I will be in America in 5 short days.

It's so strange. Everyone is excited.

We had our first 'debriefing' last night. I had mentioned that it worried me how everyone would react, but it went much better than anticipated. They accepted everything we said and I think everyone said what they wanted. We are having another one on Friday to work on solutions.... it'll be good.

So, I went to London a few days ago. I love being in a city, which is certainly new. I got to figure out the 'tube' (subway) system and we were set free for the entire time. We sat in on a service at Westminster Abbey and saw Big Ben, the London Eye, Tower Bridge, Buckinham Palace, SoHo, British Museum, etc.

I definitely liked London, and it was much less sketch than I imagined it to be.
Oxford I can't say that I was too crazy about. I did get to see where part of H.P. was filmed, but the rest of the city was pretty boring.

I want to tell stories or share something intersting... but it's 1 a.m. here so you'll have to forgive me.

I'm nearly done packing (of course) and I am ready to be done. I don't regret my time here by any means... but i'm ready to go back to the States.


We have a famous poet coming to speak to our class tomorrow named Michael Longley. It's supposed to be a big deal... he looks like Santa so i'm excited. :)

Billy, the leader from JBU, is here. He grew up in Belfast and to make a long story short- his dad was a leader in the Protestant terrorism group in the most dangerous area of Belfast. So he has an interesting take on everything. He took us to Shankill and Falls Road (where nearly all of the fighting took place) and it was completely fascinating. It's maybe a mile from where we are every week and there are murals all over the place depicting Protestant and Catholic hatred. The visit definitely helped to bring everything together. We wouldn't have understood anything going prior to this semester.

I can't think of much else...
I'll try to post once more before we head out.