October 12-13

       It's crazy to think that I have been here for 2 weeks already, and I'm just starting classes! Yesterday was my first day, and I only had one 2-hour class. It's called e-music (electronic music), and it looks really interesting. I had the rest of the day to myself, so I first decided to go grocery shopping! I have come to the conclusion that shopping for food is more fun than shopping for clothes. It's probably because I never leave a grocery store empty-handed, but I often leave clothing stores empty-handed. The levels of fulfillment just don't match up. Anyway, I ran into my friend from Portugal at the bus stop, and we went to the Tesco-express (gas station mini-mart) right up the road. I was so pleasantly surprised to find everything on my list of detailed ingredients! Who would have though that a mini-mart would carry fresh mushrooms and pesto?
       After we got back to the halls, my friend kindly let me have some of her stir fry, and we chilled in the kitchen for awhile. Then the food coma set in. You know what that means. . . NAP. I overslept, AGAIN, and 2 hours later I was back in the kitchen picking through the contents of a broken freezer. Somehow, one of the freezers was no longer freezing anything in it. My poor neighbor was giving away her large amounts of meat products because they wouldn't hold much longer. The one day I have a full lunch, I hit the food jackpot just a couple hours later! What are the odds...? That evening, a few of us went to the Christian Union on campus for their first meeting. It was pretty shallow, but I got to meet some cool people and learned that a few people I had already met were also Christians! They are just turning up everywhere! What a blessing. The rest of the night consisted of reading Mere Christianity, dozing off here and there, cranking out a couple sets of crunches and girl push-ups (yes, the ones on your knees), and skyping with Shelby and Shen.
       This morning was very nice even though I have been falling into the habit of getting out of bed between 30-45 minutes after my radio alarm goes off. It hasn't got me into trouble yet, thankfully. I cleaned up, and then went for a walk down by the beautiful lake. It was so serene. I just walked and breathed and prayed and thanked God that I wasn't working in the middle of a crazy rush at Starbucks. Because I had a little time to kill before my 11:30 Shakespeare class, I grabbed a piano in the music building and had myself a little jam session - love those!
       (Insert smooth transition here . . . or just skip it...). Remember the first day of volleyball tryouts when you showed up in your new vball gear, all color-coordinated, and cute looking... chatting it up with your bffs about how you're so glad to be back, so ready to play volleyball again... and then BAM!!! Smithers (the coach) shows up, and makes you do a million suicides, run around the world 4 times, do wall sits for an entire day, and do drills until you feel like you've been drilled into the floor? The shock - - The intensity - - The exhaustion! Well, my first 4 hour class of Shakespeare wasn't quite that bad, but my point is, it's rough to jump hard core back into school. My professor mixed the session up into discussion and silent reading and lecture and a short break, so that was nice. Still, we're talking some dense material here. I would give you an example, but my blogs are long enough already.
       After class, I gladly changed in to my workout gear and went for a run/jog/walk/trek around campus with some of my neighbors which was very refreshing and fun. Unfortunately, my knee somehow got really swollen afterwards, and I'm not sure why. I knew I brought Icy Hot for a reason! Soon enough, I was back in the kitchen ready to make some seriously bomb pizza! On ciabatta bread, I put tomato basil sauce, garlic, onions, zuccini, mushrooms, mozzarella and feta cheese, bell peppers, olives, artichokes, and proscuitto - and a whole lot of deliciousness! Seriously, it was very tasty.
       At 7, my happy stomach and I headed for the bus stop to meet the others for Bible study (not the Christian Union). This one was at a lovely English couple's house, and I absolutely loved it! The couple is so kind and welcoming and hospitable. There house is adorable too! There were a number of students there and a number of older adults which proved to be a great mix. We jumped right into the Scriptures (which is right up my alley), and let the evening roll on from there. It's hard to explain what a joy this evening was to me, but I'll just say that the Lord just keeps sending more and more of Himself and His goodness my way. It is so beautiful to be with God's people who are genuinely seeking Him. Even though we are from different countries, our unity as believers in Christ makes it as though we haven't skipped a beat.
  
Prayer Request of the Day: That my swollen knee would get better :(