Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Just another update

It has been too long since I have updated this blog. I’ve been back at school for awhile now, and I’ve been enjoying my time here. There has been a bad virus going around, which I of course contracted along with three out of five roommates. Yesterday one of my roommates, Cait, and I were both too sick to go to lectures so we stayed in bed watching movies together and finishing an essay that was due last night (I don’t procrastinate as much as I used too…but it still happens). Last night I took some NyQuil and quickly passed out. But I woke myself up too early this morning coughing and ended up going to lectures...but not before my roommates informed me I spent the entire night coughing and talking in my sleep. So NyQuil probably isn’t for me.
Today we mostly had lectures from our principal on the life of Abraham. Lately we have been focusing on relational problems and how to address them, so it’s been very interesting and practical. Our guest speaker for the week is talking about Luke, but I have only heard him once so far.
This weekend is an important weekend. For some background, to receive our certificate at the end of winter school we have to attend a ten day outreach. So we have all been put into teams, and this weekend we are driving all around England and Wales going to meet the people we are working with. I am in a large group and apparently the place we are going to is the most intense outreach our school sends students to. So that should be fun…I can’t say where I’ll be going, because I’m actually not sure where it is. They never really told us anything about our outreach except for the fact we are being picked up at 11:30 Friday and returning 11:30pm Sunday night.
So there is a lot to do this week: 2 essays, memorize 16 verses, I have to lead a discussion group Thursday, and getting ready for this weekend. I guess I haven’t really explained what a normal day is like here. So here we go:

We have breakfast at 7:30. It is supposed to be mandatory, but a lot of people sleep through it. I try and wake up at 6:30 every morning to read and get ready. After breakfast it is time to do daily duties (wash up, cleaning, etc). I don’t have a duty this time around, and since the middle of last term I go to the lounge every morning and talk with two friends, Nico (from Italy) and Maddie (from California). Lectures start at 8:55 (random..i know) and then we have two lectures with short breaks in between. At 10:40 there is tea break where we all rush up to the castle to check the mail and then chug a cup of tea before the final two morning lectures which start at 11. Lunch is at 1, and then the afternoon is free until dinner at 5:15. There is often work and reading to be done, but we also have the opportunity to go into nearby towns, go for walks around the loop, work out, and a lot of other fun activities. Dinner (called tea, not sure why), is buffet style, so it’s supposed to run until 5:45, but if you turn up any later than 5:20 there isn’t any food left for you. At 6 o’clock I often have a jam session with some musical people here. So two boys play guitar/sing and then it’s me and usually 3 other ‘regulars’ and then other people come in and out throughout the jam session. Lectures start at 7, so that’s when we head down to the conference hall and sit through two evening lectures which end at 8:40/9. By this time we are all tired and ready for bed, but we have something called supper, which is basically just hot chocolate and occasional biscuits.
On Wednesdays the first lecture period in the morning is family group. That is when all of the students go to either a staff members house or meet somewhere in the castle with at least one staff member and just talk and drink tea. My family group is very close, so we also meet on Tuesday nights and have toast and tea. It is amazing how excited we get about toast here. They have it at breakfast every morning but it’s always cold and not ‘toast like’.
During the week we also have New Testament discussion groups, Interactive groups (a small group with people who live by you), and Worship/Bible reading. The week is always very full, but it becomes routine very quickly.
Saturday mornings we have the entire day off, which everybody takes to their full advantage. Brunch is at 11, but the internet turns on at 9 which gets people up early. There are also Saturday trips to nearby towns, cities, football matches, or hikes. This past weekend I went to a cute little town called Skipton. There was a castle, cute shops, cafes and a little market.

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