London

London is HUGE. That's seriously the only thing I can think of to say about it. We've been here for two days now, and I'm starting to be less intimidated, but holy cow - this place is crazy!!! Also, the room that I'm sharing with another girl is about the size of my closet at home. It is clearly a single room that they shoved an extra bed into for the summer. Its cozy quarters, but we don't spend much time in our rooms anyway, so its ok.

On Thursday we left Cambridge to come to London. On the way we stopped at a place called Stowe Landscape Garden - it was everything I picture in a Jane Austen book. In fact, there was a rotunda there that was in the newest Pride and Prejudice movie (the scene in the rain where Mr. Darcy declares his love, for those who have seen it...a great scene!). It was really beautiful, and a nice last taste of the green before we hit the big city. Now we've been in London for a couple of days - yesterday we had class and then went to the Imperial War Museum, which was one of the coolest museums I have ever been in. There was an exhibit called The Children's War, which was all about World War Two through the eyes of children....if you know anything about me, you can guess how much I loved that! I ended up spending most of the day there by myself, just soaking everything in. Then last night after dinner we went to a play at the National Theater. Today has been a pretty low key day, but we're heading to the National Gallery later. We were trying to get tickets to see Les Miserables, but we couldn't get tickets for tonight, so we're going to try again on a week night.

There is just so much to do and see in London that its kind of overwhelming. I keep reminding myself that I don't have to do it all - that I should make sure that I'm enjoying the things I am doing. I'm also trying to fully enjoy the last few days in an english-speaking country, because come next week we are kissing goodbye to understanding what people are saying :).

The reality of being here for 3 more months has start to set in, but I'm also very aware of how lucky I am to be here. The people that I barely knew at the beginning of the semester are becoming the greatest friends, and the friends I had coming in are pretty much family now. God is definitely blessing this trip and the relationships being formed, and I'm so thankful for everyone's prayers for us.

Missing you all, and taking lots of pictures :)

all my love...