Paris!

I figured that I would work my way through the trip backwards... just to make it all flow nicely. So here's the last place we went: Paris! My camera was either running out of pictures or batteries most of the time, so I only took a few. But here they are:David in front of the Louvre.

how the heck do you get pictures to go vertically? huh?
Anyway, this picture is for Brett Layman, because I know he loves Night in the Museum.
Gum Gum Dum Dum.

I pretty much found the best place to take pictures.

Like my hat?

Charge! David with my Umbrella (ella... etc.), roaming the streets of Paris!

The Luxembourg Gardens. I could just imagine Marius seeing Cosette sitting there with Jean ValJean on a bench. It was beautiful.

David and I in the Airport. There was a delay.

On the way home... with Tim too!

This was what I found in my mail from Emily Boisvert when I got home... Read it carefully: "There's beauty inside every woman. Share yours and win!" Let's hope there's some inside, because if THAT's what I look like, I've lost all hope! Mary Kay sucks at advertisments. Hahahaha.... I love this picture.

oooh! guess what!

I grew while I was gone! (taller, that is)

houston... we have a problem.

i'm gonna put up tons of pictures... but unfortunately i can't find my camera chord ANYWHERE. hence, my pictures are stuck in my camera. and i am utterly unable to show them to you! and i have a massive paper to write. simply MASSIVE. so, after that i'll put up lots of my numerous pictures. sorting through them is gonna be fun, that's for sure.

pictures... finally!

well, these are just some pictures from the first couple days... but still. better than nothing, eh?

The best picnic in a graveyard EVER!

ah! the tea book!
oh i love them!
Allie and Cristian and I

the doors here are the best

do unto others what you would have them do unto you, right danny?

this is danny wishing he could hold the camera still. ^
this yummy moss is everywhere... that's my building in the background.

my room!!

Arne wins the professor-look-alike award! AND the gentleman award.

mary, when she and cristian and i went out to tea at Auntie's Tea Shop.

With my beloved Granny!!

Why hello!
I spent a lovely rainy day traipsing around Shaftesbury. Robin made us a huge and almost exorbitantly healthy breakfast. Mary and Gran and I saw the famous GOLD HILL and drank a cup of tea at the top at a nice little restaurant at the top. It's crazy- that hill, with all it's cobblestoned streets and adorable little houses was built in the year 600. Loco head. Granny bought Mary and I rings (naughty girl! I think I'm going to put some money in some hidden remote place so she'll find it after we leave!) Then we went across the street and found a beautiful shop and bought clog galoshes- red with white polka dots. I was quite pleased about that. So, then we went to went to eat a roast chicken lunch at the Rose Cafe (yes, Mommy, we finally got our ROAST!). Finally, we waddled our stuffed selves up to Granny's house and played Rummykub and had tea and biscuits. And now, after a lovely dinner from Babs, I am just about to go to sleep. It seems as if all I have been doing today is EATING!

At Babs' House

I'm presently sitting at the computer at Babs' house. Yesterday, after classes, Mary and I went on the train for 4 hours and finally got to Shaftesbury. I had a wonderful dinner of Mackeral (a fish) and really yummy other stuff too. Then we went to sleep... and poked our little heads out of the beautifully comfortable duvets to see a wonderfully rainy day. I really was delighted. Now we're going to walk up to see Granny in the rain! Hooray!
Lots of love,
Rachel

Well Hello Family!
Hmmm... what have I been up to? Well, yesterday I worked on my Newspaper Assignment and got it DONE!!! Unfortunately, said finishing of paper was only accomplished at the hour of one am. Hence, I am a little sleepy. Well, I figure that I will tell you what every day pretty much looks like for me:
I get up in the morning, in my adorable little room, get ready, and get to breakfast as soon as is quite possible. The breakfast starts at 7:45 and is has a variety of choices: eggs, bacon, sausage, beans, and potatoes or yogurt with fruit or toast or croissants or rolls or cereal. Quite delicious, really. I have been eating such huge meals of breakfast and dinner. During my stay I will either become fat or skinny. Follow my reasoning, if you will. I eat so much at breakfast and dinner... and I mean a LOT. However, I don't eat very much for lunch and I don't really snack on anything, either. AND I walk everywhere (most of which is 15-20 minutes walk away). So... we'll see. I might just stay the same. ANYWAY, back to my day.
After breakfast, I go to my Shakespeare class. This class is so excellent and enjoyable in every way. Our teacher, Simon, is quite stellar (as Kristin Hoover would say) and is soooo knowledgeable. It seems as if he was born to teach. The discussions in his class are amazing and I love love love diving deeper into these Shakespeare books than ever before.
After that, I go to a Plenary Lecture at 10:30. These are on vaguely interesting subjects. The morning ones are on the theme of power. There have been some excellent ones, and some boring ones. The one yesterday was interesting, as it was on Stem Cell Research and differing points of view and stuff. (It made me wish I was majoring in Biology, parents! I was seriously so interested. I wish science wasn't so interesting, so it would be easier for me to make up my mind!) Anyway, these plenary lectures are good for some very enjoyable things: doodling on my notes and scratching the backs of people sitting next to me! hahahahaha... no, they're good otherwise, too.
My art class begins at 11:45: Revolution in the Arts from Impressionism to the Present. The discussions are great, the pictures are... well, I like a lot of them... I don't like some from expressionism or the girl painters from impressionism. I have been really enjoying cubism and fauvism and the art of the Russian revolution, though. It is one of the most informatively interesting classes I think that I have ever taken. It is definitely given me a new desire to see art and a new understanding of it. SO GOOD!
Then, at 1 when that class ends, I normally just go hang out and eat lunch. Sometimes I'll go to the grocery store with friends and put a pound in to buy a baguette and ham and cheese. And then have a picnic. That's always fun. Or I just hang out in someone's room. Like today, Cristian, Merit and I went to Cristian's room, ate matzo with yummy stuff for lunch and then ended up teaching Cristian how to do the Macarena for half an hour... HAHAHA... then we were learning this other funny little dance and Todd came and joined us for a little while. Oh my goodness! Good times!
OKAY, then after that I normally go work on homework for a couple hours in my room, or chill or read my Bible, or stuff like that. After that, I go to dinner at 6:30. Yum YUM yum. It's so funny, because all the stuff that we eat is stuff that I have all the time at home, since it's kind of British food. Everyone else never has it.
After dinner, I go to another Plenary Lecture at 8. And then at 9.... well, it varies what I'll do. Sometimes we go play cards in someone's room, or go sit at the pub that's there in Selwyn, or work on homework in the computer lab.... it just depends.
I am having so much fun, though. It is a lot of work, but I love the schedule. I love having to get up early and walking across the courtyard to breakfast. I love chatting on our way to Shakespeare class, as we pass through the most pristine and well kept gardens. I love going in to town and getting groceries and eating chocolate digestives all the way home. I just love it.
Well, I love you guys. Receive my x's and o's. (xoxoxoxoxoxox)

Wow. That was long. Good job, Rachel.

the weekend

So last weekend I went to go visit my Granny!! I was so fun seeing her and walking around Shaftesbury. We went to visit Babs and had tea and dinner with her, which was simply LOVELY. I love love love Shaftesbury. I have a lot of homework, though, so I have to go.

P.S. keyboards are so weird here!!!!

Hello Cambridge!

We arrived yesterday at 9:30am, after a long flight and a pleasant bus ride. Mary and I sat on the bus taking pictures. Our sleepy adoration of the breathtaking English countryside was appropriately accompanied by Sigur Ros. Once we arrived, I think we slowly figured out why Cambridge is such a big deal. It is majestic and breathtaking, and the past is so tangible. We walked through iron gates into Selwyn College, the place we're staying and saw the ivy-covered buildings with a perfect green courtyard and adjourning gardens with benches near fountains and the most classic dinner hall I have ever seen. It reminds me of Harry Potter's dinner hall, with long tables and people serving you different courses. The first day I walked around, had a picnic in an ancient graveyard, unpacked my things and successfully stayed awake until orientation at 8:30 pm. Then I put my head on my hands and slept through almost the entire thing. After that, I went back to my room and fell asleep very quickly.

This morning, I had my first classes. The Shakespeare class is taught by a distinctly English-looking man with a funny elongated mustache and a wonderful sense of humor. The second class is on revolution in art from Impressionism to the present. The teacher is a pleasant lady named Elizabeth who has a white bob of a haircut and is politely and persuasively passionate about the art which she teaches. For much of the class, I sat in the darkened lecture hall and watched her foreboding shadow on the wall above her from the lamp for her notes. Both lectures were engaging and informative. I can't wait to learn more.

I didn't bring my chord to upload pictures, but I will. Danny put some of mine up on his. I forget the name of his, though.

Well, making a blog has been a big enough step for me, so don't be surprised if I don't put up stuff every day.

Rachel