This week has been much more pleasant than last week. Our professors have decided to have a little mercy on us, since midterms are next week, so the work load has been manageable. Last weekend I was planning on traveling to Heidelberg, but my plans changed at the last minute and I ended up staying here in London (not such a bad option). Most of my other friends here were in other places like Amsterdam or Dublin, so I was on my own for the weekend, for the most part. On Friday I decided to explore London, looking for vintage shopping. I started out at Notting Hill and didn't get much further. There were literally vintage clothes and record shops all down the streets. I found some great deals (a leather jacket, two pairs of shoes, belts, and scarves for a combined total of under 30 pounds)!! Then I made my way over to Oxford street and joined the 8,000 other people shopping at Primark, and pretty much negated any originality I thought I had.
On Saturday I took a day trip to Brighton, a little beach town about an hour outside of London. I was unsure whether or not I would be able to get on a train, but I went to the train station anyway. Luckily, the train system was much less complicated than I expected, so within 10 minutes I was headed to Brighton. Every Saturday morning they have a flea market on one of the streets, so I scoped that out for a while. I actually found a really neat old pilot's helmet that had been used in WWII, and I was going to get it for my dad, but when I came back to buy it, the man was gone. (sorry, dad!!). After the flea market I had some classic fish and chips, and spent some time at the pier. If you ever get to go to Brighton, definitely pay the 7 pounds and get a tour of the Royal Pavilion. It's said to be the most unique palace in Europe. Before George IV was king, he owned the pavilion and decorated it himself. It looked nothing like the hundreds of other castles and palaces in Europe (thank goodness), and had gold dragons hanging from the ceilings. It was truly an experience! When I got back from Brighton, my friend Erin and I decided to go see "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat." When we got there, we were told that they didn't have any tickets left, but when we went back outside a woman came up to us and offered to sell us one ticket. We almost turned her down, but another man came up to us and offered to sell us his ticket. Somehow we ended up sitting about 5 feet apart, despite the fact that we bought our tickets from two separate people. How crazy!! And the show was definitely amazing! Apparently the actor who plays Joseph won the equivalent of "American Idol" to see who would get to play Joseph in the London production of the play. So when we tried to get his autograph outside afterward, we were accompanied by about 200 people. Apparently he's a bigger deal than Fiyero. Too bad!
Tuesday night was the first "HTB Student" group. About 10 of us went, not knowing what to expect. There were about 60 people there, and everyone was so nice! During the "mingle time" I met another American girl who goes to Boston University and spent 5 weeks in Tanzania this summer! As soon as we found out that we had both been to Tanzania, we started speaking in Swahili to eachother - it was soooooo exciting! We exchanged lots of Africa stories, and she shares the same view of Ugali as I do. (for those of you who don't know what Ugali is, it's a...blob of cornflour and water that is basically eaten with every meal. Yummy!). And then I found out that Mike, one of the leaders of HTB Students, grew up in Tanzania, so I got to talk to him about Tanzania as well. What a small world we live in!
One of the ministries that the Student group has is that it runs Student Alpha. Alpha is a "course" for people who want to know more about Christianity, and HTB's Student Alpha is held on the top floor of a club in London. So on Monday we're planning on going to that to participate in that, and then go see Vanilla Ice, who's the performer at the club that night! I know that I talk a lot about how great this church is, but I really can't say it enough. It is so encouraging and challenging at the same time to see a church that is so intensely involved in their community. They have poured so much into organizing Alpha (you can expect to hear about Alpha in every single sermon) and God has blessed the ministry and has spoken to so many people through it. Nearly every week someone gets up in church and shares their testimony of how they came to Christ through the Alpha ministry!
Well, I am about to leave for Switzerland, so I'm sure I will have lots of adventures to share with you in my next blog.
Au revoir!
(check out the new pix from this week!)