Settling In - Week 1

Dear Friends and Family,

Greetings from Oxford, the Medieval City!  I apologize for taking so long to post this blog, however, I do have good reasons for my delay which are catching a cold, finishing Summit reading assignments and participating in long days of Summit classes (good days, mind you).  I want to thank everyone again for prayer and financial support.  I am thrilled to be here in England, studying Christianity, ideas, and the consequences of ideas on humanity. 

Nevertheless, here is the first installment of my adventures here in Oxford.

As of today I have been in Oxford for just over a week, though I feel like I have been here for a month.  When I arrived I felt a bit like a sophisticated world traveler, until my luggage wheels got caught in the cobblestone streets and tipped over not once, but twice, as I attempted to make my way to the study abroad office from the coach (bus) station.  Thankfully my fellow Summit students were watching for my arrival and met me at the crosswalk, saving me from any further embarrassment due to my inability to successfully wheel my luggage around.  Lesson:  is there one? 

Last Sunday after church brought with it the challenge of finding groceries for our flat.  After a long walk to the local discount grocery store and an even longer walk home with several bags of food, we learned that 1) it is best to only buy what you can reasonably carry for a good distance and 2) the buses don’t stop at minor stops unless you hail them.  We expected that if a bus advertised to stop at a particular location, it would.  Unbeknownst to us, at minor stops (which was the one we were at) buses only stop if hailed.  Needless to say, we were dismayed when our bus flew past us and we realized that we would have to walk the 30 minutes back home with all of our groceries; now we are careful to hail the buses when they come by. 

Monday through Friday were filled with long days spent in our Summit classroom – the dining room of the Bywater family.  We spent many hours last week learning from Kevin Bywater as we delved into Scripture to cultivate our Biblical worldview.  We spent especially intensive time in Genesis 1-3 and Ephesians.  By the end of the week we had explored many questions about spiritual warfare, capitalism and the origins of the creation stories in Genesis.  We also spent quite a bit of time discussing the aspects of Socialism that are affecting Britain and streaming into America.  During our days at the Bywater home, which is located in Eynsham (about 20 minutes away by bus), we have been privileged to get to know the rest of the family and spent many of our breaks playing with the five children. 

In just a week we have been able to accustom ourselves a bit to British life.  This has included taking cream tea at the Emporium in Eynsham.  Cream tea is not tea with cream in it, contrary to what its name implies.  It is a pot of black tea served with a scone, clotted cream and jam.  It is actually now one of my favorite things about the English culture.  We also visited a popular pub today, The Mitre, to spend a few hours dialoguing with the author, Jay Richards, of ­Money, Greed and God which we read this past week.  I happen to be quite fond of the selection of ciders available here.  Of everything, walking has been the hardest to get used to.  Not because it is hard, but because my feet are blister prone.  I think they may be calloused enough in another week to fully withstand the self-propelled form of transportation that is necessary here. 

Above all, it has been wonderful to get to know my fellow Summit students.  Besides myself there are three other women and one man (the numbers seem as though in his favor, however, he is actually dating one of the gals in the program).  Their names are Annie, Lauren, Sarah Faith and Tyler.  This is a smaller Summit class, but we have enjoyed the unique fellowship that a small group can bring.  They are all great thinkers and I am privileged to be able to exercise my wits with theirs and grow in faith alongside them.  It is my prayer, and I hope it will be yours as well, that our friendship would be a source of strength throughout the term and beyond.  As we continue to explore the realm of ideas and faith I will be blogging more regularly.  May you enjoy the peace and blessings of the Lord!

<Pictures will be forthcoming>