Everything

I can’t even walk a straight line
And every time you look at me
I’m spinning like an autumn leaf
Bound to hit bottom sometime

Standing on a lonely street

Where would I be without someone to save me
Someone who won’t let me fall
You are everything that I live for
Everything that I can’t believe is happening
You’re standing right in front of me
With arms wide open
All I know is
Every day is filled with hope
You are everything that I believe for
And I can’t help but breathe you in

I’m the one with two left feet

Breathe again
Feeling all this life within
Every single beat of my heart
I’m the one with big mistakes
Big regrets and bigger breaks
Than I ever care to confess
Oh but, You’re the one who looks at me
And sees what I was meant to be
More than just a beautiful mess

Where would I be without someone to save me
Someone who won’t let me fall
You are everything that I live for
Everything that I can’t believe is happening
You’re standing right in front of me
With arms wide open
All I know is
Every day is filled with hope
You are everything that I believe for
And I can’t help but breathe you in
Breathe again

Feeling all this life within
Every single beat of my heart
You’re everything good in my life
Everything honest and true
And all of those stars hanging up in the sky
Could never shine brighter than You
You are everything that I live for
Everything that I can’t believe is happening
You’re standing right in front of me
With arms wide open
All I know is
Every day is filled with hope
You are everything that I believe for
And I can’t help but breathe you in
Breathe again
Feeling all this life within
Every single beat of my heart
You are
You are
Jesus, You are
You are everything

Greenwich

I do not even know where to start with my yesterday. It was so much fun I don't think I can capture it in words, but it did have a bit of a rough start.

We all woke up around 8:30 for a day trip to Greenwich courtesy of NYU-L. Not to happy about the 8:30 start point on a Friday, but for a free trip we were willing to skim on the sleep. I took my first tube ride, which I must say is a little bit complicated, but quite excellent. It's much cleaner than the subway in new york and the seats are nice and cushy :-) We took the Jubilee line (New York just has ABCDEF...not quite as fun of names) and as we waited we listened to the sounds of a man on an accordion...a little different from the rushed sounds of the subway in Manhattan.

Anyway we make it to the dock to take our boat ride to Greenwich. It's raining, a dreary day, but the boat ride is all the more exciting. Katie and I go up on the deck for a bit to freeze, but we see amazing views riding down the Thames (pronounced tems here.) So we arrive in Greenwich and here is where it gets a bit miserable. It is absolutely freezing here. We leave the cities warmth and drop what must have been about twenty degrees. My toes are frozen and our outdoor tour of the city is just not working for me. I listen all the same and find out some interesting facts about the city, but inside I just cannot WAIT for this trip to be over. I'm mumbling prayers to myself that I might look interested in what the tour guide was saying...

Anyway, tour ended and we go to the painted hall, which was absolutely beautiful! All the more glorious in our eyes as it also provided warmth. We went to a little pub like place for lunch, then headed up to the observatory where I stood in the eastern and western hemispheres at the same time. Two places at once. Check that off the list of things to do!

We finished off the day at the maritime museum and the queens house- which both boasted beautiful paintings and cool museum trinkets. We also stopped by the market and ate the most DELICIOUS cookies.

The night ended beautiful as we had our first interactions with the locals. We met a bunch of guys who all had been 'mates' since they were young...very nice, very fun, hopefully see them again sometime (or beat them at football!)

Today I tried out Spurgeon's church. It's VERY traditional. In fact, one of their tenants on the newcomers guide is that they don't believe worship should include anything but voices and the organ. I'm not sure how I feel about that. I absolutely adore getting into worship and feeling the beat and such...I won't go in to too much detail, but ask me about it if you're interested.

So back to the grindstone...I would normally say, but i'm actually enjoying classes here! The only part i'm not looking forward to is less sleep. So i'll get right on that...

Good day :-)

A Historic Occasion

Today the front page of the Guardian read:

"Magical spell that will open new American era".

Of course, I grabbed a copy to commemorate this historic day. Usually when walking down the streets of London I attempt to look as much Londonesque as possible. When bumping into people, I attempt to make my sorry sound British (but not so much that should they know I'm American they would think I'm mocking them.) But today I strutted the streets of London proud to be an American :-) My professors all congratulated us on our new president, and I watched the inauguration surrounded by a bunch of students crammed into a small cafe in our building. Probably not as good a view as Grant had from his spot in DC (jealous!), but I enjoyed it all the same :-) I felt pity for our new president as he stumbled over the swearing in (President Bush must have been smirking after all the grief he got over his fumbled words...). All the same, I think America has a bright future ahead.

So a bit of an update on London...

This weekend held some of the best days I've had here. Saturday we just took off walking around- the pictures that are on Facebook- and we ended up near piccadilly square and browsed shops. I did a lot of people watching and picture taking We took afternoon tea- which is becoming one of my favorite things to do. After getting lost and then soon finding ourselves, we made it back to the pub to see the Arsenal game.

I called the score, 3-1 Arsenal. It was a good game. It was so fun to watch a game with other people CRAZY about the sport. It's my new local hang out. Later NYU had a mixer at yet another pub, (see my first lessons learned, Brits Love Beer) and we went by and said hello. Met a guy from Texas who went to Trinity Valley. Can you believe that? I came all the way to London to meet a guy who lives ten minutes down the road.

Sunday was a bus tour around London, and I got to see all the big sites that I'm going to make sure to see before I leave. I posted "101 things to do before you leave London!" on my bulletin board, so I'll be checking those off regularly.

This week I had my first classes (yeah, I forgot, thats why I'm here)-but, they're going to be great! Classes are small (my largest one so far is 35, smallest about 12) and the teachers are fantastic. They're all highly qualified, and British, so I'll pay attention. My favorite class thus far is Politics of the Near and Middle East. We're covering the political conflict there- the history behind it, several different countries, and the religious issues involved. My professor even took part in some of the Israeli peace talks. It's going to be really interesting! Now I think I want to visit Israel over spring break. We'll see more on that later.

I'm still not all the way through classes, we only have them once a week (but for three hours...), but I have architecture on Thursday which should be really fun too. Even my Organic Chemistry Lab is better here- smaller class size, better facilities. London is quite a hit.

Oh, and I just received an email saying I was accepted into all of the trips I applied for- so I'll be getting to see a bunch of places in England for relatively small cost. :-)

More Later,
Katie

The First Lessons from London

I was originally going to add to the posts on the family blog, but I thought I might write too many posts, or perhaps write things that aren't so interesting. Well and of course everyone is making their own blogs these days so I thought I would follow in suit.

So, I'll be spending the next four months in London, soaking up the culture, attempting to not go broke, maybe picking up an English accent, and at the very least watching some great football. I have been here a little over two days now, and I have already learned so much that I thought I would share a few of my recently learned lessons...

1. Brits LOVE BEER. They love it. Can't get enough of it. They're not drunks-but they drink ALL the time. It's crazy-I'm walking on the way to lunch, and sure enough the pubs are full of people eating and drinking their beers. I make it to the student union, yep, more beer. At the pub quiz that night, whats offered? Beer. Brits love beer.

2. ALWAYS look both ways before crossing the street. This is an old lesson, re-learned. I haven't personally almost died, but I have seen many near death encounters for those who ignore this simple rule. It's even written on the streets- LOOK LEFT, LOOK RIGHT. Forget that, look both ways, then cross. It's the way to go.

3. British places close early. WAY early. Most offices are closed by five, restaurants around nine, pubs around midnight. A bit like Texas, but definitely a change from New York.

4. Just because we both speak English, doesn't mean we can understand each other. Case in point: My friend Katie ordered a Vanilla milkshake. The shake came to the table, we all tasted it and felt as though it tasted like a pina colada. We thought the Brits were simply bad at making Vanilla milkshakes. Check comes, turns out it was a banana milkshake. Looking back, it was really good considering it was a banana milkshake. A few other things- adding money to a card means topping up, a flashmobber is a silent rave, chips are French fries, crisps are chips, a pound IS NOT a dollar, and cheers is goodbye.

5. British people are very polite. No one yells at one another, no cars honk their horns. It is so peaceful here- far different from New York. Our orientation leader- Nigel, with a great accent- told us that if a British person ever yells at us, we have done something SEVERELY wrong. They always say cheers when you leave. Very nice sort.

6. You have to ask for the bill at a restaurant. We waited for so long once, until Anthony finally remembered it is considered impolite for the server to put the bill on the table. Oh, and the British rarely tip. At restaurants they tip about 10%, if the service is good, but no where else.

7. British people love students. I have been given more discounts here than I did the entirety of my college life in New York. I could definitely get used to that.

8. Tea is fantastic. End of story.


Thats it for now-
Cheers
Katie