Thursday, December 31, 2009

Catching Up..

Happy Thursday Everyone!
I apologize for my lack of blog-age. The last days haven't been uber exciting, but instead filled with mundane (not meant in a negative way), everyday, sort of things, not that I didn't enjoy every minute of that as well! Kass, another girl that goes to the college that I hadn't had the chance to meet yet, did come over last night. We had a bit of a chat with her, so that was lovely.
Nevertheless, today was a completely different change of pace. Now mom, if you're reading this, don't freak out. But I went to Oxford town by myself. Yep, I felt like a big kid! Ha. Yesterday Bex, another college mate, had said she'd love to meet up in Oxford tomorrow and have lunch and go shopping. Well actually she said, "Can I shout you lunch?", which I immediately asked for a translation. Anyway, She text me directions. LOVE TECHNOLOGY because I'm simply rubbish at reading maps. So, at exactly 11:15, I headed to the bus stop that is about five minutes from my house. I bought a return ticket into city centre, and kept my eyes peeled for George Street.



We had plans to meet at Carfax, see above picture, and so I was heading straight there after I got off the bus. I got a bit sidetracked at the only Starbucks in Oxford, but thats okay, because she was running a bit late herself. So after I bought myself a Toffee Nut Latte, I was going for the Eggnog Latte but they were out of eggnog, I walked back out onto the rainy street and started walking in the direction of Carfax. Being the silly goose that I am, I saw a pretty good sized building that looked old and MUST BE Carfax straight up ahead, so I kept my eyes on that and kept walking towards it. I'm absolutely enjoying drinking in the sights of downtown Oxford and loving the people hustling beside me, who are probably trying to not get whacked by my over sized but protective umbrella, that I neglected to answer my phone when it rang. I stopped once I hit the pretty building and read the sign. "Christ Church" it read. Oops.. wrong building. I got my phone out to call Bex, and realized I had just missed her call. After calling her while she was calling me, don't you just absolutely HATE that when it happens?, I was directed to just go back to the Starbucks I had started from. So as I'm walking back, I spot her, and realize that Carfax was directly to the left from the Starbucks. Had I just read the text she sent me and didn't get distracted from the pretty buildings I would've not gotten lost! Well, it ended nicely, we finally found each other. Well, not finally, it all really took five minutes, and I was actually quite proud of myself.
Moving on....
We said a few hellos. HSBC, my new bank, was right across the street. At this point, I still hadn't opened a bank account anywhere so all my money is still safe and sound in good 'ol USA. Anyway, I asked if she'd be okay with going in there really quick so I can finally tick that off the to-do list. She obliged happily. We walked in and out within thirty minutes. Good, finally got that done. Well, not quite, I still have to transfer the money over online somehow, but I got an account open.
Next....
After banks, we went to eat! She took me to one of her favorite places called Pizza Express. MMMMMMMMM is the best way I can describe it. It was DELICIOUS. I was going to take a picture if my food, but i thought I'd try to act a little more sophisticated so I refrained. But I'll try to describe it to you. It was pizza, on a thin crust, with some kind of meat, cheese, and banana peppers on it. The pizza had a hole in the middle, like a doughnut, and in the middle, was a salad! Brilliant! It was uber nuber tastey. It felt like we sat and talked for hours. It was really lovely just getting to know each other. To talk. To laugh. To share our dreams.



After lunch and dessert, we walked out onto Cornmarket street and headed to the "car park". We were on our way to Abingdon, a small town in Oxfordshire. There was a fabric shop she had heard, Masons, that was supposed to be like an "Aladdin's cave" as she described it. When we got into the car to head to Abingdon, she said, "Prepare to know your Maker! You're about to meet Him!". She then continues to explain to me that she is a less than confident driver, and i say, "That's okay, I have enough confidence in my driving to make up for both of us." (That's for you, mommy!) We make it to Abingdon and we can't find a parking space for about fifteen minutes. We seriously went in circles for fifteen minutes looking for parking spaces. It was great times! Ha. Its funny just how much you get to see of people when they are in said situations.


This is Abingdon. I apologize for the picture quality; it was getting a little dark. We found Masons and we explored! Bex is into making jewelry and sewing different things, so all the fabrics, buttons, and beads, were really exciting for her. I just enjoyed browsing and feeling the different textured fabric.


This is some building in Abingdon. Looks like a church maybe? We just used it as our reminder for where we parked. We made it back to the car with the help of this pointy building. Thank-you Pointy Building. Bex drove me home so I didn't have to take the bus back. Thank-you sweet Bex!

It was probably 5:30 when I got home. I made dinner tonight for the first time since being here! I made "Italian Sausage soup with Tortellini" and I thought it was good! Everybody else seemed to think so too, which is always the most important thing! I picked the recipe out myself. Ha, not really sure why I mentioned that, but I did.. I'll post the link to the recipe, because if you get a chance, you should try it!

http://allrecipes.co.uk/recipe/6631/italian-sausage-soup-with-tortellini.aspx

Tonight was movie night at my house. We had a mini party with a few college friends over and projected a couple movies on to our wall and enjoyed! We had the Clarks, Lawtons, and Henry over. We watched A Mighty Heart and Up. We were going for kinda heavy then a comedy, but Up was terrible!! It was so sad and I'm pretty sure that one pulled more at my heart strings then A Mighty Heart did! Funny story about Up though: (Forgive me if i already mentioned this) it was playing on my plane ride over here and I saw it on the screen. I'm thinking to myself, "How can anyone enjoy watching a movie with no sound!?" because nothing was coming out of the tv screens. It wasn't until the last 30 minutes of the movie, that a see the guy beside me pull out his head phones, and plug them into his arm rest, and proceed to watch the ending of the movie playing. I just sit there for a moment, and silently chuckle to myself. Sometimes I can be so retarded, but I find it quite amusing.

Well, I plan on sleeping in today since I plan on staying up late bringing in the NEW YEAR! Whoop Whoop!

Everyone, have a Happy Safe New Year!!
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Sunday, December 27, 2009

Downtown Oxford

Good evening all,

Today and yesterday have been "lazy days". We haven't done much, but at least once a day we go out and walk around. Yesterday Steven took me for a tour around our neighborhood. In our neighborhood there are about five houses that are filled with KBC students or faculty. Its nice to be living so close to people you know! We also went down a private lane just so we could see the pretty, bigger houses. We saw the "PRIVATE" sign, but we just went ahead and wandered in anyway. Our cover if we got stopped by the police or anything was to say we couldn't read english. Here is where we got our inspiration: A little British humor for you: (click on the link below)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G79hrhGa-hA

Yesterday, when we weren't out walking, I tried to get caught up on lectures. There is still one week, the last week before Christmas break, that I haven't listened to. Also, I was trying to finish one of the assigned books, The Holy Wild. I finished it today, and I would recommend it! :)
Our nights are filled with playing Shed, which we have to set a limit to because we'd play all night if we didn't have a limit. And we usually finish the night with a movie. Last night was an older movie with Robin Williams and Robert De Niro called "Awakenings". It was a good/sad movie. We picked it because we thought it was supposed to be a "feel good" movie, but it didn't make us feel so good... :(

Today we went on a walk through down town Oxford. We went to the Ashmolean Museum, pictured below.







The Ashmolean Museum was the first museum in Britain. Also, there is so much to see and entrance is free! So we only went to about two floors and we'll hit the rest of it on a later date.

I didn't take many pictures inside the museum, but the first room was filled with sculptures and the picture above was one of my favorites.

What I love about Oxford is it just seems to be exploding with character. Maybe its because everything is so old and there is so much history behind it, but I just really enjoy walking through the town and seeing everything and all the architecture.
Below are a few other pictures I took of around the city:

This is the famous Mcdonalds Randolph Hotel. Very grand on the outside, never caught a glimpse of the inside
Um, not really sure what this is, but its pretty!
Little houses.. such character eh?! (theres a little Canadian for you guys)


This is a square in Gloucester Green. There was a Cafe Nero where we stopped in. Also, there was a Ben and Jerrys and an Odeon cinema. There were other stores too, but those were the ones remember.



Here is my Cafe Mocha (which was AMMMMMAAAZING) and my almond biscotti from Cafe Nero. After we left the cafe, we ran to catch the bus. We made it on even though the bus driver was a little irritated, but oh well. We are now home and we're putting the baby down to sleep. Soon it will be time to eat dinner and to chill out for the rest of the night!
Enjoy your day everyone!


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Saturday, December 26, 2009

A Very English Christmas

I trust everyone had an enjoyable Christmas! Mine sure was enjoyable! We all gathered at the Elmitts' for Christmas lunch. Eileen made a wonderful Christmas lunch. It consisted of turkey, roasted potatoes, bread sauce, sprouts, parsnips, cranberry sauce, and sausage. I tried it all, being the adventurer I am, and I liked it all! Surprise surprise..ha.



This is Loralie sitting at the table where we feasted. Those shiny things on the place mats were very fun! You and another person pull from both ends and it pops and comes apart. Then inside is a joke, a little toy, and a paper hat. So everyone opened theirs and put on their hats. It was the first time I had eaten a Christmas dinner with a paper hat on. :) Sorry I didn't get a picture..







After lunch, my family called on skype. I was placed on my living room floor where I could watch them all open presents. It was wonderful and I loved every moment of it. Especially when they all forgot about me and their backs and behinds were facing the webcam, that was awesome. :P So I talked to them for about an hour.




Eileen, Ruth, and Paul



After skyping it up, everyone gathered in the living room where we enjoyed "pudding" and opened presents. Here is Dalia opening her gift from the Elmitts. It was a set of four rubber duckies, which she thoroughly enjoyed!



This is Loralie and Steven. Aren't they cute? Ha, they are sweet and I've enjoyed spending this last week with them and i'm looking forward to all the good times we will be having together. :)

After presents we just enjoyed each others company. Steven and Loralie had made some eggnog because they don't sell it here and it was a big hit! Everyone really enjoyed it, as did I! Paul and Ruth were there too, and the Elmitts' other daughter and her son, Sarah and Tom, showed up later too. I got the chance to talk to them for a little bit and they were asking me how I heard about KBC and if I knew anyone else around Europe. Tom and Sarah are both youth pastors in Manchester and they invited me to come up sometime, to stay in their extra bedroom, and to connect with some people in Manchester. I thought that was really sweet of them to invite me like that. I would like to do something like that, but we'll see if I get that chance sometime.

Today is boxing day. I have never heard of this and Steven was shocked I hadn't. Is this something that's in the states too and I just somehow managed to never hear about it?
Anyway, today is a lazy day. We are all just hanging out. We rented a movie for tonight. We borrowed the projector from the college so we've set it up to where it projects on our wall and we watch movies that way. Its quite nice! We might possibly go on a walk, but it is the sabbath, so that might be too much work for today. :)
Anywhoooooo, everyone enjoy your saturday!





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Friday, December 25, 2009

What should I do for Christmas Eve? Hmm...I think I'll go to LONDON!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!! Its officially Christmas morning here in Botley! I'm shocked I'm still up, it was a long, adventurous, glorious, wonderful, never-forgettable day today. :D

http://picasaweb.google.com/bloggeraeriole/OxfordDec09?authkey=Gv1sRgCJeh58XX-KCM0QE#

Hopefully the site above works. Its just a few of the pictures I took of London.

This afternoon seven of us and two babies ventured off to London to spend the day there. It was Steven, Loralie, and Dalia; Paul (Steven's brother who works at KBC), his wife Ruth, and their baby Micah; Eileen and Keith (Ruth's parents and our guides through London). and myself. We started off around 12 this afternoon. We drove to the coach station, then we took the coach straight into London. It was about an hour or so drive in the coach. Once we got into London we went straight to Hyde Park. That is the first picture you see. It is a famous park owned by the Queen. Good ol' Lizzy! It's so kind of her to let the world play in her backyard. :)

We walked through the park and into a mini theme park called "Winter Wonderland". It had all sorts of rides and was splattered with stands from different parts of Europe. Most of these stands were filled with food and candies, but some were filled with jewelry. My favorite ones were filled with art of different kinds. I didn't get a chance to take a picture of those though. In the "Winter Wonderland" there was also ice skating which many people seemed to enjoy. I thought about heading out there, until the ambulance showed up and took some immobile body away.. Yeah.. no thank-you.

We walked out of the wonderland and onto Oxford Street which is a popular, poshy street filled with shops. The kind of shops no one can afford, but you still enjoy looking at their displays, and coveting all the things you can't buy.. wait..what? All through London there are different statues. Some make sense, but some, some are just plain stupid. There was one that had huge statues of horses and donkeys and it was a memorial for all the animals in the war because, "they didn't have a choice." Um..really? And like the decapitated horse head, no idea what that means, but it was amusing to say the least.

So we did a lot of window shopping and picture taking. In one of the pictures there is a department store called Marks&Spencers. We stopped in there for awhile to have refreshments. Most of the department stores here have cafes in them. That's nice. So when you get worn out from shopping, you can take a break, and you're ready for your second wind. I like that idea. After we left M&S, we continued on down the various roads of London enjoying the hustle and bustle of the world around us.

You'll see in one of the pictures a huge gingerbread house. Yep, that's right, I said a huge gingerbread house. Ruth has never had one in her life. So I guess to make up for all the years she didn't have one, she bought the biggest one in the world. Makes perfect sense. ;) This gingerbread house, complete with a nativity scene and all might I add, was originally priced at 220 pounds, but the guys at the cafe took it for 25 pounds. Good deal right!?! Ruth was proud. :D

The Christmas tree picture is a gift from Norway. Apparently every year the people of Norway give London a Christmas tree to say 'thank-you' for their help in the war. This tree was in Trafalgar Square. That's so nice of the Norwegians don't ya think??

The picture of the art museum is something I'll have to come back and check out! I love art museums and to have to just walk by this one was killer! But we were racing to catch the coach back to Oxford, so I'll guess I'll just have to come back. Aww shucks ;)

The last picture is a horrible picture, but I had to put something up of Buckingham Palace! I'll go again sometime during the day and it'll be much better! I really took this picture for my sister Audriana. She told me to take a picture of where the Queen lives and to take a picture of the Queen too. I told her when the Queen and I have our tea date I'll be sure to ask her to take a picture with me too. :P

Anyway, I hope the picture site works and I hope you enjoy them. Everyone enjoy themselves today and be safe and have a very Merry Wonderful Happy Christ-centered Christmas!


Wednesday, December 23, 2009

Jane and Nigel

Today was an earlier start. Nine o'clock. I'm trying to work my way down to seven, but hey, its the holidays!
Today we had some visitors from down the road. Jane and Nigel Perrott. They are married and both students at KBC. They told me today that they were part of the "older people group." But they are so fun you wouldn't even know! :) I think I'll probably go to coffee with them sometimes because they are more coffee drinkers then tea drinkers. THANK YOU JESUS! They came over and we had teas, hot chocolates, an assortment of breads and cheeses, grapes, and some Christmas cake.
We got the pleasure of hearing a little bit of their background, how they met, and what brought them to KBC. I love hearing stories of how people became saved and what their dreams and aspirations in God are so it was lovely to get to know the Perrotts a bit today. :)

Steven and Loralie went to a meeting at the college today and so I'm at the moment watching their baby Dalia. Don't worry, I didn't leave her unattended. She is currently climbing on my legs trying to get a hold of my computer. :)
Im not sure what the rest of the night holds, its always a surprise. Tomorrow is Christmas Eve and I don't even know what I'm doing for that! OH well, something will happen!

I took a few more pictures of the house and a few of Dalia so you could see how adorable she is!


here she is! she loves that ball apparently!


this was tricky, i had to get on the floor with her, but it was fun. we stayed down there and played for awhile..


This is the dining room. Pretty self explanatory..


Our kitchen. Don't worry, I did those dishes before I started blogging..


This is our living room..


LOVE IT!!! :D

Botley Road

Good morning everyone,
This blog is really about yesterday since I failed to do it yesterday.
I woke up around 10 in the morning.. I'm sure that's just killing you mom to hear, but I still haven't been able to get to sleep before 2 in the morning yet!! Okay, so I woke up and got ready. I came downstairs and Steven was up making a list of errands we needed to run. I played a little with Dalia before we made our way out to brave the bone-chilling cold. And it is just that, bone chilling cold. I think the cold here seems so much worse because its a damp cold, but enough of the whining...
Steven and I walked down to Botley Road which was for us about a fifteen minute walk. Steven is tall and has long legs, so I was pretty much sprinting to keep up. :)
We went to the post office, exchanged money, mailed Christmas Cards, then we went to the banks to see about opening an account for me. We went to register for the doctor and we made it to Maplins which is an electronic place for converters and adapters. We did some light grocery shopping and went to Babys R Us for something for Dalia. We went to this really cool store calls Arggos I think.. I just had never seen a store like this, but apparently this is kind of how Ikea works. Heres what you do: In the store instead of things being on display, there are a ton of huge catalogs with everything they have in the warehouse. So you look through this catalog, find the things you want, and you write the code on a piece of paper they provide. Then you take the piece of paper to the cash register, they type it in, you pay for it, then somehow what you want gets transferred to the people in the back where someone runs through the warehouse, grabs what you need and brings it to this desk where everyone is waiting for their number to be called. It all works in about three minutes.. Maybe there are lots of places like this, but it was my first, and i enjoyed the whole experience! :)
Steven and I finally made our way back home. We talked about why I had decided to come to KBC and what I was expecting out of it. We talked about Steven's background as a Christian and found out he was born in Brazil, impressive i thought, and grew up on a organic fruit and vegetable farm, which explains ALOT! OH! I probably haven' told you! Steven and Loralie are big on organic! So I'm trying all kinds of new healthy things! I tried an apricot for the first time yesterday and it was alright.. We have a huge fruit basket including pomegranates which i'm not even sure how to eat but they look juicy! They make their own granola with dried apricots, sunflower seeds, and more healthy stuff and I tried it this morning and it was GOOOOOOOD!
We finally made it home about one thirty or two and at this point i was worn out and hungry! Luckily not long after we had a grocery delivered. That is just plain awesome! Its only about three pounds to get it delivered and if you don't' have a car its just worth it! After putting the groceries away we made lunch. Well we didn't really make anything, we cut things up for lunch. We had yummy breads, new cheeses, one cheese even had apricots in it, olives, stuffed peppers, and grapes. MMM it was delicious! After lunch we started making dinner! Oh, another thing, Steven and Loralie love to cook, so we always have yummy home cooked meals! Last night we had some company for dinner! We had George and Andy Clark over. They are the couple that picked me up from the airport. Before they arrived the three of us, Steven, Loralie, and I were in the kithen, hanging out, cooking, singing along and dancing to wonderful Christmas carols. :) Good times. The Clarks arrived around six and we sat around the table around six thirty. We thoroughly enjoyed a meal cooked by Steven and Loralie and each others company. After dinner and "pudding" we played a few games. The first game we played was some strategic game kind of like Settlers, so I obviously failed at that game, but it was fun and entertaining. The second game we played was Shed, and oh my goodness!!! This game was super competitive and amazingly fun!! We said we'd only play a couple rounds, but after the first two we played again, and again, and again! We played a total of five rounds and would've played more but it was getting close to eleven and we knew if we didn't' stop now we'd be here all night! I think we will definitely be playing this game again very soon.
We said good-bye to the Clarks, wished them a Merry Christmas, and turned towards the kitchen to see all the dishes we had to wash.. oh yeah.. we don't have a dishwasher. We wash it all by hand. This will take some getting used to.
Today is going to be fun. Steven and Loralie will be spending most of the day cooking, I'll help if they need it, I'll help with the dishes, and my favorite part, I'll keep Dalia company. :) Jane and Nigel are supposedly coming by at some point with coffee and mince pies. Jane and Nigel are another married couple who are students at the school. I have yet to meet them, so I'm excited to meet them! I might be baby sitting Dalia for a little bit today, and if I do I'll be sure take some pictures so you all can see how cute she is! :)
I'l write more another day..

Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Witney

Day two: (I'm sure I'll come up with more witty headings when I get the hang of this blogging thing.)

Lets see.. I woke up pretty late this afternoon. I think I'm still on Pittsburg time though because I couldn't get to sleep last night, or this morning i guess, until around four in the morning. So when my alarm went off at 8 to get up, i quickly thought that was "rubbish" and turned it off!
When I finally woke up there were people in my house! Of course! i should've known! Lydia, one of my housemates, had come back and she had a friend come over. So we chatted for awhile and had some toast. I got ready for my day, had a another friend come over to sort out some confusion. Last night I had agreed to go to some "gig" but on by one of the girl's brother. So this morning I get a text about the arrangements for this concert, but apparently someone else was supposed to invite me for dinner the night before and was expecting me in just a few hours.
If i had decided to go to the concert they would've needed to get another car, so I decided to make it easy on them and to go to dinner with Rachel and Marjorie ( i might be totally misspelling her name, its French, just pronounce it French-y).
The three of us drove to Witney, hence my title, where the Haines live. The Haines are Phil and Hannah, both students. I think. Actually, now that I think about it, Im not sure if Hannah is, but I know that Phil is. I think Hannah is a student though. ANYWAY, they have an adorable little girl named Bethany.
Hannah made dinner, which was delicious! I never caught the name, but it was very English. It consisted of rice, meat, vegetables, cheese, all the good stuff. After dinner we had pudding and custard. Of course i was imagining chocolate pudding and some frozen custard. Well, the custard came out first and it was steaming. So i asked, "what is that?" and they replied, "custard". I said, "Whats custard here? Because where I come from, custard is cold." So we had a whole conversation learning about each other's custards. Very enlightening I must say! Then came the pudding, which isn't even pudding at all. Apparently here, the term "pudding" means dessert of any kind! So, the pudding was actually some apple streusel thing! SUPER delicious!
After dinner we had a time of conversation and I found out that they love Friends, Prison Break, the Simpsons, Heroes, all the tv shows at home are super big here. I asked if they liked The Office and they said yes. Then asked if I watch the British Office or the American Office, the made sure to inform me that Britain was the first to come up with the show The Office. :D
Even though Rachel was worried about driving back in the snow, well, it was actually a very light flurry where I come from, we proceeded to play a game of Friends Scene It. I lost terribly, but it was fun entertainment for me!
Shortly after Rachel, Marjorie, and I headed back home. Marjorie is staying in my house tonight because she flies back to France for the Holidays tomorrow morning. When we arrived home, guess what!? You guessed it! More people were there! All the people who I was going to go to the "gig" with were there. Apparently it was too snowy in London, so they had to turn back. :( But it was lovely to see them all at my house though! I got the chance to again, meet some more people! The table was filled with Indian food, but I gladly refrained when one of the guys mentioned his throat being on fire. We chatted for a bit then we turned on Meet the Parents. :D
Now everyone is gone, and I'm thinking about going to bed, but I wanted to let everyone in on a little of my day. :)

Monday, December 21, 2009

First day in Oxforshire!

Good morning everyone,
At this moment it is 12:12 AM. (Make a wish!) It has officially been my first day in Oxford. I'll run you through the airport first:
My family and I drove to Chicago,IL on Friday the 18th. My flight to Heathrow left the next morning at 9:10. So, on Saturday morning, we woke up at 5:00 A.M. and drove to the airport. We made it safe and sound despite the light snow. Just so everyone knows, I flew standby. I don't think I realized how stressful that was going to be.
(I'm probably going to jump around a bit, so just bear with me.) Lets see, after we got to the airport, I checked in, dropped off my checked bags, and headed towards security, not knowing that that was going to be the last time I saw my family. I thought they could at least walk me to my gate, maybe wait with me for the plane to come, but no. After security check, I was on my own.



A very nice lady took this picture of us before I was about to go through security.

Security was easy. Took off my shoes, took out my laptop, the whole enchilada. Now, it was time to find my gate. I was leaving from gate K16. Yeah.. the gate on the VERY far end of the airport. That was just wonderful! (please catch the sarcasm).
So, I made it to my gate and waited. And of course there was no one at the counter, so I waited some more. I met a lovely girl from Ecuador who was on her way home. Finally, someone arrived at the counter! I went up there, told them my sitch, and the said, "okay, we'll call you if we have a seat." "That's it?", I thought. Bleh... So i went back and sat down by this lovely Ecuador-ian? (I never caught her name). Then, something miraculous happened! They called my name! So i went to the counter, and they gave me a ticket! WHOOP WHOOP (that seriously just happened). Then about two minutes after that, we boarded the plane. I finally found my seat (without the help of the flight attendant who was a bit snobbish).
Okay, so after getting on the plane, we sat there for another hour or so while these big trucks de-iced the plane. Then we FINALLY made if off the runway! It was a wonderful feeling! I watched a few movies, did a little reading, ate some really good pizza, and did almost no sleeping. Finally, around 11:15ish P.M we landed. That was a pretty surreal feeling.
The Heathrow airport was not as intimidating as I had imagined. We were the last flight to arrive, so basically the airport was empty. We walked a million miles to the baggage claim, but before we could get our bags, we had to go through customs? (is that what you call them?) Anyway, I was a bit nervous about that part, but I went to a nice looking lady and she was nice! She asked me a few easy peasy questions and sent me on my merry way and believe me, I was indeed.. merry!
After baggage claim, I found Georgina and Andrew Clark waiting for me! With a board that had my name and everything! They are a wonderful couple who are also fellow students who were so gracious to come and pick me up so late! We walked to the car and started our one hourish drive to Oxford from London. The little bit of London I saw was nice, but I definitely need to go back on a less groggy day. The drive to Botley was nice and humorous. Humorous in the fact that Europeans don't know how to drive in snow! And keep in mind, this wasn't inches of snow, this snow wasn't even really sticking to the ground, but people, well drivers, were freaking out!
Oh, a little side note, so, we all know they drive on the opposite side of the car. but when I got into the car, I was in the back on the right side, and I look at where Georgina was sitting, the front left, and thought to myself, "Well that's silly, how is she going to drive? There's no steering wheel." It only took me about half a second to remember where I was, and what I was thinking. Remember, I had just traveled for a long time!
OKay, so we finally make it to 30 Pinnocks Way, my beloved home! My housemates had a left a lovely note welcoming me home and a few chocolates and gingerbread men on the kitchen counter. I'm sure they were delicious, but after the bags were brought in, and I got ready for bed, I hit the sack, hard! Last time I remember looking at the clock it was 1:22 A.M.



This is my house. The lady in front is Loralie, married to Steven, and the baby is Dalia. She is a sweet heart!

I woke up that morning, well this morning, at 7:30ish. I woke up early because I really wanted to go to my church placement which is in Basingstoke, but the roads were "too" icy to drive on so we had to cancel for today. I was already up and about so I just stayed up. I spent my morning lazily unpacking and meeting my other housemates before they run off for holidays. So, Steven, Loralie, and their baby Dalia sleep downstairs. Upstairs is me, Lydia, and Lou. At the present moment, everyone in my house has a cold! Poor guys! The girls left shortly after, and I stayed around the house with S & L. This couple is AMAZING! I came downstairs at one point, and they were making a list for me of all the things I needed to do. Such as buy a converter, go to the bank, get my house key. All things I hadn't even got so far as to think about. In the afternoon we had a few visitors. I heard, from George (Georgina) that we have a 'quite sociable house'. Apparently people pop in often! And, we also have about five student/faculty houses around here, so there are quite a few people around here!
A few of the gentlemen down the road came by for a visit and of course, some tea. We enjoyed some tea and some getting acquainted, then decided we all needed to go into town!
So Steven, Loralie, Dalia, Jem, Pete, Chris, Henry, and I walked to the bust stop about five minutes away and waited for the bus. Apparently the buses come every fifteen or so minutes, but we waited for this bus for at least thirty minutes in the cold! Eh..I guess I better get used to it!
Finally, we jumped on the bus, got warmed up a bit, then were dropped off at city center, or centre, whichever you prefer. We walked around there until 6:30 that evening. We went to a Christmas market that was behind the castle. That was very cool! I'm sorry I didn't get a picture, but I'm sure i'll make it back there eventually, and will get a picture then!
We went in and out of shops, all very interesting!! Mom, I didn't buy anything! well i did, but it was necessities, like shampoo and such. Aren't you proud of me?? :P
We made our way around 6 to the KBC building where the OCC (the church that I guess runs the college? not sure about all the details there) was having a Christmas Presentation. That was, um, interesting.
While there, I met a ton of people. All students and faculty of the college. The program ended around 8 I think and we chitchatted for awhile, or as they would say here, we had a chin wag. At this point I was feeling super tired. We came home after the program and not long after, we had visitors! So again, we enjoyed some tea and some cookies and we debated on a few movies to watch. We decided on Galaxy Quest. Yeah.. ha.. needless to say, I fell asleep. I woke up at just the right time, the movie was ending. We walked our guests out, and we looked at the dishes, (we have no dishwasher :( ) and said, "we'll do those tomorrow morning". :D

Here are a few pictures of the upstairs: I'll take more of the house but ppl are sleeping downstairs at the moment.



This is the bed im looking at right now.. Yeah, I think I'm just going to sleep on top of all that stuff tonight.



This is my desk area, which you can see is a mess as well. But Im not settled in yet! OH! did you notice the awesomely beautiful curtains?



Yeah, so I have to magically fit all the stuff on my bed into this.. like i said, magically..



And this is the bathroom, that is directly opposite my bedroom. In this bathroom, the toilet is really high. I feel like i have to jump on it to get on it. And I have to pull a string to turn on the light, which seriously took me 15 minutes to figure out last night. And you have to pull on a string to turn the shower on. That took me probably another 15 minutes..

PS: not all my blogs will be this detailed, and Im not even sure how often I'll be able to keep up with this. I hear second term at KBC is supposed to be the worst! Anyway, thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed!

Lots of love!