Monday: MALLORY CAME!!! Pastor Steve and I met her and her team (Katie, Ryan, and Andrew) at the tube station by the church and helped lug their eleven suitcases to one of the Sunday school rooms. Yes, four people with eleven suitcases. Haha don't worry - think medical supplies!! They're very thankful that they won't have much stuff when they come back and I don't blame them! Their mission organization is based out of Northern Ireland and they have to get on a tiny plane to go to orientation there, so the luggage needs to stay in London. It's so cool to be a part of their trip! When Mallory first started talking about the trip I would've never imagined I would be here right now! And it was SOOOO awesome to see Mallory! Not only was it refreshing after being away from everyone who really knows me for a month, but it was also great because I've only gotten to talk to her a few times since the end of the school year. She's been working with TeamEffort in a variety of places, ranging from a reservation in Arizona to Haiti. We hung out in the church for about and hour and a half before they had to head back to the airport. They will come back through on Thursday to get the luggage on their way to Uganda. They were all so tired today since they flew all night. I very much dislike overnight flights. They make you feel awful! Back on topic, today I'm thankful to see a friend from home and for CBC for helping them out with their luggage issue!
Tuesday: Job interview at the University of London Union (ULU) and I'm hired WHOOHOO praise God I get to limit how much of the loan I spend! Then I was walking around before heading over to get in line for free lunch and happened to walk through a CU event in Gorden Square that I had forgotten about! It was "Cake in the Park" to just try to get some interaction going with new students. I saw Lindsay R. and we were like 'heeeey' and I was like 'oh yeah CU event whoops' and then she introduced me to Georgiana, a freshman from Romania, and the two of them came with me to get free lunch. Lindsay is in her second year and had never heard about it! It was awesome that they were just as excited about it as I was and it was really great to eat with people!
Wednesday: UCL Institute of Archaeology Graduate Reception. Welcome speech, introductions, etc. Broke up into programs and met with our course coordinators (Dr. Tanner). He seems like a likable person. He has a lot of live up to after Dr. Coles! Also met individually with him to discuss our course options. Mine was simple as I already knew what I wanted to take when I applied and said so in my application. He likes the course combination, too, and says it seems "quite interesting." The whole program (all ten of us!) have to take the 'core' course "Art: Interpretation and Explanation." Other than that we have options to choose from. Mine are "Art and Ritual in Ancient China" and "Art and Archaeology of the Silk Road." All three of my courses last the entire year! Some only last a semester at a time, but mine all happen to be full units. I haven't had a course for an entire year since high school! Weird to think about. They also only meet one time a week each! I'm being told it's "a lot of reading." Also I seem to be the only person in the program who didn't get a BA in Archaeology and the only one focusing on Asia? Interesting.
One thing that I am NOT happy about though is that it appears I can't play hockey!! I was under the impression that the universities here don't hold Wednesday afternoon classes because that's when all of the sports teams play. Well apparently only undergraduates are guaranteed that time off because my Silk Road course is on Wednesday afternoon! NOT. HAPPY. And the China class is on Monday afternoon/evening which is when non-university clubs practice?? So I dragged my goalie bag here for nothing?? I mean at least it flew for free on Virgin Atlantic, but still. That's a really big bag to drag around for no reason! And while I know I'm here for the masters program and not for hockey it was certainly something I was looking forward to having the chance to do one more time!!
Thursday: Mallory again!! Morning run and then met Pastor Steve and his son Stephen at CBC. We took the luggage to the airport in their van (amazing how much closer the airport is when you have a car!!) and then I waited with the luggage in the airport for Mallory and team to get there. Pastor had to be at an afternoon appointment. It didn't take too long for them to show up and then we realized they couldn't check in for their Uganda flight for another five hours so I stayed and Mallory and I talked the entire time. Good times. I'm excited to hear what God does in Uganda and I'm humbled by His ability to divinely orchestrate things so intricately.
Friday: Went to Freshers Fayre. All the clubs and societies have booths to advertise and recruit new members in this two day event (the first day was yesterday but didn't go). Tracked down the hockey club and confirmed that, yes, my class does mean that I can't play with them. Now I really wonder what I'm supposed to be involved with. Funny how I assume coming here and them having hockey means that I get to play hockey and then poof no it doesn't. Particularly in the last few years, I've noticed more and more how I think for sure that such and such is what I'm definitely going to do and then something turns it upside down. Some of those things I can look back on now and really appreciate all of the things that came about due to that change. I wonder how I'm going to look back on this. Also unexpectedly worked my first shift at ULU tonight.
Saturday: Long run. Free frozen yogurt. CU fellowship lunch. New friend Charmaine I met at the IOA Reception Wednesday came with me. Met more cool people. Lifted and biked at the gym. First weights workout since leaving Farmville! Crazy!!! Then a very painful evening because someone had refilled my orange juice at the lunch (that I wasn't eating because it was sandwiches) with something called a "squash" here. Apparently there are many varieties and this particular one involved orange and barley so it still looked like orange juice in my cup. I took one sip and realized it wasn't orange juice and so lo and behold a few hours later I'm in major pain. By the time I was walking the 2.5 miles back from campus I just wanted to be curled up in my bed. Gluten is not my friend!!
Sunday: CBC morning service. Lunch with CBC people. Running around a park barefoot with four of the Messersmith kids. Ice cream. Choir practice. Evening service. Good day.
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