will ever take! After the tour, I actually enjoyed my walk up and down Snakes Lane because I had been huddled up in my room all morning. Thankfully, my knee didn't bother me. The snow and the sunshine made everything look unusually beautiful, and I was happy for the pleasant break from being a hermit.
       I had leftover pizza for dinner last night and watched Jim Gaffigan videos to cheer myself up. I'm not gonna lie - I was lonely. Thank Jesus for Youtube! I found a few Kristen Wiig SNL skits too and had some good laughs. It was just one of those days when you don't want to do anything but eat and relax, so that's what I did for the rest of the night. My friend Marta hooked me up with a few movies before she left, and I decided to watch one. Here's a blast from the past - SPICE WORLD! I loved that movie in 3rd grade, but I'm not exactly sure why now that I've watched it again. It's sooo cheesy! But then again, I loved Mary-Kate and Ashley movies too and those are no better. Whatever. Good times. After my healthy dose of cheesy chick flick, I still wasn't feeling like being productive. What to do . . . ? Make it a double feature and fall asleep to White Christmas. It was very pleasant, except the part where I wake up to someone screaming in or near the halls. I don't understand what the deal is over here, but I feel like that has happened a lot. The other night I woke up with my heart absolutely pounding out of my chest because of these blood-chilling screams I heard outside. I have never heard anything like that before, and I didn't know what to do. I'm talking slasher flick creepy. After I heard the screaming last night, I went down to the security office to see if anything was up. The security guard didn't hear anything, but I told him about the screaming the other night and he said it was probably the foxes. That made sense because I've never heard humans make those sounds. Let me just say that I'm glad we don't have wild foxes in Sacramento. So far, I haven't heard any news of people actually getting hurt or attacked at night, so maybe English people (and foxes) simply find it liberating to scream in the middle of the night just for good measure. Interesting fetish.
       Determined to spend way less time on my butt today, I made plans to hit the city. Before I did, I found myself praying for quite awhile. Do you ever have those days when prayers just start pouring out of you and you wonder, "why can't I pray like this everyday?" Well, I had one of those days today, so I just went with it. God and I had a very good conversation, and I felt way better all around afterwards. My plan for the day included any or all of the following: the British Library, the British Museum, Buckingham Palace, and Kensington Gardens, but I only made it to the British Library and the British Museum. I saw some incredible stuff like tons of manuscripts of the Bible in Latin and Greek, Jane Austen's writing desk and notebooks, a number of Shakespeare's works, Leonardo di Vinci's notebooks that are written in "mirror writing" (from right to left and backwards - darn lefties), the original manuscript of Handel's Messiah (why does this piece keep haunting me? Handel wasn't even English), original scores by Purcell, Mendelssohn, and Beathoven, Beethoven's tuning fork, handwritten Beatles songs, stuff by Coleridge and Wordsworth, the Rosetta Stone, the Magna Carta, tons of Egyptian mummies, and a bunch of crap, ehem, I mean (trivial) artifacts from ancient Rome and Greece and wherever else people dig up stuff in the dirt (I don't get the point of a lot of the displays like that. Honestly, I could probably find stuff like that in a thrift store somewhere. Was that too harsh . . .?). The British Library had a really neat exhibit going about the evolution of the English language. I was surprised at how interesting it was.
       The British Museum was so overwhelming that I ended up missing a lot and just glossing over a lot of what I saw. Museums have their place, but there's a point when I just want to enjoy my own life with its interesting "artifacts" instead of trying to appreciate those of cultures gone by. Those people are dead, and I am alive. I win.
      I felt a similar disillusionment when I was in Athens. Ruins are cool when you read about them, but after a day of climbing the Acropolis, walking through the Ancient Agora and seeing whatever other ruins you come across, you realize they are overrated, and you just want to get to living your own life and forget the ancient past. Who knows, maybe the Ancient Agora was the equivalent of Walmart to certain Greeks. I don't know about you, but I think that a Walmart exhibit in some museum in the future would be dumb. People glorify things too much. Let's glorify God instead.

NOTE: I'm pretty sure most of my professors would want to slap me if they read this post, so I'll just hope they don't read it.

       Moving on. My feet were hurting by the time I made it out of the British Library, so I found a cafe and chilled for awhile. I must say I was very pleasantly surprised when I ordered a "large" latte and actually got a large (defined by Starbucks standards) portion. "Large" on most espresso/coffee menus over here usually translates to "Oh, I ordered a large. What? This is a large? Are we rationing coffee now? Where's the rest of it?" Just kidding, I've never said that, but generally "large" is small by American standards. With my latte, I grabbed a seat in the coffee shop and read through some of C.S. Lewis' "The Four Loves." That man was intelligent. I have trouble following him sometimes.
       It was dark when I left the cafe so I decided to call it a night and head back to campus. It should be noted that the shuttle bus didn't give me any grief today. I probably waited only 10 minutes for it, total. Thanks, God. When I got back, I chatted with Natalie on facebook and we empathized over our situation. Meanwhile, I managed to get a full refund for the hotel in Edinburgh that I had booked for this week. All in all, I got back about half of what I paid for the whole Edinburgh trip. We still had to pay for the flight, but it could have been worse. For dinner, I had pasta, and I watched some more Jim Gaffigan as I ate. Wow, that man is funny! After talking to my friend Sarah about her trip to Edinburgh and doing some homework, I am just about ready to crash for the night.

       Aaaaaannnnddd, the musicians are still going at it downstairs. It's midnight, and they have a drum set this time. The drummer is stuck on the same rhythm, and clearly he hasn't had much experience with a kick drum because he's all over the place with it. The snare sounds horrible too - like a garbage can or "rubbish bin" as they say over here. Maybe if I stomp hard enough, they'll get the message. Hmmmm...

Prayer Request of the Day: That my knee would heal.

December 18-19

       This is when the desolation sets in. It's empty around here, like hauntingly empty. I don't get lonely often, but this holiday business will do it to ya. Instead of hanging around on campus a.k.a. ghost town yesterday, I went to the city. My destinations? Portobello Market and Borough Market, both of which came highly recommended to me by some of my friends. There were some engineering works on one of the tube lines (of course - it's the weekend), but I managed to manuever my way around town even through a massive snow storm that hit a couple hours later. At Portobello, I walked out of the tube station into snow, and it only got worse. Thankfully, I was bundled up and didn't get that cold. I'm starting to get the hang of this layering thing. The snow was falling so hard that I literally had to shield my eyes to see where I was going.
       The market is basically just a long street with tons of vendors and shops with antiques, secondhand goods, and souvenirs. I loved how many "highland shops" they had with tons of Scottish and Irish stuff! I didn't get any, but I might go back for a thing or two. There were a lot of people there despite all the snow, even a man playing an upright bass on the street corner = hard core. I wandered around for a couple hours and really enjoyed myself. I tried to find Kensington Gardens which should have been right down the street, but I couldn't find them. Oh well, another day. I still had a good portion of the day left when I finished at Portobello, so I headed to Borough Market which is a large food market across town. There are 3 smaller markets within the whole market, but altogether the place is relatively small. There were so many specialty foods there that I felt a little out of the loop as a college student. I still enjoyed walking around, and I tried some mulled wine for the first time. It tastes just like apple cider with that cinnamon taste except it tastes like old grapes instead of old apples. On my way back, I nodded off a bit on the tube until I got to the stop where I needed to buy groceries. I stocked up on goods, ran into some girls from campus in the checkout line, and we all shared a taxi back to halls. I fell asleep listening to Barbra Streisand around 9:30 last night - what a wimp! But it was awesome.
      Today wasn't nearly as awesome. It started off well though. I woke up at 7:30 feeling fully rested which is always a nice feeling rested. After a shower, throwing in some laundry, eating some toast (with butter and nutella), and making some tea, I sat down with my Bible. I love having time for reading at a leisurely pace. When my laundry finished washing, I had to hang-dry it all over my room and on my radiator because I didn't have enough coinage to pay for the clothes dryer! Wow - college stereotype, ha. My room smells like cheap laundry soap now. I miss Arm and Hammer.
       I'll admit right now that I spent way too much time on Facebook today, so just know that up front. I did get to facebook chat with my sister for awhile which was lovely. She was randomly awake at like 3 am California time - perfect for chatting with a sister who is in England! I also looked into flights to and from Dublin for when Ash comes, but I didn't book anything yet. Good thing, considering what I learned next. In the middle of my jolly conversation from my sister, I get a text from Natalie (my friend from CA) whose flight was supposed to arrive tonight. As you might have read or heard, the weather over here has been worse than usual for this time of year, and the snow it totally throwing off the transportation systems - including airports. Heathrow has been freaking out, and people have been sleeping inside the terminals. Anyway, Natalie informed me that she had to cancel her whole trip because she couldn't get a flight until the 21st but even then Heathrow might not be accepting arrivals. They called off ALL their arrivals today and only let out a select few departures. Natalie was already in Chicago on a layover and had to turn back for CA. EPIC BOO FAIL. I'm not sure how she dealt with it, but I definately had myself a cry (which is very rare for me), cuddled up in my bed, and fell asleep. We already had out trip to Edinburgh booked too, and now I have to figure out if I can get our money back on that one. What a mess. I didn't want to deal with it, so I just moped around for the rest of the afternoon/evening until church. Darn weather.
       I've been in a really funky mood ever since I got the news, but at least I was able to get out and go to church so I didn't feel so alone. Even though none of my friends went with me, I still got to be in a room with lots of people which helps the loneliness a little. (This is starting to sound pathetic, sorry) They were having one of their candlelight services that started earlier than the usual services do, so I walked in about halfway through. Bummer. The place was packed, so hardly anyone noticed, and I had to stand in the back. (I forgot to mention that my knee has been hurting a lot today. I don't know if it's from my skiing spill or from an older injury or both, but I'm not diggin' it and standing up wasn't fun). The message was a wierd. It was one of those where the speaker tries to formulate an objective/statistical argument for the authencity of the gospel and Christ's birth, but the reasoning was poor, in my opinion, and the message was rushed. Whatever. I wasn't really in the mood for a candlelight service anyway. One of the girls kindly invited me to the pub afterwards with some of her friends where I had a lovely hot chocolate and just enjoyed being around people even though I didn't know them very well. By the grace of God I managed to make it back to the tube station 1 minute before the last shuttle bus left for campus! Yay! That cheered me up a little bit, and then I got to talk to my family for a little while when I got back to my room. I'm thankful for cell phones and Skype to Go numbers.
       Now, I'm cozy in my bed and ready for a snack and a movie.
       Even though I'm still having a hard time believing Natalie is not coming (and Ashley might not be able to come either) and I will probably be spending a lot of time alone, I know in my mind that God knows what He is doing (I'm just trying to convince my emotions of that at this point). You know all those worship songs that go on and on about God and Jesus being "All we need"? I think those are kind of annoying to be frank because we rarely experience that kind of desperation in our everyday lives as well-off Americans, but maybe this is a test to help me realize that it's true. He will sustain me, and He will watch over me - always. Even when I am alone, He will take care of me. Even when my plans fall apart, His don't. I might not be "feelin' it" with God's plans at the moment, but I'm clinging to what I know of His character because I trust that He knows best. I'm just along for the ride. Drive on, God.

Prayer Request of the Day: You can probably come up with a number of them if you pick through this post close enough.

December 16-17

       Well, these past 2 days have been interesting ones. Thursday morning, I showed up for class where I was supposed to perform "Danny Boy," but class didn't happen. It's like class is optional over here, even for professors. The main professor was sick, the secondary professor had other plans, and the substitute professor didn't show up. Why can't you just email the class to let them know, people?! Whatever, I didn't practice "Danny Boy" until about an hour before I was supposed to perform it, so it wasn't a big waste of time. I spent the next hour and a half preparing for a musicianship test I had at 11:30. That was interesting. I had to sight sing, sight read, make up a harmony for a melody, and answer questions about a certain score. It was just me and one of the professors because all my other classmates will take the exam after winter break. Today, I heard that I apparently did very well which was a surprise. I still don't get the schooling system over here. For one thing, why do MDX and CSUS team up for a 1 semester exchange program when England's university system is most definately NOT based on the concept of semesters? Everything revolves around a 1 year academic calendar. It just makes things way more difficult for me, having to do everything earlier than other people, and having to keep track of everything that is required of me because people over here don't even know what I'm supposed to be doing. Seriously, people. Get it together or don't offer the option of a 1-term exchange program. Thanks.
       After my musicianship test, I had no idea how well or badly I did, so I just decided to forget it and move on for the day. I spent the next couple hours working on my song set for Blend that night which was fun. My neighbors and I had planned on having a goodbye/Christmas/birthday dinner that night before my gig. I hadn't really heard much about it because I had been in Vienna, but it turns out that they were throwing it in my honor! Yes, we all got to celebrate together, but they made sure that I didn't see the decorated room before dinner time and they put some gifts together for me! Before all this happened, I spent a couple hours just hanging with them all in the kitchen (where we first met) and soaking up our last night all together. It was sad, but I tried not to think about it too much. They were all so wonderful and cooked us a fantastic traditional English Christmas dinner! We had turkey, stuffing, brussel sprouts (I only had one. I'm not a fan.), broccoli, cheesy potatoes, sausage pies, bacon-wrapped mini sausages, veg (as they call it, not veggies or vegetables - it was carrots and squash in a delicious honey and mustard sauce), English chocolate pudding, and trifle (which is like a layered fruit and custard dessert). It was beautiful! (Look for pictures on facebook). They had Christmas music playing in the background and Christmas crackers which are kind of like the American equivalent of breaking the wishbone of a turkey on Thanksgiving except crackers are just paper poppers with a fortune, toy, and mini hat inside. They're silly, really, but very English. After dinner, my friends showered me with gifts and trinkets and cards. I couldn't believe it. It was an unforgettable night.
       It gets better. They all cleaned up after our huge feast as I went ahead to Blend to set up for my gig! Of course the shuttle bus took forever to arrive since I was in a hurry. We all met up at Blend later, and I played 7 songs. It was a lot of fun! Before I went on and while we were waiting for more people to arrive, my friends and I took a bunch of ridiculous pictures and laughed our heads off! What a night. Great food, great company, great music (I hope), and some great sangria afterwards (thanks to Marta). As a number of us chilled in the kitchen and sipped on our sangria, I mixed together some pancake batter to make pancakes for everyone in the morning as a goodbye/Christmas present. We were all still trying to put off our goodbyes.
       I overslept again this morning, but it worked out fine and I got 2 skillets going in the kitchen for double-time pancakes! The others filtered in looking sleepy (it was about 915), and we enjoyed our last meal all together. Finally, I had to say goodbye to 2 of my neighbors who were leaving this morning. That was rough, but it got worse when I had to say goodbye to 2 more later today. Sure we still have facebook, but these goodbyes weren't your usual "see ya around" goodbyes. We will probably be an ocean apart for most of our lives. Still, everything is happening in good time. Solomon knew what he was talking about when he said there is a time for everything under the sun. There's a time to make new friends, and there's a time to say goodbye. (Did anybody else just have Andrea Bocelli pop into their head just then?). Here's another guy who knew what he was talking about - Plato. He said that when humans find "the good" in life, they want to keep it forever. It's true. We have hearts that long for eternity, but our lives are temporary. It's weird to think that I'm saying goodbye to a chapter in my life that has been unlike any other. I don't have a plan for the next stage of my life, but I'm glad that God does, and He knows way more about life than both Solomon and Plato did.
       I'm gonna shatter the mood and say, of all the people I wished would stay in halls during Christmas break to keep me company, the musicians downstairs were NOT any of those people. Once again, they are jammin' away with that fancy jazzy stuff and banging stuff around. They should go home, but I must say they have also been part of my memorable experience of living in halls.
      Ok, on with today. After pancakes, I rushed off to class. I was checked out most of the time, but I kicked it into gear afterwards. My professor gave me some tips on my big assignment, and I spent 4.5 hours this afternoon working on that and another assignment that I was hoping to finish today. What a mess. I don't regret spending time with my friends last night, or doing my gig, or spending 5.5 days in Vienna, but all that sure did make my schoolwork harder. I stayed in the library right until it closed (at 7), and I still didn't get everything finished. I hate that feeling, but I'm getting over it quicker than I expected. There's not much I can do until January 4th because the library is closed starting tomorrow. That's another stupid thing about this school. They straddle the term over Christmas break so that we all have assignments due sometime during the first 2 weeks back after break, but the school doesn't open the facilities we need to complete our work . . . ? I'm not saying I want to spend my free time crunching in the library, but I could definately use another day or 2 to finish my assignments that I have to turn in earlier than my classmates. Wow, I'm sorry that this blog entry has become a venting session.
       After I got kicked out of the library, I made pizza for dinner and put in a movie. Thankfully, there were a number of people mingling around in the kitchen so I wasn't lonely, but it already feels empty here. I watched "500 Days of Summer" which Marta gave me and sipped on some camomile tea from Fortnum and Mason. It was a welcome relief after all the cramming I did today.
       So, here I go. No more class in London! It's time to start having some more fun (and spending the rest of my money)! Natalie comes on Sunday, and Ash comes right after she leaves. It's gonna be a whirlwind 2.5 weeks, but I'm so excited!

Prayer Request of the Day: That I be able to finish my work well but not worry about what I can't change. Also, that I wouldn't have any regrets when I come back to CA.

December 15

      I woke up laughing this morning. How often does that happen? Some lady on the radio was talking about this experiment these people were doing that proved that you look better when you get a proper amount of sleep. She goes,
           "They took pictures of people who got a full night's rest and then of people who hadn't slept in 36 hours  (or something), and the results showed that the people who slept less looked worse. What kind of experiment is that? Isn't it obvious? Oh, was that mean?"
       Hilarious! It was at this point that I realized my alarm had been going off for nearly 40 minutes and I should get up. I had a million things running through my head about the massive work load I feel that I have these next couple of days, and I was already ovewhelmed. So, I started my day with some Bible reading and focused prayer. The really strange thing is, I still found time to relax today. I think I'm mentally making my life more difficult than it has to be. There is only so much I can do, and I'm not gonna beat myself up with schoolwork this time around. Surprisingly, I have become way better at letting go of things and worrying less in the past couple months. I take things in smaller doses, one step at a time. I give God the glory for this more frequent peace because I know it doesn't come naturally to me. Keep it comin', God!
       I decided that doing my Shakespeare homework this morning was going to be a waste of my time, so I didn't do it. And guess what? Class was cancelled! The professor was sick, so he just handed back our papers and let us go. Here's another reason to "Jesus brag" - I got an A on my paper. Technically, it's a 4 on a 20-point scale but a number of people told me that was really good. I don't remember really stressing over writing that paper (even though it was a nightmare to print and turn in. I think I wrote about that in an earlier blog), so thanks God : ) There's one success story. Now I'm hoping for a bunch more in my other classes!
       During the time I would usually be in class, I went grocery shopping and then started to work on songs for my gig tomorrow. I kind of wish I had more time to prepare, but I've got enough songs in my back pocket and hopefully a couple new ones. The nap bug suddenly bit me in the middle of my jam session, and I gave in. Of course, I overslept again. As I was waking up, I was all disoriented for some reason and asking myself if I was in Vienna or London. Well, I quickly figured it out. Soon enough, I headed to rehearse with the choir for our performance tonight. It's been cool singing with the choir and singers ensemble, but I never really hopped totally on board emotionally. I still feel like an outsider, like I have everyone fooled into thinking I am one of them but I'm really not. I'm just passing through on exchange. The concert was alright. Things never go exactly according to plan. I made a small biff in one of the choir numbers, and I would probably give myself a C+ or B- on my solo. My voice was tired by then and I was nervous. (I hadn't been nervous until right before I started singing. Usually I would be nervous through the whole concert. I guess that makes the situation better than usual in a way.) It wasn't atrocious or anything, but I could have done it better. Still, it was a great opportunity, and I'm glad I went through with it. For the record, I prefer to have an instrument as a comfort blanket ;) That's for tomorrow night's gig.
       After the concert, I went back to my room, played a few songs on my guitar, had some tea, and realized that there wasn't much schoolwork that I could do at that hour of the night when the library was closed. Kind of a bummer because I'm ready to start moving out from under this dark cloud or work that is hanging over my head. Oh well. I'll work hard tomorrow. Bedtime now.

Prayer Request of the Day: That I would do well in my performance (just a small one for class - I'm doing "Danny Boy") and aural musicianship tests (that I'm definately NOT feeling prepared for)  tomorrow. Ugh.

December 12-14

       Wow, I have a lot of catching up to do. I know that brevity is a literary virtue, but I'm feeling verbose tonight. (There were a lot of "v"s in that sentence). This entry will be very lengthy, so consider yourself forewarned. The past 3 days have been so jam-packed with goodness, and I don't want to forget any of it. Buckle up. Here we go.
       Crawling out of bed the morning after my epic ski adventure was like trying to get Riley (our lazy dog) to roll out of his bed and go outside for the night. You almost have to keep knudging him until his body gains enough momentum to actually roll out of the bed. I'm not nearly as hairy or stinky as Riley, but getting out of bed was definately difficult. The fact that I hadn't worked out in a good 2 weeks didn't help the situation. My knee felt better, but it was still hurting and growing a gnarly bruise. I managed to slowly pull myself together and get ready for church.
       The Hudsons (the missionary family I stayed with) planted the church that we went to, and they hold services in English and German. It's a cozy place with its own nice kitchen and a grand piano (score). The English service was first, but I stayed through the German service as well. The service style is pretty conservative, and by that I mean that they sing hymns. Strangely enough, I found that very, very refreshing. Out of 5 musicians, 3 of them were Hudson family members which was awesome. They are some pretty talented people. Todd, the pastor, led vocally while directing the audience like a choir (totally old school). Guys, get this - I read out of a hymnal!!! I wouldn't mind doing that more often, but I don't really know why I enjoyed it so much. Well, I didn't enjoy ALL of it. The whole sitting and standing thing was very senior-citizen-ly for me because my body was so heavy. It kinda felt like I was hauling a huge bag of used coffee grounds like the kind we used to give people for their gardens at Starbucks. We would have to hoist the bag out of it's bucket and waddle it across the store to the customer while breathing deeply as if we were one of those Scandinavian weightlifters whose pictures are on jugs of protein powder.
       Anyway, during the German service, Meg (a very close friend of the Hudsons) sat next to me, and we shared a hymnal. Of course, the songs were in German, so I took that opportunity to try to learn some German pronunciations during the songs with familiar melodies. It was funny actually, and I would catch Meg or one of the Hudson kids who was sitting in front of my grinning at me every once in awhile. The message in both the English and German services was the same, so I just read my Bible during the German service and kinda spaced out while all that German was flying around above my head. After the German service, a lot of people hung around and chatted for about an hour. Then I piled in the family van with the others, and we headed back home for lunch. I felt super spoiled the whole time I was there because someone other than myself or my own family was constantly feeding me, and I wasn't paying for it! We had a delicious pot roast with potatoes for lunch (as I'm writing this in the corrider of the dorms at school, one of my friends just walked by and offered to heat me up some free pizza. Ha, it must be some kind of trend, this whole "feeding Lauren for free" thing). The church youth group had planned to do a scavenger hunt that evening at one of the many Christmas markets in Vienna, but the plan changed last minute and the youth meeting was moved to the Hudson's house. We spent the next hour or so cleaning up in a frenzy, but I enjoyed helping out. Sarah, Meg, and I (and Benny, the youngest boy who isn't youth group age yet) hung out on the sidelines while the youth did their thing. Benny got bored pretty fast, so I agreed to go play "knights and pirates" with him and his figurines. Oh boys, how they love that violent, action-packed stuff! And how they love to win! I was in charge of the knights, but I had no chance against the pirates with Benny as their captain. He laid down the law!
       That night after the youth left, everyone was pretty pooped. Somehow, I ended up bringing out my laptop to show a few of the Hudsons a couple Jim Gaffigan and Angelah Johnson videos, and we were roaring with laughter. The next night we got hooked on some more Jim Gaffigan and then I found some of those golden SNL skits with Kristen Wiig. I haven't laughed that hard and for that long in a really long time. The streaming video in itself was a treat because the lazy wi-fi on campus at MDX missed the memo that youtube-ing students are not ok with waiting 5 minutes for a 3 minute video to load.
       On Monday, I turned 22. Dun, dun, dun. I slept in and woke up to the sound of singing as the kids were starting their school day with some music. Love it. A little later, Meg and I went out on the town and started at Schonbrunn Palace where we found a great Christmas market. We didn't go into the palace, but we walked up to the Gloriette that rises on a hill behind it. Even though most of the plants were dead because of the winter, the grounds were still very beautiful. I'll upload photos to facebook soon. In the Christmas market, we came across this booth that sold Polish ceramics (dishes and the like), and I fell in love. I bought a number of things and felt super domestic. With my purchases in hand, Meg showed me how to navigate the Viennese subway, and we headed for the Johann Strauss memorial. I failed to mention that Sarah had packed us lunches for while we were out that day. How thoughtful! . . . and delicious. We ate them as we walked and came upon the desolate Strauss memorial. Perfect. Picture time. Wait, what is that? Oh no, it's a large migrating group of Asian tourists. PHOTO CRAZY! After I weaved my way through the Asian invasion for Meg to take a picture of me playing my statue Simon Says game, two Asian ladies came up to us and, after much confusion, we figured out that they wanted pictures with us. I have no idea why, but I definately ended up making a funny face. Maybe they were trying to make it look like they made friends in Vienna. Hmmmm. Meg and I were cracking up as we walked away. Strauss was still cool despite the confusing Asian tourists.

       Ok, it's time for a break. Go get some tea or something. Maybe a power nap. I am actually going to sleep for the night, and I'll commence with Part II in the morning.


Alright, it's Wednesday morning, and I feel much better. On with Part II.

       Our trip to see Strauss was pretty quick, and we decided it was time for some coffee. Meg took me to a place called Cafe Central (original, right?) which apparently is a famous Viennese cafe that's been used in movies or something like that. She kindly bought me an "Amadeus" coffee (that had Mozart liquer in it, whatever that is) and a fab piece of chocolate torte. Yum. Chocolate and coffee are always winners. We walked around to Parlament (the German spelling leaves out the "i") and the Rathaus Christmas market. It was getting dark around that time, and all the Christmas lights around the city were so beautiful! I'll post pictures of them soon. We had our fill of sightseeing for the day, and we went back to the Hudsons for dinner. When I walked in, they all yelled "Happy Birthday" and totally freaked me out! They had hung a birthday banner up and made me a cake. PLUS, their rendition of the birthday song included some great harmonies. Yay for hanging around musicians! That song can be really ugly, but they totally did it justice. Sarah made fajitas and Todd made the cake which was one of the best chocolate cakes I have ever had. It had tons of plum puree in it (but it didn't taste like plums) and coffee grounds or some kind of delicious coffee crunch in the frosting. I'll have to get that recipe. We spent the rest of the evening watching funny videos and laughing our heads off. It was awesome.
       Tuesday morning was an early one. The family had various things to do that day, so they dropped me off at the subway station (U-bon I think they call it?) to meet up with one of their friends who showed me the way to the airport. I was surprised at how sad I was to be leaving. Usually, I don't let my emotions get that kind of hold on me, but this parting was difficult. I sucked it up and began my long day of travel back to London. When I got to the subway station, I had to pee really bad, and I'm pretty sure I got ripped off my a bathroom attendant who said that it cost 50 cents to use the bathroom and there is a 50 cent tip. I gave the lady the look of death like I used to give choice customers at Starbucks who were trying to rip us off, like that really helps. It was an interesting exchange. Then, I was on my way to the airport. It was a surprisingly stress-free travel day, but I only had 30 minutes after I got back to campus until I had to go to choir rehearsal. I was wiped out, but rehearsal went well enough and my solo did too. Let's just hope it goes just as well tonight for the actual performance! I can't wait until all this business is over. It's time to have some more fun in London! As I was walking back from singers ensemble, I ran into a couple of my neighbors who, actually, RAN into me and attacked me with hugs and "we missed you!"s. It was precious. I spent the rest of the night doing dishes, laundry, and trying to get a handle on all the work I have to get done in the next 2 days. I can't wait until Friday at 4 when (almost) everything will be over and I can get to work on the fun stuff!
       It's weird to hear everyone talking about goodbyes already. Most of the friends I've made over here and leaving for Christmas break on Friday which means we have to say our final goodbyes then. : ( I'm not prepared for that yet. I think leaving London is going to be harder than it was to leave Sacramento, it's weird and I don't exactly know why.
       To sum up, I had an unbelievably wonderful time in Vienna and left very spiritually encouraged.

       Alright, I'm pretty sure this blog entry is longer than most papers I write for school. Thanks for reading.

Prayer Request of the Day: That I would get my work done efficiently and not get sick. (I usually get sick at the end of semesters).

December 11

       Waking up to the sun shining through the window, lounging on a super comfy mattress, and hearing people play the piano downstairs was a great way to start off my first whole day in Vienna. The family I'm staying with homeschools, so they spent most of the morning doing that. Sarah managed to put together a list of things that I should see in Vienna and gave me a very useful map and set me on my way. I headed out around 12:30 with all my layers into the sunshiny day. There was snow all over the ground, but it didn't fall while I was out, thankfully. Here, the main public transportation is a trolley-tram which is basically lightrail but with a cuter trolley style. I took that to the city center, got off too early, and just walked the rest of the way and for the rest of the day. Clinging tightly to my map, I manuevered my way around. Whenever I could, I would try to hide my map so creepers wouldn't think I was an easy tourist target. There were a lot of stores that I recognized in the city center, just like every other big city I've been to in Europe or UK. That's globalization for ya. BUT, there are always the distinctive sights and buildings like St. Stephen's Cathedral here in Vienna. Wow. It is so ornate and huge! There are catacombs underneath, but I haven't taken a tour through them yet. I wandered around and saw so many German buildings, the names of which I don't want to find right now. In the streets of the city center, there are tons of Christmas lights! The lights on each street are different which made everything even more beautiful, and it also made navigating easier. Don't worry, I'll post pictures soon, but not today.
       That evening at 6, I went to a free concert of a Mozart boys choir which was alright, but the choir conductor talked too much, and it was all in German. I'm jealous of those young boys' pure higher registers! Those notes soar! After the concert, I made my way on the trolley to the Hudson's church where they hold Bible study on Friday nights. It was all in German, so Sarah kindly had me sit next to her, and she translated for me. That was an awesome experience. The message (which was delivered by her husband, Todd) was great, and I can't really explain the coolness of sitting through a service in another language but still understanding (because of my gracious translator). I met a number of the people from the church after the service, including a very nice woman who didn't speak any English. I helped clean up and set up chairs after the service, and I felt right at home. That evening, I don't remember what I did exactly, but somehow I managed to stay up until about 12:30 which wasn't the best day considering what we had planned for today.
       Are you ready for this? I went skiing for the first time today - IN THE ALPS!!! It was really fun, but it was a real challenge. Sarah and one of the Hudson's family friends, Meg, taught be the basics and were so patient with me as we creeped our way down the mountain. I took a few spills, but all on my butt, thankfully. No tumbling. A little later, I ended taking a skiing lesson from some old Austrian lady who spoke hardly any English, HA! There were two other Austrian girls in the "class," so I basically just watched them and the instructor because I understood maybe 10 words that went down in that hour. It was funny actually. The instructor kept asking, "Ok?" with her German accent, and I just smiled and imitated whatever motion she was doing. Essentially, she just taught us how to ski dance because most of the lesson involved wielding our ski poles in different ways (for balance purposes, I suppose). Even though I didn't learn many new things, the others got a chance to ski at their accelerated pace while I chilled with the beginners. It was cool. I ended up in a cafe while the others got stuck in a snowstorm at the top of the mountain. That hour was a very welcome relief actually because my legs were exhausted at that point. A few of us ended up calling it a day a little earlier that the other hardcore mountaineers, and we went to thaw out in the van. During the ride home a bit later, I played hangman with one of the kids (on his iPhone - that was the funnest game of hangman I have ever played. Yes, funnest IS a word) and had a great time. Pizza for dinner and chillin' at their house for the rest of the night. Wow, I'm tired of typing right now. I'm just plain tired, but what I wonderful day! How many 21-year-olds from California do you know who learned to ski in Austria? Awesome. What crazy and unexpected things God plans for us sometimes.
       Oh, I forgot to mention that during one of my spills, I twisted my knee. Ouch. I have ice on it at the moment, and there is a myserious bruise on the inside of my knee where nothing actually hit it. Uh oh. I'm just gonna wait it out until tomorrow and then start to worry.

Prayer Request of the Day: That this tweaked knee of mine would heal.

December 9

       Is this really happening? Seriously, I feel like I'm in a dream. I'm in Vienna! Right now, I am chillin' on a really comfy couch in the living room of a charming American-Austrian family, listening to the pendulum on the wall clock tick just slightly off beat, looking at the cozy Christmas tree in the corner, and soaking up the musical atmosphere with the piano, mini harp, and music stand all within 10 feet of me! As I have been planning this trip, I keep thinking, "What am I doing? This is crazy." When I start to ask myself why I'm making all these plans to go to Vienna, I immediately stop and ask "Why not?" instead. I'm finally here after a very full day.
       This morning I had class which was mainly a waste of time. The Xerox (is that how you spell it?) machine in the music department was broken, so our lecturer had to make up something on the spot. She ended up rambling on about musical terminology for 1.5 hours. I don't blame her for my boredom. I think I'm just getting fed up with things like this happening all the time at this crazy school. Plus, I had a lot of other stuff on my mind, like transportation for the rest of the day. After class, I finished an essay, turned it in, and then grabbed my stuff to head out. Somehow I managed to squeeze my way onto the shuttle bus in the middle of student rush hour at 1:30. At Oakwood Station, I grabbed a few things at Tesco, got some Euros at Western Union, and then hopped on the tube. After changing over to another line 15 minutes later, I learned that the train station I planned on using to get to the airport was closed for the day. What are the odds? I had to rework my route to Gatwick Airport, and I arrived in the boarding area just 10 minutes before the gate closed! So much for planning on arriving early. I didn't even have time to pee.
       In all the rush, I ended up having a chocolate bar and a granola bar for lunch. I zoned on the plane as I sat next to about 5 rowdy foreign guys (probably in their 20's but acting like toddlers). I just hooked up to my iPod and slept or pretended to be sleeping so I could avoid any conversation with them. The flight went quick, and I found Sarah (the lady I met in Greece) quickly when I walked out of the airport. She brought two of her kids to form my welcoming committee, and they gave me to car tour of the city between the airport and their house. I can't even remember all the awesome stuff they pointed out, but I do remember that there was SOOOO much of it! Famous stuff here, a famous building there, you know, same old, same old.
       We arrived at their house where I met the rest of the family. They have a total of 4 kids and a golden retriever. What a charming place! The kids were super nice and chatty, the 2 girls especially. They are all between 8 and 16 I would say. Sarah kindly fed me some leftovers because I was starving by then, and I spent the rest of the evening hanging with the family as they did their evening reading and prayer session. It was precious. Sarah graciously hooked me up with some books on Vienna and some ideas of what to see. So now, here I am, still on the couch, but yawning a little to much. I think it's about bedtime. What a day. Thank you for all your prayers!

Prayer Request of the Day: That I would let God's purpose unfold while I'm here. I know He's got something up His sleeve because the circumstances behind this whole trip are too unusual for only ordinary things to happen.

December 8

       Ahhh, today was delectable. In a way, it was kinda like a day on the beach when the weather is perfect, you get a firepit for a bondfire later (because you will be there all day), you play volleyball and skimboard with your friends, and get a tan while doing it. Except . . . it's freezing cold here, there is no beach, no volleyball, no skimboarding, definately no tanning, and only one measly fireplace (that I've seen so far.) BUT, I experienced another version of a fabulous day today.
       First off, my Finnish friend, Jenni met me for tea this morning before her class so we could catch up before things get crazy over the holidays. Charming tea time! I had already decided to skip Shakespeare class again today, so I was extra relaxed already. After she left for class, I joined my friend Marta for breakfast and Barbra double feature (WAYYY better than Shakespeare, btw). We made toast, some with butter, some with peanut butter (which she had never had before - what?!?!), and some with nutella = yum. I never used to be a fan of hazelnut and chocolate together, but I officially like nutella on my toast now. That could be a new bad habit if I'm not careful. To top it off, we made some tasty cups of hot chocolate and then settled in for our movie day. First up, Funny Girl. My thoughts? - Omar Sharif was a creeper. Barbra was amazing. Second up, Funny Lady. More thoughts? - Omar Sharif was way creepier and had a diastima this time around, Barbra was great but a little too diva-ish. Those movies are long! I think we spent about 5.5 hours watching them altogether, but it was awesome. I don't remember the last time I had a movie day like that with a girlfriend (back home). The last time something like that happened must have been when I was home sick or something.
       I figured I should try to do something productive after we were done, since I skipped class and just loafed for most of the day so far. So, I hit up the music lab again and did some work on my e-music piece. It's coming along, but it's really hard to describe. Sorry.
       Then - FOOD. Instead of Bible study tonight, Gill and Martin just fed us and we all chilled at their house. Sarah, Kim, and I brought our own goodies as our contribution of gratitude for their hospitality. I made snickerdoodles, Kim made cream cheese cookies, and Sarah made some BOMB eggnogg (1 or 2 "g"s?) from scratch. They don't do eggnog(g) or snickerdoodles over here, so we enjoyed introducing our American treats to them. Gill also had tons of food that we all nibbled on until we were stuffed. I was wearing a lot of layers too which made me feel even more like the Michelin Man or Pillsbury Dough Boy with all that food in me. Somehow, Martin brought down a guitar from upstairs, and I ended up singing random worship songs while some people sang along and other chatted. Ahhh, a good ol' sing along by the fire with friends and lots of food. Classic. Gill kindly gave us a ride back to campus again, and I set about packing for Vienna. I can't believe I already leave TOMORROW! Ahhhh! I'm excited :)

Prayer RequestS of the Day: That I would have a safe trip to Vienna. Also, that my right wrist stops acting weird. I know that it's really sensitive to pressure (after overuse and abuse at Starbucks), but it has felt abnormally weak today. I'm not sure what's going on.

December 6-7

       I am amazed that I have been able to keep this blog up for this long. Knowing that people (or at least my family) are waiting to hear from me helps me to stay motivated. I'm looking forward to reading through all these posts years from now and reliving my epic adventures!
       Monday. The beginning of the end is starting to set in. I had my last voice lesson which went very well, thankfully. Gotta love ending on a good note (bah dum chee!). I think most of you reading this have never heard me sing like I do in voice lessons. My vocal alter ego likes the fancy stuff, but it doesn't have a place to share itself with anyone but voice teachers. Shoot, I don't know what to do with my music except to move forward, whatever that looks like. I've been moving forward in leaps and bounds over here, but we'll see what happens when I get home. That afternoon, I did some work in the music lab for a total of 4.5 hours (in two sessions = hard core) and then learned a song called "Wonderwall" by Oasis for The Evening Dish that evening. Ever since the idea of me singing on the radio began, my English friends have wanted me to do something by Oasis, so I finally did. It's a strange and pretty boring song, but I did it for my friends : ) Along with my last voice lesson, Monday brought my last radio show : ( Ahh, The Evening Dish, you have been great fun. I'm glad I had the opportunity to get involved in that.
       Tuesday, e-music class was cancelled, so I did some grocery and clothes shopping. I got a poofy snow jacket for only 9 pounds, some super thick tights, a long sleeved layering shirt, and some ingredients to make snickerdoodles! Apparently, snickerdoodles are strictly an American thing, so I decided that I needed to share the love with my English neighbors and the Wednesday night Bible study group. After I got back from my shopping spree and started setting things up the kitchen, I realized that I didn't have enough butter or sugar. Fail. I knocked on a number of doors and finally got all the ingredients I needed. Hooray for generous and available neighbors! In the middle of my cookie session, my friend Marta found me and asked if she and her tv classmates could interview me for one of their projects, and I said yes. She asked general questions about studying abroad, things that are different, stereotypes, etc. It was cool. When we were done, I went back to baking my delicious snickerdoodles. They turned out great. Mom, you would have loved them.
       At 3:30, I had choir rehearsal and then singers ensemble after that. Our performance is next week, so things are starting to buckle down. Remember the solo I wrote about? I sang it twice in rehearsal, and it went better than I expected, I would say. My heart was pounding and I could feel my face flushing a bit, but I stayed in perfect key (at the least the first time because the piano came in after me. The second time was completely a cappella for the whole choir so there was no way for me to tell how the pitch ended up.) Starting off a song all by yourself in a room full of other singers and eventually full of an audience is very nerve-racking, but it's a very healthy challenge for me. That song is the last one of the night, so we should all be able to relax a bit by then I hope, the audience included. Singers ensemble was productive, and we practiced our staging positions.
Alright, enough singing. Let's get to the food.
       My neighbors and I planned to have dinner together tonight because Alayna wanted to cook my a special chicken dish that was stuffed with some kind of cream cheese and wrapped in bacon. Oh yum. We all made an evening of it and contributed other stuff. I made a brown rice stir fry with prawns (Pepe, ok?), bell peppers, mushrooms, onions, and garlic, and the others put together more vegetables in addition to the chicken. We all sat in the stairwell because there isn't an official place where people can eat together in our hall (which is lame. I don't get it. No table, really???). I totally stuffed myself, but it was all so good! To top it all off, I brought out some snickerdoodles and we played "Guess Who" (like on the radio show for those who might have been listening on Monday) while we chomped on the cookies. Good fun. I will miss my neighbors : (
       Now, it's bedtime. I don't want to do homework right now.

Prayer Request of the Day: That I would power through all my assignments with great motivation. I'm ready for this school thing to be over already so I can get to travelling!
      
      

December 4-5

       Ah, Saturday morning . . .  I slept in until 10:15. Some of my friends were going out to a place called Portobello and then to Abbey Road, but I was a party pooper and stayed in to do work instead. I needed to do work on the music computers in the library, and it's closed on Sundays. Don't worry, I didn't do TOO much work on Saturday. I actually started the day by making some pancakes : ) No one else was in the kitchen, so I spread out all my cooking stuff and got to work. Within a few minutes, I heard something sizzling and realized that I had set my butter container on one of the hot burners! AHHH! I immediately pulled it off, watched a bunch of butter ooze out of it onto the stove, and then tried to scrub off the melted plastic and butter residue from the burner. It was funny, actually. I had to put the rest of my butter (which was most of the container) in a tupperware, ha. Once again, my iPod accompanied me during my cooking session, but I can't remember what I listened to this time. The pancakes were delicious, and I still have leftovers!
       After breakfast and doing some stuff on the computer, I headed to the library to work on the kyrie (the first portion of a mass) that I have to write for composition and musicianship class. The music writing software they use here is called Sibelius, and it is amazing! I wouldn't mind owning it sometime in the future. Because the library closes early on Saturdays, I only got to put in about 2 hours worth of work, but it was something anyway. Then, time for more food! Ever since my horrifying cellulite experience at the gym a few weeks ago, I have been keeping my eye out for faltty fish (which was on the list of "cellulite-fighting foods") in the grocery store. The tesco near the tube station has salmon, but I'm a little unsure about buying a salmon fillet from a gas station. I got canned salmon and tuna instead. Saturday evening, I cracked open the canned salmon and was very surprised. It looked like the people at the factory had literally just crammed half a fish in there without weeding out any of the skin or bones. Ewww. I picked through the contents of the can and took out the bones and some of the slimy skin. My goal was to make a spinach salad with salmon and feta, but it almost didn't happen. That salmon looked so gross! It wasn't as bad as it looked, and I managed to down a huge and healthy salad. I was trying to redeem myself from all those cookies I have been eating!
       Then, it was naptime. When I woke up, I decided that it was time to start planning the trip Natalie and I are taking to Edinburgh in a few weeks. Between looking for the cheapest flights, finding train tickets to and from the airport at the right times, booking a hotel, and brushing up on details for my trip to Vienna this coming Thursday, I felt like a travel agent! Only, I wasn't getting paid for it. Much the opposite, actually, but I found some pretty good deals. My friend Sarah who lives down the hall has a printer, and she kindly let me print my boarding passes and confirmation information. We ended up talking for about 2 hours, mostly about spiritual stuff, and I left feeling very refreshed.
       Sunday morning after my shower, I sat down with some leftover pancakes and some tea (which I have grown to love) and spent some time with God. I was nervous that if I didn't do that first, I would get too distracted during the rest of the day which has (sadly) been happening too often. After I refocused, I decided to head to the city to do some shopping (remember the school library was closed) and see about my money situation. On the shuttle bus on my way out, I ran into Marta and one of her friends who were headed in the same direction as me, so we all caught the tube together. It was such a beautiful day to be out in the city, except for the mobs of people who have already started their Christmas shopping. I felt like I was driving in California traffic as I weaved in and out among the crowd. The sun was out, and I enjoyed being out by myself, just roaming around the city. My first order of business was to straighten out a minor money issue I have been having. After hitting a few brick walls (not literally), I called my mom who sorted everything out for me. What a relief! With cash at hand, I headed to Fortnum and Mason to stock up on tea products, some of which to take as a gift to the American/Austrian family I am staying with in Vienna.
       On my way to find a tube station to go back to campus, I came upon the 4:00 change of "The Queen's Life Guard" which was pretty cool. It's a lot of pomp and circumstance (which I generally think is overrated in most situations), but the guards looked cool in their long wool coats and shiny gold helmets with red tassles on them. There were two beautiful black horses too. When the guards had changed, I ended up walking right up to Big Ben which looked fantastic at dusk and then on to the nearest tube station where I caught a ride back to campus. There was the cutest family sitting across from me on the tube. A mom, dad, and three little girls who all had their dad's eyes. It was precious and refreshing not only to see a healthy family but also to see kids who weren't screaming or crying; I had run into a number of them that day. When I got to Oakwood Station, can you believe it??? - the shuttle bus was just pulling up. Unreal. Did I actually get out of standing in the freezing cold for 40 minutes? Yes, it was true. Thanks, God.
       I made myself a very beautiful and delicious dinner consisting of garlic bread, corn, another spinach salad (minus the salmon), and gnocci with butter and parmesan cheese. I was a happy camper. After a 15 minute power nap, I left for church and missed the shuttle bus by less than 1 minute. Hooray. I will definately NOT miss that part of living in London. I was 5 minutes late for church, but oh well. It was a communion service, and it was very different. (It's technically an Anglican church, btw.) The people came up in waves and the vicar (pastor) served each person the bread with a verbal blessing and a lady followed with a community cup of wine (and a wipe to clean off the rim of the cup) and blessed us as we drank. There were people there who didn't partake, but there was no judgment toward them. If they didn't take the bread when the vicar came around to them, he just blessed them with a short prayer and moved on. It was really neat. After the service, we chatted for awhile, and then Gill and Martin (who lead the Wednesday night Bible study) gave us students a lift back to campus.
       Instead of doing homework when I got back, I spent the next hour or so reading C.S. Lewis' "The Four Loves," and then I fell asleep.
       Good weekend : )

Prayer Request of the Day: That I would finish everything I need to finish before I leave for Vienna on Thursday!

December 3

       Music, music, music!!! Class at 10, then another music lab session to work on my assignments. Then I glazed over. Since I've been in England, I don't think I have completely kicked into hard core school mode the way I usually do back home. Most of that probably has to do with the fact that I'm not working 2 jobs or commuting over here. Whatever the reason, my cramming threshold isn't what it used to be. (That's probably a good thing.) The girl sitting next to me in the music lab and I struck up a conversation about the differences between university here and university in Sac. Everytime I try to articulate the differences, it gets more confusing! Things are so different over here when it comes to higher education. (I prefer the CSUS way). We had a nice chat, and then I left to get some lunch (with tea!) and decompress for a little while. My friend Kim and I left for an evening in the city around 3, but not before I couldn't get cash out of the campus ATM with my debit card. Frustrating, but I think I sorted it out this evening when I called my credit union - at least I hope I sorted it out . . .
       As Kim and I were walking down to the bus (that went on its break right when we arrived. No, I'm not kidding), she informed me that the temperature outside was 28 degrees F. Woah. We both bundled up and decided to make the walk down Snakes Lane instead of waiting for the intermittent buses. Once we arrived at Leicester Square, we immediately went to the discount ticket booth and joined the "queue." We figured it was best to diversify our options of getting cheap tickets for a good show, so we came up with 4 possibilities of shows we would shoot for tonight. Here's the list: Mamma Mia, Love Never Dies, Don Giovanni, and Oliver. We landed on option 3 - Don Giovanni. Neither of us knew anything about it except for hearing the title thrown around here and there. We had a few hours to kill before the show, so we decided that we could use a healthy dose of museum atmosphere.
       The National Portrait Gallery was our selection for the evening. We quickly learned that neither of us are very interested in art, but we still feel like we are somehow obligated to go to at least a few galleries or museums since we ARE living in London. I think we spent about an hour there before we got bored and left to find some dinner. As we walked around, we found a darling restaurant that was playing Christmas music and whose menu looked delicious. I was feeling adventurous, so I ordered a duck parfait/patte appetizer with fig chutney on bread which was weird and gross, but I ate it. For the entree, both Kim and I had some fantastic pasta. Oh yum! I love pasta. Can you ever get tired of it?
       7:30 rolled around soon enough, and we were off to the London Coliseum (strange spelling) to see Don Giovanni. We got really good seats for only 25 pounds each, and the theater was absolutely beautiful! It was so ornate. There were lots of old people there, but we didn't care. I feel like such a West End groupie! The opera was 3 hours long, but it had been modernized and translated into English so that made it easier to swallow. Well, actually it was harder to swallow because I actually knew what they were singing about, and it was horrendous. Technically, the performers were impeccable, but the storyline is abhorrent. For one, I'm not ok with actors walking around the stage with devil masks on wearing shirts with Jesus' face on them. DEFINATELY NOT OK. Also, the debauchery and sexual deviance (the main character is a sex addict and rapist, essentially) just made me realize how much of that is all around me in the city. Back home, I know it's there, but I'm usually too busy with work, school, and church to notice. Wow. I would rather be busy than be poisoned by such sick obsessions. That said, I would just like to reiterate how so very very talented the singers were. The woman who played Elvira was unbelievably good.
        Post show snack = Haagen Daz again, only this time I had a delicious hot chocolate that was actually made from a blend of ice creams. Awesome, right? That was a great idea, whoever invented it. A beverage with both "hot" and "ice" in the same cup. I sipped on that cup o' goodness as we rode the tube back to campus. Thankfully, the shuttle only took about 15 minutes to pick us up from the station. I have learned to expect the breaks to come at the most inconvenient times so I can possibly avoid some disappointment. Now, I'm warm in bed and very ready to fall asleep.

Prayer Request of the Day: That I wouldn't let the corruption around me influence me for the worst. (It creeps in, ya know?) That I would resist the devil's subtle tactics and follow God's command to "Be holy, as I am holy."

December 1-2

       I still don't understand what the big deal is with Shakespeare. Some might say that comment is sacreligious for an English major, but I'm over it. To be honest, I don't think I've given ol' William a fair shot, but I don't really want to. I spent my Wednesday morning and afternoon brooding over Twelfth Night between private study and class time, but there's no hope. Thankfully, we don't have to read any more plays this semester! Just critical essays. Shakespeare class carried on as usual from 11:30-3ish. It's kinda lame but awesome at the same time that my professor (or lecturer as they call them over here) is never on time. We get long breaks and always start at least 5 minutes late. So far, the only things that start on time in this city are the two classes I have with the same genius professor who greets students who walk in at 9:40 instead of 9:30 by saying, "good evening." I wasn't being sarcastic when I called him a genius; he really is, but he's tough. Still, I appreciate his punctuality.
       During the last 45 minutes or so of Shakespeare class when our lecturer delivered his slideshow of facts that we won't need for any assessment, I totally zoned out. After scribbling what looked like Siamese twin-Christmas trees on the back of one of my folders, I pulled out my Muse notebook and started jotting down possible lyrics for a song. In response to the hooplah about Shakespeare being inspirational, I must say that the atmosphere was not conducive to inspirational lyrics. It helped to pass the time anyway. Ok, now that I've bagged on Shakespeare, I'll abandon the negativity and move on.
      I think it would be safe to say that I have spent a good portion of my time lately just pouring into my assignments. Yesterday evening, I worked on an essay for a few hours and had to skip out on the pub with our Bible study. Crunch time! Today, I had a tutorial about my roughly drafted essay in leiu of class. Then, lunchtime and more work. I needed some fresh air and also some groceries, so I decided to walk down snow-covered Snakes Lane to Tesco. The campus is so beautiful covered in snow! It looked like powdered sugar, which might help to explain why I bought an abnormally large amount of sweets at Tesco : ) When I'm not in a hurry or frustrated about waiting for the bus, I really enjoy the walk down Snakes Lane (in the day of course. It's super creepy at night, and there are foxes running around just waiting to gnaw on your ankles and attack your jugular.) I'll have to take some pictures or a short video to show you (not the foxes; the scenery). Even though it has been snowing, it's not as cold as I would expect. Here's a random question: Why is snow white? I thought of that today, and I don't know. I took the bus back to campus because it was already getting dark at 4:15. After unpacking and having a cup of tea, I was off to do more work in the library. I spent over 3 hours in the music lab working on some very difficult assignments. The good news is I feel like I actually made some substantial progress today, even though I nearly fried my brain doing it.
       Now it's time for a shameful confession: I had cookies for dinner. What's worse, I had pizza for lunch and forgot to take my vitamin today. Oh no, I'm gonna fall apart. I DID buy spinach and salmon at the store. That's a step in the right direction, even though they were right next to my chocolate bar.
       I couldn't bring myself to do any more work tonight, so I watched a couple episodes of Glee and loved it. Now, I'm exhausted and have a headache (probably from voluntary malnutrition). I'm going to the city tomorrow with a friend which will be very welcome breath of fresh air. Yay - the weekend!!! And Vienna next Thursday - woah, that's sneaking up fast!

      Wow, I really must be tired because I failed to mention the biggest news of the day. Due to the unusually stormy/snowy weather all around Britain, the Messiah concert (the one I have spent hours rehearsing for, the one that haunts me in my sleep and waking hours, the one that is the substance of my vocal bootcamp training) - was CANCELLED! I couldn't believe it. Too many of the performers were stuck because of the elements, and people were asking for refunds on their tickets because they couldn't get there. The choir is going to perform Messiah in the spring sometime close to Easter, but I'll be back in California by then. I'm ok with it. It wasn't my thing anyway. I was just an exploited student whose arm had been twisted behind her back to get her to contribute. So, here ends my love/hate relationship with Handel's Messiah. May it rest in peace in my past and never surface to haunt me again.

Prayer Request of the Day: That I would rest in the Lord at this time of year when things start to get exhausting.

November 30

       Oops, Shakespeare put me to sleep early again last night and set me back on my blogs! Darn Twelfth Night.

       So, Monday was a good day altogether. In the morning, I worked on learning some music for my voice lesson that day. Because I had gone to sleep early the night before, I somehow woke up earlier than usual and managed to have a very productive practice session. My lesson was very interesting and enjoyable, as usual, and then I spent the afternoon in my room doing homework and taking a nap (of course). As I was reading through some music articles in preparation for an essay I have to write, I found some really interesting stuff, more interesting than most literary articles I come across. Like I said before, I think I'm having an English major mid-college crisis. To quote Zoolander, "Who am I?" I found myself actually wanting to read parts of these articles for my own benefit, not just as sources for my paper. Radical. After my research session, I had a very pleasant surprise when I received a care package from my family! What a treat! Especially the gloves which came at just the right time. (Read on to Tuesday's section).
      Monday night was The Evening Dish radio show which was really fun this week! I got to perform again, and I sang "Near To You" by A Fine Frenzy which went better than I expected. The girls and I had a great time together, just laughing and chatting away the 2 hours in the studio. I registered for classes at CSUS on the radio show's computer and got to explain a little bit about how Sac State works to my friends. Throughout the day, there had been rumors of snow flying around, and we kept out eyes out for it as we left the studio around 10:15. Not yet, but we were still waiting.
       Then, Tuesday morning . . . SNOW!!! The first thing I did was take a picture out my window:

      You know what that means . . . LAYERS. I bundled up by wearing my workout spandex capris under my jeans, plus my green wool hat, a scarf, a blouse and a sweater, my raincoat, and the GLOVES my family sent me! Those gloves were a life saver (well, a "finger" saver, actually).
       Class was still being held as usual, and e-music was particularly interesting that day. Basically, we talked about how to use sound effects to make music and play with people's minds. It was inspirational, and I'm a little more excited about my assignment for that class now. When class was over, I trudged through the snow (that was only about 1 inch thick) on my way to my room. Marta and I had decided earlier that morning (once we had seen the snow) that it would be a perfect day for a movie and some hot chocolate. The flick for the day? -  The Way We Were. In case you haven't noticed, we are kind of both on a Barbra Streisand kick, and we're totally giving into it. The movie was great, but sad, yet beautiful. Funny Girl is next on our list. Marta is my movie hook-up girl :)
       After a relaxing afternoon, I hit up a practice room and worked through some more music until it was time for choir. Our usual director was out for the day due to the snow, so rehearsal was interesting. It went pretty well, actually. Singers ensemble was cancelled after that, so I got to make myself an early dinner. Mmmm, spaghetti with butter and parmesan cheese - yum! My neighbors were having a cute community dinner in the kitchen when I went in there to cook, and we coaxed my neighbor Alayna (who heads up the radio show) into showing us one of her many talents. Apparently she had nose surgery years ago that removed a lot of the cartilege in her nose and left a "bat cave" area. Don't freak out too much - you can't see it, but she showed us how she can thread a piece of floss into one nostril and out the other. What talent! If not appetizing, it was entertaining anyway. After dinner and a short break, I worked on some music stuff for about 2.5 hours and then read Shakespeare until I fell asleep. Thank you for your prayers for my motivation with my studies. I got a lot done these past 2 days! But still, I have to do a lot of catch-up in 2.5 hours' time, so I will leave you with,

Prayer Request of the Day: That I would remember God and His love even  in the middle of all the work I have to do.