cheers

man.....london is really cool. i really like it. yesterday and today jenelle had to work all morning and afternoon, so she gave me a list of things i could do and a map. i have been having tons of fun exploring the city. yesterday i did lots of shopping on oxford street, and today i went to the national gallery of art, and the courtauld institute of art. i got to see lots of great paintings and such. it was fun to be by myself and walk around. tonight me and jenelle went to a creperie and had delicious creps.

so i called martin, my friend that i met on the plane...and he was really excited to hear from me. tomorrow me and jenelle are going to take a train out to the country so we can visit him and his wife. we are really excited. they are so cute.

london

well, i have safetly made it to london. i love it here! there are a lot of american things here that i really missed...it feels refreshing to hear english and be able to understand signs and such. everyone dresses really cool here and i love hearing english accents. today me and jenelle went to camden and walked around where there was lots and lots of really neat shops and food places. it was really fun. tomorrow we are going to go to westminster abbey, the london eye, and big ben. my camera broke! that is bad. but i think jenelle will take pictures and then i can just get them from her something.

my favorite part so far was on my flight to london. we got to sit wherever we wanted on the plane. i saw this really old english couple, and i thought they looked nice, so i sat with them. i was definatly right. i ended up talking with them the entire flight. they were so sweet. they even bought me bottled water on the plane. they helped me figure out how to get to livelpool street station, where i had to meet jenelle. it worked out soooo well, because i had NO idea where i was going. after the flight, they walked me to the area i had to go. then after we had said our goodbyes, i went and waited in line for the bus i needed. then i heard someone shouting my name, and i turned around and it was the old man, martin. he was like "are you ok?? do you know where you are going? " and i was like "uhhh....yeah, i think im ok" and then in his awesome english accent he was like "ok, we'll be keepin a beety eye on you!!". haha, and then....he came back AGAIn while i was waiting and gave me their phone number and address in case i needed help or something, or if i wanted to visit them while im here. they were so nice! they are retired and live in london. they travel the world a lot...i got to hear all about their adventures. so me and mr. and mrs. dyson are basically best friends. haha. i told jenelle about them, and we might try and go visit them out in the country area. the dyson's are just one example of how i have felt God's love and protection. he has been so faithful in providing me the things i need and more. before i talked with martin, i thought i was supposed to go to liverpool, the city...which is very far from london. but, thankfully, i was pointed in the right direction.

midterms

this is midterm week. i have been very busy trying to get things done. the bad news is that i still have 2 tests to take, and 2 crits to get through....the good news is that in 3 days i will be on spring break. friday night i fly to london to spend about 9 days with my cousin jenelle, who is studying there. so that will be really fun. it will be so nice to be with family.

i can't wait to post pictures of my sculpture project. sarah and i did a collabrative piece in which we completely covered, from floor to ceiling, a closet sized space in our studio with the paper we made. its turning out really cool, we are almost done with it.

happy valentines day!!

what a great valentines day it has been so far. the best suprise ever was when i got to school and found a dozen long-stemed white roses from my dad. he is the best. we have a tradition that every valentines day he delivers me a rose. even when i was away at school in philly, he drove there to give me one. he said he really wanted to come to rome, but it wasn't very practical. so instead he sent me 12 roses! how wonderful. i had a lot of fun making valentines for my friends and putting them in their mailboxes. me and my roommate rebekah are "roomintines". so i made little cards and put them around different places for her to find throughout the day. it has been a really fun day so far. i only have one more class, then i am going to go home and try baking some cookies.

happy valentines day !!
<3 <3

what i miss...

things i miss most:

-24 hour stores
-walmart
-my family and friends
-eating breakfast at my grandma weaver's house
-playing with cousins, especially gabbie
-going to panara with darlene on sunday mornings
-driving sophie (my car)
-american cooking
-wawa
-crossway church of lancaster
-my caregroup
-having an electric stove/oven!!
-baking in my kitchen with normal baking supplies
-watching tv/movies
-the majority of my wardrobe that i left at home
-being able to understand people when they talk to me
-BIG beverages
-american coffee!!! i will never take my coffee maker for granted again....
-non-polluted air
-extra polar ice gum (thanks for sending me some family!!)
-portable coffee...they dont really have to-go cups...its very sad
-a bigger variety of cereals
-having snow to play in

don't get me wrong, i really love being here. but there are definatly things that i miss. those are some of them.

thanks to my mother for the package....i can never have enough gum! and also thanks to darlene for the letter. it definatly brightened my day.

also, on a more serious note....i want to ask everyone to keep alivia haughery and the haughery family in your prayers. if you don't know them, they are a family from my church who have a daughter, alivia, who has some form of leukemia. she is going to have a blood transplant soon. even if you don't know them, please still remember them in your prayers. if you want to see how she is doing you can go here: http://www.aliviarachelhaughery32005.blogspot.com/

super great weekend

me and sarah had a really good weekend together. all of our friends were away on trips, so we hung out together. on friday we went to a market and walking around exploring the hidden steets in rome. we found lots of really cool little shops. on saturday we had a "nothing" day. we spent the whole day basically in bed and watched movies, ate potatoe soup that we made, crocheted, wrote, and read, and things like that. it was very relaxing and refreshing to slow down for a day and enjoy doing fun things. then this morning we got up and went to church.

it was a really good message this week. the head pastor is away in paris, so one of the other pastors spoke. he is italian, so instead of having an italian translator, there was an english translator, which was an interesting change. we talked about Galatians 5, and the battle that takes place between the works of the flesh and the fruits of the spirit. the pastor refered to the isrealites a lot, and compared our lives as christians to them and their tendency to allow selfish desires to overcome the amazing things that God had for them. it becomes so easy for us to "settle" for what we are comfortable with. we grow content in our ways. and we don't allow ourselves to see that God might have something far better in store for us. we have to surrender our own desires and trust that God knows what we want far better than we do.

after church, sarah and i got coffee and walked to school. we spent about 3 or 4 hours tearing books and newspaper into little tiny peices for the paper that we are going to try and make. my fingers are sore. but i think that it will be really cool.

today is darlene and nate's one year anniversary! congradulations to them!! <3

cobblestone streets

ted, alastair, and me. i was having a better time than i appear to be having.
zeke, me, emily, and bridget eating a yummy dinner


today is a full day. i had to get up early this morning for sculpture class. my doilies are coming along slowely but surely. i am in the midst of figure out how i will install or present them. i think that i am going to do four series of them. my sculpture class is 4 and half hours. usually that seems like forever, but today it went fast. me and sarah spent it in our studio listening to music and working. then, i studied for my italian test before taking it at 2. i think i did alright on it. after that i went to printmaking (actually i am still techinically in my printmaking class (i needed a break)) i reprinted my drypoint, and it came out sooo much better. so that was a relief. after this class i am going to walk home, get some dinner, then a bunch of people are going to the racheal whiteread opening. she is a sculpture who is famous for casting negative spaces in plaster. so that should be fun. then i am spending the rest of the weekend with sarah doing various fun things.

one of the highlights of my week was recieving a fun package from my aunt diane with lots of exciting things in it. thanks aunt diane! <3

there are two things i forgot to mention before. one thing is that there was 9 people at bible study this week! we are growing every week. i know the numbers aren't important but it is so exciting to see God bringing more and more people to our group. also HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my wonderful brother cj. he turned 16 on monday. yaaaaaayyyyyy....

my apartment

this is half of me and rebekah's bedroom (its really hard to photograph rooms)

we have some sweet tiled floors

a handle on our doors into the living room

this is piazza del popolo. it is a 5 minute walk from my school.

this is the pantheon

i really like our tiles.

this is our hallway. this is what you would see right as you walk in.

part of our living room.

another part of our living room.

the big bathroom.

as you can see, i have been really blessed with an awesome apartment!

i had a wonderful time in florence. i saw sooo much art, it was overwhelming, but it was an amazing experience. i had a lot of fun just walking around the city with my friends. the highlights were seeing "David" by Donatello, and the Doumo by Brunaleski (sp?). it was huge. i will post pictures of my trip eventually. on saturday night a group of about 9 of us got to have dinner with our professor. it was really fun. he bought all of us wine and appitizers. he calls appitizers "nibblers". he is british and has a really stong english accent. he is one of my favorite professors.

this week has been slow moving. but i am excited for this weekend. my roommate, rebekah, is going to dublin for the weekend, so my friend sarah is going to come over and we are going to do fun things all weekend. one of those things is going to be making paper for our projects we are working on, so that should be fun.

traveling

i leave tomorrow morning at 6 to go to flourence and seinna (i dont know how to spell those places) it will be a weekend trip with my art history class. i am really excited. so i wont post until next week. thanks for all of your comments...it has been so cool to hear from all of you at home. i really appreciate them!
<3