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."
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