"Lazy" day

Well, today felt a lot less crazy than the past couple. I've officially been here for one week! time flies, eh? Today we had British Landscapes like always, and we got out relatively early, so me and some of the large group doing Robin Hood for our first essay went over to Frewin court (kind of the hub/hang out place...or at least, it will be once we really get into the term more. Right now everyone is just trying to get their hands on books for research!) and then to the Bodliean library. I passed by the room there where they filmed the restricted section of Harry Potter! didn't go in yet, but I will be doing that soon. Unfortunately, I don't think you can take photos there, so poo on that. I've done an ok amount of research and have written about 150 words of my 2000 word essay...it's not much, but it's a start. I'm learning a lot about Robin Hood though, that's for sure! Tomorrow we are heading to London, and will do a touristy action there. I've seen most of the sites we're going to, but it will still be great. We're most likely going to St. Paul's for Evensong, so that will be fantastic. I am going to try to see The Merry Wives of Windsor, but I'm not sure if there will be tickets available or not, so here's hoping!

Something I'm pretty sure I've mentioned, but feel like saying again, is that I love living here with all these great people. I remember being a little sad that we wouldn't get to live with British students, but to be honest, I don't think I would trade my housemates for any number of Brits (though Brits are great!) They are all very fun, and all serious about both academics and faith. Part of our time here is to help us see how being a scholar and being a Christian work together, and I just so appreciate having these great people around. I know that Messiah is tooting the community horn all the time, but I really do think they're right about how important it is. I'm looking forward to what God is going to teach me through them.

I also really appreciate the staff here. Dr. Baigent, our senior lecturer is both very intense and kind, Dr. Rosenberg helps translate into americanese for us, the two Dr. Kirkpatricks, Matthew and Jonathan (brothers) are just genuinely jovial and brilliantly intelligent at the same time. So far I haven't really spent much time with the English seminar lecturer, Dr. Richard Lawes, but he seems great too. On top of that, we've got a great junior dean here at The Vines looking after us, Graham. He he he, we had a mandatory fire drill last Sunday morning at about 6:45, which was kind of horrible, but I was planning on getting up at 7 anyway. Poor Graham said he just absolutely hated to do it, and thought we would all hate him after that. However, we were readily pacified by the fact that he was running around in his slippers and dressing gown looking fantastically British. He also prepared a movie night for us on Wednesday, where we watched his favorite movie, Valiant, an animated film about homing pigeons.  So needless to say, this is a great place to be!
Well, I must continue reading the Book of Margery Kempe for my seminar (must be done by Tuesday!) so Cheers!
-Abby