Time decided to fly away from me this semester. I cannot believe I have a week left until I leave. It is sad, but I am looking forward to experiencing the life in Greece and Turkey. This past weekend I stayed in London and had an enjoyable time of writing five papers and just hanging out in the city. We went to an amazing Indian restaurant on Thursday and I have decided I must find one in Marysville, because I love it so much. If I haven't mentioned this already, in South Ken we have the best cookie shop, Ben's Cookies. I have never had a better cookie in my life. I mean nothing can beat my mother's chocolate chip cookies, but they have like 20 kinds including triple chocolate with chunks of white and dark chocolate melted inside. So yummy.
Aside from eating, I did do other things this weekend. On Friday, I went to London Fashion Weekend. To our advantage it was about a block away in front of the Natural History Museum. It was INSANE. I have never seen so many designers, clothes, bags, shoes, jewelry, and models in one place. All the clothes are extremely new, nice, should be pricey, but discounted so I had to pick up a few things. We also got this really intense tote bag filled with random samples. All in all, my head was a little overwhelmed, but it was fun.
Another highlight of my weekend was Sunday. As I am sure you read, I attend Hillsong church which is a branch off of the Sydney Hillsong. This past Sunday was vision and album recording day. So we not only had the whole service professionally recorded, but we had to get there almost an hour early, just to get in. This church is huge and there are three services! There was a lot of energy and it was an intense feeling of worship and love for God all over. It was also fun to hear about the vision of the church from the overall head pastor in Sydney, Brian Houston. This church has been a huge blessing for me and encouraged me to grow spiritually while I am over here. I feel very fortunate to go every week and really sad to leave it.
Well, I must get back to work, since next week is finals! I hope you all are having a great week. Cheers!
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Sunday, February 17, 2008
The city of love on the weekend of love!
Who misses their boyfriend? I do! :) Paris was amazing. I thought it was going to be grungy and filled with creepy men, but I was so wrong. It has become one of my favorite cities. Luckily for us, we took an overnight bus from London to Paris on Thursday night. It was long, but not too exhausting and we were in Paris, France the next morning. We stored our bags into our hotel. It was adorable about 3 blocks from the Eiffel Tower. Our breakfast was amazing and we loaded up on energy for the day. We had a 'typical' French breakfast? with two pieces of bread, ham and tomatoes in the middle, cheese melted on top, and a fried egg on top of that. Really delicious. We also tried some French coffee, pretty much a straight up shot and it was intense.
So after that we went to the Louvre. This place holds so many painting, sculptures, and other artifacts. You can really see history through art. It was also fun, because many of the paintings and sculptures we saw we recognized from discussing in our humanities class. Our next mission to complete brain overload was the d'Orsay. Because of time limits, we mostly looked at the paintings on the top floor but glanced through the sculptures. Another place that our brains and eyes were just exploded with color, light, and information. We completed both museums by 2 pm. Isn't that insane? Some people take multiple days for each one! We only had two however, and had many other things on our list.
After lunch we headed to the Notre Dam Cathedral. We actually got to go inside and listen to a Gregorian chant service thing. This church was one of the coolest things I have ever seen. The alter was so grand. We walked through the church around the alter and then walked around the outside. It was literally freezing. So, what do you do when you're freezing? Buy a crepe. I had the most scrumptious crepe ever. Duh...we're in France. But, anyway it was wonderful. We walked around that area for a while and then headed back to our hotel. We 'accidentally' took a 3 hour nap and then Elizabeth's friend from another Pepperdine program arrived and there were four of us! We went to dinner near the Eiffel Tower and took a short walk to see it at night. That is a must see if life! We crashed as soon as we got back.
Our second day began with breakfast and then a walk to the Eiffel Tower. We were thinking about climbing it but the lines were longer than the Finding Nemo line at Disneyland. So we opted out, took tons of pictures, and went to the Champs Elysees. This is a major shopping street which leads down toward the Arc de Triomphe. We also got Starbucks, a must in foreign cities. Just so you all know, it still tastes better in Seattle. Then we boarded the Metro for Versailles. We explored the castle, grounds, and Marie Antoinette smaller house and little village. It was huge. I will hopefully get pictures uploaded this week so you can see how large the grounds were.
We took the train back in and then went to the Moulin Rouge. Obviously, we did not go in but definitely got some pictures outside. Then we had a birthday dinner for Alexis. And sadly, we hurried back and Meredith and I got back on the bus and headed home. I hope you all get a chance to go to Paris, because it was a truly amazing city! Cheers!
So after that we went to the Louvre. This place holds so many painting, sculptures, and other artifacts. You can really see history through art. It was also fun, because many of the paintings and sculptures we saw we recognized from discussing in our humanities class. Our next mission to complete brain overload was the d'Orsay. Because of time limits, we mostly looked at the paintings on the top floor but glanced through the sculptures. Another place that our brains and eyes were just exploded with color, light, and information. We completed both museums by 2 pm. Isn't that insane? Some people take multiple days for each one! We only had two however, and had many other things on our list.
After lunch we headed to the Notre Dam Cathedral. We actually got to go inside and listen to a Gregorian chant service thing. This church was one of the coolest things I have ever seen. The alter was so grand. We walked through the church around the alter and then walked around the outside. It was literally freezing. So, what do you do when you're freezing? Buy a crepe. I had the most scrumptious crepe ever. Duh...we're in France. But, anyway it was wonderful. We walked around that area for a while and then headed back to our hotel. We 'accidentally' took a 3 hour nap and then Elizabeth's friend from another Pepperdine program arrived and there were four of us! We went to dinner near the Eiffel Tower and took a short walk to see it at night. That is a must see if life! We crashed as soon as we got back.
Our second day began with breakfast and then a walk to the Eiffel Tower. We were thinking about climbing it but the lines were longer than the Finding Nemo line at Disneyland. So we opted out, took tons of pictures, and went to the Champs Elysees. This is a major shopping street which leads down toward the Arc de Triomphe. We also got Starbucks, a must in foreign cities. Just so you all know, it still tastes better in Seattle. Then we boarded the Metro for Versailles. We explored the castle, grounds, and Marie Antoinette smaller house and little village. It was huge. I will hopefully get pictures uploaded this week so you can see how large the grounds were.
We took the train back in and then went to the Moulin Rouge. Obviously, we did not go in but definitely got some pictures outside. Then we had a birthday dinner for Alexis. And sadly, we hurried back and Meredith and I got back on the bus and headed home. I hope you all get a chance to go to Paris, because it was a truly amazing city! Cheers!
Thursday, February 14, 2008
Yay Birthday!!!
I had a great birthday! Thank you to everyone who made it special. I was told to wake up at 7 AM on my birthday by my mother and I was pleasantly surprised to video skype with my family and Brian! Then I met up with Aunt Debbie's friend Froemke and we had coffee, climbed up St. Paul's, and had lunch! It was a great morning. Then class...not the best experience. Our music field trip was canceled so we went to dinner as a group and out to coffee after. We all had lots of homework to get done. Since this was my birthday week I should start with the beginning being last Saturday when ten of my girl friends took me out to tea at the Orangery which is in the Kensington Palace. I also got a lovely birthday cake in our convocation and serenaded by the usual happy birthday. Then the night before my birthday, I got sung to and a cake with rainbow chip frosting ($8 from the American grocery store!) Delicious. So I am a very lucky girl and now am headed off to Paris! Shout out to the new baby girl Kalea! Now, we're just waiting for the Rush baby. Cheers!
Wednesday, February 6, 2008
Catch-Up
Sorry for my lack of posts in the last week or so. I not only had busy weekends but I also had TONS of homework and exams. So for starters I would like to share about two weekends ago. We woke up at 4 AM, took a taxi to the airport, and flew to BARCELONA! There were 6 of us from Pep London and then a friend of another girl met us there. This group was fantastic. We had no drama only lots of fun and adventures. You can check out my Barcelona album below on facebook.
We walked down La Rambla. A main shopping street with lots of touristy things, which was near our hostel, Hello BCN. We also saw the Christopher Columbus monument that points toward the Americas, the harbor, and the beach!! We all realized how much we missed seeing the beach. The Mediterranean was beautiful and a few of us couldn't help but put our feet in the sea. Even though it was 5 pm, it didn't feel that cold. We ate tapas and drank sangria for dinner and enjoyed the company of one another in this amazing city. We walked all over and were exhausted by the end of the night.
The next day we went to Sagrada Familia. This unfinished cathedral had the most beautiful stained glass windows. I went inside and they use all of the money you pay to get in to help finish building it, since it has been under construction since 1882. Park Guell was our next stop. An incredible hike with escalators. They had them on the streets going up to the park that overlooked the entire city. Once at the top, it was a pleasant hike down to the street level with lots of fun architecture and trees. From there, we took the underground to the Picasso Museum. He was a very odd man, but painted brilliantly for most of his life. We relaxed in a little coffee shop near the museum. On Sunday morning we left, heading back to the UK.
This past weekend, Pepperdine organized and paid for a trip to Dover and Canterbury. At the Dover Castle we explored the underground war tunnels used throughout the world wars. Then we drove to the beach and got lovely pictures of the white cliffs of dover. We also put our hands in the English Channel. In Canterbury, we saw the cathedral and looked through the little shops. On Saturday, I saw Fiddler on the Roof...WONDERFUL. I loved it and look forward to seeing other shows in London. That is all I have for now. I hope you are all having a wonderful week and I will try and be better about updating. Remember to check out my pictures at the links below! Cheers.
We walked down La Rambla. A main shopping street with lots of touristy things, which was near our hostel, Hello BCN. We also saw the Christopher Columbus monument that points toward the Americas, the harbor, and the beach!! We all realized how much we missed seeing the beach. The Mediterranean was beautiful and a few of us couldn't help but put our feet in the sea. Even though it was 5 pm, it didn't feel that cold. We ate tapas and drank sangria for dinner and enjoyed the company of one another in this amazing city. We walked all over and were exhausted by the end of the night.
The next day we went to Sagrada Familia. This unfinished cathedral had the most beautiful stained glass windows. I went inside and they use all of the money you pay to get in to help finish building it, since it has been under construction since 1882. Park Guell was our next stop. An incredible hike with escalators. They had them on the streets going up to the park that overlooked the entire city. Once at the top, it was a pleasant hike down to the street level with lots of fun architecture and trees. From there, we took the underground to the Picasso Museum. He was a very odd man, but painted brilliantly for most of his life. We relaxed in a little coffee shop near the museum. On Sunday morning we left, heading back to the UK.
This past weekend, Pepperdine organized and paid for a trip to Dover and Canterbury. At the Dover Castle we explored the underground war tunnels used throughout the world wars. Then we drove to the beach and got lovely pictures of the white cliffs of dover. We also put our hands in the English Channel. In Canterbury, we saw the cathedral and looked through the little shops. On Saturday, I saw Fiddler on the Roof...WONDERFUL. I loved it and look forward to seeing other shows in London. That is all I have for now. I hope you are all having a wonderful week and I will try and be better about updating. Remember to check out my pictures at the links below! Cheers.
Monday, February 4, 2008
Pictures!
Hi all! I know I am running behind especially about my last two weekends. Barcelona, Dover, and Canterbury. I hopefully will write about them soon. After I write a paper and a speech. :) Anyway, I am giving you the links to my facebook photo albums.
Life in London: http://pepperdine.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2045557&l=dd4d5&id=8506210
Oxford University: http://pepperdine.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2045559&l=26aae&id=8506210
Wales: http://pepperdine.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2045560&l=274d9&id=8506210
Barcelona: http://pepperdine.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2045563&l=ec9d9&id=8506210
Just copy and paste these in your web browser and they should work to view my pictures. I hope to update you all soon! Cheers!
Life in London: http://pepperdine.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2045557&l=dd4d5&id=8506210
Oxford University: http://pepperdine.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2045559&l=26aae&id=8506210
Wales: http://pepperdine.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2045560&l=274d9&id=8506210
Barcelona: http://pepperdine.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2045563&l=ec9d9&id=8506210
Just copy and paste these in your web browser and they should work to view my pictures. I hope to update you all soon! Cheers!
Monday, January 21, 2008
My, what a weekend!
After the first week of classes overseas, I can safely say, it is going to be a hard semester. Luckily for me, I can take the pressure of school work and classes off, by going on day trips. First, however, let me explain my school week. I am taking four classes here in London. The first is only on Mondays, Humanities for three and a half hours, followed by an hour and half museum visit. Not a bad day. I am also taking a speech class that focuses on Greece and Turkey. My communications class encourages discussion on intercultral communication and then my other class is really hard, British Pop Music History. Okay, so it is not that bad. I am fortunate only to have classes four days a week, however the classes are much longer in length since we will be finishing them before we leave for Greece at the beginning of March. Overall, the classes are great, some are more interesting than others, but so far so good.
On Friday, two of my friends and I set off for an adventure. Our plan was to take a bus to Oxford and explore the city. So we took the tube to Victoria station, found the bus station, and found the bus. After an hour on the bus we arrived to the rain but beautiful architecture of Oxford. We went to the famous pub, The Eagle and Child, where CS Lewis and JR Tolkien famously met to chat. We explored Oxford Castle and even managed to find a Krispy Kreme right outside of it. I was delighted. Oxford castle was used as a prison until 1996 and just last year opened up for tours. We explored throughout the whole thing, even climbing on top of a large 'mound' of dirt and grass, taller than the castle, to take a look of the city. We walked through the many universities that fill the streets. Oxford was a great place to explore a city that has so much history and beauty where ever you turn.
Saturday, bright and early, several of us took a long bus ride into Cardiff, Wales. We decided on the one day affair because visiting my family that lives in Wales was a lot further and a great deal more expensive. So we headed for the capital and found ourselves exploring another castle. This one, however, was filled with the decor of a home and a palace. We took a tour of the castle and even had tea in the dungeon. We also explored the Bay and walked the streets of this Welsh city.
Sunday, I went to three church services (read the previous blog for the details) but in between I went to the Tower of London. I believe they were called beef eaters, which were the tour guides and they were hilarious. He started the tour by asking where everyone was from. When he called the United States, he stated that this history could have all been ours if we only paid our taxes. We saw the royal jewels...bling bling. Wow, one diamond in a crown was 530 carrots. Dang. We walked in the footsteps of queens and people who eventually got beheaded by some king. There was lots of death in the tour, but overall lots of history learned. I love living in a city that has so much wisdom behind it. England and especially London has so much history that everywhere you go, you learn about why things were created and how that may influence our modern culture, language, and life.
Now it is Monday and I hope you all have a great week. Myself, living in the UK, did not get the day off of school, but I hope you all enjoyed or are enjoying your day. Cheers!
P.S. Pictures coming soon!
On Friday, two of my friends and I set off for an adventure. Our plan was to take a bus to Oxford and explore the city. So we took the tube to Victoria station, found the bus station, and found the bus. After an hour on the bus we arrived to the rain but beautiful architecture of Oxford. We went to the famous pub, The Eagle and Child, where CS Lewis and JR Tolkien famously met to chat. We explored Oxford Castle and even managed to find a Krispy Kreme right outside of it. I was delighted. Oxford castle was used as a prison until 1996 and just last year opened up for tours. We explored throughout the whole thing, even climbing on top of a large 'mound' of dirt and grass, taller than the castle, to take a look of the city. We walked through the many universities that fill the streets. Oxford was a great place to explore a city that has so much history and beauty where ever you turn.
Saturday, bright and early, several of us took a long bus ride into Cardiff, Wales. We decided on the one day affair because visiting my family that lives in Wales was a lot further and a great deal more expensive. So we headed for the capital and found ourselves exploring another castle. This one, however, was filled with the decor of a home and a palace. We took a tour of the castle and even had tea in the dungeon. We also explored the Bay and walked the streets of this Welsh city.
Sunday, I went to three church services (read the previous blog for the details) but in between I went to the Tower of London. I believe they were called beef eaters, which were the tour guides and they were hilarious. He started the tour by asking where everyone was from. When he called the United States, he stated that this history could have all been ours if we only paid our taxes. We saw the royal jewels...bling bling. Wow, one diamond in a crown was 530 carrots. Dang. We walked in the footsteps of queens and people who eventually got beheaded by some king. There was lots of death in the tour, but overall lots of history learned. I love living in a city that has so much wisdom behind it. England and especially London has so much history that everywhere you go, you learn about why things were created and how that may influence our modern culture, language, and life.
Now it is Monday and I hope you all have a great week. Myself, living in the UK, did not get the day off of school, but I hope you all enjoyed or are enjoying your day. Cheers!
P.S. Pictures coming soon!
Monday, January 14, 2008
Learning to Live in the Big City
The weekend has been an exciting one. I experienced many firsts in my life and got to know a ton of new people. I am sad to report to you the Seahawks lost and are now out of the playoffs for the NFC Championship. Sad day, although, I am happy to report that the Cowboys lost and the Pats are taking it all the way. Back in the UK, however, life is not based on NFL football, shocking I know. This past weekend I went to the London Eye. This structure is almost 500 feet tall and is pretty much a giant ferris wheel, except that instead of the little swing seats it has these bubbles that can fit about 25 people. Luckily, no rain while we were on it, a very rare thing for London. The scenes were beautiful and lovely. I saw right down the Thames, many buildings I did not recognize, and Big Ben. After leaving the rather tall contraption, we headed down the road and walked all the way to Piccadilly Circus. Since we were in a tour, there was not much time for exploring, but I will be sure to do that in these coming weeks. I forgot to mention that I took my first trip on public transportation here, using the tube to get there and the bus to get back. Wonderful! Very clean and logical process. I am hoping I can get the hang of it.
The other highlight of my week was yesterday, Sunday. Every good Christian knows their favorite thing about Sunday is church, so I was excited to attend here in London. In the morning I went to Hillsong. The service is downtown London at the Dominion Theatre. HUGE! Hillsong comes from the Hillsong in Sydney, Australia. Lots and lots of worship music that people sing in church all over the world comes from both churches. Well it was wonderful, just a true blessing to be in London at their worship. Church #2 was an evening service at HTB, Holy Trinity Brompton which is less than five minutes away from our house. Another amazing service. The building was smaller but just as lively, we sat with all of the college students and it was wonderful fellowship. The worship leader for that church is Tim Hughes, another artist that has written the music that my church at home and in Malibu sing. What a huge blessing to attend this service. The pastor at htb was a great, very postmodern kind of preaching. Finally, Church #3 was house church. It is actually run by our faculty here at the Pepperdine house in the flat at the top of the stairs. This semester we are studying C.S. Lewis' book Mere Christianity. We sang, ate dessert, and discussed. So I was pretty churched out for the day but had lots of wonderful experiences.
I am starting classes this Monday morning. I'll let you all know how they go! Cheers!
The other highlight of my week was yesterday, Sunday. Every good Christian knows their favorite thing about Sunday is church, so I was excited to attend here in London. In the morning I went to Hillsong. The service is downtown London at the Dominion Theatre. HUGE! Hillsong comes from the Hillsong in Sydney, Australia. Lots and lots of worship music that people sing in church all over the world comes from both churches. Well it was wonderful, just a true blessing to be in London at their worship. Church #2 was an evening service at HTB, Holy Trinity Brompton which is less than five minutes away from our house. Another amazing service. The building was smaller but just as lively, we sat with all of the college students and it was wonderful fellowship. The worship leader for that church is Tim Hughes, another artist that has written the music that my church at home and in Malibu sing. What a huge blessing to attend this service. The pastor at htb was a great, very postmodern kind of preaching. Finally, Church #3 was house church. It is actually run by our faculty here at the Pepperdine house in the flat at the top of the stairs. This semester we are studying C.S. Lewis' book Mere Christianity. We sang, ate dessert, and discussed. So I was pretty churched out for the day but had lots of wonderful experiences.
I am starting classes this Monday morning. I'll let you all know how they go! Cheers!
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