Studies and Excursions

Well, seeing that it has been 3 weeks since our last post (which wasn't really a post at all) we decided that it was high tea time to update our Cambridge goings on.

First, The Computer - The hard drive in our laptop died, never to be used again. On the bright side, I backed everything up onto our external hard drive, so we didn't lose any of our pictures, files, etc. The only pain is having to buy another hard drive. One is ordered and is on the way. $100 for a new one (which is about a weeks worth of our budget), but it could have been worse, so for $100 we'll have a working computer again. In the meantime, another couple at Westfield House brought along two laptops, and offered to let us use one of theirs, so we will have been borrowing that one. We hope to have our laptop fixed and the borrowed laptop returned by the end of next week.

Aaron - Classes here in Cambridge are going great. The lectures at the Cambridge Divinity Faculty are excellent. It is such a blessing to learn from some of the top thinkers in the world in various subjects. And then the "in house" components at Westfield House are just as great. The Preceptor and the Tutors here lead us in stimulating discussions in topics ranging from Philosophy to Martin Luther. The courses I am currently taking include Philosophy of Religion, Synoptic Gospels, World Religions, Readings in Martin Luther, German and Latin. The two languages add a bit to the workload, but I am looking forward to being able to use them in studies in the future. I ride my used rusted black mountain bike to get to and from class at Cambridge every day. I'm glad I had the cycling practice last year at the seminary. In non-studying time, I play some soccer (football) every Wednesday to prepare for a match against the Lutheran Seminary in Germany in the Spring, I help organize Compline (a service of prayer at the close of the day) on Wednesday nights, and I play an occasional game of darts (if 5-6 times a week is occasional) since there is a dartboard in the house. I have also developed a strong affinity for tea, usually Earl Grey with milk and sugar, which is great at any time of the day.

Mandy - Well, well, well. Hopefully my news is somewhat interesting since I'm not sure how "Cambridge-y" it will be. Since I live in a house overrun by Americans and have been hired by Starbucks, I'm pretty sure I haven't left the U.S. It does feel that way sometimes, especially since I've gotten into a routine of your normal daily stuff: work, grocery shopping, blah-blah, etc. Until I hear those crazy British accents say something like "brilliant" or "stand in the que," or I ride my bicycle down the left side of the street next to a double decker bus, that is. Really, it is interesting how normal things feel when you're living in a place and not just vacationing. That's not a complaint, just an observation: its' like Cambridge is becoming more of a nice homey companion as opposed to the exotic stranger it used to be.
Working at Starbucks has been good to me so far. I love my co-workers, and they have fun making fun of me for using words like "bathroom" instead of "toilet." "What, did you miss your shower this morning?" Har, har, har. Other than working on my British English and meeting all the locals that come in for their morning caffeine fix, I can proudly say that I can make you a double tall, half-caf, irish creme, soya, extra dry, extra hot cappuccino whenever you come visit me. Sweet, huh? Well, I can make that for you when my store opens up again. It was recently shut down due to a little fruit fly problem, which has created quite the stir. We were even on the news! I seem to draw publicity wherever I work... But anyway, I should be back on the job in just a couple of days.
Other than that, I can now knit - sort of - as another of the Sem. wives joined a knitting club and has invited me along. There are three of us in the house who've taken up the ancient art, and hopefully we can encourage each other as we go. My goal is to finish a scarf before we move back to the states. (If I aim low, maybe I'll suprise myself!)
Anyway, I've been too wordy again, so I'll let you move on with the rest of this post!

Aaron and Mandy - Being two people in Cambridge, things seem to get expensive, but we're not letting that stop us from having a jolly good time while we can. Two weekends ago we went out on a house punting trip on the Cam River. Punting is kind of like canoing, but instead of oars you use a long pole to propel and steer the boat. Both Mandy and I tried our hand at steering, which led to us zig-zagging from one side of the river to the other most of the time and getting a bit wet, but we never tipped. It was a fun experience and it is highly recommended if anyone else ever visits Cambridge.
Then last weekend we went down to London to attend a Lutheran Student Gathering where students from all over the UK came together for some fellowship. For the rest of the time, we saw some London sights such as the British Library, the British Museum, Covent Garden, Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abby and Big Ben. It was a very "touristy" trip. The next day we took a train to Oxford (which isn't as cool as Cambridge in our opinion). We visited Blackwells, which is a ginormous bookstore (bigger than any Barnes & Noble or Borders), Christ Church College, and the pub Eagle and Child, where J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis would frequently visit to discuss their writings. We sat and read C.S. Lewis poems over a pint of ale. That evening we attended a Reformation service at the Oxford Lutheran church, which was followed by a wonderful English pot-luck. No green jello or lemon bars, but it still felt very Lutheran.
When we're not out traveling the English countryside we usually just sit in the house on evenings a watch LOST with a group of other students. If you have never seen ABC's LOST, and you don't have a lot of time to spare...don't watch it. It is very addicting (and a kick-butt show in our opinion). We have already watched the entire 1st season and are working on the 2nd right now. Our goal, as a house, is to get all caught up before the 4th season starts in February. There are about 12 of us who get together and watch it (pretty much whenever possible). It is great way to strengthen the house community, and also leads to fun discussion apart from Theology.

So to recap this post, Computer, Classes, Starbucks, Punting, London, Oxford and LOST. Now go check out the PICTURES. Cheerio.