END OF NOVEBER

Now that the end of November is coming and I have only 17 more days until I come home, I decided that I should update you a little.

As the majority of people know who read this it was my birthday this month and I just wanted to say thank you for all of the cards and packages that I got, it meant a lot to me.

I had a birthday party for my birthday, and me and some of my friends went out to dinner and a movie on the Saturday the 17^th, because we can't go anywhere on Sunday which was the actually the day of my birthday, we went to this little Italian place called abella Italia, and I had some pizza, and some taramousue desert, then we went to see “American Gangster”, and it was really good I got lots of pictures.

Then we had family night last Friday…….. and that is when our “families” get together and do something as a family (other people from the school, with staff members as parents)…………. But our parents had been gone for three weeks so we had no parents for family night so we had to join another family, and we joined this family and there dad was German (that is important to the story) and we played sardines (which is were one person hides and everyone else tries to find that one person, and when they do they also have to hide with that person) and we played around the castle on the main floor, and one person hid in the stables(which you weren’t allowed to go and hide in) but like half of the people playing found him and we were just hanging out and got really bored so we decided to have a pillow fight with the couch cushions and pillows, so we had a pillow fight, then we wanted to make a fort, so we went into the lounge and used all of the furniture(which there is 6 small tables, 8 couches, and like 20-25 chairs) including cushions, and we took some of the sheets from the laundry and made this fort (it was massive) it had three sitting rooms, and 3 tunnels it was amazing. But then the dad, Lukas wasn’t too pleased with our amazing fort, and he was getting mad and after we finished he blew up and kick in one of the chairs, and yelled at us in German, so we took it down, and went in and watched the “wedding singer”.

Then on Sunday the school had set up and American flag football game for us students to play, and I played in that, but it had rained the week before and at night, so the field was very muddy, and then we decided to play tackle football, but only if the girls wanted to, so we played tackle football for a little bit, then after the game died down we decided to have a mud fight, so we did that for maybe a half an hour, and that was super fun, I got so muddy, I stained my nice white shirt, and I had mud everywhere, you have to see a picture I was covered in mud. It was pretty much the most amazing thing ever. The only bad thing is that we completely ruined the football pitch

Oh and then some of the boys decided t play a prank on one of the most up tight guys here, and he is very anal about his stuff and he is very cocky, so they took his bed, his mattress and his baskets of clothes and his other stuff and remade his room in stables down stairs. And then when he found out where his bed was, he came down and found his bed, he was really, really mad, and he said the f- word and broke a bench that was out side. It was really mean but funny.

This last weekend we went to the Trafered Center, which is a huge mall so I got lots of Christmas shopping done. This mall is the hugest thing ever, it’s maybe double the size of the Clackamas mall, and it could fit the Lloyd center and Washington Square together in it. The food court is made to look like the French quarter of New Orleans, and it is, also made to look like the food deck on a cruse ship, and it had a dj and a dance floor and a little pool as well, and the mall had a movie theatre, a laser tag place, and an arcade in it too. It was huge.

Until next time

bri

november update

Ok so I am sorry that I haven’t been updating this regularly but I have busy with school

I have had a couple of assignments and one test so far, I did really good on my paper that we had to write I got an A on that I didn’t do so hot on my Luke test which is kind of a bummer, but its ok I’m planning on doing better on the next test

Ok so a couple of weekends ago I went to Scotland for the travel weekend, which was four days away from the school, and nothing was planned out for us except the transportation there, other people went other places but they had to pay for there own transportation. Me and 5 other girls stayed in a mixed hostel in Edinburgh, and that was an adventure in its self, because there were 8 German guys 20-25 years old staying with us in the hostel……(the hostel could fit 16 people in it) and two other couples. So were getting ready to go out and have dinner and they all show up and start taking shots of some popular German liquor, and asking us if we wasn’t some and we said no we can't we are in bible school so them the whole time that they were there they thought that we were nuns and monks, which was fine by us…… so the first night we were all a little scared to go back to the room so we tried to stay out late and get back after the Germans got back but we didn’t make it, we came back to the room at like 2am and the Germans came back at like 5am and passed out, and snored really loud all of them and at different times, but all was good except they liked to walk around in tidy whites, so that was a little awkward but they were really funny and they didn’t try anything which we were all grateful. What else I mainly went shopping while I was there, and I got this really nice dress for a pound( two dollars)so that was pretty sweet, and I got some other things as well. I went to see that castle, we didn’t go in but we walked around outside. I got knighted while I was there, and I also go a picture with a guy that looked like Mel Gibson’s character from braveheart and then he was telling us what he’s known for, and it was a tattoo on his bottom and we were all like ya ok what ever, then he showed us, so we got mooned in Scotland, and the funny thing is that it was true, the same dudes bottom was on a key change. So that was funny……. And then we saw an anti-American anti-war protest, so I became Canadian for the weekend, so I wouldn’t die. But other than that is was fun lots of good memories from Scotland.

What else after lectures I go and I play either indoor soccer/football, or floor hockey….. and I have never had so many bruises, but I love it. Um it’s getting colder and colder each day and supper cold at night, I have resorted to wearing many, many like 3 or 4 layers and having 3 blankets on my bed and sleeping fully clothed which is very rare for me.

Um I can't wait to come home for Christmas, and see everyone, what else I’m not really getting fed that much and I feel like I’m constantly hungry, so I’m always snaking which is not a good thing. And they hot water is not more or at least in the conference hall where my room is, so I’m taking cold, really cold showers which is not always fun but it defiantly wakes you up…… and I think that I have a new shower record of 30 sec to 3 min, because that’s bout all the hot water you have. And event thought it’s almost my birthday it doesn’t feel like it still feels like Halloween should be the next holiday not thanksgiving, and then Christmas, I can't wait for some good home made cooking, food with flavor, and real bacon, and real eggs……I don’t know but I can only stand so much of food being made in bulk.

Oh and we are doing a Christmas program and I’m singing in the choir, and I’m also helping out at women’s conference called chosen, so that should be fun.

Until next time

News and Stuff

Well I am on a worship team and we are singing at the Sunday night service, and I am signed up for singing and my grandma will appreciate this, and for playing the piano…I am not playing this time but my team wants me to play at least one song. I’ll probably play next time around. And singing should be interesting because I have a cold. So my voice is horse and scratchy so I am stuck singing the guys part, which I’m fine with because my range is lower anyways. So I’m a little nervous, but excited at the same time. I also went into Lancaster for a birthday dinner on Tuesday at a little Italian restaurant. I have also signed up for an outreach thing were we got into schools and talk to kids about Jesus and God. We do assemblies and clubs, and my age group is little kids to younger teens s that should be fun. And Saturday, I am going to fottball game (soccer game) in Morcambe. We are just watching a local team…nothing too big. But definitely FUN!!
until later...

three weeks already

hello all,
i cant believe that i have been here three weeks already...... and its even harder to believe that i am in school, which might be a bad thing, because I'm not in the school groove yet. so other than that i have not done a whole lot, things are starting to settle down, and become more regular so its getting boring, hahaha just kidding its not getting boring at all, but its definitely slowing down. but today i went on a walk to the top of this really high hill that is in front of the castle so that was fun and I'm going to go to Scotland at the beginning of November so I'm looking forward to that...... and a couple of days ago i walked into Carnforth which is the closest town to the castle and it took us an hour and a half to get there because we went the wrong way at first but then we got the direction right.......um what else oh I'm doing aerobics twice a week now, and playing soccer every now and then and going swimming, and taking daily walks around the grounds....so i can stay in shape, and I'm eating what seems like not a lot to the British, but they also have HUGE portions, so I'm eating normal, and everything i deep fried and fatty so i mainly eat salad, so i don't gain like a hundred pounds while I'm over here.........

and ya that's pretty much it nothing else is really going on........I'm making lots of friends, and being social, and every Friday night we have an event planed and it is different from week to week, like this last Friday we had British night, and last Friday we learned some Scottish dances.... it was really fun and funny to watch......

until next time
cheers

end of the first

so it is the end of my first week of school, and it is pretty intense. lets see the food really takes some getting use to, and definatly waking up in the mornings and being expected to pay attention and take notes for four hours IN THE MORNING, UGH. but we get brakes between each session, so thats good. ummmm im learing to like tea alot. oh and the names for thing are so hard to get use to, for instance our evening meal is called tea, and our evening tea time is called supper, it is very confusing, and everytime they anounce tea in 5 min, i think that i am getting sick of tea and i really dont want to go, but my roomates so kindly remind me that it not drinking tea, but eating dinner. so i have resorted to calling them drink time and food time. oh and just so no one is confused i have mad other friends than the cows that are around. and i was so happen when i found that they have nestle's chocolate milk. and they had sunny d i was so happy that i just had to buy them. the cold showers take some getting use to, im highly considering taking my morning showers in te pool room shower, cuz they get hot water, its so bad that this morning i had to wash my hair in the sink, that was an adventure. i have had many laugh with my roomates, over rediculous things like laundry, and blowing peaoples noses, just stupid things like that. oh anf the highlight of my week was when we had an objective of getting a picture with a sheep, so me and my team went out and chased a sheep and tackled it down and took a picture with it, and it was at night when we did this, sheep are really hard to chatch at night havent tryed it durning the day....... yet........maybe i will????!!??!!?!?!?!!?!

frist day of school

saturday 29th:
ok so this is my frist offical day on my own and its reather fun i enjoy it, it will hard comming back home and having to stay with my mom again. hehee just kidding mom i love you!!!!!!! it just bout dinner time here, and everyone is still getting settling in. it funny now that im all by self i have no idea what to do, im sitting in my room writing this, i have no idea where to start, i guess i could start unpacking, but thats no fun, and a lot of work oh well

thursday

Thursday the 27th:
Today we went the town of York and visited York Minster(a old gothic church), and my mom and I climbed up to the tower, it was 275 steeps up in a rounded stair case ao the stairs were small, and narrow. My legs were literally shaking, and when we got to the top, my heart wasbaeting so fast and hard if felt like it was going to jump out of my mouth. Then we went down stairs to the treasury and where a lot of the bishops of york are buried, and also to see how the york minster came to be. It sarted out as a headquater for the romans, than a church to the normans, the a gothic style church in the renaissance, which is what it remainds to this day. On top of the tower, and looking down apon the town looked like a scene out of mary poppins it was truly amazing, and magificant. Then we drove back and went to dinner and walked around, than came back to the farm. It was an exausting and wonderful day I had a blast with my mom, and I highley suggest that if anyone gets a chance to travel over here that you stop by the york minster in york.

the frist day

First day Tuesday 24th:
Ok so we finally made it to Carnforth, England (sigh). It took us 14 hours total to get here but we made it, we arrived in Manchester at 9 30 this morning (Tuesday morning), then we rented a car and drove to the place where we will be staying for the week. And because of the time difference and all 3 + time zones we went through, my mom suggest that we stay awake all day and go to bed early so that we don’t suffer from major jet lag, which by the way I might add is a lot easier said than done. Basically yesterday was like a Jr. High all nighters on a plane, and minus the activities. Have you ever tried to sleep on a plane? Well its not so easy, my lower left side went numb close to the beginning of the flight, and I couldn’t move at all. And then my mom fell asleep on me. Now, before I tell you what my day consisted of let me try to paint a picture for you, England for those who have not been here is a lot of round-bouts (or a traffic circle as the English say it), they drive on the wrong side of the road, with the steering wheel on the wrong side of the car, and the normal speed limit is like 80. So now that you know all of that, just try to picture my mom and I trying to navigate through a strange land going 80 miles an hour, hard to picture, let me help you, after we got our luggage and found out how to get out of the airport, and to the car rental place, we find our car and I go to get in on the right side of the car and my mom goes to the left, so then we realized that we had to do everything backwards when it came to the car, so we get in and drive around in a least two circles trying to find the way out of the parking garage, so we finally get out of the parking garage(oh and I’m reading mom the directions) and we are on the main road, which is called a motorway, but basically the freeway, and my mom keeps straddling the white line n the side of the road, on my side, and people are flying past us, and cutting us off, and my mo is getting use to having the stick shift on her left instead of her right, and we have to change lines fast to get where we need to go. So we get off the motorway(freeway)and we did goo we didn’t die, or get in a wreck, so then we come to these roads where the two line road is very narrow with tall bushes or brick wall on either side, and my mom is still driving really close to the left side(my side) of the road, than we come across these random cars parked on the side of the road practically taking up the entire side of the road, or a bridge tat can only fit one car, so after navigating through the parked cars everywhere, and the one car bridges, we hit our next obstacle the traffic circles, which there are a lot of too. And doing all of this while going 80.i think the hardest part of getting to the house was trying to fine the street names, because they are not posted anywhere, so half the time we had no idea what road we were on, we had to turn around a lot.
My new friends:
I already have made some new friends, they are the greatest, and they don’t tell you when you stink, heck they don’t even talk to you. They are the cows and sheep that surround the farm house that we are staying at they are everywhere, so every morning my mom and I get to wake up to the lovely smell of cow and sheep poop, its what I always wanted to wake up to hehee J.
But hey all in all it has been a very adventurous day and I’m looking forward to the next day.

Just starting ...

Check back here for details on my
European adventures ... :)