Well it's been a long couple of weeks, but absolutely great ones! It still doesn't seem real that I'm actually here. The weather had been warm and we've been outside visiting the castles in Cardiff, walking about London in the parks and grazing in the gardens at Hampton Court. Tomorrow we go to Oxford to visit the city and the university and just today we finalized our trip to Scotland and Ireland, I'll be going in a week with a group of American girls here for our "Fall Break." In the end we will have actually been to three countries and three capitals within 7 days. Needless to say, it will be an adventure.So far school has settled-in with papers and presentations coming around the corner. Uni is so different here than in the states. There's so few hours spent in class that it seems as though I have all the time in the world to travel and do what I like; yet, in the end the whole "you teach yourself" ideology of the English university will come up and bite you in the bum if you're not prepared. Hopefully I will do well though. This really is a cultural experience...that's why I'm really here...or so I like to say at least. :)
I feel as though I should have some heartfelt things to say and tell everyone how much I've grown since I've been here. The trouble is, I've sort of always been the person to know exactly who I am and where I'm going. Not that I can't learn new things, it's just I'm not searching for anything. God's given me a great opportunity to visit a country I've only dreamed of coming to and he's given me the loving family and friends back home who support and love me while I'm half a world away. If there's anything I learned it'd be that cliche saying, "Home is where the heart is." You don't realize till you are 3000 miles away how the places you visit and go in life have little meaning, little magic like you expect, because the people who make your life great aren't there to share in the experience.
In the end, I love it here but to make life perfect everyone who is reading this would need to buy a plane ticket and join me in this beautiful country. Slightly unrealistic I know, but until I see you all again, know I am thinking of you and cannot imagine leaving here, but also cannot wait to come home and see all your smiling faces.
Til then...
audra
