October 3

       The earliest morning yet! I set my phone alarm for 6 but actually got up at about 6:55. Today's trip of choice for international students was a trip to Brighton, a cute town on the southern coast of England. We left around 8:15 on a 2-hour bus ride that put me to sleep with my mouth embarrassingly hanging open as it always does when I sleep. I don't understand why my jaw muscles never get the memo to hold my jaw shut and maintain some composure on occasions like this! When I woke up, I promptly asked the girl next to me (my friend from Cyprus) if she #1: Had a camera. #2: Took any pictures of me like this- [insert untaken picture here]. Thankfully, she was kind enough to resist that opportunity.
       Once in Brighton, we walked around the pier and saw 3 men in speedos and swim caps jump into the raging sea, which looked super cold. There were also some surfers - crazy Brits! The beach was awesome looking because it was made of small rocks (from the size of a kidney bean to a walnut, I would guess) instead of fine sand. For the rest of the afternoon, a group of 6 of us just walked around the town and looked into tons of shops. We went to Starbucks, but let it be noted that I DID NOT call the stop; my friend from Cyprus did. Starbucks has some different drinks and more food over here. Soon, it began to pour and the wind was horribly powerful (Thanks for the raincoat, Mom!). The weather is very intermittent over here, so it calmed down soon enough. After 5.5 hours of wandering around with our increasingly sore feet/bodies, we caught the bus back to campus. For the record, the countryside and houses are so beautiful here! I wish I was a photographer so I could capture it all better.
       Five minutes after the bus arrived at campus, I and another Christian American girl met up with a local girl from a church very close to campus and walked there for their Sunday evening service. The church was cozy, about the same size as the A-frame at home, just a few 100 years older :) All the churches here are so old-looking but beautiful. Tons of brick and stone. After singing Beautiful One, Consuming Fire, and I Can Only Imagine and having flashbacks to youth group back in the day, we had a greeting, times of prayer, and a message.
      The most hilarious part of the whole evening was that the students from the church invited us to the local pub after the service! A PUB right after CHURCH!!!! It was too funny to pass up, so we went. Nothing crazy happened, and we enjoyed ourselves. (No one got drunk). I wonder how that would go over at FBCFO?
       I'm really enjoying myself and making lots of new friends from all over the world. The Lord is so faithful, and He is taking care of me! Thank you for all your prayers. I know He is answering them because I didn't expect things to be going this well, especially my personal/emotional/psychological adjustment. It hasn't even been a week yet, so please keep praying!

Prayer Request of the Day: That I would be physically AND spiritually healthy for the duration of my stay (I'm still fighing a cold).