suddenly the infinite and penitent begin to look like home
Coffee coffee coffee, blimey lovely coffee. I came here thinking I was going to drink tea and here I am addicted to coffee. Bloody American I am.
Sunday was one of the best days ever. In the morning I went by myself (wootwoot!) to the Templar church and hear Mattins, but to make a long story short i walked between 2 and 3 miles very quickly in heels and still couldn't find the church by the time services started, so i went on a leisurely stroll down the Thames that ended up drawing me to St. Pauls. So i went inside and spent the next hour at their Anglican service, which was sooo long but beautiful. The sermon was actually quite inspiring, though general. It is, obviously, an exquisitely beautiful place, and after the time i spent there alone I felt awed and peaceful all day...it's the best thing ever to discover the things of greatest beauty all alone, then afterwards go out with friends or something. At night I went with a bunch of girls to Holy Trinity Brompton, which had great worship and a fun coffee and donut thing for college students afterwards.
After lunch Jeff and I went to Speaker's Corner--that was definitely one of the weirdest, most intense experiences of my life up until this point. Speaker's Corner is a smallish stretch of pavement that is an entirely free speech zone--no one can prosecute you no matter what you say. We heard Christians shouting, Muslims debating, and communists moralizing. I heard so many things that I couldn't beleive anyone actually thought or believed. Everyone was arguing but few people were actually listening. I actually got into a discussion with some guy who was claiming "Jesus wasn't a Christian!"--NO KIDDING!! Jeff's favorite part was when a random guy walked up to us, said that binary math was the key to the trinity, and walked away. Oh yeah, and a guy had a pair of Saddam Hussein's granny-panny underpants framed. The best was a cult that worshipped Charlie Chaplin as the head of the clowns with Albert Einstein as their prophet. I am not exaggerating at all, Jeff can back me up.
It either all or nothing here--Monday we didn't do ANYTHING except a little homework and the Quatro went out for flurries at McDonald's. Before you flip out for our lack of British-ness, the flurries here are completely different and made with CADBURY--the sacred word. I stayed up late doing a paper. Tuesday we had classes all day like normal. This time was better though, because the students finally came back (their terms are diff than ours). There was a completely amazing chapel. Before bed we watched Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights, which is like the most un-Houghton movie ever. ;-P
Today was the day they clean our rooms on my floor, only they start at 8am and aren't finished until after 11, so we can't take a shower or anything, it sucks. Also, they locked me out of my room, so I'm eating heated up chili in my pajamas after sleeping on the couch and watching British MTV with the Quatro. class isn't til 2, so beforehand I'll try to get a bunch of postcards. Blah....
Sunday was one of the best days ever. In the morning I went by myself (wootwoot!) to the Templar church and hear Mattins, but to make a long story short i walked between 2 and 3 miles very quickly in heels and still couldn't find the church by the time services started, so i went on a leisurely stroll down the Thames that ended up drawing me to St. Pauls. So i went inside and spent the next hour at their Anglican service, which was sooo long but beautiful. The sermon was actually quite inspiring, though general. It is, obviously, an exquisitely beautiful place, and after the time i spent there alone I felt awed and peaceful all day...it's the best thing ever to discover the things of greatest beauty all alone, then afterwards go out with friends or something. At night I went with a bunch of girls to Holy Trinity Brompton, which had great worship and a fun coffee and donut thing for college students afterwards.
After lunch Jeff and I went to Speaker's Corner--that was definitely one of the weirdest, most intense experiences of my life up until this point. Speaker's Corner is a smallish stretch of pavement that is an entirely free speech zone--no one can prosecute you no matter what you say. We heard Christians shouting, Muslims debating, and communists moralizing. I heard so many things that I couldn't beleive anyone actually thought or believed. Everyone was arguing but few people were actually listening. I actually got into a discussion with some guy who was claiming "Jesus wasn't a Christian!"--NO KIDDING!! Jeff's favorite part was when a random guy walked up to us, said that binary math was the key to the trinity, and walked away. Oh yeah, and a guy had a pair of Saddam Hussein's granny-panny underpants framed. The best was a cult that worshipped Charlie Chaplin as the head of the clowns with Albert Einstein as their prophet. I am not exaggerating at all, Jeff can back me up.
It either all or nothing here--Monday we didn't do ANYTHING except a little homework and the Quatro went out for flurries at McDonald's. Before you flip out for our lack of British-ness, the flurries here are completely different and made with CADBURY--the sacred word. I stayed up late doing a paper. Tuesday we had classes all day like normal. This time was better though, because the students finally came back (their terms are diff than ours). There was a completely amazing chapel. Before bed we watched Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights, which is like the most un-Houghton movie ever. ;-P
Today was the day they clean our rooms on my floor, only they start at 8am and aren't finished until after 11, so we can't take a shower or anything, it sucks. Also, they locked me out of my room, so I'm eating heated up chili in my pajamas after sleeping on the couch and watching British MTV with the Quatro. class isn't til 2, so beforehand I'll try to get a bunch of postcards. Blah....