What an epic weekend! So many once-in-a-lifetime experiences in only 2 months! Here's the latest one:
I overslept again, but thankfully Aretha Franklin had my back and finally pulled me out of bed with some "R-E-S-P-E-C-T" for good music. An hour later, my friends, Sarah, Kim, and Leah, and I scurried to the bus with our handy backpacks, ready for some adventure. We had to take the tube for an hour to get to Paddington Station where we barely caught our train! It was my fault actually because I thought I might be able to use a train pass I had left over from the summer, but it turns out it was invalid. I hoofed it across the station to get a last minute ticket, and we all got on our train 5 seconds before the doors closed! Ah the thrill of living on the edge! Immediately, we met a nice Australian couple who were sitting across from us who were headed to Windsor. When they left, we chatted with two young ladies who were also seated next to us who happened to be some pretty accomplished musicians. They are originally American, but they've traveleled around quite a bit with their music. Before they left, they kindly gave us a card to download their album for free! It's not as good as I expected, but it was still awesome to meet some really nice musicians to help pass the time.
Once we got to Oxford, we found our hostel pretty quickly. It looked super dingy from the outside, but it was clean and bursting with personality on the inside! (Check out my facebook page for pictures of this whole trip.) Soon, we hit the town and just wandered around all day. We saw tons of stuff, but I've forgotten some of it because I was so incredibly cold! I have never been that cold for that long in my life. I had on tights, jeans, socks, a cami, a long-sleeved shirt, (An "M," a "K," a diamond "K," - Blee, how does the rest of that go?), a sweatshirt, a leather jacket (which actually just made me colder), a hat, and mittens, and I was STILL freezing! So were the others, except Kim from Alaska who didn't complain too much. She just made us feel like woosies.
Both Sarah and Kim are extreme Harry Potter fans, so they were going on and on about which part of the buildings were used in the movies. I'm not a big HP fan, but I sure looked like one around my friends. I think they were out to convert me or something. Whatever. The trivia was interesting enough. We saw some of the Bodleian Library which was very traditional and beautiful. Later, we got to walk through Christ Church College where some more of the Harry Potter scenes were filmed. We saw the Hall where the lil' witches and wizards ate, the "moving" stairs (that don't really move), and the "talking" pictures (that don't really talk) of Hogwart's.
We had lunch at the White Horse Pub where I had fish and chips and some kind of gross beer that had a grassy aftertaste. I like to try new beverages. What can I say?Sometimes they're good, and sometimes they aren't. It's part of the experience. Later, we took another break from the freezing cold to get some hot chocolate and a treat at a cute cafe next to Christ Church College. Even though being inside was such a relief, all the layers I was wearing and the huge backpack that I was carrying were a huge hassle. This is why I love warm California weather when I can wear and tank top, shorts, and flip flops and be fine all day. When it got dark, we stopped AGAIN for something warm to drink at another cafe and defrosted for awhile. There weren't many sight-seeing opportunities in the evenings, so after we checked into our hostel, we headed to the King's Arms pub for lack of anything better to do. It sounds like we were eating all day, and maybe we were, but we enjoyed it. I tried sticky toffee pudding for the first time and loved it! After that, we were pretty low on energy and just went back to the hostel to wind down.
Oh, I forgot to mention the backpack issue. I didn't think very far ahead when I packed so many things in my backpack, but my shoulders and back were killing me all day. That, plus the cold made even a saggy hostel bunk bed seem fabulous. I slept alright I guess, aside from slightly freaking out when some stranger would come in or out of the room in the middle of the night. I got over it soon enough and just slept with my iPod going most of the night. Oh, I also forgot to mention that I bought an Oxford sweatshirt which I have wanted for awhile, and I also got myself the softest stuffed bunny ever! I hadn't realized until the other day that I am having cuddling/hugging withdrawals. It was a very strange realization for me because I'm not a huge hugger or cuddler usually, but apparently that's an important thing for me because I miss it! There's no one here who I like enough or who likes me enough to exhange a good hug with, and I didn't have room to pack my teddy bear, Cuddles : ( Gosh, this sounds pathetic. ANYWAY, I got myself a cuddle bunny, and I'm feeling much (but not entirely) better : ) I'm looking forward to genuine hugs from ALL of you when I get home!
Today, Leah, Kim, Sarah and I took full advantage of the free breakfast at the hostel and then headed out for a bit more sight-seeing before we caught the train for London. We went to see the Divinity School at the Bodleian Library, and the botanical gardens (which were mostly dead) across a huge field from Christ Church College. Originally, our plan was to take the 11:50 train back to London, but we missed it by 1 minute! We found a cute cafe to chill at until the next train left, and then we made the 2+ hour journey back to campus where I promptly took a very hot and long shower to regain feeling in my toes. I have spent the evening in my warm room doing odds and ends, and I have a feeling that it's gonna be an early night for me.
Prayer Request of the Day: That I would make good progress on my assignments this week.
Sunday, 28 November 2010
Friday, 26 November 2010
November 26
First of all, after I wrote my last entry, I realized that it was nearly as long as the average college essay! If only essays were that easy! This post will be shorter. Class was interesting and helpful this morning. I have wanted to learn this stuff (music theory) for years now, so I'm really excited that I finally have the chance! It's very challenging, but I love it. Immediately after class, I went to another help session for my e-music class and actually felt like I moved a baby step forward with the software! Yay! Around lunchtime, I decided to walk up to Tesco to do some grocery shopping. It was such a beautiful and sunshiny day (but sooo cold!), and I really enjoyed the walk. Lots of photo opps, even though I didn't have my camera.
You're gonna think I'm a Glee junkie (or you already do), but Marta and I watched yet ANOTHER episode of Glee this afternoon and totally enjoyed it. Then, it was time to get down to business. I stayed in my room for 2+ hours doing all kinds of little tasks, and then my neighbors and I went out for girls' night at the local Indian food restaurant! It was one of the girls birthday, and we had a great time. I have never had Indian food before, but I really liked it! I didn't recognize most of the stuff on the menu, but one of my friends was kind enough to recommend something to me. We passed our dishes around the table and tried a bit of everything. Somehow, we managed to score a really nice bottle of Moet and Chandon champagne for half price! Yum. I love girls' night, but I must confess, I've never been to one quite like this where most of the conversation was about sex and sleeping around. Woah. I was shocked. These girls are great, but they definately operate on different morals than me. I stayed quiet through most of their conversation and just tried to enjoy their company. Eventually, one of them asked me my views on sex before marriage which I wasn't expecting. I kindly told them that I don't support it, but I'm not hating on them because they don't feel the same way. Touchy topic.
I bet you can guess what happened right when we left the restaurant and walked through the freezing cold toward the bus stop . . . that's right - the bus went on a break. We huddled together in the front of the tube station and amused ourselves quite well. There was a group of 4 guys on the other side of the cove who were also waiting for the bus. I started to sing a little bit (with my friends' help) to pass the time and distract myself from the cold, and the guys started singing their own stuff across the way. It became kind of like a "battle of the bands," but then the girls and guys started singing together a little bit. Tube station karaoke - classic. Someone even threw us a little bit of change. We sang for about 30 minutes, and the bus finally came! On the ride back, we continued to sing with the guys to whatever songs we could think of. Poor bus driver! I hope he didn't mind our vocal stylings. It was really fun! When we got back, all 6 of us girls crammed into one of our small rooms and watched Mean Girls. I wasn't a fan, but it was still nice to hang with the ladies.
Once again, I have stayed up too late. It's about 1:30 am right now, and I have to catch the 8:00 bus in the morning with 3 of my girlfriends for our overnight trip to Oxford! What an adventure this will be!
Prayer Request of the Day: That I would be a faithful witness of beautiful Jesus to my friends.
You're gonna think I'm a Glee junkie (or you already do), but Marta and I watched yet ANOTHER episode of Glee this afternoon and totally enjoyed it. Then, it was time to get down to business. I stayed in my room for 2+ hours doing all kinds of little tasks, and then my neighbors and I went out for girls' night at the local Indian food restaurant! It was one of the girls birthday, and we had a great time. I have never had Indian food before, but I really liked it! I didn't recognize most of the stuff on the menu, but one of my friends was kind enough to recommend something to me. We passed our dishes around the table and tried a bit of everything. Somehow, we managed to score a really nice bottle of Moet and Chandon champagne for half price! Yum. I love girls' night, but I must confess, I've never been to one quite like this where most of the conversation was about sex and sleeping around. Woah. I was shocked. These girls are great, but they definately operate on different morals than me. I stayed quiet through most of their conversation and just tried to enjoy their company. Eventually, one of them asked me my views on sex before marriage which I wasn't expecting. I kindly told them that I don't support it, but I'm not hating on them because they don't feel the same way. Touchy topic.
I bet you can guess what happened right when we left the restaurant and walked through the freezing cold toward the bus stop . . . that's right - the bus went on a break. We huddled together in the front of the tube station and amused ourselves quite well. There was a group of 4 guys on the other side of the cove who were also waiting for the bus. I started to sing a little bit (with my friends' help) to pass the time and distract myself from the cold, and the guys started singing their own stuff across the way. It became kind of like a "battle of the bands," but then the girls and guys started singing together a little bit. Tube station karaoke - classic. Someone even threw us a little bit of change. We sang for about 30 minutes, and the bus finally came! On the ride back, we continued to sing with the guys to whatever songs we could think of. Poor bus driver! I hope he didn't mind our vocal stylings. It was really fun! When we got back, all 6 of us girls crammed into one of our small rooms and watched Mean Girls. I wasn't a fan, but it was still nice to hang with the ladies.
Once again, I have stayed up too late. It's about 1:30 am right now, and I have to catch the 8:00 bus in the morning with 3 of my girlfriends for our overnight trip to Oxford! What an adventure this will be!
Prayer Request of the Day: That I would be a faithful witness of beautiful Jesus to my friends.
Thursday, 25 November 2010
November 24-25
Time has never flown so quickly ever before in my life! It's shocking that I have been in London for almost 2 months already, and there's still so much I want to do in this last month or so. With this mindset, you can imagine how unmotivated I'm feeling with my school work. Who wants to sit cooped up in their room or the library doing school work when there's a fantastic city to be explored less than an hour away?!?!?! Well, sometimes I do, but more often than not I just want to do fun stuff, i.e. NOT read Shakespeare or sing Handel's Messiah. To be honest, the whole Messiah thing and I have a love/hate relationship. It's hard to explain, but it feels a little bit like forcing yourself to eat healthy or take vitamins or workout because you know it's good for you, but you don't really enjoy the process sometimes. Ok, moving on.
Wednesday morning was a relatively early one because I had to finish Henry V and answer questions about it for class that day. Not a fun reason to wake up early. Do you ever have those days when breakfast is the only thing that pulls you out of bed? Back home, belgian waffles and espresso do that for me. Here, it's usually a crappy song on the radio/alarm that I absolutely must get out of bed to turn off. If it's not that, I look forward to my large mug of tea with milk. It makes even doing homework better. So, with my tea I finished my reading. The cleaning lady came when I was finishing up some stuff, and we talked a bit about dogs, ha. She's super nice and a big dog lover apparently. Then - SHAKESPEARE class which was a drag, again. I feel so lame about baggin' on that class all the time, but there are so many more interesting things here than reading drama and sitting through boring lectures on it. My "English major" identity is having a mid-college crisis.
Finally, Shakespeare class was over, so I did some other work before meeting up with Marta to watch a couple more episodes of Glee. Oh man, I love that show. True, it can be controversial and outlandish, but it makes me laugh and I get musical goosebumps almost every time I watch it. The communal talent is overwhelming. After wiping the tears of laughter from my eyes, I went to Bible study. (Is that too weird a sequence of events???) Oh well. Once again, I loved Bible study. I will be sad to leave my darling English Bible study friends, but I'm looking forward to coming back to FBCFO where I can feel truly connected. Because I knew that I would be here for so short a time, I didn't want to get too attached or invested in a church here anyway because it would just make things more difficult when I left. I think God has provided a very good balance for me. One of the kind ladies at Bible study gave us a lift back to campus where a few us promptly got together to plan a trip to Oxford this weekend! I love that we actually scheduled a meeting for 11:00 at night. How "college-life" is that?
Last night, I told myself, "I'm gonna set my alarm for a little before 7 to see if I can actually get up on time tomorrow." The intention was there, but once again, my body didn't follow through. Oh well, I'm not stressin' too much. The work still got done. After class, I decided to make some pancakes just because. Pancake session soundtrack this time? - The Script. You should see me in the kitchen over here when I've got my iPod and I'm groovin' with my spatula-thing conducting some invisible orchestra or something. I probably look like one of those people who jam to their tunes on the street corner while dancing with signs for some business. (I didn't sell my pancakes.)
In preparation for yet another 3 hour Messiah rehearsal tonight, I listened through the score and then spent the next 1.5 hours sleeping. What is this power that Shakespeare and Handel have over me to totally zonk me out? It's shameful and wasteful really . . . BUT I love my naps :) Once classes are over, I'm hitting the town in a serious way and doing myself a load of traveling. None of this habitual napping stuff. One plus to today's situation though was that I had plenty of energy for rehearsal. Aside from the loud lady sitting next to me who smelled weird and sang flat way too often, the evening wasn't that bad. I caught myself enjoying some of the other personalities in the room like the new (and pretty good looking) head hauncho conductor who will be conducting the actual concert next week, and the man in the bass section who makes such hilarious faces when he sings! Oh man, it took some effort not to laugh out loud. Plus, I know he is actually a funny guy anyway, so that didn't help.
Ok, I think I need to take a moment to mention the great amount of pleasure I find in hearing knowledgeable men play/conduct/sing/talk about music with those lovely British accents and rich voices. One of my professors is from Belfast (=wicked accent), and he's crazy talented/knowledgeable too. I could listen to him talk and play the piano for hours upon hours I think. (Usually vocal ticks bother me once I notice them, but when he starts off every other sentence with "Right, ok" in his fantastic accent, it doesn't bother me at all. It's awesome actually. So Irish!) And then there's my voice teacher who has such a pleasant demeanor, but ironically he also has this fantastic operatic laugh that makes you think he could be some kind of villian who revels in the dubious nature of his master plan to overthrow the medieval king and all his serfs or something super theatrical like that. Of course, he's far from villianous, but he's got a great voice and he gives good vocal advice. Both the temporary and permanent conductors for Messiah have their own charming idosyncrasies as well. They are both very demanding, but they are so complimentary to the singers at the same time. "Well done, yes, well done chaps. Ladies, never louder than lovely on those high notes. Sing it like [ ] Yes, well done, well done indeed." These British music men are one of a kind, I think. Why can't I find a quality one my age in America? Shoot. I don't want to try to answer that right now.
When I got back to my room, I spent about 1.5 hours trying to figure out a music assignment that I had forgotten was due in the morning. Because this blog is already horrendously long, I won't vent too much, but I will write a few things. For one, I'm sick of this disorganization and these ambiguous expectations. I can't learn this way. You don't just throw a baby into the deep end of a pool and expect it to swim. At least throw us beginners some floaties or something. I feel like I spend more of my time being confused about what I need to be researching on my my own than I do actually soaking up useful musical information. "Why don't you ask for help?," you might ask. To a certain extent I have, but people over here don't exactly make themselves the most available to students who just need to drop in with questions every now and then. Plus, I want to ask educated questions, but I feel like the professor will just say, "I posted that on that link on that one page on that one website under that one section. Why didn't you check that before asking me about it?" Or worse, my question will only lead to more confusion. I always feel like I'm missing something over here, and it's starting to get to me. I'm looking forward to being at Sac State again where I know how things work, for the most part.
Wow. This entry was super long. Congrats on making it this far.
Random comment: I can't get Handel's Messiah out of my head, and it's annoying.
Prayer Request: That I would make sense of my assignments and progress efficiently with them.
Wednesday morning was a relatively early one because I had to finish Henry V and answer questions about it for class that day. Not a fun reason to wake up early. Do you ever have those days when breakfast is the only thing that pulls you out of bed? Back home, belgian waffles and espresso do that for me. Here, it's usually a crappy song on the radio/alarm that I absolutely must get out of bed to turn off. If it's not that, I look forward to my large mug of tea with milk. It makes even doing homework better. So, with my tea I finished my reading. The cleaning lady came when I was finishing up some stuff, and we talked a bit about dogs, ha. She's super nice and a big dog lover apparently. Then - SHAKESPEARE class which was a drag, again. I feel so lame about baggin' on that class all the time, but there are so many more interesting things here than reading drama and sitting through boring lectures on it. My "English major" identity is having a mid-college crisis.
Finally, Shakespeare class was over, so I did some other work before meeting up with Marta to watch a couple more episodes of Glee. Oh man, I love that show. True, it can be controversial and outlandish, but it makes me laugh and I get musical goosebumps almost every time I watch it. The communal talent is overwhelming. After wiping the tears of laughter from my eyes, I went to Bible study. (Is that too weird a sequence of events???) Oh well. Once again, I loved Bible study. I will be sad to leave my darling English Bible study friends, but I'm looking forward to coming back to FBCFO where I can feel truly connected. Because I knew that I would be here for so short a time, I didn't want to get too attached or invested in a church here anyway because it would just make things more difficult when I left. I think God has provided a very good balance for me. One of the kind ladies at Bible study gave us a lift back to campus where a few us promptly got together to plan a trip to Oxford this weekend! I love that we actually scheduled a meeting for 11:00 at night. How "college-life" is that?
Last night, I told myself, "I'm gonna set my alarm for a little before 7 to see if I can actually get up on time tomorrow." The intention was there, but once again, my body didn't follow through. Oh well, I'm not stressin' too much. The work still got done. After class, I decided to make some pancakes just because. Pancake session soundtrack this time? - The Script. You should see me in the kitchen over here when I've got my iPod and I'm groovin' with my spatula-thing conducting some invisible orchestra or something. I probably look like one of those people who jam to their tunes on the street corner while dancing with signs for some business. (I didn't sell my pancakes.)
In preparation for yet another 3 hour Messiah rehearsal tonight, I listened through the score and then spent the next 1.5 hours sleeping. What is this power that Shakespeare and Handel have over me to totally zonk me out? It's shameful and wasteful really . . . BUT I love my naps :) Once classes are over, I'm hitting the town in a serious way and doing myself a load of traveling. None of this habitual napping stuff. One plus to today's situation though was that I had plenty of energy for rehearsal. Aside from the loud lady sitting next to me who smelled weird and sang flat way too often, the evening wasn't that bad. I caught myself enjoying some of the other personalities in the room like the new (and pretty good looking) head hauncho conductor who will be conducting the actual concert next week, and the man in the bass section who makes such hilarious faces when he sings! Oh man, it took some effort not to laugh out loud. Plus, I know he is actually a funny guy anyway, so that didn't help.
Ok, I think I need to take a moment to mention the great amount of pleasure I find in hearing knowledgeable men play/conduct/sing/talk about music with those lovely British accents and rich voices. One of my professors is from Belfast (=wicked accent), and he's crazy talented/knowledgeable too. I could listen to him talk and play the piano for hours upon hours I think. (Usually vocal ticks bother me once I notice them, but when he starts off every other sentence with "Right, ok" in his fantastic accent, it doesn't bother me at all. It's awesome actually. So Irish!) And then there's my voice teacher who has such a pleasant demeanor, but ironically he also has this fantastic operatic laugh that makes you think he could be some kind of villian who revels in the dubious nature of his master plan to overthrow the medieval king and all his serfs or something super theatrical like that. Of course, he's far from villianous, but he's got a great voice and he gives good vocal advice. Both the temporary and permanent conductors for Messiah have their own charming idosyncrasies as well. They are both very demanding, but they are so complimentary to the singers at the same time. "Well done, yes, well done chaps. Ladies, never louder than lovely on those high notes. Sing it like [ ] Yes, well done, well done indeed." These British music men are one of a kind, I think. Why can't I find a quality one my age in America? Shoot. I don't want to try to answer that right now.
When I got back to my room, I spent about 1.5 hours trying to figure out a music assignment that I had forgotten was due in the morning. Because this blog is already horrendously long, I won't vent too much, but I will write a few things. For one, I'm sick of this disorganization and these ambiguous expectations. I can't learn this way. You don't just throw a baby into the deep end of a pool and expect it to swim. At least throw us beginners some floaties or something. I feel like I spend more of my time being confused about what I need to be researching on my my own than I do actually soaking up useful musical information. "Why don't you ask for help?," you might ask. To a certain extent I have, but people over here don't exactly make themselves the most available to students who just need to drop in with questions every now and then. Plus, I want to ask educated questions, but I feel like the professor will just say, "I posted that on that link on that one page on that one website under that one section. Why didn't you check that before asking me about it?" Or worse, my question will only lead to more confusion. I always feel like I'm missing something over here, and it's starting to get to me. I'm looking forward to being at Sac State again where I know how things work, for the most part.
Wow. This entry was super long. Congrats on making it this far.
Random comment: I can't get Handel's Messiah out of my head, and it's annoying.
Prayer Request: That I would make sense of my assignments and progress efficiently with them.
Tuesday, 23 November 2010
November 22-23
I think Monday was probably the worst day I've had yet in London, but honestly it wasn't that bad. I got to sing, afterall :) Copy machines and general printing issues were a large part of Monday's frustration. First, I needed to make some copies of music before my voice lesson, and the copier decided to skip one of my pages. I didn't realize it until I was sitting at a piano in the music building, so I had to walk all the way back to the library and copy that one page. Thankfully, I wasn't late, but I didn't have time to warm up like I would have liked. Feeling a bit unprepared, I showed up to my voice lesson. Even though this week's lesson wasn't as groundbreaking as last week's, I still learned some important stuff and had some fun too. It is such a treat to have a voice teacher over here, and such a fantastic one at that! Turns out, he's kinda famous - http://www.markoldfield.net/.
After my lesson, it was essay time! Ugh. Apathetically, I finished writing about how the language, sexual violence, and pretense of nobility in Act 2 Scene 1 of Titus Andronicus contribute to the tragic atmosphere of revenge in the play. I don't think I have ever been so UNmotivated for an essay before. What a new and strange feeling. Then the storm hit. I won't go into detail about the time between 2:15 and 4:00 (the deadline), but I will just say that I was scrurrying across campus way too many times and stressing out. In the midst of all this, I realized that I had lost my MDX library/student card = not good. When my paper was finally turned in, I scoured my room for my card but to no avail (who says "to no avail" anymore???). Exhausted, I went to the kitchen to make a salad and then back to my room to decompress. In preparation for my performance on The Evening Dish (my neighbor's radio show), I got to spend some much needed time with my guitar just jammin' through some old goodies. The show went pretty well, and we laughed a lot in the studio. I shared one of my favorite games (I guess it's not really a game . . . ) with my English friends, and they loved it. It's the one where you take pictures of yourself while trilling your lips and making bubble sounds. Sometimes I call it the "horse lip game." Whatever it is, it's hilarious and brought some relief to my stressful day and tears of laughter to our eyes.
Tuesday was definately an improvement on Monday. Of course there was e-music class, and then I went looking for my student card again. To my great surprise, some kind soul had turned it into the lost and found and I got it back! It may sound goofy, but I was so relieved! I definately didn't want to pay the 10 pound fee for a replacement. That afternoon, I read through 2.5 acts of Shakespeare's Henry V and then took a nap (the typical response to Shakespeare) for an hour. When I woke up, I looked up some information on flights to Scotland and Ireland and started to get excited for the end of term when my American friends come to visit and travel with me! Then I was off to choir and singers ensemble. Apparently, I have scored myself an a cappella (sp?) solo in one of our choir songs = scary. Still, I couldn't turn down the opportunity because it's good for me and I'm here to experience new things. After singers ensemble, the choir director worked through my solo with me, and then I went back to halls to cook some pasta. A number of my English neighbors were also cooking in the kitchen, and we decided to play the "let's learn how to do each other's accents" game which was totally fun. After stuffing myself with bowtie pasta, I went to the library to get some music books and watch some inspirational youtube videos (mainly Imogen Heap and Barbra Streisand). The rest of the evening, I spent reading more of Henry V which again put me to sleep earlier than I planned. That's why this blog is a bit late and why I'm up so early to finish the play and do some other work.
The best thing about yesterday was that I got to see how God delivered me more than once from things that were weighing heavy on me. I won't go into any more detail here, but I am so thankful that God is always watching over us and cares about even our smallest troubles. That's my praise request of the day.
After my lesson, it was essay time! Ugh. Apathetically, I finished writing about how the language, sexual violence, and pretense of nobility in Act 2 Scene 1 of Titus Andronicus contribute to the tragic atmosphere of revenge in the play. I don't think I have ever been so UNmotivated for an essay before. What a new and strange feeling. Then the storm hit. I won't go into detail about the time between 2:15 and 4:00 (the deadline), but I will just say that I was scrurrying across campus way too many times and stressing out. In the midst of all this, I realized that I had lost my MDX library/student card = not good. When my paper was finally turned in, I scoured my room for my card but to no avail (who says "to no avail" anymore???). Exhausted, I went to the kitchen to make a salad and then back to my room to decompress. In preparation for my performance on The Evening Dish (my neighbor's radio show), I got to spend some much needed time with my guitar just jammin' through some old goodies. The show went pretty well, and we laughed a lot in the studio. I shared one of my favorite games (I guess it's not really a game . . . ) with my English friends, and they loved it. It's the one where you take pictures of yourself while trilling your lips and making bubble sounds. Sometimes I call it the "horse lip game." Whatever it is, it's hilarious and brought some relief to my stressful day and tears of laughter to our eyes.
Tuesday was definately an improvement on Monday. Of course there was e-music class, and then I went looking for my student card again. To my great surprise, some kind soul had turned it into the lost and found and I got it back! It may sound goofy, but I was so relieved! I definately didn't want to pay the 10 pound fee for a replacement. That afternoon, I read through 2.5 acts of Shakespeare's Henry V and then took a nap (the typical response to Shakespeare) for an hour. When I woke up, I looked up some information on flights to Scotland and Ireland and started to get excited for the end of term when my American friends come to visit and travel with me! Then I was off to choir and singers ensemble. Apparently, I have scored myself an a cappella (sp?) solo in one of our choir songs = scary. Still, I couldn't turn down the opportunity because it's good for me and I'm here to experience new things. After singers ensemble, the choir director worked through my solo with me, and then I went back to halls to cook some pasta. A number of my English neighbors were also cooking in the kitchen, and we decided to play the "let's learn how to do each other's accents" game which was totally fun. After stuffing myself with bowtie pasta, I went to the library to get some music books and watch some inspirational youtube videos (mainly Imogen Heap and Barbra Streisand). The rest of the evening, I spent reading more of Henry V which again put me to sleep earlier than I planned. That's why this blog is a bit late and why I'm up so early to finish the play and do some other work.
The best thing about yesterday was that I got to see how God delivered me more than once from things that were weighing heavy on me. I won't go into any more detail here, but I am so thankful that God is always watching over us and cares about even our smallest troubles. That's my praise request of the day.
Sunday, 21 November 2010
November 20-21
What a fantastic weekend! Les Mis on Friday night totally got me off on the right foot. Since then, I haven't done a lot of big stuff like that, but there have been a lot of little joys. Saturday, I got to sleep in again and relax for awhile in the morning. Unfortunately, I had to work on a paper for my Shakespeare class for quite a few hours this weekend, but there is still something enjoyable about having the time to work at a comfortable pace AND sleep enough. Even though I would now consider myself an official procrastinator when it comes to writing papers, my life is still easier now that I don't have Starbucks stealing my precious time and energy. So, I spent some time working on my paper, and then took a break to go buy some food. I didn't feel like waiting for the bus again, so I booked it down Snakes Lane (the street to the tube station and mini mart) and enjoyed the beautiful scenery and fall leaves everywhere. After some tea, more work, and a lovely skype session with my family, Marta and I grabbed ourselves some of my delicious leftover bowtie pasta and kicked back to watch some Glee episodes. Thankfully, these last 2 were better than the Britney Spears and Grilled Cheesus episodes! Dude, can I just say that Lea Michele does a wicked impression of Barbra Streisand? All she needs is the 70's cornetto fro, and you've got Barbra's Mini-Me. Inspired by Glee's tribute to Barbra and Judy's duet "Happy Days are Here Again/ Get Happy," Marta and I decided to watch "A Star is Born" after we discovered that we are both big Barbra fans. (Marta had it on an external hard drive.) I can't remember the last time I just had an evening to kill with a friend back home. I'm usually too tired and busy to initiate the impromptu hang-out anymore (and so are my friends), but things are different over here! We had the time, so we spent the evening totally diggin' Kris Kristofferson's abs and Bab's hilarious character (and her fab voice, of course). I did a little bit of work before falling asleep, but I still fell asleep happy.
Today I got to sleep in again! I'm so sorry to those of you who are reading this and haven't had the chance to sleep in lately. I know how it is. I hate the feeling of waking up to an alarm clock every morning. Even when I sleep in, I don't necessarily wake up in a good mood, but today I did. I just felt really joyful for some reason. After consuming my toast and making some tea, I read through 1 Timothy 6 and came across an answer to prayer. No need to elaborate really, but I'll just say that it's really neat to see a prayer request answered that quickly! I finished with some prayer and reading through a bit of C.S. Lewis' "The Four Loves" and then it was off to the gym. I'm not sure if it was the tea or a gift from God, (Could be both. Tea is a gift from God. So is coffee.) but I had tons of energy at the gym. While listening to The Script, I hoofed it on the elliptical, worked my abs and legs, and then jumped on the treadmill. Usually I wear spandex capris to the gym, but mine were dirty, so I wore shorts today. Here's the little math lesson I learned: 3 years of working, eating, and drinking at Starbucks + mid-thigh workout shorts + running on the treadmill = cellulite central. Ewww. I immediately looked up foods that fight cellulite when I got back to my room.
Because I had decided to make exercise and singing both top priorities today, I spent over an hour singing in a practice room after I cleaned up from my workout. I had so much fun! I was in good voice today, and I can't really tell you how happy I am whenever that happens. I sang my heart out (a little too much, in fact) and left with a bit of a sore throat. It was still really fun. Then work time. Apparently exercise and music before writing an essay really helps to put your mind in a productive mode, and I got quite a chunk of work done!
Earlier in the day, I got a text from Marta asking if she could come to church with me tonight. We've talked a little about God and church, but she's not religious at all, so I was really excited that she was interested! We left early and got some dinner at the little Greek diner by the church and then walked over to the church. I really liked the service tonight, songs and all. I was praying that the gospel would be an obvious part of the evening somehow so Marta could better understand what this whole Christian thing is about. And guess what? There were 2 baptisms tonight, and boy do these Brits know how to put on a baptism! They use a really awesome liturgy that I have never seen before, but it's jam packed of goodness about professing Jesus as Lord and Savior and rejecting the devil, etc. Usually baptisms are pretty boring back home (no offense), but these two were so exciting and alive! They take baptism seriously over here, and it was a very joyous event. I'm so glad Marta got to see it! After the service, we mingled with some of the other people from Middlesex, and she fit right in and didn't seem nervous or anything. As we chatted throughout the rest of the evening, I could tell that she had been receptive to the whole experience. I am so thankful for that; it was an answer to pray (another quick answer, btw, like less than a week).
Since then I have spent hours working on my paper that is due tomorrow. Just after I set down my laptop to go to sleep, I remembered that I needed to blog for you all! AHHH! So now it's almost 2:45 am, and I'm almost done. I hope you've enjoyed reading another very long entry. Feel free to leave some feedback even if it's a random joke or something dumb. I like to hear from you all!
Prayer Request of the Day: That Marta would come to Jesus and that I can help.
Today I got to sleep in again! I'm so sorry to those of you who are reading this and haven't had the chance to sleep in lately. I know how it is. I hate the feeling of waking up to an alarm clock every morning. Even when I sleep in, I don't necessarily wake up in a good mood, but today I did. I just felt really joyful for some reason. After consuming my toast and making some tea, I read through 1 Timothy 6 and came across an answer to prayer. No need to elaborate really, but I'll just say that it's really neat to see a prayer request answered that quickly! I finished with some prayer and reading through a bit of C.S. Lewis' "The Four Loves" and then it was off to the gym. I'm not sure if it was the tea or a gift from God, (Could be both. Tea is a gift from God. So is coffee.) but I had tons of energy at the gym. While listening to The Script, I hoofed it on the elliptical, worked my abs and legs, and then jumped on the treadmill. Usually I wear spandex capris to the gym, but mine were dirty, so I wore shorts today. Here's the little math lesson I learned: 3 years of working, eating, and drinking at Starbucks + mid-thigh workout shorts + running on the treadmill = cellulite central. Ewww. I immediately looked up foods that fight cellulite when I got back to my room.
Because I had decided to make exercise and singing both top priorities today, I spent over an hour singing in a practice room after I cleaned up from my workout. I had so much fun! I was in good voice today, and I can't really tell you how happy I am whenever that happens. I sang my heart out (a little too much, in fact) and left with a bit of a sore throat. It was still really fun. Then work time. Apparently exercise and music before writing an essay really helps to put your mind in a productive mode, and I got quite a chunk of work done!
Earlier in the day, I got a text from Marta asking if she could come to church with me tonight. We've talked a little about God and church, but she's not religious at all, so I was really excited that she was interested! We left early and got some dinner at the little Greek diner by the church and then walked over to the church. I really liked the service tonight, songs and all. I was praying that the gospel would be an obvious part of the evening somehow so Marta could better understand what this whole Christian thing is about. And guess what? There were 2 baptisms tonight, and boy do these Brits know how to put on a baptism! They use a really awesome liturgy that I have never seen before, but it's jam packed of goodness about professing Jesus as Lord and Savior and rejecting the devil, etc. Usually baptisms are pretty boring back home (no offense), but these two were so exciting and alive! They take baptism seriously over here, and it was a very joyous event. I'm so glad Marta got to see it! After the service, we mingled with some of the other people from Middlesex, and she fit right in and didn't seem nervous or anything. As we chatted throughout the rest of the evening, I could tell that she had been receptive to the whole experience. I am so thankful for that; it was an answer to pray (another quick answer, btw, like less than a week).
Since then I have spent hours working on my paper that is due tomorrow. Just after I set down my laptop to go to sleep, I remembered that I needed to blog for you all! AHHH! So now it's almost 2:45 am, and I'm almost done. I hope you've enjoyed reading another very long entry. Feel free to leave some feedback even if it's a random joke or something dumb. I like to hear from you all!
Prayer Request of the Day: That Marta would come to Jesus and that I can help.
Friday, 19 November 2010
November 18-19
What a mixed bag these past 2 days have been! Thursday apparently was "Lauren-can't-quite-kick-into-work-mode" day which was frustrating. In the morning I had class which was great, but after that I had issues getting much done. My power naps have grown from the acceptable 15 minutes to the over-indulgent 30 minutes lately. Knowing you will wake up to homework doesn't help the situation. Who wants to pop out of bed to read criticism on how cannibalism can be seen as a form of therapy in Titus Andronicus? Not me. Well, I finally got up and decided to work on music instead. While in a practice room, I just couldn't find my groove. I think I set my goals too high that day, so I left disappointed in myself and pissed off too. My friend Sarah had asked me earlier in the week if I would show her a few exercises at the gym, so we went and I hoped it would pull me out of my bad mood. Working out always makes me feel better, except for the fact that lately I have developed a bit of a nerve issue in my butt/lower back/thigh area. I think it's from running more than usual. I could really use a foam roller right now. After our workout, I had . . . DUN DUN DUN . . . Messiah rehearsal which was THREE hours this time. Woah. Between my workout and singing for 3 hours, I was exhausted. My homework again decided my bedtime for me, and I zonked out around 10:30 after brainstorming for a paper. Oh, I forgot to mention the lady behind me at Messiah rehearsal! She was probably the most entertaining/annoying part of my day. For the most part, she knew the music, but she had this grating habit of overemphasizing the "T"s at the ends of words and at the ends of phrases. It was like she was trying to spit the music onto the back of my neck with the force of the "T" consonant. This probably sounds very minor to you, but you start noticing quirks like that when you're with people for 3 hours. There's also the lady who holds almost all the notes out just a milisecond too long at the end of phrases. That's annoying. I just hope I don't have some annoying singing habit that one of the other choir members is blogging about right now.
After all that wild excitement (feel the sarcasm . . .), you're probably too winded to read on about my day today, but I am going to write about it anyway. It's a general principle that skipping class to do other work is lame, but I gave in today. NERD. The resident sound technician was finally running a help session, so I skipped Composition and Musicianship to get help with my e-music assignments. The funny thing was that both of those classes are taught by the same teacher. Essentially, I was skipping one of his classes to get help in another. Trippy. I still don't know why this university allowed me to mix and match my classes like I have. It is very confusing. For the record, the resident technician was also confused about our e-music assignments. We're starting to think that our teacher might have actually spent some time on another planet. (I can't back that up). There's no way to know. He sure does know his music though. Speaking (well, writing) of interesting personalities, there was a guy who showed up to the help session who had quite the chip on his shoulder. I'm not sure if he thought he was going to a help session or a "I'm-gonna-brag-and-act-like-I-know-more-than-the-teacher-while-challenging-him-rudely" musical UFC session. I almost called him on it during the session, but I held my tongue. Ok, that's enough on that.
For lunch, I made pizza AGAIN! Just kidding. I actually made pasta this time. Bowtie pasta with tomatoes, artichokes, basil, olive oil, some lemon juice, and feta cheese - Yum! I have leftovers, and I'm excited about them. After transferring that delicious dish into its proper place in my stomach, I actually managed to get some work done. THEN - the fun stuff.
THE CITY. Marta and I braved the Friday night crowds, and went straight to Piccadilly Circus. It was hoppin! Literally, if felt like driving in rush hour traffic. We originally went to see Les Miserables, but our cheap student instinct kicked in, and we pretty much went on a scavenger hunt around the city looking for the best deal on last minute theater tickets. It turns out that the best deal actually was Les Miserables, and we got tickets for 15 pounds! That is super cheap, ya'll. We couldn't see the entire stage, and the lady in front of me was wearing WAY too much old lady perfume, but the show was phenomenal! I bought the cd after the show with the 2010 cast recording on it. Dude, both of us were blown away and on a musical high afterwards. Just to top it all off, we went to the Haagen-Dazs ice cream shop near the theater and truly enjoyed some serious sugar-dairy product.
(I realize how ridiculous I look, but I was a little distracted by the goodness in my hand.
That's my expensive Brick Lane hat I'm wearing, btw.)
After all that wild excitement (feel the sarcasm . . .), you're probably too winded to read on about my day today, but I am going to write about it anyway. It's a general principle that skipping class to do other work is lame, but I gave in today. NERD. The resident sound technician was finally running a help session, so I skipped Composition and Musicianship to get help with my e-music assignments. The funny thing was that both of those classes are taught by the same teacher. Essentially, I was skipping one of his classes to get help in another. Trippy. I still don't know why this university allowed me to mix and match my classes like I have. It is very confusing. For the record, the resident technician was also confused about our e-music assignments. We're starting to think that our teacher might have actually spent some time on another planet. (I can't back that up). There's no way to know. He sure does know his music though. Speaking (well, writing) of interesting personalities, there was a guy who showed up to the help session who had quite the chip on his shoulder. I'm not sure if he thought he was going to a help session or a "I'm-gonna-brag-and-act-like-I-know-more-than-the-teacher-while-challenging-him-rudely" musical UFC session. I almost called him on it during the session, but I held my tongue. Ok, that's enough on that.
For lunch, I made pizza AGAIN! Just kidding. I actually made pasta this time. Bowtie pasta with tomatoes, artichokes, basil, olive oil, some lemon juice, and feta cheese - Yum! I have leftovers, and I'm excited about them. After transferring that delicious dish into its proper place in my stomach, I actually managed to get some work done. THEN - the fun stuff.
THE CITY. Marta and I braved the Friday night crowds, and went straight to Piccadilly Circus. It was hoppin! Literally, if felt like driving in rush hour traffic. We originally went to see Les Miserables, but our cheap student instinct kicked in, and we pretty much went on a scavenger hunt around the city looking for the best deal on last minute theater tickets. It turns out that the best deal actually was Les Miserables, and we got tickets for 15 pounds! That is super cheap, ya'll. We couldn't see the entire stage, and the lady in front of me was wearing WAY too much old lady perfume, but the show was phenomenal! I bought the cd after the show with the 2010 cast recording on it. Dude, both of us were blown away and on a musical high afterwards. Just to top it all off, we went to the Haagen-Dazs ice cream shop near the theater and truly enjoyed some serious sugar-dairy product.
(I realize how ridiculous I look, but I was a little distracted by the goodness in my hand.
That's my expensive Brick Lane hat I'm wearing, btw.)
With the comfort of some very nice evening weather, we made our way to the tube and back to campus where we arrived at about 12:30 am.
Two more random comments, and then I'm done. First, it is both troubling and enjoyable to be spending money on so many exciting things. I'll have to elaborate later, I think. Second, I have been getting esophageal spasms way more often. What's the deal???
Prayer Request of the Day: That I would resolve this (nerve???) issue in my butt/thigh/hip. It's uncomfortable.
Wednesday, 17 November 2010
November 17
Overslept.
Chatted with June, our cleaning lady.
Ate toast and tea.
Laptop session.
Workout session.
Ran over a mile.
Sweat a lot.
Felt very alive.
Shower.
Music class.
Confused, but intrigued.
Food.
Baked birthday cookies for my neighbor.
Homework.
Fire alarm from someone's cooking.
Stood in the cold.
Fire brigade.
Late leaving, late bus.
Rain.
Loved Bible study.
I really love Bible study.
Got a ride back to campus.
Homework.
Facebook and friends' blogs.
Starting to miss home a bit.
Bedtime.
What did you do?
Prayer Request of the Day: That the Lord would fill my heart with His love until it overflows.
Chatted with June, our cleaning lady.
Ate toast and tea.
Laptop session.
Workout session.
Ran over a mile.
Sweat a lot.
Felt very alive.
Shower.
Music class.
Confused, but intrigued.
Food.
Baked birthday cookies for my neighbor.
Homework.
Fire alarm from someone's cooking.
Stood in the cold.
Fire brigade.
Late leaving, late bus.
Rain.
Loved Bible study.
I really love Bible study.
Got a ride back to campus.
Homework.
Facebook and friends' blogs.
Starting to miss home a bit.
Bedtime.
What did you do?
Prayer Request of the Day: That the Lord would fill my heart with His love until it overflows.
November 15-16
Oops, I just realized that I am a bit behind on my posts! I fell asleep early again last night. Sorry, but here's the latest update.
Monday is voice lesson and radio show day, as you might have noticed from previous posts. Before voice lessons, I always wish I had practiced more. Last week, I didn't practice singing much outside of the usual Messiah and choir rehearsals, so I prayed before my lesson that it would go well even though I wasn't super prepared. To my great relief and excitement, I had one of the best voice lessons ever! It was really fun! The techniques my teacher taught me kicked in right away and helped a lot. Very rarely do things like that happen so quickly for me. Most of my singing improvement is very gradual. Anyway, I was totally diggin' it, and it put me in a really good mood.
Soon after I got back from singing, my friend Marta and I went grocery shopping together, but first we grabbed some fish and chips. Yum. We split an order because they are huge over here, and we completely enjoyed our carb overdose. With happy tummies, we headed to Asda for an epic shopping trip. I'm not sure if I have mentioned that the comforters (duvets as they call them) that come on the beds in the halls of residence are super small; they barely cover the mattress. Well, mine is annoying because it won't stay in one place, so I invested in a king-size duvet at Asda, and I am lovin' it. It's the American way - "bigger is better," in this instance anyway. We scaled the aisles at Asda, and then trudged back to campus with our winnings.
After all that work and those fish and chips, we decided that we needed some hot chocolate and some Glee. Marta got the latest Glee episodes from a friend, and we watched the Britney Spears and Grilled Cheesus episodes. Talk about controversial! Whewww! I could go on and on, especially about the Grilled Cheesus episode, but I won't do that here. Despite being a bit disturbed, I still enjoyed chillin' and the hot chocolate. Later on, Marta joined the rest of us gals for "The Evening Dish" where I got to perform "Light in Your Eyes" by Sheryl Crow! It was cool. We chatted it up for the rest of the show and then called it a night.
Tuesday morning is e-music. Having class only once a week makes the weeks go by so fast! Usually that would be a good thing, but I just feel more behind in e-music because of it. Thankfully, our teacher acknowledged that a number of people are having trouble, and he gave us some pointers on how to get moving with our assignments. I hit up the libary right after class, and tried to sort through a few things. Then - lunchtime! I made more pizza, this time with tomatoes, mozzarella, pepperoni, onions, and Edam (???) cheese. (Well, shoot, that doesn't look nearly as healthy as I thought it did, now that I'm writing out the ingredients). I bought the Edam cheese because they don't have provolone cheese over here, and I thought that maybe they just call it by a different name. Anyway, the pizza was good. A bit later that afternoon, I had choir and singers ensemble which went well. They were fun actually! I had myself a little jam session with a piano for awhile afterwards, and then I went to the gym for a lovely workout. Even though I make the best of the really small gym room, it still bites that there is only one treadmill and only one elliptical. I miss 24's expansive layout. Later, I did some reading for the paper I have to write for Shakespeare class, and it put me to sleep (which is why I didn't blog last night). Next to studying music, studying literature is a drag. It's really strange because I used to enjoy picking through articles and analyzing literature. Things are changing, I guess. Maybe it's just the London fog, which btw was sooo thick yesterday! Here's the view from my room:
Monday is voice lesson and radio show day, as you might have noticed from previous posts. Before voice lessons, I always wish I had practiced more. Last week, I didn't practice singing much outside of the usual Messiah and choir rehearsals, so I prayed before my lesson that it would go well even though I wasn't super prepared. To my great relief and excitement, I had one of the best voice lessons ever! It was really fun! The techniques my teacher taught me kicked in right away and helped a lot. Very rarely do things like that happen so quickly for me. Most of my singing improvement is very gradual. Anyway, I was totally diggin' it, and it put me in a really good mood.
Soon after I got back from singing, my friend Marta and I went grocery shopping together, but first we grabbed some fish and chips. Yum. We split an order because they are huge over here, and we completely enjoyed our carb overdose. With happy tummies, we headed to Asda for an epic shopping trip. I'm not sure if I have mentioned that the comforters (duvets as they call them) that come on the beds in the halls of residence are super small; they barely cover the mattress. Well, mine is annoying because it won't stay in one place, so I invested in a king-size duvet at Asda, and I am lovin' it. It's the American way - "bigger is better," in this instance anyway. We scaled the aisles at Asda, and then trudged back to campus with our winnings.
After all that work and those fish and chips, we decided that we needed some hot chocolate and some Glee. Marta got the latest Glee episodes from a friend, and we watched the Britney Spears and Grilled Cheesus episodes. Talk about controversial! Whewww! I could go on and on, especially about the Grilled Cheesus episode, but I won't do that here. Despite being a bit disturbed, I still enjoyed chillin' and the hot chocolate. Later on, Marta joined the rest of us gals for "The Evening Dish" where I got to perform "Light in Your Eyes" by Sheryl Crow! It was cool. We chatted it up for the rest of the show and then called it a night.
Tuesday morning is e-music. Having class only once a week makes the weeks go by so fast! Usually that would be a good thing, but I just feel more behind in e-music because of it. Thankfully, our teacher acknowledged that a number of people are having trouble, and he gave us some pointers on how to get moving with our assignments. I hit up the libary right after class, and tried to sort through a few things. Then - lunchtime! I made more pizza, this time with tomatoes, mozzarella, pepperoni, onions, and Edam (???) cheese. (Well, shoot, that doesn't look nearly as healthy as I thought it did, now that I'm writing out the ingredients). I bought the Edam cheese because they don't have provolone cheese over here, and I thought that maybe they just call it by a different name. Anyway, the pizza was good. A bit later that afternoon, I had choir and singers ensemble which went well. They were fun actually! I had myself a little jam session with a piano for awhile afterwards, and then I went to the gym for a lovely workout. Even though I make the best of the really small gym room, it still bites that there is only one treadmill and only one elliptical. I miss 24's expansive layout. Later, I did some reading for the paper I have to write for Shakespeare class, and it put me to sleep (which is why I didn't blog last night). Next to studying music, studying literature is a drag. It's really strange because I used to enjoy picking through articles and analyzing literature. Things are changing, I guess. Maybe it's just the London fog, which btw was sooo thick yesterday! Here's the view from my room:
The picture doesn't even do it justice. The sky was white! At night, it looks super creepy! (That's the bus on its break, btw. HAHAHA! erg. typical.)
I guess the last couple days haven't been that exciting. Just everyday stuff. I'll have to work on changing that. Hmmmm, what's next?
Prayer Request of the Day: That I would use my time wisely.
Sunday, 14 November 2010
November 14
Early morning today, erg. I must say, waking up early to go do something fun is WAY better than waking up early to serve rude and rushed customers their coffee drug as they scurry off to work during rush hour(s). I've said it before, but I must say it again - I am SO GLAD that I'm not working at Starbucks anymore.
The campus shuttle bus must have decided that it was "Let's drive Lauren crazy by leaving right as she gets to the bus stop and then by taking our 30+ minute breaks while she waits in the freezing cold" day. Seriously frustrating. I spent a total of 1.5 hours just WAITING for the bus today. I miss my car. After missing the first bus this morning (my fault), my friend Marta and I finally left for Brick Lane. Since it's the weekend, there were bound to be some tube closures. We were lucky enough to run into them, and we had to take 3 different tube lines to get to our destination. Most of the shops weren't open yet when we got there around 9:30, so we hadn't missed much. For about 5 hours we wandered around the general Brick Lane area sauntering through endless vintage shops, craft stalls, and crap stalls (not literal crap, just junk). I have never seen so many vintage shops in my life! It's crazy how many fur and leather coats there are in those places, along with super heavy knit sweaters. I also found a lot of old U.S. military coats which was kind of ironic. Yes, they were very cool, but I would never buy one in ENGLAND. That's just backwards. Plus, they were expensive, so I just admired them and moved on. For lunch, I had a spinach and feta Turkish wrap and some baklava which were both delicious. I bought 4 pairs of super cozy socks, 2 hankies, and ( uh oh ) I totally splurged . . . on a hat, of all things. Oh dear, it was expensive, but it's adorable. Shelby, you would love it. I would take a picture of it, but I can't do it justice right now because I'm in my room and in my grubbies. You'll see it eventually.
It was really cold outside as we walked around, and it rained most of the time too. To ease our misery, Marta and I stopped in a small cafe for some hot chocolate and then decided we were done with the wet and cold. We manuevered our way back to campus through the 3 tube lines while catching small naps in between stops. Freezing and exhausted, we waited at the bus stop for 40 minutes while the driver took his break. Maddening! When we finally got back, I promptly took a nap until it was time to leave for church. I missed the bus by about 1 minute (of course), but thankfully caught the next one which actually did arrive according to schedule in about 15 minutes. I met up with a friend at the tube station, and we went to church. While I'm really enjoying Christ Church, I still feel like a visitor. I don't want to get too settled there because I know I have to leave soon, but now I'm starting to realize the value in having a "home church." You can invest yourself in a "home church." It's kinda like the difference between casual dating and a serious relationship. There isn't much investment in casual dating but there definately is in a serious relationship. I guess you could say that FBCFO is my church boyfriend, but I'm seeing another man (Christ Church) on the side. Hmmm, that's a messy example, but you get my point, right?
On the way back from church, I got stuck at the bus stop for about 40 minutes AGAIN in the freezing cold. Having quickly fallen out of the post-church "holy" mood, I was pissed and ready for my warm bed. Now, I'm in my room, wearing 3 pairs of socks, thick sweatpants, and a sweatshirt.
Despite my frustrations with the bus situation, I am still troubled/burdened with the poor plight of the bus drivers, and the security guards as well, for that matter. I want to find a way to make their days better. I think I should cook something for them.
One other burden. I really want my friends to know Jesus, but I'm having a really hard time with how to go about sharing Him with them. This leads me into my prayer request:
Prayer Request of the Day: That the Lord would fill my heart with His love and that it would spill over onto others.
The campus shuttle bus must have decided that it was "Let's drive Lauren crazy by leaving right as she gets to the bus stop and then by taking our 30+ minute breaks while she waits in the freezing cold" day. Seriously frustrating. I spent a total of 1.5 hours just WAITING for the bus today. I miss my car. After missing the first bus this morning (my fault), my friend Marta and I finally left for Brick Lane. Since it's the weekend, there were bound to be some tube closures. We were lucky enough to run into them, and we had to take 3 different tube lines to get to our destination. Most of the shops weren't open yet when we got there around 9:30, so we hadn't missed much. For about 5 hours we wandered around the general Brick Lane area sauntering through endless vintage shops, craft stalls, and crap stalls (not literal crap, just junk). I have never seen so many vintage shops in my life! It's crazy how many fur and leather coats there are in those places, along with super heavy knit sweaters. I also found a lot of old U.S. military coats which was kind of ironic. Yes, they were very cool, but I would never buy one in ENGLAND. That's just backwards. Plus, they were expensive, so I just admired them and moved on. For lunch, I had a spinach and feta Turkish wrap and some baklava which were both delicious. I bought 4 pairs of super cozy socks, 2 hankies, and ( uh oh ) I totally splurged . . . on a hat, of all things. Oh dear, it was expensive, but it's adorable. Shelby, you would love it. I would take a picture of it, but I can't do it justice right now because I'm in my room and in my grubbies. You'll see it eventually.
It was really cold outside as we walked around, and it rained most of the time too. To ease our misery, Marta and I stopped in a small cafe for some hot chocolate and then decided we were done with the wet and cold. We manuevered our way back to campus through the 3 tube lines while catching small naps in between stops. Freezing and exhausted, we waited at the bus stop for 40 minutes while the driver took his break. Maddening! When we finally got back, I promptly took a nap until it was time to leave for church. I missed the bus by about 1 minute (of course), but thankfully caught the next one which actually did arrive according to schedule in about 15 minutes. I met up with a friend at the tube station, and we went to church. While I'm really enjoying Christ Church, I still feel like a visitor. I don't want to get too settled there because I know I have to leave soon, but now I'm starting to realize the value in having a "home church." You can invest yourself in a "home church." It's kinda like the difference between casual dating and a serious relationship. There isn't much investment in casual dating but there definately is in a serious relationship. I guess you could say that FBCFO is my church boyfriend, but I'm seeing another man (Christ Church) on the side. Hmmm, that's a messy example, but you get my point, right?
On the way back from church, I got stuck at the bus stop for about 40 minutes AGAIN in the freezing cold. Having quickly fallen out of the post-church "holy" mood, I was pissed and ready for my warm bed. Now, I'm in my room, wearing 3 pairs of socks, thick sweatpants, and a sweatshirt.
Despite my frustrations with the bus situation, I am still troubled/burdened with the poor plight of the bus drivers, and the security guards as well, for that matter. I want to find a way to make their days better. I think I should cook something for them.
One other burden. I really want my friends to know Jesus, but I'm having a really hard time with how to go about sharing Him with them. This leads me into my prayer request:
Prayer Request of the Day: That the Lord would fill my heart with His love and that it would spill over onto others.
Saturday, 13 November 2010
November 13
Ah, the joys of sleeping in on a Saturday! I didn't think it was possible to have a day that was both lazy and productive, but if it is possible, that day was today. I played around on my laptop for awhile and facebook chatted with a good friend from home, and then (guess what I made for breakfast???) - PANCAKES! Yes, more pancakes. It seems that pancakes, pizza, and cookies are my standby recipes. I eat other stuff of course, but those are the foods that actually take some effort compiling ingredients. While mixing batter and flipping pancakes, I jammed to Carol King on my iPod and had a grand ol' time. Because I didn't have any maple syrup, I used raspberry jam instead. Improvisation and efficiency are new talents that I have been exercising and growing while in London. I remember one of my ex-coworkers told me a story once about a contest somewhere that called for people to come up with as many ways to use a newspaper as possible. The winners? Bums. When you have to get by and all you have is free newspapers all around, you just figure it out. Newspaper jacket, newspaper toilet paper, newspaper bench, "Dey's uh, shrimp-kabobs, shrimp creole, shrimp gumbo. Pan fried, deep fried, stir-fried. There's pineapple shrimp, lemon shrimp, coconut shrimp, pepper shrimp, shrimp soup, shrimp stew, shrimp salad, shrimp and potatoes, shrimp burger, shrimp sandwich. That- that's about it." Well, I have more than newspapers and shrimp, thankfully, but living with less is interesting and funny sometimes.
After breakfast (which was also lunch), I cleaned up a little bit and then read my Bible and prayed. Then the all too frequent nap (a bit early today), and I was off to the gym! I'm feelin' fit. I don't look like it yet, but I can just feel those caramel macciatos carbs and countless frapp "cellulite" samples falling off my bod. Of course I was hungry when I was done working out, so I made more pizza. Yep, more. Not the best post-workout snack, but I can think of tons of worse things. This time it had lots of tomotoes on it, and artichokes, mozzarella cheese, onions, orange bell peppers, and pepperoni. Not too bad, right? It was delicious. Later, I worked through some music and literature stuff for awhile as I sipped on some of my Fortnum and Mason tea. The to-do list got a pretty darn good whoopin' actually. Maybe it was too short, but I feel like I accomplished some important stuff today. Also, I got to talk to my mom for half an hour which was awesome! What a treat. Tomorrow brings another early morning because one of my friends and I are hitting up Brick Lane really early to beat the crowds. I haven't been there yet, but apparently it's a big market and general culture hub, so I'm amped. It's 11:10 right now, and I'm considering popping in "White Christmas" as a lullaby. Hmmm, I think I'll do it.
Prayer Praise Request of the Day: That the Lord brings rest to the weary.
After breakfast (which was also lunch), I cleaned up a little bit and then read my Bible and prayed. Then the all too frequent nap (a bit early today), and I was off to the gym! I'm feelin' fit. I don't look like it yet, but I can just feel those caramel macciatos carbs and countless frapp "cellulite" samples falling off my bod. Of course I was hungry when I was done working out, so I made more pizza. Yep, more. Not the best post-workout snack, but I can think of tons of worse things. This time it had lots of tomotoes on it, and artichokes, mozzarella cheese, onions, orange bell peppers, and pepperoni. Not too bad, right? It was delicious. Later, I worked through some music and literature stuff for awhile as I sipped on some of my Fortnum and Mason tea. The to-do list got a pretty darn good whoopin' actually. Maybe it was too short, but I feel like I accomplished some important stuff today. Also, I got to talk to my mom for half an hour which was awesome! What a treat. Tomorrow brings another early morning because one of my friends and I are hitting up Brick Lane really early to beat the crowds. I haven't been there yet, but apparently it's a big market and general culture hub, so I'm amped. It's 11:10 right now, and I'm considering popping in "White Christmas" as a lullaby. Hmmm, I think I'll do it.
November 11-12
I'm so glad I took my Ferris Bueller's Day Off on Wednesday because the weather took a turn for the worst on Thursday. When I saw the rain out my window and heard the crazy wind tossing everything around outside, I smiled to myself and thought, "Good decision yesterday. Who knows, that might have been the last bright and sunshiny day you will have in England." (I hope not).
Thursday I had class in the morning as usual, and then I sent a bunch of "I need help!" emails to various faculty. Waiting things out has worked so far, but I'm getting a bit nervous about not being prepared for my assessments. That afternoon, I stayed in my room, started re-reading "Titus Andronicus" for my Shakespeare class because I am going to write a paper on it. Also, in order to prepare for Messiah rehearsal that evening, I needed to listen through as much of the score as possible. As I think I have mentioned before, neither of these activities are exactly captivating. I bet you can guess what comes next . . . that's right. A nap. I zoned out while listening to the Messiah, and went to rehearsal soon after I woke up. Thankfully, I got to sit next to the girl who knows what's she's doing, so I felt much better about Handel and his "This will kick you in the butt AND in the throat with its difficulty, but you can't complain too much because it's called MESSIAH" score. Somehow, my technique must have been better also because my throat didn't hurt nearly as much after rehearsal as it did the previous 2 weeks. Finally - some relief! I didn't feel like slamming the score on the ground or throwing it against the wall this week.
Friday, I had Composition and Musicianship again. That is the only responsibility I have on Fridays, so I actually get to feel that TGIF feeling that I haven't had since I started working for Starbucks! It is so nice to think, "Tomorrow's Saturday. I can sleep in, AND I don't have to work!" Well, I have homework, but not working the Friday and Saturday closing shifts at Starbucks is SOOOO awesome! I'm so glad to be out of there! That said, I still busted my butt in a practice room for 2 whole hours yesterday working through music theory stuff like practicing my scales, cadences, intervals, etc. When I got back to my room, I had the rest of the gnocci that I forgot to mention I made for dinner on Thursday. YUM! Then I turned on some Louis Armstrong, and just plain relaxed for a little while. Earlier in the day, a maintenence guy had come to paint my door because it had been recently replaced and needed painting to match the rest of the doors in the hall. (I liked the natural wood color :( ). But I didn't have a say in the matter, so he painted it and consequently filled my room and the hall with the toxic scent of chemicals. It was so strong that I actually wondered, "Am I gonna get high from this?" (I didn't). Even though it was cold outside, I opened my window to let the fumes seep out. It didn't work very well, and I couldn't completely enjoy my nap because of the potent paint smell. Yuck. Just for the record, he did a lousy paint job. I could have done it better myself.
After relaxing for a bit and finally getting rid of the mysterious headache I had had all day, I went to the gym! I guess everyone else had better things to be doing than exercising, so I had the gym all to myself. It was awesome! I spent over 1.5 hours there, and felt very worn out but fantastic afterwards. Even since sophomore year when I got my gym membership, I have always wanted to get into ideal shape for the summer months. Who doesn't? Usually, I am so busy with school, church and Starbucks, that the gym gets pushed to the side. With Starbucks out of the picture, I really hope I can kick this fitness thing into gear this time around. I'm starting early, and I hope I don't run out of steam so quickly this time! Bikini - bring it on!
Last night I did some more homework and went to sleep early instead of writing this blog or otherwise being productive. Before falling asleep lately, I have found myself praying that God would protect me from nightmares. I don't know why I am so prone to dreaming, but I find that praying about the nightmare thing really helps. Reading "Titus Andronicus" before going to sleep doesn't improve my chances of peaceful dreams. If I remember correctly, it is Shakespeare's most violent work. Really, it's grotesque. I won't go into the details, but I will say that I didn't have any nightmares about it last night! Thank you Jesus.
Prayer Request of the Day: That I would get the help I need with my classes.
Thursday I had class in the morning as usual, and then I sent a bunch of "I need help!" emails to various faculty. Waiting things out has worked so far, but I'm getting a bit nervous about not being prepared for my assessments. That afternoon, I stayed in my room, started re-reading "Titus Andronicus" for my Shakespeare class because I am going to write a paper on it. Also, in order to prepare for Messiah rehearsal that evening, I needed to listen through as much of the score as possible. As I think I have mentioned before, neither of these activities are exactly captivating. I bet you can guess what comes next . . . that's right. A nap. I zoned out while listening to the Messiah, and went to rehearsal soon after I woke up. Thankfully, I got to sit next to the girl who knows what's she's doing, so I felt much better about Handel and his "This will kick you in the butt AND in the throat with its difficulty, but you can't complain too much because it's called MESSIAH" score. Somehow, my technique must have been better also because my throat didn't hurt nearly as much after rehearsal as it did the previous 2 weeks. Finally - some relief! I didn't feel like slamming the score on the ground or throwing it against the wall this week.
Friday, I had Composition and Musicianship again. That is the only responsibility I have on Fridays, so I actually get to feel that TGIF feeling that I haven't had since I started working for Starbucks! It is so nice to think, "Tomorrow's Saturday. I can sleep in, AND I don't have to work!" Well, I have homework, but not working the Friday and Saturday closing shifts at Starbucks is SOOOO awesome! I'm so glad to be out of there! That said, I still busted my butt in a practice room for 2 whole hours yesterday working through music theory stuff like practicing my scales, cadences, intervals, etc. When I got back to my room, I had the rest of the gnocci that I forgot to mention I made for dinner on Thursday. YUM! Then I turned on some Louis Armstrong, and just plain relaxed for a little while. Earlier in the day, a maintenence guy had come to paint my door because it had been recently replaced and needed painting to match the rest of the doors in the hall. (I liked the natural wood color :( ). But I didn't have a say in the matter, so he painted it and consequently filled my room and the hall with the toxic scent of chemicals. It was so strong that I actually wondered, "Am I gonna get high from this?" (I didn't). Even though it was cold outside, I opened my window to let the fumes seep out. It didn't work very well, and I couldn't completely enjoy my nap because of the potent paint smell. Yuck. Just for the record, he did a lousy paint job. I could have done it better myself.
After relaxing for a bit and finally getting rid of the mysterious headache I had had all day, I went to the gym! I guess everyone else had better things to be doing than exercising, so I had the gym all to myself. It was awesome! I spent over 1.5 hours there, and felt very worn out but fantastic afterwards. Even since sophomore year when I got my gym membership, I have always wanted to get into ideal shape for the summer months. Who doesn't? Usually, I am so busy with school, church and Starbucks, that the gym gets pushed to the side. With Starbucks out of the picture, I really hope I can kick this fitness thing into gear this time around. I'm starting early, and I hope I don't run out of steam so quickly this time! Bikini - bring it on!
Last night I did some more homework and went to sleep early instead of writing this blog or otherwise being productive. Before falling asleep lately, I have found myself praying that God would protect me from nightmares. I don't know why I am so prone to dreaming, but I find that praying about the nightmare thing really helps. Reading "Titus Andronicus" before going to sleep doesn't improve my chances of peaceful dreams. If I remember correctly, it is Shakespeare's most violent work. Really, it's grotesque. I won't go into the details, but I will say that I didn't have any nightmares about it last night! Thank you Jesus.
Prayer Request of the Day: That I would get the help I need with my classes.
Wednesday, 10 November 2010
November 9-10
I am soooo tired right now, but I'm committed to blogging for you all, so here it goes.
E-music yesterday was confusing again. The students is starting to get fed up with it all. You can feel the angst in the air! I promptly slipped out right as class ended and went back to my room to do some reading, chillin', and odds and ends stuff. Choir last night was easier than the previous week. There weren't so many crazy high notes that make me feel like I've been kicked in the throat by a horse (that's more the Messiah's effect on me, actually). Immediately after singers ensemble, I went to the gym for an awesome workout. Its feels so good to be exercising again! Normally, exercise helps you to sleep better, right? That's what I thought, but I have exercised the last 2 days, and I haven't slept well. Just this morning I realized it is because I have been drinking tea in the evenings, and apparently it's caffeinated! Didn't do that today. I'm gonna sleep like a baby!
Today was awesome. I totally pulled a Ferris Bueller's Day Off. I had been toying with idea of skipping Shakespeare class today because I can afford to miss a couple, and I didn't want to read or hear about Romeo and Juliet. When I woke up to the magnificent sunshine coming in my window, I decided. No class today! I'm having fun instead! I spent the morning in my room, doing online stuff, reading my Bible, booking my trip to Vienna, and chatting with my friend Sarah. Then, I was off to the city! It is both weird and awesome to be in the London hustle and bustle by myself. With a handy map, I spent about 6 hours walking around the city between the Piccadilly Circus, Oxford Circus, and Leicester Square areas. There are so many shops, and the streets are already getting decorated for Christmas! In between trekking around the city, I bought myself a ticket to see Phantom of the Opera tonight! One of my friends was going, so I told her we could just meet up before the show. The funny thing was she is in my Shakespeare class also, so when I was having a blast in the city, she was nearly bored to tears in class! Bummer . . . for her. I would have invited her, but she gets nervous about skipping class. Anyway, after walking my legs off, I went to Her Majesty's Theater to sit back and watch a fantastic show! I got a ticket for about 26 pounds which is cheap, and my seat wasn't half bad. I feel so spoiled being around so many good musicians in this city! The ones in my classes and the professional ones. I am absolutely fascinated by them. I definately need to marry a music man.
On the tube on the way back to campus, my knees were killing me from walking them to death around the city! I picked up a few things at the mini mart, and trudged back to my room. Now that my body is exhausted and my head is aching, I will say goodnight!
Prayer Request of the Day: That I would experience the love of the Lord and share it too.
E-music yesterday was confusing again. The students is starting to get fed up with it all. You can feel the angst in the air! I promptly slipped out right as class ended and went back to my room to do some reading, chillin', and odds and ends stuff. Choir last night was easier than the previous week. There weren't so many crazy high notes that make me feel like I've been kicked in the throat by a horse (that's more the Messiah's effect on me, actually). Immediately after singers ensemble, I went to the gym for an awesome workout. Its feels so good to be exercising again! Normally, exercise helps you to sleep better, right? That's what I thought, but I have exercised the last 2 days, and I haven't slept well. Just this morning I realized it is because I have been drinking tea in the evenings, and apparently it's caffeinated! Didn't do that today. I'm gonna sleep like a baby!
Today was awesome. I totally pulled a Ferris Bueller's Day Off. I had been toying with idea of skipping Shakespeare class today because I can afford to miss a couple, and I didn't want to read or hear about Romeo and Juliet. When I woke up to the magnificent sunshine coming in my window, I decided. No class today! I'm having fun instead! I spent the morning in my room, doing online stuff, reading my Bible, booking my trip to Vienna, and chatting with my friend Sarah. Then, I was off to the city! It is both weird and awesome to be in the London hustle and bustle by myself. With a handy map, I spent about 6 hours walking around the city between the Piccadilly Circus, Oxford Circus, and Leicester Square areas. There are so many shops, and the streets are already getting decorated for Christmas! In between trekking around the city, I bought myself a ticket to see Phantom of the Opera tonight! One of my friends was going, so I told her we could just meet up before the show. The funny thing was she is in my Shakespeare class also, so when I was having a blast in the city, she was nearly bored to tears in class! Bummer . . . for her. I would have invited her, but she gets nervous about skipping class. Anyway, after walking my legs off, I went to Her Majesty's Theater to sit back and watch a fantastic show! I got a ticket for about 26 pounds which is cheap, and my seat wasn't half bad. I feel so spoiled being around so many good musicians in this city! The ones in my classes and the professional ones. I am absolutely fascinated by them. I definately need to marry a music man.
On the tube on the way back to campus, my knees were killing me from walking them to death around the city! I picked up a few things at the mini mart, and trudged back to my room. Now that my body is exhausted and my head is aching, I will say goodnight!
Prayer Request of the Day: That I would experience the love of the Lord and share it too.
Monday, 8 November 2010
November 7-8
Yesterday was pretty uneventful. I made more pancakes for breakfast while rocking out to Brooke Fraser and Audrey Assad on my iPod. My pancakes are so yummy! Until about 6:40 when I left for church, I just lounged around my room praying, reading my Bible, making room decorations, and just plain chillin'. Church was fantastic. The message hit on so many things that I have been learning and praying about lately, and it was so nice to hear someone verbalize a sermon out of things that have only been in my head and prayers. The church is doing a series on Proverbs, and I love the nuggets of wisdom that we find in that book! During worship, I noticed that the lead guitarist had a really beautiful guitar that looked like a Breedlove (the kind of guitar that I play), so I asked him about it after the service. Indeed, it was a Breedlove (an American brand), and its owner was very kind and introduced me to other band members including the worship minister who plays keys. It was very pleasant to be among a worship team again, even though we were just chatting, not jamming. After church, 3 of us girls waited for the campus shuttle for half an hour in the freezing cold while the bus driver was on a break. Erg!!! On one hand, I feel really bad for the bus drivers because their job seems horribly boring and unfulfilling. I wish they could find a more interesting and better paying job. On the other hand, I need them to get me to and from campus, and it's really frustrating when they don't adhere to the bus schedule! It's a lose-lose situation. Oh well. I'll just be a more patient person when I get back to CA!
This morning, I got right to work putting songs together for my voice lesson at 11:30. I hit up the library and listened through the songs I am learning, went to a practice room to run through them and warm up my voice, and then went to my voice lesson. My teacher is fantastic, and I'm learning so many useful things! I love singing. I'm so glad that God lets me do it. More and more, I'm wishing I could do something involving music as a career. My English literature classes are good, and I am happy about the skills I've reaped from them. BUT, I like music better. Now . . . how do I make money off of this passion? Typical question. Unanswerable for now, so I'll move on. When I got back from my lesson, I jumped into reading Music Composition for Dummies which is going to be a great help, I can tell. It's kind of insulting to be reading something made for "dummies," but I'm over the stigma. I need help, and the books are funny and informative. Filled with new knowledge, I went to the music/computer room in the library to hopefully find some more information on Logic Pro 9, the music software we're supposed to be using for our assignments. I've been slowly working through the lengthy manual in roughly 1 hour segments, but I haven't made much of the program yet. I put in my time today, and then headed out for a workout at the campus gym. Even though it is super small, I was totally happy to be exercising! I did the stairmaster for 10 minute, the elliptical for 30, abs, obliques, lats, triceps, biceps, traps, and I jogged for a bit. My body was loving me when I was done!
I cleaned up, ate a bit, and then caught up with my radio buddies to prep for tonight's show. It's coming together, and we have a good time. One of my neighbors is apparently a super good beat-boxer, and and she showcased her skills on the show! It was awesome! I'm jealous! A 2-hour radio show on top of an exhilirating workout has left me wiped out! Oh, I didn't write that I got to mention Jesus on the radio. It was brief but cool. We were talking about the meaning of Christmas, and one of my friends said it was food and presents. Naturally, I inserted Jesus :) I should have done more homework today. Oh well. I'm going to sleep instead. Goodnight!
Prayer Request of the Day: That I would take full advantage of the time and opportunities I have here! (Just under 2 months left!)
This morning, I got right to work putting songs together for my voice lesson at 11:30. I hit up the library and listened through the songs I am learning, went to a practice room to run through them and warm up my voice, and then went to my voice lesson. My teacher is fantastic, and I'm learning so many useful things! I love singing. I'm so glad that God lets me do it. More and more, I'm wishing I could do something involving music as a career. My English literature classes are good, and I am happy about the skills I've reaped from them. BUT, I like music better. Now . . . how do I make money off of this passion? Typical question. Unanswerable for now, so I'll move on. When I got back from my lesson, I jumped into reading Music Composition for Dummies which is going to be a great help, I can tell. It's kind of insulting to be reading something made for "dummies," but I'm over the stigma. I need help, and the books are funny and informative. Filled with new knowledge, I went to the music/computer room in the library to hopefully find some more information on Logic Pro 9, the music software we're supposed to be using for our assignments. I've been slowly working through the lengthy manual in roughly 1 hour segments, but I haven't made much of the program yet. I put in my time today, and then headed out for a workout at the campus gym. Even though it is super small, I was totally happy to be exercising! I did the stairmaster for 10 minute, the elliptical for 30, abs, obliques, lats, triceps, biceps, traps, and I jogged for a bit. My body was loving me when I was done!
I cleaned up, ate a bit, and then caught up with my radio buddies to prep for tonight's show. It's coming together, and we have a good time. One of my neighbors is apparently a super good beat-boxer, and and she showcased her skills on the show! It was awesome! I'm jealous! A 2-hour radio show on top of an exhilirating workout has left me wiped out! Oh, I didn't write that I got to mention Jesus on the radio. It was brief but cool. We were talking about the meaning of Christmas, and one of my friends said it was food and presents. Naturally, I inserted Jesus :) I should have done more homework today. Oh well. I'm going to sleep instead. Goodnight!
Prayer Request of the Day: That I would take full advantage of the time and opportunities I have here! (Just under 2 months left!)
Saturday, 6 November 2010
November 6
Waking up early was so difficult today! Just under 5 hours of sleep doesn't cut it, but the London Zoo was worth it! We caught the tube at 9:00, hoping we would miss the long line, or "queue" as they call it over here. It was so cold today! I didn't wear enough layers. At least it wasn't raining. It's crazy how much carrying an umbrella throws off one's groove while out on the town. Anyway, there were only a few people in front of us in line to get into the Zoo, so we were off to a good start! I have been wanting to go to the zoo (any zoo) for years now, so I was super excited to be there! We did the grand tour and saw (drum roll please . . .): giraffes, zebras, okapis (which I have never seen or heard of, but they are awesome!), wathogs (super ugly), fish (including piranhas), all kinds of frogs and snakes, nightlife critters (which were hard to see because it was DARK in there), tons of monkeys, some meercats, otters, lemurs (like Zaboomafoo!), a sloth, emus, wallabies, komodo dragons (I have no idea why Starbucks has a coffee named after them), gigantic galapagos tortoises, 2 pygmy hippos, all kinds of birds, camels, bearded pigs (ewww), llamas, aarkvarks, porcupines, mongooses, lions, macaques (cute little black monkeys with pink buttcheeks), tigers, flamingos, pelicans, parrots, gorillas, vultures, and butterflys! (I had to get out my Zoo map to list all of those, btw.) I think the okapi and the butterflies/moths were my favorites :)
You should have seen me! I was like a little kid, getting so excited at almost every exhibit. "Woah!!! That's awesome! Aww cute! Cool! Amazing!" There were tons of kids there today which I expected. They are so cute to watch! Whenever they see something they like, they want their mom or dad to come see it too! Hold on. I feel a spiritual moment coming on . . . As His children, I think God wants us to do the same thing. Whenever we see cool or beautiful things, He wants us to "share" it with Him. (Technically, sharing is the wrong word because everything is God's in the first place, but you get my point). This is where it gets cool. Not only is God interested in our joys, but He MADE the things that we wonder over! Imagine a walk through the zoo with Jesus. Throughout the day, you point out how awesome the animals are. He comes close to see what you're on about, and then he says, "I made that. I'm glad you're enjoying it." woah. CRAZY! I found myself freaking out about how Jesus crafted such interesting and intricate creatures. Just imagine what He can do with our lives if we let Him. He never runs out of new ideas.
We spent about 4.5 hours at the Zoo, and we were exhausted afterwards! The tube stop we needed to take was in Camden Town (where I went shopping a few weeks ago, remember?), and it was hoppin! So many people! Afterall, it IS Saturday. Thankfully, we all got seats on the tube, and I promptly zoned out. Cutting my nap short, I left my friends so I could do some greatly needed grocery shopping. Just like Camden, Asda was full of people! I made the rounds, filled up my handbasket, and was very pleased that it only cost me about 22 pounds! I'm so happy to have food again!
I was supposed to join my friends for fireworks at a nearby park this evening, but I was absolutely pooped when I got back from grocery shopping, so I skipped out. I don't think I mentioned that yesterday was Guy Fawkes, which is like 4th of July back home. They go all out with the fireworks (and bonfires which we should totally include in our Independence Day celebrations - or is that contradictory . . .?) to celebrate the failure of a man named Guy Fawkes who tried to blow up the Houses of Parliament. Like I said, I was too tired to join in the festivities, but I could hear the fireworks going off as I dozed off around 6 pm. I slept for about 4 hours, made a couple phone calls back home, and here I am!
One last thing. I am still reeling from the Imogen Heap concert yesterday. It rocked my life.
Prayer Request of the Day: That my friends would find Jesus and that I can help them do it.
You should have seen me! I was like a little kid, getting so excited at almost every exhibit. "Woah!!! That's awesome! Aww cute! Cool! Amazing!" There were tons of kids there today which I expected. They are so cute to watch! Whenever they see something they like, they want their mom or dad to come see it too! Hold on. I feel a spiritual moment coming on . . . As His children, I think God wants us to do the same thing. Whenever we see cool or beautiful things, He wants us to "share" it with Him. (Technically, sharing is the wrong word because everything is God's in the first place, but you get my point). This is where it gets cool. Not only is God interested in our joys, but He MADE the things that we wonder over! Imagine a walk through the zoo with Jesus. Throughout the day, you point out how awesome the animals are. He comes close to see what you're on about, and then he says, "I made that. I'm glad you're enjoying it." woah. CRAZY! I found myself freaking out about how Jesus crafted such interesting and intricate creatures. Just imagine what He can do with our lives if we let Him. He never runs out of new ideas.
We spent about 4.5 hours at the Zoo, and we were exhausted afterwards! The tube stop we needed to take was in Camden Town (where I went shopping a few weeks ago, remember?), and it was hoppin! So many people! Afterall, it IS Saturday. Thankfully, we all got seats on the tube, and I promptly zoned out. Cutting my nap short, I left my friends so I could do some greatly needed grocery shopping. Just like Camden, Asda was full of people! I made the rounds, filled up my handbasket, and was very pleased that it only cost me about 22 pounds! I'm so happy to have food again!
I was supposed to join my friends for fireworks at a nearby park this evening, but I was absolutely pooped when I got back from grocery shopping, so I skipped out. I don't think I mentioned that yesterday was Guy Fawkes, which is like 4th of July back home. They go all out with the fireworks (and bonfires which we should totally include in our Independence Day celebrations - or is that contradictory . . .?) to celebrate the failure of a man named Guy Fawkes who tried to blow up the Houses of Parliament. Like I said, I was too tired to join in the festivities, but I could hear the fireworks going off as I dozed off around 6 pm. I slept for about 4 hours, made a couple phone calls back home, and here I am!
One last thing. I am still reeling from the Imogen Heap concert yesterday. It rocked my life.
Prayer Request of the Day: That my friends would find Jesus and that I can help them do it.
Friday, 5 November 2010
November 4-5
This post is going to be the longest one yet, I can feel it. So be forewarned. Feel free to take a breather somewhere in the middle. Here I go -
My performance in Performance and Analysis class turned out to be very laid back. You never perform exactly how you practice, but it went well altogether. My teacher is really chill. Thanks for your prayers! After a lunch break and a short music skills session where I found out how weak my music theory is, I listened to parts of the Messiah online, took a power nap (I think the Messiah is a snoozer, no offense Handel), and headed out for a jog/walk. In case you're wondering why I always write "jog/walk," it is because I can never jog the whole way. I don't have that kind of endurance for some reason, but I am jealous of those who do. People who can run far are cool. I soon stopped by the campus gym to see if they had put their act together yet, and they actually had! The gym was in usable condition, so I had my first decent workout in over a month and loved it!
I cleaned up and headed to Messiah rehearsal. This whole event has turned into a huge guilt sandwich that all the music department VIPs are trying to cram down our throats. I can understand that they are frustrated that so few people are showing up (10-15 maybe), but the mandatory nature of 5:30-7:30 Thursday night rehearsals for college students who will receive no academic credit for participation seems a bit much to me. AND, there are only a total of 4 practices before the performance. We've already had 2, and they are still looking for other people. Really?!?!? I don't know how it's gonna come together. To top it all off, our conductor was 45 minutes late to rehearsal because of traffic. Not his fault, I know, but it just made the whole night worse. Also, the lady sitting behind me was really loud and didn't know the music very well, so I had even more trouble than usual. I don't blame her. We're all learning, but the situation pissed me off even more. After rehearsal, my throat felt like that blistering heel I mentioned last time. Erg!
Two things:
First: I realize my negative comments towards The Messiah situation may appear sacreligious. Let me be clear. It is the musical score called "The Messiah" by G. F. Handel that is the object of my scorn, NOT my actual Messiah, Jesus. Jesus is way more beautiful than Handel's score.
Second: Do you ever have that urge to chuck a bad book across the room after you've consumed its distasteful contents? The last two books I threw against the wall were "The Jew of Malta" (just last week) and "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" (last semester. I still plan to burn it, actually.) I couldn't throw The Messiah score against the wall for a number of reasons, but I dropped it with force onto the ground during a break to express my frustration. It helped. (It's hard to outwardly express strong negativity toward something with such a holy title such as The Messiah.)
I met up with a girl from my Composition and Musicianship class after rehearsal to work through our assignment that was due this morning. We are both having lots of trouble in that class (as are others), so my bad mood continued as we sat at the piano and tried to make sense of our assignment. I think I figured most of it out eventually, but I was fed up with school by the end of the day. Exercise was the main redeeming factor yesterday.
Now's the time to take that breather if you want it. Go pee, get a snack, and come back.
Today was MUCH better! Composition and Musicianship class went well. As a possible solution to my growing frustration with being so confused with my studies, I decided to start speaking up more in class. My classmates are generally pretty reserved with speaking up in class, but I'm sick of being quiet. Even if I look like a fool, I want to learn. Thankfully, my professor responded well to most of my comments, and a number of them were actually right! Yay! I headed to library after class for a short while to find music that will help me with my sightreading, and then I killed sometime before heading out for afternoon tea in the city! The shuttle buses from campus to the tube station were packed, so I had to walk down Snakes Lane for about 15 minutes to get there. (Did I mention before that foxes are very common over here? Almost every time I'm out at night either in the shuttle bus or walking around campus, there is a fox or 2 somewhere. It's kinda cool.)
I met up with some friends, and we went to Harrods for afternoon tea!
Swanky! That place is huge! It would be so easy to get lost there, and we barely saw any of it. There were 7 of us, and we all sat together at a round table in the middle of a large dining room. We were all starving, so when the stack of plates containing finger sandwiches, scones, and desserts came out, our mouths started salivating. Along with some tea, we enjoyed as much food as our stomachs would allow (they keep bringing you refills whenever you want) over the course of about 2 hours. The service was pretty slow which surprised me.
(Pause. I had to take a breather myself just then. There's so much to write about!)
Having afternoon tea at Harrods was a once-in-a-lifetime experience. In fact, today has been a once-in-a-lifetime day, and I haven't even told you the best part yet!
Conveniently, Harrods was only 1 tube stop away from Royal Albert Hall where Imogen Heap's concert (for which I had a ticket) would begin about an hour after we finished stuffing ourselves.
During my interview with the Study Abroad interview committee back at CSUS, they asked me why I picked London. I gave them some cheesy answer about feeling like I needed British culture to better round out my English literature degree, but I also mentioned that many of my favorite musicians are British. Mainly, I was thinking of Imogen Heap, hoping I could catch one of her concerts while I was over here. Well, I DID!
Royal Albert Hall is gorgeous! It's a huge roundhouse with a dome top. The ceiling inside was amazing. It's hard to describe, but here are some pictures of the venue:
That's a huge organ in the background (that wasn't used in the show.)
I had no idea what to expect tonight. Afterall, it IS Imogen Heap we're talking about. She pretty much epitomizes eccentric. The first half of the show ended up being an orchestra/choir performance of Imogen's newly composed symphony! Who knew? It was set to video clippings, all of some element(s) of nature. Imogen conducted the 45 minute piece (you go girl!). I definately wasn't expecting that, but it was cool. I give her mad props for pulling that off.
After the 50 minute intermission (they had to totally recreate the stage), Imogen came out and performed her normal kind of songs. Well, I wouldn't call them normal, but they are the ones I knew. The kinds of things she used in her performance were nearly unbelievable. Between her and her groupies, they were playing steel saws with a bow, violins, a cello, wine glasses with water in them, a key-tar, all kinds of synthesizers, guitars, drums, shakers, bells, sounds of birds chirping and bond fires crackling, etc. Fantastic! She is so creative. She had the crowd sing with her a few times too which was cool. Now I can say I sang with Imogen Heap! (Extra: She had the crowd sing the round on "Just for Now," so the whole song was a cappella, and she sang over us. Rad to the max.) It was definately a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
I don't think I mentioned that I went to the concert all by myself. Well, I did, but it was cool. I got to soak everything up even more. As I was silently watching the videos of nature go by accompanied by awesome music during the first part of the show, I kept thinking, "God, you made all that! You make such beautiful stuff!" But there was no one to share that joy with : ( It amazes me how people can admire beauty and love and not acknowledge God's handiwork and goodness. It's like the key to life is right under their noses, but they can't sense it, or won't sense it, sense Him. Even the amount of talent that was on that stage tonight points to a larger Creator, the Mastermind, the Inventor and Master of music. I'm thinking of a Bible passage that says something about maybe Isaiah or David or Jeremiah ??? trying to keep God's praise hidden inside them, but it kept growing and burning, and they had to let it out. (I have no idea where this passage is, or maybe it isn't really a passage. A little help, anyone???). Either way, I feel that burning, the need to say outloud and often that Jesus is beautiful and offers true life, etc. This is new for me, and it is disappointing and strange to think that it took me this long to reach this point. On the tube ride back to campus, I was excited for the future and what I can do with my talents to make Jesus look good. I was feeling inspired to work on my writing and my music so I can make something beautiful and divinely purposeful of them soon.
There you have it. My insanely long entry for the past 2 days. It is now 2:24 am, and I have to catch an 8:30 bus in the morning to head to the London Zoo with some friends. I'm so excited! But I need to sleep. If you made it this far, I applaud you for your concentration skills. Thanks for reading.
Prayer Request of the Day: That I would make Jesus look good.
My performance in Performance and Analysis class turned out to be very laid back. You never perform exactly how you practice, but it went well altogether. My teacher is really chill. Thanks for your prayers! After a lunch break and a short music skills session where I found out how weak my music theory is, I listened to parts of the Messiah online, took a power nap (I think the Messiah is a snoozer, no offense Handel), and headed out for a jog/walk. In case you're wondering why I always write "jog/walk," it is because I can never jog the whole way. I don't have that kind of endurance for some reason, but I am jealous of those who do. People who can run far are cool. I soon stopped by the campus gym to see if they had put their act together yet, and they actually had! The gym was in usable condition, so I had my first decent workout in over a month and loved it!
I cleaned up and headed to Messiah rehearsal. This whole event has turned into a huge guilt sandwich that all the music department VIPs are trying to cram down our throats. I can understand that they are frustrated that so few people are showing up (10-15 maybe), but the mandatory nature of 5:30-7:30 Thursday night rehearsals for college students who will receive no academic credit for participation seems a bit much to me. AND, there are only a total of 4 practices before the performance. We've already had 2, and they are still looking for other people. Really?!?!? I don't know how it's gonna come together. To top it all off, our conductor was 45 minutes late to rehearsal because of traffic. Not his fault, I know, but it just made the whole night worse. Also, the lady sitting behind me was really loud and didn't know the music very well, so I had even more trouble than usual. I don't blame her. We're all learning, but the situation pissed me off even more. After rehearsal, my throat felt like that blistering heel I mentioned last time. Erg!
Two things:
First: I realize my negative comments towards The Messiah situation may appear sacreligious. Let me be clear. It is the musical score called "The Messiah" by G. F. Handel that is the object of my scorn, NOT my actual Messiah, Jesus. Jesus is way more beautiful than Handel's score.
Second: Do you ever have that urge to chuck a bad book across the room after you've consumed its distasteful contents? The last two books I threw against the wall were "The Jew of Malta" (just last week) and "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" (last semester. I still plan to burn it, actually.) I couldn't throw The Messiah score against the wall for a number of reasons, but I dropped it with force onto the ground during a break to express my frustration. It helped. (It's hard to outwardly express strong negativity toward something with such a holy title such as The Messiah.)
I met up with a girl from my Composition and Musicianship class after rehearsal to work through our assignment that was due this morning. We are both having lots of trouble in that class (as are others), so my bad mood continued as we sat at the piano and tried to make sense of our assignment. I think I figured most of it out eventually, but I was fed up with school by the end of the day. Exercise was the main redeeming factor yesterday.
Now's the time to take that breather if you want it. Go pee, get a snack, and come back.
Today was MUCH better! Composition and Musicianship class went well. As a possible solution to my growing frustration with being so confused with my studies, I decided to start speaking up more in class. My classmates are generally pretty reserved with speaking up in class, but I'm sick of being quiet. Even if I look like a fool, I want to learn. Thankfully, my professor responded well to most of my comments, and a number of them were actually right! Yay! I headed to library after class for a short while to find music that will help me with my sightreading, and then I killed sometime before heading out for afternoon tea in the city! The shuttle buses from campus to the tube station were packed, so I had to walk down Snakes Lane for about 15 minutes to get there. (Did I mention before that foxes are very common over here? Almost every time I'm out at night either in the shuttle bus or walking around campus, there is a fox or 2 somewhere. It's kinda cool.)
I met up with some friends, and we went to Harrods for afternoon tea!
Me perusing the afternoon tea menu!
(Pause. I had to take a breather myself just then. There's so much to write about!)
Having afternoon tea at Harrods was a once-in-a-lifetime experience. In fact, today has been a once-in-a-lifetime day, and I haven't even told you the best part yet!
Conveniently, Harrods was only 1 tube stop away from Royal Albert Hall where Imogen Heap's concert (for which I had a ticket) would begin about an hour after we finished stuffing ourselves.
During my interview with the Study Abroad interview committee back at CSUS, they asked me why I picked London. I gave them some cheesy answer about feeling like I needed British culture to better round out my English literature degree, but I also mentioned that many of my favorite musicians are British. Mainly, I was thinking of Imogen Heap, hoping I could catch one of her concerts while I was over here. Well, I DID!
Royal Albert Hall is gorgeous! It's a huge roundhouse with a dome top. The ceiling inside was amazing. It's hard to describe, but here are some pictures of the venue:
Those purple things are some kind of decoration hanging from the ceiling, and they are huge.
That's a huge organ in the background (that wasn't used in the show.)
I had no idea what to expect tonight. Afterall, it IS Imogen Heap we're talking about. She pretty much epitomizes eccentric. The first half of the show ended up being an orchestra/choir performance of Imogen's newly composed symphony! Who knew? It was set to video clippings, all of some element(s) of nature. Imogen conducted the 45 minute piece (you go girl!). I definately wasn't expecting that, but it was cool. I give her mad props for pulling that off.
After the 50 minute intermission (they had to totally recreate the stage), Imogen came out and performed her normal kind of songs. Well, I wouldn't call them normal, but they are the ones I knew. The kinds of things she used in her performance were nearly unbelievable. Between her and her groupies, they were playing steel saws with a bow, violins, a cello, wine glasses with water in them, a key-tar, all kinds of synthesizers, guitars, drums, shakers, bells, sounds of birds chirping and bond fires crackling, etc. Fantastic! She is so creative. She had the crowd sing with her a few times too which was cool. Now I can say I sang with Imogen Heap! (Extra: She had the crowd sing the round on "Just for Now," so the whole song was a cappella, and she sang over us. Rad to the max.) It was definately a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
I don't think I mentioned that I went to the concert all by myself. Well, I did, but it was cool. I got to soak everything up even more. As I was silently watching the videos of nature go by accompanied by awesome music during the first part of the show, I kept thinking, "God, you made all that! You make such beautiful stuff!" But there was no one to share that joy with : ( It amazes me how people can admire beauty and love and not acknowledge God's handiwork and goodness. It's like the key to life is right under their noses, but they can't sense it, or won't sense it, sense Him. Even the amount of talent that was on that stage tonight points to a larger Creator, the Mastermind, the Inventor and Master of music. I'm thinking of a Bible passage that says something about maybe Isaiah or David or Jeremiah ??? trying to keep God's praise hidden inside them, but it kept growing and burning, and they had to let it out. (I have no idea where this passage is, or maybe it isn't really a passage. A little help, anyone???). Either way, I feel that burning, the need to say outloud and often that Jesus is beautiful and offers true life, etc. This is new for me, and it is disappointing and strange to think that it took me this long to reach this point. On the tube ride back to campus, I was excited for the future and what I can do with my talents to make Jesus look good. I was feeling inspired to work on my writing and my music so I can make something beautiful and divinely purposeful of them soon.
There you have it. My insanely long entry for the past 2 days. It is now 2:24 am, and I have to catch an 8:30 bus in the morning to head to the London Zoo with some friends. I'm so excited! But I need to sleep. If you made it this far, I applaud you for your concentration skills. Thanks for reading.
Prayer Request of the Day: That I would make Jesus look good.
Wednesday, 3 November 2010
November 2-3
Don't you hate that adjustment stage that comes with breaking in a new pair of shoes? You feel really clean and put together, but 2 hours later you're heading to the Bandaid box for something to fix your blistering feet. I haven't bought any new shoes lately, but my voice is "blistering" from trying to fit into its soprano "shoe." It's more like a soprano stiletto, actually. I'm glad I worked my higher range in voice lessons because I need it now! Yesterday evening's choir rehearsal was laughable. I was actually holding back my laughter as I looked at the difficult high notes on the page and tried to sing them. I don't know why it was funny really. I hit the notes, but I felt completely out of place! Since when does Lauren sing those super high notes? Doesn't she usually sing lower and have a guitar slung over her shoulder while doing it? Not in London. My voice is taking a beating, and I'm trying to recall as much of my technique as possible so it can handle the high demands of choir, ensemble, and Handel's Messiah (which is the most difficult of them all, of course.) On top of my other work, this makes for quite a load of music! Even though it's difficult, I'm liking it.
E-music class was very entertaining yesterday. The usual lecturer was back, and he is very good and energetic. I'm still confused about how to do anything we talk about in that class, but at least yesterday's 1.5 hour session was fun. I left class, had lunch, and lazed around until choir rehearsal. I felt very undisciplined all around yesterday. I've been indulging too much in food, chocolate, and facebook! Out of general frustration and weariness, I decided to watch Rat Race last night. It had me bellowing! That movie is soooo funny! I've watched it for years, but it still gets me. What a way to end my day!
Today, I was determined to be more disciplined all around. I "swore" off chocolate for the day, and I only went on facebook once. It's embarassing, but I'll admit that it was difficult. It became especially hard when the snack of choice at Bible study tonight was chocolate! Anyway, I still enjoyed lots of tea and some killer pizza (yes, I made pizza, AGAIN, but there were tons of vegetables on it, fyi) throughout the course of the day. I've decided that Shakespeare class is not as cool as I thought it was gonna be, but it's easier than my music classes so that's a plus. After class, I took a short dinner break then did school work until it was time to leave for Bible study.
Once again, Bible study made my day. We had a great group, great Scripture, and great discussion. Gill also kindly gave us students a ride back to campus which was fantastic. I never thought I would appreciate getting a lift so much. Traveling by bus is a drag.
I guess today's entry is another relatively short one. I'll end my saying that I'm singing for class tomorrow morning, so . . .
Prayer Request of the Day: That my performance would go well!
E-music class was very entertaining yesterday. The usual lecturer was back, and he is very good and energetic. I'm still confused about how to do anything we talk about in that class, but at least yesterday's 1.5 hour session was fun. I left class, had lunch, and lazed around until choir rehearsal. I felt very undisciplined all around yesterday. I've been indulging too much in food, chocolate, and facebook! Out of general frustration and weariness, I decided to watch Rat Race last night. It had me bellowing! That movie is soooo funny! I've watched it for years, but it still gets me. What a way to end my day!
Today, I was determined to be more disciplined all around. I "swore" off chocolate for the day, and I only went on facebook once. It's embarassing, but I'll admit that it was difficult. It became especially hard when the snack of choice at Bible study tonight was chocolate! Anyway, I still enjoyed lots of tea and some killer pizza (yes, I made pizza, AGAIN, but there were tons of vegetables on it, fyi) throughout the course of the day. I've decided that Shakespeare class is not as cool as I thought it was gonna be, but it's easier than my music classes so that's a plus. After class, I took a short dinner break then did school work until it was time to leave for Bible study.
Once again, Bible study made my day. We had a great group, great Scripture, and great discussion. Gill also kindly gave us students a ride back to campus which was fantastic. I never thought I would appreciate getting a lift so much. Traveling by bus is a drag.
I guess today's entry is another relatively short one. I'll end my saying that I'm singing for class tomorrow morning, so . . .
Prayer Request of the Day: That my performance would go well!
Monday, 1 November 2010
November 1
Soon after I woke up today, I felt super sick. You know how your body hurts so much sometimes that it tenses up and you have to purposely take even breaths to try to calm it down? That was me for about 20 minutes this morning (stupid cramps) until God's grace stepped in and took my pain away. It's crazy how soon we forget how fragile our bodies are. Just the slightest thing can cause us so much pain, and a majority of people's deepest concerns are health-related. The whole issue makes the resurrection, Jesus' and ours, more attractive. We get new bodies, believers! I can't remember the name of the song, but the choir at my high school sang it one year, and these lyrics have stuck with me ever since. It's a spiritual and it says, "All my trials, Lord, soon be over." It rolls around in my head lots of times when things get rough. But our pain is just temporary - we have a real hope!
After my momentary spell of sickness, I put myself together and headed off to warm up for my voice lesson. It's weird to be learning from a different teacher from mine back home, but it is still so fantastic to be having voice lessons! I really love the whole concept, and my teacher here is very good. I spent the afternoon listening through parts of the the intensely complicated and LONG "Messiah," doing other homework, social networking, singing in the kitchen, and making pizza! It was a veggie pizza on ciabatta this time, and it was bomb. This evening, my friend Alayna had her first live radio show, The Evening Dish! She, Emily, Holly, (my neighbors) and I all went in together, and it was epic! We had some nasty technical problems, and the show was quite awkward in parts, but it was really fun altogether. While listening to the recording afterwards, we pointed out improvement possibilities. It was so cute to hear how all the girls' parents/ family members/ boyfriends were listening in and were being so supportive! Dad, thanks for your emails! I got them both, but I couldn't figure out how to email you back from the studio computer. Now that we've got the ball rolling with the radio, I'm really excited that I got involved. It's something that I would never have done on my own, but I'm enjoying it. What an experience!
I just have to say that I feel like I've made a small breakthrough with a portion of my class content. I was looking through some links and tutorials online today, and they were actually making sense which is a great improvement. Thank you for your prayers! I have e-music class in the morning, which is the class that has caused me the most grief, so we'll see how long this spell of relief lasts. At least for now, I feel like I made some progress today.
Prayer Request of the Day: That I would manage my time wisely without stressing.
After my momentary spell of sickness, I put myself together and headed off to warm up for my voice lesson. It's weird to be learning from a different teacher from mine back home, but it is still so fantastic to be having voice lessons! I really love the whole concept, and my teacher here is very good. I spent the afternoon listening through parts of the the intensely complicated and LONG "Messiah," doing other homework, social networking, singing in the kitchen, and making pizza! It was a veggie pizza on ciabatta this time, and it was bomb. This evening, my friend Alayna had her first live radio show, The Evening Dish! She, Emily, Holly, (my neighbors) and I all went in together, and it was epic! We had some nasty technical problems, and the show was quite awkward in parts, but it was really fun altogether. While listening to the recording afterwards, we pointed out improvement possibilities. It was so cute to hear how all the girls' parents/ family members/ boyfriends were listening in and were being so supportive! Dad, thanks for your emails! I got them both, but I couldn't figure out how to email you back from the studio computer. Now that we've got the ball rolling with the radio, I'm really excited that I got involved. It's something that I would never have done on my own, but I'm enjoying it. What an experience!
I just have to say that I feel like I've made a small breakthrough with a portion of my class content. I was looking through some links and tutorials online today, and they were actually making sense which is a great improvement. Thank you for your prayers! I have e-music class in the morning, which is the class that has caused me the most grief, so we'll see how long this spell of relief lasts. At least for now, I feel like I made some progress today.
Prayer Request of the Day: That I would manage my time wisely without stressing.
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