After a very full, yet relaxing first week in Cambridge, I'm off to Belgium and Italy with my parents! I'll get to see my little sister Hilly for the first time since early August last year - over 9 months! It's the longest we've ever been apart and I'm quite excited to see her again. I'll spend my birthday in Bruges or Ghent, both beautiful old historical cities close by her host family in Belgium. We'll stay in a nice hotel in Bruges for a couple nights, then back to staying with her host family for a night or two. From there my mom and I will go on to Orvieto, Italy, where we'll stay in a cute little B & B for a week. My friend Jana is studying abroad there this semester so we'll get to spend lots of time together, and hopefully take a couple of day trips to Rome and Florence, which are only about an hour train ride away. It all seems a little surreal, but I'm looking forward to my first European adventure, and am grateful that I get to share it with some of my favorite people!
Some other highlights of this week have been exploring the Fitzwilliam museum, going to a Church of England (yay Anglicans) on Sunday, and going to Evensong at King's College Chapel. The Fitzwilliam is a big, free, museum that Cambridge owns. The Armor section was awesome, and the pottery/ceramics section was surprisingly sweet too. There were these really bizarre, somewhat hideous life-size soup turreens in the shape of a chicken, a rabbit, and a fish. Apparently they were in style here in the mid-1700's, haha. The church I went to on Sunday was very old, but also very vibrant. It was cool that some of the liturgy there was the same or very similar to the liturgy at my church back home (in Wheaton). It led to some good conversations with my parents about church. They go to a nondenom. megachurch back home, so we have somewhat different opinions about what constitutes a "good church," if such a thing can be that easily defined... And the Evensong at King's College Chapel was fantastic. It was basically a short church service, but apart from a few readings consisted of an all-male choir singing Psalms and other songs. There were some cute little guys (7 or 8 ish) but the age ranged up through college age. It was truly gorgeous music, and the King's College Chapel is beautiful and quite old! I've been walking around Cambridge pretty much every day and am starting to know my way around pretty well. It's a great old city, and I feel like I still want to see so much more.
It's definitely been an adjustment coming from the busyness (academically and socially) of school. It's been a restful time so far, but also has allowed for a lot of time to think about people I love back home, so I've been missing people a lot. But I'm grateful to be here.
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Friday, May 15, 2009
The Journey Begins...
Well, I have successfully made the journey from Wheaton, IL to Cambridge, UK, with relatively little mishap! Upon arrival, I went through customs where I was promptly chatted up by the young guy checking my passport. I believe our conversation ended something like this:
Guy: So what are you looking forward to the most while you're here?
Me (very groggily): Um, I don't know, just exploring and going places.
Guy: And meeting some blokes with accents, yeah?
Me: haha...sure!
I've already adjusted to the time quite well and have done a bit of sightseeing around the city of Cambridge. Notable is St. Edwards, a small church that was the seat of the English Reformation (yay Anglicans) and Round Church, a gorgeous old little church dating from 1130! (Photos to come). I've also done a fair bit of eating, consuming copious amounts of tea, chocolate, and cheese, and enjoying other little english delicacies here and there. Yesterday I went out to Cream Tea with my mom - a cup of tea, a currant scone with clotted cream and strawberry jam, and a fresh strawberry. It was delightful!
This morning I'm at Pickwicks, a teeny cafe about a 5 minute walk from our little house, drinking tea and sharing a danish with my parents. Strangely, the techno song Sandstorm is playing in the background. I'm often quite amused by the juxtaposition of the old/new, traditional/modern here in Cambridge. There is free Wi-Fi here, and we are all on our laptops because the only internet we have at home is a very weak signal mooched from some unknown neighbors. The pace of life has been very different here - coming straight from a very intense last few weeks with finals, packing, RA duties, and trying to cram in as much hangout time with my friends as possible. I have almost no responsibilities here, so I've been enjoying a lot of reading, exploring, and chatting with my parents. Last night I made din-dins for my parents: pizza (so difficult!), a little plate of gourmet cheeses and olives, a garden salad, some vino :), and some nice dark chocolate.
I have a few more days here and will leave next Wednesday for London, where I will see my little sister Hilly, whom I have not seen since last August! I feel very lucky to be here, and am eating up every little bit of it. I'll try to post here every few days.
Guy: So what are you looking forward to the most while you're here?
Me (very groggily): Um, I don't know, just exploring and going places.
Guy: And meeting some blokes with accents, yeah?
Me: haha...sure!
I've already adjusted to the time quite well and have done a bit of sightseeing around the city of Cambridge. Notable is St. Edwards, a small church that was the seat of the English Reformation (yay Anglicans) and Round Church, a gorgeous old little church dating from 1130! (Photos to come). I've also done a fair bit of eating, consuming copious amounts of tea, chocolate, and cheese, and enjoying other little english delicacies here and there. Yesterday I went out to Cream Tea with my mom - a cup of tea, a currant scone with clotted cream and strawberry jam, and a fresh strawberry. It was delightful!
This morning I'm at Pickwicks, a teeny cafe about a 5 minute walk from our little house, drinking tea and sharing a danish with my parents. Strangely, the techno song Sandstorm is playing in the background. I'm often quite amused by the juxtaposition of the old/new, traditional/modern here in Cambridge. There is free Wi-Fi here, and we are all on our laptops because the only internet we have at home is a very weak signal mooched from some unknown neighbors. The pace of life has been very different here - coming straight from a very intense last few weeks with finals, packing, RA duties, and trying to cram in as much hangout time with my friends as possible. I have almost no responsibilities here, so I've been enjoying a lot of reading, exploring, and chatting with my parents. Last night I made din-dins for my parents: pizza (so difficult!), a little plate of gourmet cheeses and olives, a garden salad, some vino :), and some nice dark chocolate.
I have a few more days here and will leave next Wednesday for London, where I will see my little sister Hilly, whom I have not seen since last August! I feel very lucky to be here, and am eating up every little bit of it. I'll try to post here every few days.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)
