discovering joy.: I'm not at Judson anymore....

I made it! Safe and sound! I am officially a foreign exchange student in England! After 36 hours of traveling we finally made it to Grantham, England. There were 9 of us that flew out on the same flight Friday morning. Our flight was a little delayed because of all the snow and ice that we got. When we got into London Heathrow airport we decided to just camp at the airport for the night since it was only supposed to be 6 hours until we met up with the group flight. Well of course their flight was delayed so 6 hours in an airport all night turned into 12. Luckily 6 of us really bonded and we hung out all night. It was quite an adventure! When the group flight got we, we loaded up buses, or coaches as the brit's call it and journeyed for another 3 hours to Harlaxton Manor! What a journey, but we all made it here!

This weekend has been like orientation weekend all over again! Very scheduled and very exhausting. I have met so many new people and have made some new friends! I feel God's faithfulness now more than ever. I am excited for classes to start tomorrow. I have a british history class, abnormal psych, and international criminal justice tomorrow and shakespeare the following day! We went into the town of Grantham during the day yesterday and got some supplies like a hairdryer. The town is very quaint. My favorite saying is "lovie"! Even though they speak English, there are a lot of words that are different! For example, bus is called coach, a police officer is called a bobbie, our principal is called a headmaster, our semester is called a term, if you send me something in the mail it's called post and the list goes on!

The school and the courtyards around it are AMAZING!!! Simple gorgeous! The pictures will not do it justice but I will post them anyway! Basically the Harlaxton Manor is where most of the students live, we have class, and where we eat. There is a movie theatre room, secret passageways, and grand staircases! I will be getting my exercise because to get to class I have to climb 8 staircases!!! I already found my favorite spot to read and drink tea (which btw is amazing!!).

I miss Craig and my family like crazy and have been very homesick but I really am having a blast. I'm in England! It's just weird not to have my support system here and to be on my own. Most of the students are from the same school and the majority of people have at least 1 close friend with them. Today I filled out a goal sheet while I am here and I am excited to read it in 16 weeks and see how much I have grown. I know that this really is going to be the biggest adventure in my life and I plan on making the most of it! So far I have weekends planned for London, Ireland, the Lake District, and my mom is coming out so we can go to Italy and hopefully France! In the works are Barcelona, Belgium, and Scotland.

I will leave you with some pictures and my top 5 reasons I know I'm not at Judson anymore...

1. condom machine in the laundry room

2. our professors gave us wine on our first night here

3. when I walked out of the shower, there were guys on the floor..eek!

4. we drink with our teachers

5. there is a pub in the basement beneath my classrooms!