Season 2, Episode 12: No Longer Slaves
*whew* we made it!
You've just stepped off a plane at Heathrow airport in London, and you look around, blinking a bit groggily and filled with anticipation for what your next moves will be. You're a bit nervous- you've never been in London for quite so long, you've got a "project" that's not even halfway completed, you're in to try a host of new things with a group of people you've never met before...
You're a bit scared.
Enter me: March 18th, doing the same. And that's where I was for the start of unit three:
Don't misunderstand my intro there-I was ecstatic to go back to London. I've always loved the city -in a text message that I sent to a friend, I stated "I'm so happy and I'm excited right now and AH so much literary history in London I might cry," just to give you a clue of the excitement level (in case you were wondering, the response I received from my friend was "lol hold it together Fiddler")- and I was eager to return, this time for longer than 24 hours. And on the whole, London was great. To be entirely honest, I could probably have filled five blog posts with information about that trip itself, but that's not quite what I'm here for, so... (SO MANY COOL THINGS THOUGH)
Anyhow, during this entire unit, I was not in the U.S.A., which also made it wildly difficult to contact people and pray with them. We were also walking a ton (no joke, we averaged 12 miles of walking a day), so when we returned to our rooms at the end of the night, I was generally exhausted. I found it hard to concentrate on praying with people and studying the Bible when I was falling asleep while trying to finish homework assignments for our next day of class. It was a hard week, honestly, and challenging in ways that I didn't quite anticipate.
So, since this unit was about courage, let's talk about some things I was afraid of during this week, and go from there.
First, that I knew I wasn't going to be controlling my dinner. Maybe that sounds stupid, but when you keep in mind that I'm a pretty cautious eater to begin with, and then add that fact to the allergies I have, it makes a bit more sense. That's not to say I wasn't going to try anything new -I was really looking forward to it, but there was definitely a part of me that was terrified that I was going to go somewhere, eat something, and have an allergic reaction. It wasn't the most pleasant of thoughts, as you can probably imagine.
Second, that I wasn't going to be able to pray with people while in London. This was HUGE for me, in fact, a day or two before Lent started, I called one of my close friends to freak out over the phone about everything I was saying I was going to do. How was I going to be able to pray with people when I was nowhere near them? To me, the idea of not praying with the person felt like I was compromising the integrity of what I was doing, which made me more than a little disappointed with myself.
Third, screwing up this class. I got three credits for nine days of class, which basically meant that I needed to do well, or else my studying abroad could tank my GPA. I knew we would be expected to read things and write responses, but I didn't know what else to expect really, and I wasn't sure how to prepare myself adequately for whatever was coming.
Fourth, the plane ride. HAHAHAHAHA IF YOU'VE NEVER HEARD ME FREAK OUT ABOUT PLANES YOU HAVEN'T LIVED
Fifth, the terrorist act that occurred while I was there.
So I'm going to walk you through a few of those things here.
First, with food, I didn't have any issues. I was acutely aware of everything that I put into my body (not going to lie, probably somewhere near 30 croissants), and I was careful when I tried new things, and to my surprise, I liked them! (Maybe that wasn't the most surprising thing ever, but I was still pleased.)
Second, with prayer, well... I hit a bit of a roadblock there. I was only able to call a single person during that week, and it was on the first night that we were there. I remember being worried that time differences were going to cancel things out and make it so that I hadn't prayed with anyone on one day or another, but on the whole, it worked out. Unfortunately, due to time-zones, international data rates, and busyness, I wasn't able to actually pray with every person I had planned -but I was able to pray for them all. Yes, it was different, and yes, I felt a bit weird praying silently in the hostel room for my friends instead of out loud while on the phone with them, but it happened, and it worked, and I'm happy to have been able to succeed in that regard.
Third, with the class, I didn't fail, so that's a start. I ended up with a perfectly decent grade in the course, and also managed to make friends with the group of students who I had gone with. I had a fantastic time and was truly sad to leave both the city and the people I was with.
Fourth, with the plane ride... Well, I have to give credit to my friends here, who are notorious for distracting me during the preparation for takeoff. Normally, my friends from high school would send me statistics about things more likely to happen than my plane crashing. Shockingly, this doesn't usually help much. This time around though, I got into a lively discussion about the book of Judges in the Bible, Cru, whether it's fair to call me by my last name, and my imaginary husband. Needless to say, I was laughing much more than usual when the plane took off -many thanks to my delightful friends.
Fifth.
This one is an entirely different realm of fear. It was Wednesday afternoon, and we had been given our first bout of free time, so a group of us decided to congregate by the Tower of London. We had thought some people could go in if they wanted, and others of us could go across the Thames to see museums and outdoor markets and things, but instead, we were alerted to the events happening mere miles from us by my roommate, who had texted me as soon as she saw the news. All of our students were fine, and we quickly contacted both our professor and our family back home to update them and let them know that we were okay, but everyone was more than a bit shaken up.
I was the only one in our group of six or seven that day who had been to London before, and so I had been unofficially crowned our "guide" for the area, and as such, I felt that I needed to keep a level head about this, but in truth, I was just as terrified as the rest of them. One of the reasons that my parents had ruled out my going to school in London was because my dad was worried that there was going to be terrorist activity while I was there, and for that to happen while I was there for nine days was more than slightly jarring. Clearly, I was fine, but there wasn't really a way to reconcile the event itself in my mind, and so I found myself wary for the rest of the trip.
But in the midst of the fear and anxiety that I experienced regarding this unit, God used it in some incredible ways.
I had this joke with my friends in high school about my wanting to be reckless. They laughed at me (often and with enthusiasm) because they all knew me well enough to know that I hate breaking rules, because being called out for errors or mistakes stresses me out. They laughed because they knew I would never be this person who lived a life of reckless abandon, of spontaneity and change, or rule-breaking and exploration. But while in London, I did something that was a few steps down that alley, and honestly, it was incredible.
By now, many of you probably know that I had the opportunity to meet Daniel Radcliffe. (#I'mstillnotoverit) And yes, that was cool and all, but what I think was cooler was the way that it happened. To make a long story very, very short, it all came to be through a series of spontaneous and impetuous decisions that I normally would never have made. I asked the professor of the study abroad course if I could skip a portion of class, I ordered tickets online and had to pick them up at a location I'd never been to before, I navigated the streets to the theatre where our show was, I suggested that we go to the stage door after the show--all things (except for the navigation one) that I had never done before, because I hadn't had the courage.
But here I was, doing my thing. Living life and thriving while pretending to be an adult, and doing it well.
So that was pretty cool.
The other awesome thing that happened during this unit occurred on Saturday, our last full day in London. We had the entire morning to ourselves to do as we pleased, and so I woke up at the leisurely hour of 8:00 to do some work, and then by 11:00 had set out to explore the city.
I went down first to Baker Street (as that was one place I still had yet to go), and then afterward to a Modern Art Museum, both of which were neat experiences. My favorite part, though, was the realization that hit me in between those two locations.
On my way to the Tate (literally my favorite museum), I stopped at a little bookshop and got myself a nice little pencil-case and was perusing the other knick-knacks when I realized that this was the first time I had been fully alone the entire trip. As I've mentioned before, one of the things I had given up for Lent was secular music, but prior to this point in the week, I had practically given up all music while in London because there were never any opportune times to pull out some headphones and shuffle through one of my playlists.
On Saturday, though, I recognized that I could, and so for the first time since I had set foot in London, I put my headphones in and listened to some worship music.
Let me tell you, it was incredible.
I used to have a list in a journal somewhere of my favorite places; my "happy places", I called them. I had a reading nook in a tree in my backyard, the ice rink that I skated at, and camp as the main ones. I hadn't really thought about it much since middle school, but then suddenly, I was walking the streets of London on a slightly sunny March day while listening to worship music and everything was right in the world. Everything felt perfect, and it was a truly delightful moment to experience. I went on to continue listening to worship music at the Tate, which was equally as delightful.
So I found myself a bit thrown by transplanting to London for a week or so. I missed people from Cru (I found myself messaging the worship team's GroupMe very often- if any of you are reading this, I'm sorry lol) tremendously, and I found myself evaluating my relationships and my priorities and my fears and it was kind of crazy. But it was beautiful, regardless. I had an incredible time while there, and God showed me that I could still be used even if I was out of my traditional comfort zone or element (which was also pretty cool).
God had some neat plans for me during this week, and I'm not surprised that I was able to see some of them manifest themselves through courage. It's funny to me because what I learned during this unit, I applied in the later ones, so I definitely did some growing -even though I wasn't quite sure if I had.
So that's where my courage unit ends, and that's also where things start to get more interesting -but I'll leave you all on a cliffhanger for what came next in my delightfully crazy life.
"Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go." Joshua 1:9
Signing off,
Amanda
You've just stepped off a plane at Heathrow airport in London, and you look around, blinking a bit groggily and filled with anticipation for what your next moves will be. You're a bit nervous- you've never been in London for quite so long, you've got a "project" that's not even halfway completed, you're in to try a host of new things with a group of people you've never met before...
You're a bit scared.
Enter me: March 18th, doing the same. And that's where I was for the start of unit three:
Courage.
Don't misunderstand my intro there-I was ecstatic to go back to London. I've always loved the city -in a text message that I sent to a friend, I stated "I'm so happy and I'm excited right now and AH so much literary history in London I might cry," just to give you a clue of the excitement level (in case you were wondering, the response I received from my friend was "lol hold it together Fiddler")- and I was eager to return, this time for longer than 24 hours. And on the whole, London was great. To be entirely honest, I could probably have filled five blog posts with information about that trip itself, but that's not quite what I'm here for, so... (SO MANY COOL THINGS THOUGH)
So, since this unit was about courage, let's talk about some things I was afraid of during this week, and go from there.
First, that I knew I wasn't going to be controlling my dinner. Maybe that sounds stupid, but when you keep in mind that I'm a pretty cautious eater to begin with, and then add that fact to the allergies I have, it makes a bit more sense. That's not to say I wasn't going to try anything new -I was really looking forward to it, but there was definitely a part of me that was terrified that I was going to go somewhere, eat something, and have an allergic reaction. It wasn't the most pleasant of thoughts, as you can probably imagine.
Third, screwing up this class. I got three credits for nine days of class, which basically meant that I needed to do well, or else my studying abroad could tank my GPA. I knew we would be expected to read things and write responses, but I didn't know what else to expect really, and I wasn't sure how to prepare myself adequately for whatever was coming.
Fourth, the plane ride. HAHAHAHAHA IF YOU'VE NEVER HEARD ME FREAK OUT ABOUT PLANES YOU HAVEN'T LIVED
Fifth, the terrorist act that occurred while I was there.
So I'm going to walk you through a few of those things here.
First, with food, I didn't have any issues. I was acutely aware of everything that I put into my body (not going to lie, probably somewhere near 30 croissants), and I was careful when I tried new things, and to my surprise, I liked them! (Maybe that wasn't the most surprising thing ever, but I was still pleased.)
Second, with prayer, well... I hit a bit of a roadblock there. I was only able to call a single person during that week, and it was on the first night that we were there. I remember being worried that time differences were going to cancel things out and make it so that I hadn't prayed with anyone on one day or another, but on the whole, it worked out. Unfortunately, due to time-zones, international data rates, and busyness, I wasn't able to actually pray with every person I had planned -but I was able to pray for them all. Yes, it was different, and yes, I felt a bit weird praying silently in the hostel room for my friends instead of out loud while on the phone with them, but it happened, and it worked, and I'm happy to have been able to succeed in that regard.
Third, with the class, I didn't fail, so that's a start. I ended up with a perfectly decent grade in the course, and also managed to make friends with the group of students who I had gone with. I had a fantastic time and was truly sad to leave both the city and the people I was with.
Fourth, with the plane ride... Well, I have to give credit to my friends here, who are notorious for distracting me during the preparation for takeoff. Normally, my friends from high school would send me statistics about things more likely to happen than my plane crashing. Shockingly, this doesn't usually help much. This time around though, I got into a lively discussion about the book of Judges in the Bible, Cru, whether it's fair to call me by my last name, and my imaginary husband. Needless to say, I was laughing much more than usual when the plane took off -many thanks to my delightful friends.
This one is an entirely different realm of fear. It was Wednesday afternoon, and we had been given our first bout of free time, so a group of us decided to congregate by the Tower of London. We had thought some people could go in if they wanted, and others of us could go across the Thames to see museums and outdoor markets and things, but instead, we were alerted to the events happening mere miles from us by my roommate, who had texted me as soon as she saw the news. All of our students were fine, and we quickly contacted both our professor and our family back home to update them and let them know that we were okay, but everyone was more than a bit shaken up.
I was the only one in our group of six or seven that day who had been to London before, and so I had been unofficially crowned our "guide" for the area, and as such, I felt that I needed to keep a level head about this, but in truth, I was just as terrified as the rest of them. One of the reasons that my parents had ruled out my going to school in London was because my dad was worried that there was going to be terrorist activity while I was there, and for that to happen while I was there for nine days was more than slightly jarring. Clearly, I was fine, but there wasn't really a way to reconcile the event itself in my mind, and so I found myself wary for the rest of the trip.
But in the midst of the fear and anxiety that I experienced regarding this unit, God used it in some incredible ways.
By now, many of you probably know that I had the opportunity to meet Daniel Radcliffe. (#I'mstillnotoverit) And yes, that was cool and all, but what I think was cooler was the way that it happened. To make a long story very, very short, it all came to be through a series of spontaneous and impetuous decisions that I normally would never have made. I asked the professor of the study abroad course if I could skip a portion of class, I ordered tickets online and had to pick them up at a location I'd never been to before, I navigated the streets to the theatre where our show was, I suggested that we go to the stage door after the show--all things (except for the navigation one) that I had never done before, because I hadn't had the courage.
But here I was, doing my thing. Living life and thriving while pretending to be an adult, and doing it well.
So that was pretty cool.
The other awesome thing that happened during this unit occurred on Saturday, our last full day in London. We had the entire morning to ourselves to do as we pleased, and so I woke up at the leisurely hour of 8:00 to do some work, and then by 11:00 had set out to explore the city.
I went down first to Baker Street (as that was one place I still had yet to go), and then afterward to a Modern Art Museum, both of which were neat experiences. My favorite part, though, was the realization that hit me in between those two locations.
On my way to the Tate (literally my favorite museum), I stopped at a little bookshop and got myself a nice little pencil-case and was perusing the other knick-knacks when I realized that this was the first time I had been fully alone the entire trip. As I've mentioned before, one of the things I had given up for Lent was secular music, but prior to this point in the week, I had practically given up all music while in London because there were never any opportune times to pull out some headphones and shuffle through one of my playlists.
Let me tell you, it was incredible.
I used to have a list in a journal somewhere of my favorite places; my "happy places", I called them. I had a reading nook in a tree in my backyard, the ice rink that I skated at, and camp as the main ones. I hadn't really thought about it much since middle school, but then suddenly, I was walking the streets of London on a slightly sunny March day while listening to worship music and everything was right in the world. Everything felt perfect, and it was a truly delightful moment to experience. I went on to continue listening to worship music at the Tate, which was equally as delightful.
So I found myself a bit thrown by transplanting to London for a week or so. I missed people from Cru (I found myself messaging the worship team's GroupMe very often- if any of you are reading this, I'm sorry lol) tremendously, and I found myself evaluating my relationships and my priorities and my fears and it was kind of crazy. But it was beautiful, regardless. I had an incredible time while there, and God showed me that I could still be used even if I was out of my traditional comfort zone or element (which was also pretty cool).
God had some neat plans for me during this week, and I'm not surprised that I was able to see some of them manifest themselves through courage. It's funny to me because what I learned during this unit, I applied in the later ones, so I definitely did some growing -even though I wasn't quite sure if I had.
"Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go." Joshua 1:9
Signing off,
Amanda
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