Spring Break

My fellow travellers and I safely arrived at our flats in London around 4am this morning. I am very exhausted and a little sunburned, but very satisfied with how spring break went. We were able to see a lot in each city and we didn't have too much trouble with the transportation or accommodation. It was a great experience in planning, traveling alone, and making the most of our time. I am not able to post pictures yet, but as soon as my computer is fixed, I will go into much more detail as well as provide pictures of the trip. I hope all of you have a blessed week!

Happy Easter!

Wow! It's been an embarassingly long time since my last post, so I apologize to all of you. Everything is going very well here, and I've been able to keep busy with school projects and doing things around the city. Unfortunately, my computer crashed a couple of days ago, but my computer-savvy friends tell me that it's nothing that cannot be fixed. I hope to have that taken care of soon! Don't worry, there is a desktop in each flat, so I am still able to email and work on papers for school. What I won't be able to do, however, is post pictures of spring break here until the problem is solved. I am leaving today for Italy with three of my friends and we'll get back late Saturday night. We're going to be able to visit Rome, Florence, and Venice and I am very excited!

I hope everyone has a blessed Easter and a wonderful week ahead of you! I love and miss you; thanks for all the prayers!

Brighton and Oxford

I'm sorry about the long week between posts (for those of you who check regularly). It's been a really good, busy week. I had a great day at Winton Primary school last Monday, and the teacher is giving me a lot to do with the students. I saw the musical 'Wicked' on Monday night for my theater class, and it was phenomenal! Classes are going well, too.

Last weekend (March 1) was a trip to Brighton through the international student house. It was a lot of fun, especially since it's on the beach. Today (March 8) I traveled to Oxford with my art history class, and it was a really great trip, as well. Here are some pictures (Oxford first, then Brighton):

Brighton and Oxford Pictures

Real Worship

I have some thoughts that don’t really have anything to do with my experiences here in London, but I guess that’s the overall purpose of a blog, right?

The past few days I’ve had a bit of a cold—nothing serious, just a sore throat and a cough. My cold has made my talking voice low and scratchy and my singing voice is incoherent and almost an octave lower. Worship in church today was an interesting experience, but I had a great revelation through the songs and prayer: God doesn’t need my voice to tell Him that He is great. He wants me to worship Him with all I have (little that I have), but if no one on earth praises Him, the rocks will cry out because of His amazing love and power. My normal voice is no different from my sickly, rough tone if I am worshipping with the same spirit. Tonight’s experience also taught me not to listen to myself so much when I am praising God; am I praising myself, or praising Him? Worship is for telling God how great He is and for thanking Him for all He has done, not for a personal faith experience. He often blesses me during worship, but I need to make sure that it’s not the reason I lift my voice. Focusing on this purpose clears away all the other distractions during worship, such as singing for myself and worrying about what others think.

These are just a few things I thought about today, so thanks for allowing me to share with you.
I hope you all had a blessed weekend, and I’ll be posting soon about what has been going on around here, hopefully with a new set of pictures after next weekend. Have a great week!

Winton Primary School

Hello everyone! I'm having a great week, and I hope you're doing the same! Monday was my first day in my education practicum here in London. I have been placed at Winton Primary School, in the Emerald room for third and fourth years. My cooperating teacher is very nice, and she's actually an American from Florida. She graduated from college, moved over here, met an Englishman, and is now pregnant with five years of teaching behind her! The class is extremely diverse, and I had so much fun learning to pronounce each person's name. There is a lot of middle eastern influence in the school, and many religions are represented in the student body. Through our education seminar, we (teaching fellows) have been learning about how the UK curriculum is different from the typical US curriculum, and mandatory religious education in English schools is definitely one of these differences. I'm excited to observe and get to know all my students and interact with them for at least five more full school days.

Please don't hesitate to ask any questions about what I'm going to be doing at Winton, and please visit their website www.wintonprimaryschool.com.

This week I have also become a member of the Westminster Libraries, and I have my own library card and everything. After working in a library for a full year and a half, it was fun to go to one here, and I plan on visiting it often!

I hope everyone has a great end to their week, and I will be posting again soon!

More Pictures!

Here is the third installment of pictures. It's a random bunch of things that I've been doing the past two weeks, and there a few of the inside of my flat. I really hope the link works this time!

London Pictures #2

Hello everyone, I hope you all have had a great week! It's been a good one for me, and I am still very much enjoying my classes. Yesterday my art class visited an area of the National Gallery, and our teacher knows an incredible amount about early Christian art. I am quite sure that she is a Christian, and it's great to have an art professor who recognizes and discusses the countless spiritual allusions represented in ancient art.

Today I journeyed from my flat to the British Museum. It was about an hour walk through crowded and noisy streets, but it was exciting to find something on my own and go on my first adventure around the city. I walked around the museum for a while for a class project, and then spent a little time in the National Gallery for another class assignment. It was a really great afternoon, out by myself. Tomorrow a group of us are going to the Tower of London, and a close friend is celebrating her birthday weekend with Phantom of the Opera, and I think I will be going with her! I'm looking forward to this weekend, and I hope you all have a great one, too!