October 30-31

       Yesterday began at about 2:30 am when I woke up after a nightmare about a corpse (the second one in a week - ???) to hearing one of my neighbors having coughing issues. After reading my Bible for a bit to calm my funkified and dream-filled brain down, I zoned out. I had gone to sleep around 12:30 and I had to wake up around 5:30 to set out for Cambridge, so this was the shortest night I've had yet. Sarah, Kim, and I caught a cab at 6:50 am to the tube station and headed to King's Cross Station where we caught our tour bus. In traditional "Lauren style," I napped with my head bobbing and my mouth gaping open as we rode along. At 11, we arrived in Cambridge, took a short walking tour, and then set out on our own. We met a guy from Canada who we hung out with for most of the afternoon whose name was Jadin. The 4 of us headed to a historic pub called The Eagle Pub for lunch where I embarassed myself by ignorantly trying to order from the bar. The bartender gave me a combination of the stink eye/stone face/silent treatment for some reason and made me feel like such an amateur pub-goer. I had some kind of ale which was very good, and us 3 girls tried The English Platter which consisted of a mini baguette, a pickled onion, brown pickle sauce, yellow mustard with chunks of something in it, butter, ham, and a pork pie.
                                       
      Everything was good except the pork pie (far lower right). WHAT IS THAT STUFF??? I don't understand the concept of pork+pie=good. It's more like pork+pie=fancy dog food. Anyway, we experienced some English culture and then headed over to St. Mary's Tower.
       There was a super narrow spiral staircase that we climbed to get to the top where we had a fantastic view of Cambridge. I didn't know that there are somethine like 31 colleges that comprise Cambridge University, and the town is speckled with them. We soaked up the view which was especially beautiful because the trees are changing color and the sun was out. When we were done there, we did a bit of shopping and then headed to the river for a punt. Punting is similar to a gondola experience except you can choose to do the punting yourself.  You basically stand on the end of the flat boat and push your boat down the river using a pole along the bottom (the river is shallow). Our Canadian friend, Jadin, volunteered to be the navigator, so Sarah, Kim and I hopped in the boat to enjoy the ride . . . or so we thought. Poor Jadin could not figure out how to manuever the boat, and it didn't help that there were also lots of people out on the narrow river. After spinning around a few times, hitting the sides of the river, rocking the boat, and paddling a little bit, Jadin finally lost his balance in a boat fender bender and fell into the river! Poor guy! We were all positive about it though, and he took it really well except that he had a 2 hour bus ride ahead of him before he could get some dry clothes. My friend Kim took over and punted us safely back to shore. She put Jadin to shame. You go girl!
       I snoozed on the way back to London, and I found a way to keep my mouth propped close and my dignity in tact.While preparing to get the Tube at King's Cross, there was some kind of emergency and we had to evacuate! Intense. We had to do some serious manuvering around town and it took us about 2 hours to get back to campus. Saturday night is no fun on public transportation.
       I caught up on my sleep last night and spent the morning doing laundry, reading my Bible, praying,  redecorating my room, and considering whether or not I should go out today. The restlessness set in quickly, and I headed for the city. First stop: Royal Albert Theater to get my ticket to see Imogen Heap on Friday - I'm soooo excited! Then, I went to Picadilly Circus to a store called Fortnum and Mason which is the only one of its kind. It was very impressive, but describing it would take too long right now. Check out the website if you're curious. I got a tea sample pack and began my journey back to campus.
       This evening, Kim, Sarah, and I walked up to a cafe near Christ Church and chilled there until the service started. I tried a jacket potato with cheese and mushrooms, and then I had a delicous baklava for dessert. The meal was really good, but I ate too much. I sat through the church service feeling like a balloon! A bunch of the young people went to the pub again after church, and we joined them. I tried some kind of lager today, but it wasn't that impressive. I'm trying to find a balance between experiencing new foods/drinks and not gaining tons of weight. I would like to think that my pants are shrinking, but the more plausible option would be that I am growing - out. That means exercising a lot this week (I hope). We walked back to the station to catch the campus shuttle, so I burned a few calories. Altogether, these past 2 days have been very good. Back to the daily school grind tomorrow!

Prayer Request of the Day: That I would worship God in my daily circumstances.