Another Week in Review

Another week has come and gone, so I feel that I should update this again. Last Sunday I met up with my mother's cousin Rupert, his wife Fran, and little Benjamin for lunch at a restaurant over by where they live in Hampstead Heath. I was in for a pleasant surprise, as my mother's Uncle Bolli and Auntie Lorna, and Fran's mother were all there too. I had a good time visiting with them for the afternoon and enjoyed an excellent steak. I had never met Fran or her mother before, but both are very friendly. Afterwards, I briefly went over to Rupert's new place before returning back just in time for church.

I attended the evening service at St. Helen's church with some friends from the Christian Union here at Queen Mary. After the main service, there was an extra hour or so talk for students (of which there are quite a few). I enjoyed the service and talk and met many other students there. The church itself is one of the oldest in London, having been built in 1210. Formerly a Catholic and then Anglican facility (as well as where William Shakespeare attended church), it is now Evangelical, but it still has the beautiful old organ, which was played during service.

During the school week, nothing really that eventful occurred (that I can remember now). On Friday Whitney and I wandered around Kensington Gardens and Hyde Park. The parks are beautiful (and massive - Central Park in New York size) and walking around through them was pleasant. It was rather cold and windy, however; during the later spring and summer when it warms up, they must be very nice to spend time in.

On Saturday I traveled to Oxford with the other USC students. We were supposed to take the 10:47 train, but basically everyone missed it, and 17 of us (out of 27) caught he next one out at 11:21. Once arriving, we wandered about looking for the restaurant where we were meeting John Sharkey, the USC England coordinator. Raphael, one of the USC students, knew his way around, since he has family there and has spent some time in the city, but none of us were sure where the restaurant was, so we wandered rather aimlessly. Eventually John Sharkey found us after someone phoned him, and he escorted us to the Lebanese restaurant where we ate lunch, courtesy of USC (though really us, since we paid the tuition). The food was good, but it came in little communal plates in successive waves. I was in the section with the hungriest people, and it became a race of sorts to get the best foods for the first few waves of dishes.

After lunch, we split up into two groups and took a guided tour of the campus (well, quasi-campus; Oxford does not really have a true campus like we are used to in America, as each college is self-contained and may be a few blocks from another). The buildings are very beautiful (and many are quite old). Attending such an institution would be a neat experience. After the tour ended, a group of about 10 of us wandered around the school and city for a few hours longer. We took the "Raph Tour," as we jokingly called it, and went and saw the beautiful gardens outside Christ's Church College (where many movies are filmed), but could not get inside, as it had closed to visitors by then. Instead, we wandered around more and went to a quaint little pub where a friendly old British guy worked the bar. I tried Strongbow's, a popular British cider, for the first time, and it was rather good (apparently it is popular with students because it has a good taste and is relatively cheap, but it is also the favorite alcohol of the British Royal Family). After that, we caught the train back to London.