white christmas.

Last thursday we got our first snow! We had heard from many people that we wouldn't see snow here but maybe twice all winter and only then an inch or so. I guess it arrived early this year and was a welcome addition to the holiday season! A blanket of snow looks wonderful on this city.

It had been flirting with the idea of snowing all day - first it was raining, then sleeting, then turned to tiny flakes, then back to sleet, then into giant flakes, then back to small flakes again all melting instantly on the ground. By about 9pm, however, it was coming down fast and heavy. Then the wind joined in. We were on our way back from a movie when it got worse and had to bike home in it. It was awful - my legs were sore from biking into the wind (and because I'm STILL in horrible shape) and my body was sweating while my face was freezing, my eyes were watering and I was getting pelted with tiny ice bullets! We finally made it home and sat in the dark by the tree listening to Christmas Carols and watching the storm rage outside. It was so cozy! The storm slowed way down around 11 and Brandon introduced the idea of walking to city centre through the snow and taking pictures. We both hesitated because we were so warm, but finally decided we would regret it if we didn't go. We are so glad we did! We put plastic bags around our feet, bundled up and walked through the lightly falling snow into town. We nearly had the entire town to ourselves, it was so wonderful! To see the pictures we took that night and the next morning see our album "Yule Tide" here.

We got about 4 inches of snow total and it is still on the ground. The custodian at our flat told me they haven't had a white Christmas in Cambridge in 30 YEARS!!! I am so happy that we are here to enjoy it.

it's beginning to look a lot like christmas

The Christmas season is in full bloom here in the UK. They don't have Thanksgiving standing in the way of hanging lights and playing Christmas Carols. (Not that people really let it stop them in the US either). Cambridge is beautiful in the winter! So far we have had heavenly weather in the mid- 30s and 40s and a couple of beautiful fog "storms" which I have decided will be a very nice alternative to blizzards this winter. It is so mild here, but also wet wet wet. Everything outside is always damp.

A Cambridge "blizzard" of fog. (more fog photos)

In preparation for the season we bought a cheapo little Christmas tree at ASDA the UK's Walmart, and I picked up some ornaments and decorations at a local charity shop for nearly nothing. I also picked some holly from right outside our building. :) We spent an evening listening to Christmas Carols and trimming the tree. And I have been listening to them a lot since.

Brandon also surprised me by getting free tickets to the Advent Procession at King's College Chapel, right after Thanksgiving. It was so beautiful. The choir and ceremony moved from East to West through the chapel to represent the coming of Christ! That was the first time I had ever heard the chanting of the seven great "O Antiphons" of Advent. The "O Antiphons" are ancient chants (thought to be from the beginning of the sixth century) each addressing Christ with one of his scriptural titles, and then inviting him to come and help his people. One Antiphon is the basis of our popular song "O come, O come Emmanuel," one of my favorites!

"O come, O come Emmanuel. Redeem thy captive Israel. Who ache in lonely exile here, until the Son of God appears. Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel. "

Last night we went to the pub "The Eagle" to hear the King's College choir sing Christmas carols. They have a concert this Thursday but it is £10-£20 for tickets and they told us they were basically doing all the same songs for us! It was the first "cold" day we've had here at a brisk 32 degrees, and this was the day we chose for sitting outside on the pub terrace for over two hours. I considered this to be the next phase in my "cold weather training" (thanks Dan!).

still giving thanks

So, I probably missed the gap for posting about Thanksgiving and everyone has moved on to Christmas, but I'm going to do it anyway.

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving here in Cambridge with our American friends from the Summa Group. The food was amazing and we ate lots of it! Preparing traditional American dishes while in the UK was a bit of a challenge. They didn't have a lot of the ingredients I needed and I had to improvise. After a year of improvising on recipes and cooking in a kitchen with hardly any supplies I think I am going to be a very resourceful chef. I ended up buying a whole pumpkin for use in my pumpkin/pecan pie and making homemade creamed corn and corn syrup. I also found out that you CANNOT buy cornmeal over here. We midwesterners really need to share our corn products with the rest of the world! I am proud to say, however, that I found and served GREEN GIANT canned corn in the corn pudding that I made!

Transporting one pan of corn pudding, one pumpkin/pecan pie, and one peach/raspberry pie to over a mile to your Thanksgiving feast using only a bicycle was very interesting, but we made it safely.

After hours of eating and chatting Brandon and the other men played FOOTBALL in the front yard/street. Shocking, I know.

Brandon and I had to take off early to catch a movie that we had bought tickets for way in advance not realizing it was on Thanksgiving day. It was put on by St. John's College film club. We left with plenty of time and biked over to St. John's. Brandon had been joking that this would be the first time I would feel what it's like to be early for something. When we got to the room the movies are in, no one was there. We were really confused and didn't know if we had the correct time or location so we started wandering around St. John's to see if we could find some information about it. As we walked around the College at night we felt like we were in a castle or at Hogwarts! It was so beautiful and enchanting and we kept discovering more beautiful sights around each corner. As we were walking through a corridor the walkway became very narrow and sloped up and we suddenly realized we were IN THE BRIDGE OF SIGHS! It was beautiful. We finally found a brochure about the movie and found out that we were TWO HOURS EARLY! Turns out, I don't like the feeling of being early.

St. John's College at night

Inside the Bridge of Sighs

View from the Bridge of Sighs

We celebrated Thanksgiving two more times over the weekend. On Saturday we were invited to the home of some friends we met through an old family friend of mine who was studying here last year, and on Sunday we went to a large "ExPat" party with some friends we met through the Visiting Scholars network. The Sunday shin-dig was complete with a ho-down -- a guitar and fiddle, a sing-along and dancing!

We are both so unbelievably thankful to God for His blessings, for our families and friends that make being away so difficult, but also for this opportunity He has given us.

I googled myself today...

Every now and then I google myself out of curiosity. Today I found this:

http://www.winst.org/ethics_and_university/cambridge_scholars.php

I'll be writing an end of term update soon.

sightings of the queen!

We got word that the Queen would be in town yesterday to celebrate the 800th Anniversary of Cambridge University, and I really wanted to see her! I searched online and asked around and there was nearly no information to be had about what would be happening or when (I think by design). I just knew she was to have lunch at Kings College.

After knitting group and lunch I quickly made my way into town to see what was going on. There were fences set up along Kings Parade and I saw her car parked in front of Kings College - with a crowd in front of it. I hurried over and asked a Policeman what would be happening. He said she would be coming out in about an hour, walking to her car, and driving the block down to The Senate House where she would get out and give a speech to a private party. The crowd was already 5-7 people deep right in front of her car but I had a spot to the side RIGHT against the fence, so I decided it would be worth it to just wait it out. I called Brandon and Jill to let everyone know what was going on, and then I waited...and waited.

I was so glad I did because the crowd filled in quickly behind me, and a few people were pressing in and trying to steal my spot. Jill met up with me and we met a nice American girl from California and a woman from Spain, and also saw a few of our friends go by while we waited.

Then at about 2:45 out she came! I was kind of embarrassed about how excited I was. It was so cool to see the Queen of England in real life! She was so little and cute wearing her bright peach coat and hat with feathers! I snapped tons of pictures but also made sure to take in the action with my own eyes. She drove one block, stopped and got out again.

As we (Brandon and I, Peter and Jill) were standing there chattering with excitement about how we had just seen the Queen, Jill noticed that someone in a wheel chair was coming out of the door to Kings College and wondered if it was Stephen Hawking. The crowd had mostly dispersed and no one else was looking over at him so we thought it must not be. We mentioned that it didnt really look like him and not everyone in a wheel chair was Stephen Hawking. But then they crossed the street and went RIGHT past us on the sidewalk, and we saw that it definitely WAS him! We noticed one of the women we know from the Visiting Scholars group CHASING him down the street! That was our final confirmation.

As the guys headed to a used book shop, Jill and I decided to walk down and see if we could peek into the tents the Queen was now in. I remembered passing a gate in an alley that morning where I could see in from the back, so we went over. There was a policeman standing guard who was very nice and we talked to him for a bit. He said he didn't know if she would be passing that way again. A University Constable who was inside the gate wearing a top hat and black cape with gold clasps came over and talked to us. He talked a ton and told us about being a Constable, how the University works, and many other things. As we were chatting away Jills suddenly yelled "ANDREA ANDREA!!!" I looked over and there walking right by were the Queen and the Duke with his robes being carried behind him! They performed a ceremony where with some University Mail Service bikers, and then went into the tent. We continued to chat and try to see glimpses of the ceremony inside the tent for quite a while. Then the policeman told us she would be getting back into her car and leaving so we decided we might as well run around the front and see her off!

The crowd was enormous and we could barely see her, so after she got into her car we RAN down the sidewalk CHASING her slow-moving car and got in close again for some final photos and farewells. It was a very exciting day!

remember remember the fifth of november

November 5th was Guy Fawkes Night a national bonfire and fireworks celebration in England. It's a very strange holiday in which they celebrate something that didn't happen. Guy Fawkes and other Catholic conspirators attempted to blow up the mostly Protestant House of Parliament to kill the Protestant King and Aristocracy (Protestant and Catholic) in 1605 by planting gunpowder in the cellars. The plot was discovered by an anonymous letter and they were all arrested. Guy Fawkes was hanged, drawn and quartered, and displayed in London.
They remember with this rhyme:

Remember, remember the fifth of November,
The gunpowder treason and plot,
I see no reason
Why the gunpowder treason
Should ever be forgot.

The event is still celebrated to this day by burning an effigy of Guy Fawkes on the bonfire (creepy). These effigies were called "Guys" and that is where our word "guy" meaning "man" originated.

I don't understand why of all the things that occurred in Britain's history they choose to celebrate this non-event, but the fireworks were really good (they had a few new variations on the "sizzling" fireworks which are my favorite!) The bonfire was huge (over 20 feet?), and it was a good time.

a day at the sea.

Last weekend we took a trip to the sea! Prof. D'Andrea had business in Switzerland so we had a long weekend and Peter and Jill proposed a trip to the sea, while it was still warm enough to enjoy the fact that we live on an ISLAND! We decided to do a day trip to save money and so Brandon could still get his studies done. After a long search of good locations on the railway we decided to rent a car instead because it was cheaper and we could reach the quaint little villages where the train doesn't take you.

We headed up to Norfolk to the villages of Cromer, Sheringham and Weybourne on the North Sea. The drive was beautiful especially with all the changing autumn leaves. It was strange to be driving on the left side but we only had to remind Peter twice that we should be there and not on the right side. :) We arrived in Cromer and squeezed our way through the narrow streets until we found a parking place. We walked through town stopping at an old bookshop and at a bakery to get lunch. We took our sandwiches down to the beach and enjoyed them while admiring the view! It was just how I had thought it would be at the coast, but even a little chillier than I had imagined. After taking a nice long relaxing stroll along the sandy beach we headed back to the car to warm up and drive on to the next town.

As we drove we saw little white houses covering a distant hill and thought they looked like the buildings in Greece. When we got closer we realized that it was an enormous trailer park! I guess they have those here too, and these people have prime real estate. We passed through Sheringham and on to Weybourne where we found a secluded beach area with beautiful clay cliffs. This beach was made up of small smooth rocks like the north shore of Lake Superior. The waves made an amazing sound as they flowed through the rock (watch a video of it here). Many of the rocks on the beach were chalk, so I took some home to use on our chalk boards. We spent the rest of the afternoon exploring and relaxing.

When it got dark we drove back to Sheringham and had dinner at a pub that had a really cheap meal deal (buy one meal get the second for a pound!) Peter really wanted to build a bonfire on the beach after dinner, but we had no firewood and didn't know where to / didn't want to buy it. We decided that if we could find some firewood just by driving around we would have the fire, otherwise we would just head home. So we drove around through the dark English countryside looking for wooded areas. We finally found an area of trees and Peter pulled over into a dark long windy driveway (as there were no shoulders on the roads there.) He used the tiny flashlight on his cell phone to search through the woods for sticks, ducking or pretending to be looking at a map when other cars would drive by. He accumulated enough wood fairly quickly, and we drove back and he built a fire on the beach! It was such a fun day!

weekending.

The last couple of weekends have been very nice here. Last weekend our friend Roland, who was at SES while we were there, visited us from London. He is working on a MPhil in Philosophy there, and took the bus to Cambridge for the day. When Roland got here we started by grabbing a pasty, which gave us strength for our long walk down to Grantchester.

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Along the Cam in Grantchester is a tea house called The Orchard, where we joined the Swansons. It has a long history of famous Cambridgians- http://www.orchard-grantchester.com/history.html. After visiting one sees the draw. It is beautifully secluded, not just away from other things, but somehow apart from them. Here are a few pictures, although they don't quite capture it.

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We asked for directions from a couple on our way down, they told us to take the scenic path by the Cam, but to be cautious of swordsmen. They weren't kidding:

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The track down is beautiful and spotted with cows.

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From Untitled Album

We had our first cream tea - delicious. Andrea will probably be posting something about it soon. (If you look up creamed tea on wikipedia, there is a picture of The Orchard.)

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After tea, clearly we needed a pint. So we tried a pub in Grantchester.

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After the pub we walked Roland to the bus stop and biked home, ending a very nice Saturday. Saturday was great, and nothing against Roland, but Sunday had Harry Potter. Somehow we didn't get around to seeing the sixth movie before we left. Lucky for us, a student film society was showing it last weekend. And here is where we watched it:

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The movie itself was great. Although choppy at first, like most of them, it found its rhythm and really delivered. Although I do have a gripe with how they portrayed part of the ending, but I don't want to give anything away. I was inspired to re-read book seven by watching it.

reflections &c.

:: I was at a charity shop recently looking for bowls (we had none) and trying to find more cheap english china when I caught a glimpse of this lovely antique fisheye mirror for only £5. I wasn't going to buy it because it is big and heavy and unnecessary and I was on my bike. Well, I found a set of really cheap bowls but I couldn't use my credit card unless I spent more than £5 so I HAD to buy something else to put me over (we still had no way of getting cash so it was the credit card or nothing). I spent over a half an hour trying to find something else in the shop that was small and useful but I couldnt find ANYTHING. So I had no choice but to buy the mirror! I told the guy that I had no idea how I was going to bike home with it, but that I would figure something out AND I DID! I used the belt from my sweater and tied it through the handles on a big reusable grocery shopping bag making a big loop, then hung it over my shoulder and biked home! Now the big wall in our flat isn't so barren - and I can keep an eye on brandon without his knowing it.

This situation reminded me of the time I fixed my car with the belt from a sweater. Sweaters are like duct tape apparently.

:: We FINALLY succeeded in transferring money from our US to British bank account this week! We have had a bit of trouble doing so, including having a check rejected and sent back to us with no explanation. For nearly a month now we have had no way of getting cash (except when Alissa and Jonathan took some out for us - thanks guys!) and every time we logged in to our British account online to see if the money had gone through we saw the word "NIL." That's right, it said NIL, how insulting is that?

:: In church today we sang the Mr. Bean "Alleluiah" song from the episode where he was in church! I could not help but crack up through most of it, especially near the end when the congregation actually messed up the Alleluiahs a lot like Mr. Bean did. :)

:: This week I learned how to knit.

I started going to a craft group for newcomers and visiting scholars with Jill and Philly on thursday mornings. A nice British woman is teaching us how to knit. I completely failed the first time, but this week I think I got it! I think I can say I learned how to knit.

why the dahms (that's right, both of us) should not be allowed in public, reasons #2 & #3

See reason 2:

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Yeah Brandon, Andrea is abnormally tall, but it seems harsh to say she shouldn't even go out in public. No, not that, look at her feet, in particular the trail of white. Yes, that is what you think it is. And yes, apparently this actually happens, at least once. Alissa and Jonathan were with us to experience this, and we all had a long laugh at with Andrea.

That evening the four of us went to a pub for dinner. This was my first go at fish and chips here. They were good, although I once had better in Nashville. Anyway, as we were leaving the bar filled up with what appeared to be a sorority rush. I had to squeeze my way through them on the way to the toilet and back, which involves walking up and down stairs at this particular pub. Standing up to leave, Andrea stops me and points down... to the toilet paper stuck to my foot. The embarrassment was undercut by how amazing it was that this happened to both of us, on the same day. Obviously I received my due after giving Anne such a hard time earlier. Unfortunately, the scene unfolded too fast for us to snap a picture. So here is an artist's rendition:

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Cheers.

we had visitors.

We had a wonderful time with Alissa and Jonathan last week! They made the perfect first vistors setting the standard for all of you who hope to follow in their footsteps. It was so good to see them and spend time together exploring Cambridge and chatting / catching up. They came through England as the GRAND FINALE (in our opinion) to their two week European adventure to Italy and Paris.

Some highlights from their visit include:

::PUNTING!::
We finally experienced the famed Cambridge past-time of punting on the River Cam. Punts are low flat-bottomed wooden boats which are operated using a long pole in shallow water (like the gondolas in Venice). We ended up self-hiring a punt instead of going on a guided tour because it was much much cheaper. We were really worried that punting would be harder than it seemed especially since we've seen many people from the shore that look to be frustratedly struggling to get the punt to do what they want it to (and more than one resulting collision). After a two minute verbal instruction, Brandon made the first attempt. He actually turned out to be really good! (do I sound too surprised?) We punted about half an hour down the Cam to the Bridge of Sighs where we switched so Jonathan could give it a try and bring us back within our one hour time limit. He had a bit of difficulty getting the hang of it, which resulted in our going in many circles and hitting the walls on each side of the river before we started heading in the right direction. Within about 5 minutes he had also re-engineered the current method of operating the punt by turning himself around instead of the boat. It made for a hilarious and memorable experience! He quickly mastered it, however, and had us back just minutes over an hour.



::EVENSONG::
We went to Evensong (evening mass) at King's College Chapel and heard the famous King's College Choir. It is chillingly amazing to hear their voices echo in the vastness of the majestic architecture. On saturdays they have a boys choir which is even better, but this was a wednesday so it was men, and it was still awesome. I had to borrow this photo because to my great dismay and torture I am not allowed to take pictures in the Chapel. The seats you see in the picture are where the congregation sits with the choir next to them in another section. (pic from woklife.com)



::HIDDEN TREASURE and SUPERPOWERS::
Alissa and I had so much fun shopping together at the market, looking for a birthday present for my mom whose birthday was the 8th (HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM) and going around to the second-hand (charity) shops looking for hidden treasures! We finally found some adorable tea cups, so now I can properly observe the 4 o'clock British tea time.

We also discovered that Alissa possesses the superpower of "FINDING OWL TRIVETS!" She found two owl trivets in two hours! Who knew that superpower even existed?!




::BRAVING the GREAT OUTDOORS::
When Alissa and Jonathan arrived we decided to hoof it back from the rail station (over 2 miles) tugging their suitcases over narrow cobblestone passages. It turned out to be really fun (and really easy as they packed SHOCKINGLY light. Seriously it was impressive). We decided that, despite the drizzle, we would do the same thing when it was time for them to leave town. As we stepped out into the spitting rain we were all proudly proclaiming our bravery, and just as Jonathan was muttering something about our having a "stiff upper lip" it started to DOWNPOUR. We all froze, looked at eachother and RAN back inside yelling and laughing. We promptly and humbly called a cab. This actually turned out to be nearly as brave a venture as the windshield was almost completely fogged over but the cab driver still sped through the dark rainy streets on the WRONG side of the road (well it seemed wrong to us). It was a bit scary, but also fun. We had to say our goodbyes quickly as they dropped me off on a corner near our friend's house (where I was headed for dinner), and it was better that way because I didn't have a chance to get really emotional. It was still very sad to see them go, but I am so thankful for the wonderful memories we made!

Miss you guys already!

If you want to see thousands more pictures from their visit click here.

tidbits ::2::

- Alissa and Jonathan are coming TOMORROW! I (we) CAN NOT wait! We are trying to make guest preparations like getting our 4th chair back from the custodian, and buying bowls and sheets (we also got a trusty air mattress.) Of course our first real rain is scheduled to start... tomorrow so I'm praying that weather men are wrong over here too.

- On my first bike ride I got a bug in my mouth. On my second bike ride I drove on the VERY street where we took the "bus and bike lane" picture - at night. On my third bike ride I got hit in the face with a moth. On my fourth bike ride I got hit in the face with a bee. On my sixth bike ride it was spitting rain in my face and windy and freezing - at night. I think it's safe to say our bikes have been an overall success thus far.

- The one item we can't find in england (so far) is CHOCOLATE CHIPS. Semi-sweet chocolate morsels are rare here it would seem. We have looked at two groceries and both had only one option sold in TINY bags and expensive. Also, their vanilla extract is the color of apple juice (I poured and poured it on and could still barely taste it.) How are we supposed to make cookie dough under these conditions?!

summa read along

I know there are a few people out there planning on reading along with me in Tour of the Summa. If you haven't recently told me about this, please email me or comment here letting me know. I think it will probably be easier to do this by email than on here. I'm putting together a short introduction, some helps, and the reading schedule for the first weeks. Hopefully I can send this out on Saturday.

to cycle.

From blog photos

From blog photos

tidbits

- I was looking over our British coins the other day to familiarize myself, and I noticed that the one pence coin says "one penny" on it; then I GOT IT! That is why we call our one cent a penny - one PENce! I have not verified this, but it seems true. Everyone else probably already knew this, but I did not.

- One Pound coins sound different than quarters when they fall. Ironically they sound lighter.

- I am almost CERTAIN that the announcer voice in our lift is Julie Andrews. No, I do not think that every female british voice I hear is Julie Andrews. Does anyone know where I can get a sample of her saying "please select your floor," so I can compare? I can see her becoming the voice of British lifts as an alternative to singing.

- The sinks here have two faucets. The left dispenses scalding hot water, and the right dispenses very cold water. It makes washing your face interesting.

- A few days ago while I was walking down a quiet side street I suddenly realized I had forgotten what side of the road we drive on in the US and what side the Brits drive on! Cars were parked on both sides of the street in both directions, and the only way I could remember was by thinking "right on red, right on red."

to market, to market...

Brandon and I are feeling much more settled in now, having purchased most of the everyday items we need to survive, gotten the internet and cell phones, and opened our British bank account. We also received a box of goodies from Jesse Torgerson and his wife Kelly who studied here last year. They were kind enough to leave us a bunch of towels and hangers and pillows, &c!

So, this is sort of our first week of normal life at Cambridge, and we haven't quite figured out how everything will flow just yet.

I walked to town to get groceries yesterday and before I knew it I had picked out 3 meals-worth of food along with basic items like milk, cheese, butter - oh and a can opener. I didn't think anything of it until I was about 100 yards in to my walk home with a ridiculously heavy shopping-bag sized bag on each arm. I slowly made my way back, frequently stopping to readjust the heavy load, and kick myself. A bike wouldn't have helped unless it had had deluxe saddle bags. I am still feeling it today. From now on I am going do what I had originally planned when I saw our mini-fridge, and go for groceries more frequently buying much less.

From this day forward it will be "To market, to market to buy a fat pig. Home again, home again jiggity jig."

little saint mary's bishop walk

From blog photos

On Sunday we visited the church Little St Mary's (Anglican) for a second time. Little St Mary's is a mediæval parish church which was built in the late nineteenth century. We attended their High Mass which is a very formal "liturgical and sacramental witness in the Catholic tradition of the Church of England." (www.lsm.org.uk/) The mass is very beautiful and reverent.

The church building is gorgeous and each Sunday there has been sunlight pouring through the stained glass windows making amazing sun beams in the smoke from the incense. There was even a butterfly fluttering around in the sunlight! So magical.

I got to take some pictures this time while we stayed afterwards for coffee (no wine like last week). See more.

LSM is in The Diocese of Ely (another city in Cambridgeshire) and it is celebrating its 900th Anniversary this year.

In honor of their 900th Anniversary and the 800th Anniversary of the University of Cambridge Bishop Anthony of Ely walked from Ely to Cambridge (abt. 17 miles) and then took a punt to the shore near the church. People were invited to welcome him on the shore and then accompany him as he walked to Peterhouse (the oldest and smallest of the Cambridge Colleges). So we (Brandon and I, Peter and Jill, and Kevin) went along to observe the ceremony. It was an interesting event to see and we ended up comprising a large portion of the welcomers.

From blog photos

From blog photos

From blog photos

For more pictures of the church and the event see our flickr set here.

to bike or not to bike?

Cambridge is a walking and biking city. Everyone bikes. From 2 year olds to old grannies. When we first arrived here in our rental car from the airport one of the first things I noticed was how SKINNY the roads are, how much traffic there is, and how the bikers ride right on the edge of the road with all the fast-moving traffic. It scared me to be in a CAR in that situation, and I was far more afraid to be one of the bikes. There were many close calls and cringes as we passed through narrow corridors with a bike and a bus at the same time.

From blog photos

This photo summarizes all my fears. Yes, that says "bus and bike lane." The bus will win every time, right?

After much thought and deliberation we have decided that we do need to join the bike crowd, however. The city centre of Cambridge is only a few miles across but when you're carrying groceries it feels much farther, and it would be very nice to be able to zip over to visit friends or grab something from the market. We have been advised that drivers in this city are very used to bikes and bikers are used to, well buses. So, we will need your prayers as we attempt to "get back on the bike," and learn to ride under these circumstances. Hey, if those grannies can do it and survive this long, I should be able to do it too right?

greetings blog-world!

Well, hello everyone. Welcome to the first blog post in my entire life! Ok, so I'm a bit behind the times. I felt like I had to make my first post very special or something, but since so much has been happening I didn't even know where to start. Then I decided a hello is a proper place to begin! Does this mean I'm a blogger now? Doubtfully. Well, I will give this a go and hope it is enjoyable for some.

Cheers!

A

more pictures

Since Andrea is hesitant to begin her blogging career, I wanted to let you know we have a bunch more pictures up on flickr. We are still trying to figure out the best way to organize them, but two new sets have appeared. The first is a general Cambridge set, this will have all the pictures from Cambridge in it. The second is the beginning of our Cambridge Naturalist set. There are enough pictures there for you to get the idea.

I have my second seminar tonight. The readings have gone fairly well, although I will be relieved to be done getting things like phone and internet figured out so I can focus on studying and leisurely walks around the countryside and city.

internet, how we have missed you.

We just got the internet in our flat. I am busy studying today, but Andrea should be able to post an update and do some serious picture uploading. Hopefully we can get some skyping in this weekend.

still waiting on internet...

Our router did not come on Tuesday as promised, so hopefully it comes today.  Until we get it, posting and emailing will still be minimal. Don't forget us! we'll be online soon.

Also, if you comment anonymously sign who you are so we know who you are, otherwise you designate yourself as a creeper.

reason #1 brandon should not be allowed in public.

Although it was inevitable, it sure didn't take long. I have done something awkward and embarrassing. We were on our walk back the other day and noticed people picking the berries we had been wondering about.

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Are they poisonous or edible? Are they blackberries, raspberries or some unknown berry goodness? So, I asked them a simple question: Are those raspberries? Perfectly normal question to ask, except it came out in a British accent. I don't know why it happened, I certainly wasn't trying to do it. Instantly, I became an observer to my own act - "WHAT AM I DOING?!" My overcompensation to completely plain American English probably didn't help much. Thankfully they seemed a bit startled by my question, as though they had been caught doing something wrong. So maybe they didn't notice.

Thus went my first faux pas.

saturday at fourteen hundred

It is early Saturday afternoon and we found a cool upstairs section to where we have been using the internet. Just discovered that the update I wrote yesterday didn't post, so I'm rewriting it now.

The bad: we won't have internet until Tues, so no skyping or massive picture uploading until then. Expect a lot of pictures starting Wed. 

Everything else is good. We have been slowly accumulating apartment goods. Today we finally found an alarm clock and a watch. This is very important since we need to be somewhere for church at 8:30am tomorrow. We are visiting two churches tomorrow. Both are Anglican, but one is high church and the other is lower from what we hear. For lunch we are going to a food and garden festival at one of the colleges.

We have managed to upload some pictures from our journey and first walk. They are each in a set on our flickr page, but check back to the journey page since we have many more to add once we get online.

Our apartment is not exactly old English style, but it is nice and clean and ours, which has been very nice after long days of walking. We are very happy with it and it is starting to feel like home. Pictures in due time.

Speaking of walking, there is a lot of it here. We are probably going to get bikes, but are trying to check our options before we do. Thursday, our biggest walking day, involved 7 hours and probably 15 miles. The addition of carrying a lot has caused sore feet and backs, but we should get used to it soon.

I started my serious study of Aquinas yesterday. I think I have something of a method of study now, but it takes a lot of time. The pace should pick up a bit, but right now it is at about 30min/ article. For Tuesday afternoon I need to ready something like 45 articles. Yikes. A wise 90+ year old Princeton Professor's advice is now looking very wise - get ready to stay up late. Don't worry, a coffee maker was one of our first purchases.

We also visited our first pub the other night. It was nice, the beer was delicious. The tap beer is different here. It is hand pumped instead of pressurized. This means it is less fizzy than US tap beer, which I much prefer. Andrea even finished her pint.

The other students and I went to the college to tell them we have arrived and were given a brief tour. Our ID cards are one the way - cool. In case you are interested, we are at Wolfson college.

That is all for now. Please comment here and on our pictures, it will be a great way for all us to stay in regular contact. Cheers.

we are here

We made it safely, but slept little and are heading home to crash pretty soon. Hopefully we have internet up in a day or two so we can give some more details.

off we go...

It is late Sunday night. We are packed and getting our computers ready for the trip. Our going away parties have been a blast, and it was great to see so many of you before we head out. Please keep up with our blog and comment on what is going on, it will be a great way to keep in touch.

Our itinerary: We fly out of MN tomorrow night at 7:20 and get to London the next morning at 11:30. We are then renting cars and driving to Cambridge. Our fist seminar for the study will be a week from Tuesday. So if you want to follow along, be sure to pick up one of the books I recommended (Tour of the Summa if just one).

At my mom's house we celebrated each of the holidays we will be missing. I thought this July 4th picture was fitting for our last day in the States. Enjoy.

From man found alive with two legs.

In case you want to read along...

I have been trying to figure out a good book to read for anyone who wants to follow along with my reading through the Summa Theologiae. I'll give three different recommendations:

1) Get A Tour of the Summa (it takes awhile to get it new, but there are a lot of used available) and read the Summa along with me. I'll also recommend certain selections of the Summa. You can get these online here, but I'll link to them as I recommend them. The benefit of this book is that it actually summarizes the entire Summa. Although you won't get a lot of the arguments, objections and distinctions that I'll be reading, you will be able to have an idea of what I am reading and what Aquinas thinks about things. This is what I would recommend doing. Also, this is what Andrea is doing.

2) Get The Thought of Thomas Aquinas and read through it in segments by what I am reading. This book also covers all of the topics the Summa covers. The benefit of this book is that it is a recent book whose author wants to make Aquinas understandable today. The downside is that it leaves a lot of the Summa out in order to explain some of it.

3) Read both of these books. Considering the reading will be spread out over ten months, this is a fairly doable task.

We'll try to post at least once more before we leave, explaining what we are hoping to do with this blog.

Cheers.

Hey

This is a placeholder for Brandon and Andrea's Cambridge blog. We will start posting in a few weeks. And hopefully we'll think of a more interesting name for the blog.