Leavin on a Jet Plane
All my bags are packed I'm ready to go. Hope someone will help carry them to the door. I have to wake up early to say good-bye. The bus is waiting, he's ready to go. I'm ready to get home and sleep tonight. So hug me and smile for me, tell me you've been waiting for me, hold me like you'll never let me go. I'm leavin on a jet plane, I can't wait to be home again. So soon it's time to go.
I cannot believe how quickly three weeks has flown by. This has been a truly amazing experience. As much as I am ready to be at home, I am a bit teary-eyed as I think of leaving. One more summer adventure under my belt, one more place of study to add to my list. I have memories I'll never forget. This only makes me hungry for more world travel. I'm kind of sad and yet excited to think that next summer I will be graduated from college. It's a major time of transition. This is a beautiful start to my last summer in college.
I will see you all when I get home.
Love to all....
rvw
Can't Believe It
So yesterday I was in class from 12:30-3:30 p.m. and then again from 6-11:30 p.m. I have never had class so late!! I went to a short devo upstairs with some of the people here and then went to bed. This morning, I got up at about 10 and started studying for my final exam. At 2 p.m. I took my last Comm Law test! Yay!! Class is finished. Well, except for the research paper due on my birthday (I think I'll be turning it in early). Then, we all went to the Trout for dinner. It was about a 45 minute walk. We walked through a meadow and buy an abandoned Abbey. We saw cows! I felt like such a nerd taking pictures of the cows in the field, but they were really close to us. I mean someone from Texas shouldn't be so fascinated with cows, but it was fun! We had some amazing food, but I can't talk about it right now. I am so full that discussing it could possibly make me vomit, so I'll wait. It feels good to be done with classes. I think I will sleep some now.
rvw
I finally went to Paris!
Friday morning I got up at 4 a.m. and finished packing my bags. We then trekked to the bus station in the rain lugging our suitcases behind, then had to sprint to the ATM before the bus left us. It was an hour and a half ride into London where we boarded the Underground, took it to Canning Town, got on the shuttle bus and finally ended up at London City Airport. OK, so no one has really ever heard of London City airport. We had no idea where we were going or what to expect, but it was a nice small, business traveler-oriented airport. The people at the counter were very nice and put us in seats all together. After an hour flight, we made it through customs, changed out money and then had to find the train station. That only took about 45 minutes. Once we found it, we waited in line for another 30 minutes to buy our round trip tickets that we got charged 7 times too much for. We finally got on the train/metro and rode it into Paris. We then had to change lines two times. Each time, the station did not have escalators and all luggage had to be carried up numerous flights of steps. We finally arrived at our hotel around 3:30 in the afternoon. We laid down and slept until 5. I think everybody was out pretty cold. I know I drooled. Then we got up and went on a walk through Paris. We went to the Eiffel Tower which was amazing!! I was awe struck. I have been wanting to see that tower since middle school. There is even still a poster on the bedroom wall at my parents' house that has a picture of it and says I Love Paris. I made it in 8th grade. We had dinner at a fancy little cafe. I was short on cash because I hadn't found an ATM yet and so I had crepes (there was some food waiting for me back at the hotel). They were so good! We then walked around the area some more and got to watch the Eiffel Tower lights sparkle across the river at sunset. The next morning, we got up fairly early and began our day. We bought passes that let us in to almost all of the museums and monuments around Paris. We hit the Louvre, Notre Dame, the Pantheon and the Arc De Triomphe. Oh, it was amazing! I saw the Mona Lisa and Venus de Milo. The originals! I also saw so many more famous paintings, some huge and some little. Notre Dame was beautiful and they were having some special service while we walked around. The Pantheon didn't have much, but there was an amazing sculpture and a pendulum clock. The Arc was a lot of stairs, but the view from the top was worth it. We also got to see a military band parade and parts of the ceremony for the unknown soldier. We then had dinner at a cafe with the best ham and cheese sandwiches ever! Then we camped out on the lawn behind the Eiffel Tower and made some new friends from the states and watched the sunset on the Tower. It was gorgeous! I will have pictures soon. I also had the world's largest stick of cotton candy...mmmm! Then we headed back to the hotel and it was time for bed. On Sunday, we got up and headed to Sacre Cuere (I'm not really sure how to spell it) which is the church on the hill. It was very beautiful. After some time there, we headed to the markets and did a little souvenier shopping. After running around so much on Saturday, we needed a little break. Then we headed over to the Moulin Rouge to take pictures of it. It was rather unimpressive in my opinion. We were going to sit out at the Eiffel Tower and relax again, but it began to rain, so we headed to dinner. I had the best quiche ever and creme broule for desert!! I splurged, but it was worth it. It was still rainy after that, so we went back to the hotel. On Monday, we got up packed, checked out, did a little bit of shopping (I bought shoes!!!) and then started on the long journey back to Oxford. We got home around 9:30 p.m. On Tuesday, we had to get up early for a class excursion to Bath. In that town is an ancient Roman bath house, hence the name Bath. It was really, really neat. After some lunch and looking around the Abbey there, it was time to head to Avebury. Avebury had some ancient rocks, similar to Stonehenge only not. We're really not sure anything about it except it had rocks placed by Druids in a circle. There were a lot of sheep that made the field a virtual land mine to walk across. Finally we returned back to Oxford where it was time to study for our test this morning. Now it's over. Time to take a shower and get ready for a full day of class. Hope this catches you up some. I went to Paris with Missy, Danielle, McKenzie, Shannon and Jansen.
rvw
Tuesday, London, and Today
Tuesday was all day class. Not much really to report on. We were in class pretty literally ALL day. Yesterday was a fun day in London. Monica, Nathan and I went to the Changing of the Guards at Buckingham Palace. We didn't really see much of the actual changing, but we did get to see the parade and all the pomp surrounding it, which was neat. Monica and I took a picture with a police officer that we thought was cute. :-) Afterwards we went Trafalgar Sqaure (where the embassies and galleries are) and had lunch. We past the Queen's lifeguard (mounted police) and a guard about scared us out of our socks!! And then he had a good chuckle about it with his fellow guard. Interesting story, I'll have to tell it in person. We then proceeded to Parliment where we got to sit in the House of Lords and House of Commons galleries. We then toured Westminster Abbey, which was beautiful and then came home. Today was class all morning, until 2:30 p.m. and then I worked on my Warwick pictures and did some browsing around Oxford. Tomorrow morning I leave bright and early for Paris!! We will be catching a bus at 5:10 a.m. It should be quite a weekend!!
rvw
Sunday and Blenheim
Yesterday, I decided to attend church at the Oxford Church of Christ. There were about 9 people other than our group present. The preacher, David Barker, was from Paris, Tennessee. He knows John Dale very well. It's a small world. Most of the people at the church were not from England, but in Oxford because of military. After that, Dr. Bailey took us on a quick tour of a cemetary where there are many World War I graves. He said England lost almost 1 million people in that war alone. After that, we came back and I had my first taste of On the Hoof, a wonderful pastery shop/bakery. I had a Brazilian sandwich and something that had a crumbly crust with caramel and white chocolate! It was delicious. I met a guy in there from Pennsylvania who is here for a whole year. The owner is a delightful lady who really loves our group. After lunch I slept through a movie in the commons room then went outside with Blake, Jayma, Luke and Josh and played football, soccer and frisbee. Blake wanted to go see if he could join a pick up soccer game at University Park, so I took my text book and went with him. Everybody was starting to leave, so we just walked around the park and had a nice talk. He and I went to Abilene High together and he is now studying at Oxford. He is an architecture major. In fact, he just finished classes and will actually walk in September. For dinner I had french toast with honey instead of syrup because we don't have any syrup. It was Delicious! We had a devotional and communion as a group at 9 p.m. It reminded me of Life Team that would be starting only a couple of hours later. It was neat to sit in church and just picture all the different services going on back in the United States. I suppose I was worshipping thousands of miles away at about the same time the Glendale Rd. extension service was going on. Today we had class, then went to Blenheim Palace. That is the home of Sir Winston Churchill. The palace was beautiful and even more so the gardens. Mallory and I had some ice cream even though it was SO cold. We did a maze through hedges, I can't remember what they are called and then headed back home. At the bus stop, it began to rain. So now, we were cold and wet. We met a nice Canadian couple who talked to us and shared their umbrella with us. They were from British Columbia. Mallory and I ended up getting off the bus too soon and had to walk at least 20 minutes to get back to the houses. We were damp and cold and tired. The gates of St. Hughes were a much welcomed sight. Now, here I sit, warm and dry. I think I will take a short nap before studying for our first test tomorrow!!
rvw
Warwick and London
I did not write yesterday because I was completely exhausted by the end of the night. We got up and had class at 8 am and then took off at 10:30 for Warwick. We arrived there about 11:30. We walked down to the castle and then began the adventure. I spent about 4 1/2 hours exploring the castle. It was so cool! I don't know where to even begin to talk about it, except to tell you that I took 200 pictures which will be up soon (after I have time to label them). We got to see a birds of prey show and watch a bald eagle fly. That was amazing. We also got to find William the Conqueror not quilty at trial. It was such a huge, amazing place with hundreds, perhaps thousands of steps (staircase). After the castle, we headed over to St. Mary's. It was a beautiful old church. We stayed there for about half an hour and then climbed the bell tower, all 160 steps of it. On the way back I had a cheese burger with garlic mayonaise and chips. We finally returned home a little after 7. Today I went to London. It was a mistake to go with the group I did because all they wanted to do was shop. We shopped for 3 hours and then went to the play. The music and dancing was good, but the acting was pretty bad. The actors couldn't keep their Brooklyn accents and British accents straight. After that, we did make it to Buckingham Palace. After many pictures, we headed over to the Texas Embassay Restaurant and then I headed back here. I will find another day to go do more of the things I want to do, such as the Tower of London and Hyde Park. For now, I'm exhausted. I will have pictures ready perhaps tomorrow. Let me know if you have still not gotten the first album. Cheers!
rvw
Pictures
Pictures are now available. If you have not received a link to the album and would like one, just let me know!
rvw
12-5-05 (May 12, 2005)
Today was a very nice day. I woke up, put on a t-shirt and jeans and walked next door for class. We have class in the living room of one of the houses. We had class from about 9-11:30 a.m., then had a break for lunch. Mallory and I had sandwiches in our kitchen, then we joined Monica and Nathan and went to University Park. We tried to read for a while, but it was quite windy, so we tossed around an American football for a while then fed the ducks (in the literal sense, like with bread). After that we went over to the train station to get the other three's tickets to Scotland. I decided to stay and do London this weekend. It will be fun. There are 8 of us going! We have already booked tickets to a musical, Saturday Night Fever. After that, we stopped at two shops with some really cute things. Mallory and I went to Gimbles and picked up a couple of phone cards and something to drink. I had a Ginger Beer, it's suppose to be like ginger ale, but it was super gingery. In fewer words, it was gross. I also got a flapjack from the pastery shop next door. It was kind of like an oatmeal sweet cake bar type thing. When I got back, I called Dad, then it was time for class again. This time it was from about 3-5:30. We made some London plans after class, then Mallory and I took a walk around campus. It was much smaller than we expected. We cooked dinner after that. I "sauteed" some chicken. It smoked up the entire 1st (which is really second, but its weird) floor. The smoke alarm went off twice and I ended up cooking some of the chicken by holding the pan out of the window. Mallory took a couple pictures. Now here I sit, exhausted and still not quite over jet lag. Pictures are in the imminent future!!
rvw
The First Excursion
Today we went to London. Whew! It was a long, but enjoyable day. We first stopped off at John Milton's cottage. There was a beautiful garden surrounding it and some neat artifacts inside. In case you don't know/remember who Milton is....poet, Areopagitica (marketplace of ideas), Paradise lost, etc. We spent a while there, then got back on coach (charter bus) and went into London. Our first stop was lunch and the British museum. Nathan Crummel, Monica and I ate at a small cafe which I don't know the name of. I got a half-pizza and salad for only £3 (roughly $5.70), which is really not bad over here. The pizza was a bit different. The pepperonis were very spicy and the put red and green bell peppers on it. The salad was ok. It had olives and something else that I'm not quite sure of on it, but I ate the lettuce, tomatoes and cucumbers. I would have had a cheese pizza, except they are called Margarita pizzas and I didn't know that at the time, so I didn't think they had any! The museum was AMAZING! I don't know what else to say about it. There were so many ancient artifacts from all over the world. Some of the most impressive ones were stone sculptures and statues from Egypt, Rome and Greece. They also had a very impressive mummy collection. After 3 hours there, we moved on to the British Library where we saw the Gutenberg Bible, the Magna Carta, the oldest known New Testament manuscript and some Beatles songs on napkins. An interesting combination. Our bus driver then took us on a tour of London. We saw it all. I want to go back so badly now! I am considering sacrificing my Scotland weekend to take in London and Oxford. It would be more financially and time practical, but we'll see. I had a wonderful croissant and cookie on the way home. Then, I worked on some homework, now hear I sit. I know it doesn't sound like much, but it was a full day. I don't have the time or energy now to write about it all! You will see pictures soon.
rvw
Topping off the Day
So after I last posted, I unpacked my room. It's very cozy and the window is nice to sit by and write in my journal. We had a meeting at 4 that lasted FOREVER. Everyone was about to pass out. Finally, after the endless meeting, we went to Ali's Kebabs (k-bobs, not shish) for dinner. It was wonderful!! I had a chicken kebab with chips (fries) and cheese and ketchup. Mmmmmm...it was soooooo good! Then a lot of us sat in the House 9 common room and talked and told stories and laughed. We put in a DVD, the lights went off, the people went to sleep!! It is time now for me to go take a shower and go to sleep. Yes, it is only 8 p.m. here. It will be so nice to be clean and have on fresh clothes and SLEEP! Tomorrow will be exciting!!
rvw
In the Beginning
We left Abilene at 9:15 a.m. yesterday (Monday) morning. We arrived at the DFW Airport a little after noon. My parents and I sat around chatting until Mr. Pybus came by with my ticket. A couple other girls were there too, so I decided to go ahead and check in and move to my gate. We all said our good-byes and off I went. We sat at the gate for about 3 hours. I had my final "American" meal from McDonalds. Nick Belcher has specifically instructed me not to eat anything American while I'm over here. We finally got to board the plane at about 4 p.m. It was the biggest plane I have ever been on. The first class was ridiculously nice, while our cabin had three rows of three seats. It was kind of crowded, which made getting out in the middle of the night an interesting challenge. I sat by Garrett Oakley. I didn't really know him, but now I have a new friend. We watched Coach Carter and then I read for class, listened to my music, and finally managed to fall asleep. I watched the tracker channel a lot. Our route took us over the Great Lakes and Canada and then past Greenland. It was kind of nice to see how close we were to land most of the time. The flight was long, but not too bad. They actually fed us a hot dinner and breakfast this morning. The guy I talked to obviously had no idea what he was talking about because they had chocolate cheesecake for desert, soybean oil dressing for the salad, and orange juice at breakfast. I woke up to the sight of the sun rising on Ireland. It was gorgeous and so neat!! I just couldn't believe I was really where I was. We landed about 7 a.m. here or 1 a.m. Central US time. We then got our luggage and rode a charter bus from London to Oxford. We hit a bit of traffic, so we didn't arrive at the houses until about 10:30. I am in House 9 sharing a room with Monica Smith. We unloaded, then had breakfast and a group meeting. After that, we went into town to exchange money an such and grabbed some lunch at a place called Boots (comprabale to a Walgreens) then stopped by a department store called Boswells to look for a wattage converter for Monica (hers fried). After that, we came back and had class. When our professor could tell that everyone was about to fall asleep, he finally dismissed us. I started to work on some homework, but the jet lag is seeping to my brain, so I wrote here instead. We have a meeting at 4 and then I don't know what. Hopefully some sleep soon!! Tomorrow we go to London. I cannot believe I am here!
rvw
Travels of Study
So I have traveled the country to do my collegiate studies. I have done the bulk of my work here in Abilene, TX, but have also studied theater in Kentucky and Sports Marketing in North Carolina. It is time to add another location to my studies. This time though, I must leave the country/continent. I will be studying Communications Law in Oxford, England. I remember a year ago, my mother and I were traveling through North Carolina on the way to Chapel Hill. We spent what was tonight in Greensboro and a year ago tomorrow I was moving into Graham Hall at the University of North Carolina. That was an amazing trip and something I reminisce about from time to time. I do miss my friends there. I cannot yet believe that tomorrow I will fly off to England for 3 weeks.
As I reflect back on the many adventures I can't help but think to myself, do I thrive on getting away from my comfort zone or does it give me a chance to appreciate home more? I like to think I tend to thrive and grow on each adventure, but I do find myself in Abilene, thinking I'm going to miss this place. UNC and Murray State were not big culture shocks. Oxford will be. I have no idea what I am getting myself into, but in my fear, I am excited. This is something new for me. It is these moments that stretch us and make us grow and in them we find cherished memories and new faces we call friends.
I love you Mom! Happy Mothers Day!! (And the same to my grandmothers)
rvw
Crunch Time
I almost finished packing and putting music onto my MP3 player. It is so close I can taste it. I am beyond excited,nay ecstatic!! I am ready to get on that plane and fly away.
Getting Ready
Only two more days until I fly off to england for three weeks. I'm so excited!! It's gonna be an adventure.
rvw
