where does the time go?

What should be happening right now is this: I should be writing my Modern Irish Essay on "Waiting for Godot." But, as I have learned, there is a fine line between procrastination and responsible time management.

Last weekend I spent in Edinburgh with Susan and Emilie. It was a gorgeous weekend, and a precious time with much loved friends. Who would have ever thought that the three of us would find ourselves together in Edinburgh? If you had told us that back when we were all playing dolls and watching "The Parent Trap," I think we would have given you a rather blank stare. The distance each of us have come over the years can only be attributed to the unquenchable power of Christ, and I am thankful, more now than ever, for those friendships. 

We had a great time, bumming around in shops and cafes, walking the Royal Mile and touring the Castle, and hitting the clubs. The first night we arrived, we simply sat in Susan's kitchen and talked for hours over pizza from the chippy. We talked about our faith, and our friends and the ways we've been growing and stretching and being challenged. We talked about the last ten years, and the next ten years and the places God is taking us. Hopes, dreams, fears. We talked about the things only old friends can truly talk about. We talked without self-consciousness and just loved each other, knowing that we were known. It was refreshing beyond description.

Susan showed us some really cool places that I'm sure I would have never seen outside of the native scene, from the fried mars bars at the chippy down the street, to Frankenstein and The Rat Pack. She has thrown herself whole-heartedly into her time abroad. I think Edinburgh is truly a home for her now. She knows it and loves it and belongs. Leaving in the next few weeks will not be easy.

As the end of my time at Oxford draws nigh, I find myself cramming more and more into each week's agenda, trying to soak in everything I possibly can here. This week, along with essays and reading and tutorials, I'm attending three plays/shows. Wednesday night, I went to see a student performance of "Oklahoma." Yes, my first and only experience with "Oklahoma," the (debatably) great American musical, was at Oxford University. It was both a strange and wonderful experience. The students did a great job with it, and I was genuinely impressed with many of their American accents. A few of them could have truly fooled me if I met them on the street. I just want to know who chose, out of every musical in the world, to do "Oklahoma." It was awesome. And a few of the friends I've met at Keble were in it, which made it all the better. 

Last night, I went with a group of us UGA folks to see Spring Awakening at the Oxford Playhouse. The primary reason I saw it was because Anna Popplewell (Susan from the new Narnia movies) was in it. And yes, it was cool to see her on stage (especially since I was sitting on the front row somehow...), but overall I thought the play was kinda dumb. I'm considering going back and reading it sometime to see if it actually makes any sense, or if it's really as silly as it seemed. The acting was fantastic, but otherwise, not my favorite. After the show we went out to Po Na Na (one of the clubs here in Oxford) and danced the night away. I had my first sketchy club guy experience, which I feel deserves a full description here:

Heather: [dancing with friends]

Sketchball: [trying to dance with them]

Heather: [ignoring him intensely]

Sketchball: [comes over anyway, and tries to start conversation. (keep in mind, the music is extremely loud...)] So!... *unintelligible words*

Heather: What?

Sketchball: *unintelligible words*

Heather: What?!

Sketchball: WHERE ARE YOU FROM?

Heather: I'm from Georgia.

Sketchball: Oh, I've never been to Canada...

Heather: really... [smiles inwardly at this imbecile, until she realizes in horror that all her friends just moved to a different part of the floor and she is alone with him. begins inching away.]

Sketchball: *lots and lots of unintelligible words, complete with arm gesturing, shrugging and a whole lot of spitting*

Heather: yeah, yeah. Uh-huh. [Turns and dances rapidly away]

Sketchball: [probably just kept talking. who knows.]

Anyway, the rest of the night was sketchy club guy free and I had a blast dancing with all my UGA buddies.

Tonight, me and my roomies are going to see Sense and Sensibility at Magdalen College (pronounced like "Maudlin"... no one knows why... I asked.), and tomorrow I'm planning to take a day trip to Dover with some of the girls. 

In other words, life is good.

Daniel 2:20-22:

Daniel answered and said:

"Blessed be the name of God forever and ever,

to whom belong wisdom and might.

He changes times and seasons;

he removes kings and sets up kings;

he gives wisdom to the wise

and knowledge to those who have understanding;

he reveals deep and hidden things;

he knows what is in the darkness,

and the light dwells with him."

It's Gonna Be Alright

I'm sitting on my bed looking over the various suitcases I've just packed, and wondering what's in them. Emilie and I are catching a train up to Edinburgh today to visit Scotland, and more importantly Miss Susan Crisler. I can't wait to see Scotland again, since I first set foot there as an 8th grader I think it's been my heart's home. It is always a thrill to see how it changes to me as I grow older, like visiting a friend you haven't seen in many years.

Only 3 weeks remain to me here in Oxford. I'm not sure where the time has gone, but I am certain it has been well spent. I will treasure this experience all my life: the little nooks I have discovered, the people I have met, the study, the coffee, the rain, the flowers. I will miss looking out my window and pondering about the tiny church steeple cross that just peeks over the rooftops behind the garden. It's the tiny little intimate details of Oxford that have won me over irreversibly. Like Marietta, or Chattanooga, I think this place will always have a hint of home for me.

Since the last time I wrote on here, more things have happened then I could possibly record, but some of the highlights have been:

• Participating in Cuppers with the Keble Ballroom team. I danced the Jive with a wonderful girl named Kashmali (I got to be the man... which was an interesting experience). We actually did much better than we expected (4 rounds!) considering that neither of us had ever danced the Jive before and we only danced together a few times before the competition. It was quite a laugh for us... Anyway, I had an absolutely wonderful time dancing and hanging out with the team. Keble's A team won the competition, and we all had curry and celebrated. Not only did I get to enjoy Indian food for the first time, but I got to chat with Amy and Shantha who have quickly become two of my favorite people here. Shantha is from Edinburgh, and Amy from somewhere near Manchester. I'm currently trying to convince them to come visit me in the States. Amy says she wants to see Lookout Mountain. :)
• The Dedication of the UGA house was last Tuesday night. Overall it was a nice ceremony and a pretty good night. But that's another story for another time...
• Visited the Mannheims in Tetbury. It was SO refreshing to just drive around the gorgeous Cotswolds with Emilie, and we had somewhat of a Jane Austen nerd weekend, having tea in the Jane Austen Centre in Bath, visiting Dyrham Park and watching a new mini series of Sense and Sensibility. I love my spare family!!

God has been teaching me about boldness and being open and genuine. He has been teaching me about the comfort and love He provides. He has been teaching me that He can carry me through anything, including essays. ;)

"It's gonna be alright.

It's gonna be alright.

I believe you'll outlive this pain in your heart,

And you'll gain such a strength from what is tearing you apart,

Oh, I believe, I believe that

It's gonna be alright."

~Sara Groves (I was getting a little tense about my schoolwork last night, but Sara told me that it's gonna be alright. I appreciated it.)

I love you all!!

I Feel the Earth Move

Last week was officially one of the craziest weeks of my life. We'll start from Wednesday night:

So, Wednesday, after you last heard from me, I basically skulked around all night feeling miserable and decided to blow off the Modern Irish Paper (we get 3 weeks off with the paper writing, so it was no big deal), watched a movie and went to bed. Thursday morning, which was May Day (the first of the month is apparently a big deal here) was quite a festive occasion. I arose at 4 in the morning to make my way up High street with Catherine and Kristin. We stood under the Magdalen bell tower with about a thousand other people (all of whom seemed to be either students who'd been out drinking all night, or 100% sober tourists like us) to hear the  Choir sing as the sun rose. It was a bit anti-climatic, as we could hardly hear the choir over the drunken chanting that simultaneously arose, but it was worth the experience nonetheless. (I was having a Lewis nerd moment because it reminded me of Shadowlands)

As the crowds dispersed from Magdalen, we sought out some breakfast and found ourselves enjoying pancakes at the St. Aldates Tavern. When our plates were clean and glasses drained, we ventured out into the crowded streets once more, making out way through morris dancing, and people dressed like trees to Keble, where we listened to their (or I should say our) choir sing a service from the chapel roof, before enjoying a second breakfast (it's not just for Hobbits anymore...). The rest of the day was pretty quiet for me, but it's safe to say that the celebration was still going in the pubs around town all day long.

Now, we'll fast forward through the mists of my cold-ridden memory to saturday, the night of the Keble Ball. 

Saturday was consumed by shopping, cold medicine, and preparations for the night to come. At about 8:30 we all set out towards Keble, fully decked out and ready for we didn't know exactly what. After several minutes in line outside (in which I got to talk to my big bro on the phone. Did you know that he just graduated?!), we made it in and got a glass of champagne, which I imagine was strategically placed to calm us down before we were totally overwhelmed by the magnitude of the thing. There were tons of stands everywhere with champagne, beer, pimms and lemonade and various other drinks, stir fry, hot dogs, donuts, etc. Under a huge tent in the middle was a dance floor with live music. There was also a casino, sumo wrestling, a moon walk, gladiator fighting, the pub was decked out as a bar, which also had a dance floor, there were touch up stations for hair and makeup, kung foo demos as well as other things that I was probably completely unaware of (I heard rumors of free massages and the like). Basically, it was crazy huge and I suffered from severe brain-overload when we first got there.

We did, however, recover from the shock and all generally had a really great time. I am proud to say that I made it all the way until the survivors picture at 4am. Although I'm not sure if I was actually in the picture or not. I didn't realize that everyone was gathering under a particular window to have their picture taken, I just started following the crowd, so if I am in the picture, I'm probably looking confused, and definitely not looking up at the camera.

I think my favorite point in the night was when the band played Sweet Home Alabama. All of us American kids rushed the stage and went crazy. There was much dancing, singing and arm-pumping, accompanied by Jeremiah's shouting of "Representing the American South!!!!" which caused a few of us to cover our faces in slight shame. ;) 

Overall, it was a great time. The low point was definitely when I arrived home at 4:30 to find everyone in my room huddled around my roommate Katie. She and Emily had left me and some others on the dance floor to go home, but had apparently decided to have one more go at the Sumo Wrestling. This ended up being a slight mistake, as it left Katie with a minor concussion. Thus, we stayed up pretty much the rest of the night to make sure she was ok. And she is, thank God, although she's still pretty exhausted and a little woozy.

Needless to say, yesterday was a rather quiet day around the UGA house, and Keble as well. Every face I encountered had a similar haggard, yet content look about it. I spent the day resting and reading Ruth, praying through the Valley of Vision, going to Chapel and contemplating the six weeks I have left here. I've been praying that God will use me in these weeks, that I will not squander this time.

Speaking of which, I must now turn away from such pleasant remembrances and face the work of the week ahead. I have a date with Mr. Geoffrey Chaucer this afternoon, and he makes no promises to have me home by 10pm...

Love to all!

Christlikeness from "The Valley of Vision"

"Dawn returns, but without thy light within no outward light can profit;

Give me the saving lamp of thy Spirit that I may see thee,

the God of my salvation, the delight of my soul, rejoicing over me in love.

I commend my heart to thy watchful care,

for I know its treachery and power;

Guard its every portal from the wily enemy,

Give me quick discernment of his deadly arts,

Help me to recognize his bold disguise as an angel of light,

and bid him begone.

May my words and works allure others to the highest walks of faith and love!

May loiterers be quickened to greater diligence by my example!

May worldlings be won to delight in acquaintance with thee!

May the timid and irresolute be warned of coming doom by my zeal for Jesus!

Cause me to be a mirror of thy grace,

to show others the joy of thy service,

May my lips be well-tuned cymbals

sounding thy praise,

Let a halo of heavenly-mindedness

sparkle around me

and a lamp of kindness sunbeam my path.

Teach me the happy art of attending to things temporal

with a mind intent on things eternal.

Send me forth to have compassion on the ignorant and miserable.

Help me to walk as Jesus walked,

my only Saviour and perfect model,

his mind my inward guest,

his meekness my covering garb.

Let my happy place be amongst the poor in spirit,

my delight the gentle ranks of the meek,

Let me always esteem others better than myself,

and find true humility

an heirdom to two worlds." 

Amen