Living Life with an Arielle View

Day 2: Greetings from Turkey!!

2011-06-18T07:39:00.000-07:00

Part One:

It is currently 5:40 am in Bend and there is WiFi, but its all in Turkish, so I have no idea when this will actually be posted. I have been up for 23 hours with the exception of about 2 ½ hours on the plane and a short nap on the other drive. All things considered I am rather awake. I have definitely been more tired during previous travels, however I still have 5 hours until I can go to sleep. We landed in Istanbul approximately 1 ½ hours ago and it took over an hour to get visas, go through passport control and collect our bags. During the last few years, I have primarily traveled by myself with the exception of Youth In Mission last summer. I really like traveling by myself. There is something peaceful about knowing that I am only responsible for myself. I love my parents, but it has been a long day of being part of a traveling unit!

My mom found a coke zero so she is loving having a little caffeine pick-me-up. My dad is pacing because Abbey’s flight in from Warsaw, Poland is about 20 minutes late. I cannot wait to see her, I have missed her SO MUCH! It will be nice to have all of us in one place (except for Tavish of course). We will spend tomorrow in Istanbul and from there head out to see some of the sites of Turkey!!! The Greek mythology nut that I am is really excited to see Troy! We will also be seeing biblical sites such as: Ephesus, Philadelphia, Sardis, and Colossae to name a few. Then we will get on a cruise ship and go to Crete, the Isle of Patmos and Santorini. Then we will travel around Greece for a few days, before heading to Hawaii for a month.

Part Two:

My mom and I have made it to the Hotel and are waiting for Dad and Abbey to get here. I am so excited for this adventure to start! This, however, will be one unusual vacation. In seeing some of the people here, I believe that Abbey and I are the youngest tour goers and there are some quirky people. One guy was telling everyone to wear their name tags. I am not a nametag person, so we will see how that goes. I did finally hit the jet lag wall, and feel like I am ready to sleep for a very very very very long time! Tomorrow we are going to explore Istanbul so hopefully I will be able to get some great shots and edit them to put up on here and on Facebook!!

Grace and Peace,

Arielle

Sabbatical Day 1: Portland Airport

2011-06-16T22:14:00.000-07:00

So I am sure many of you are wondering how this incredible vacation that my family is partaking of is possible. My dad has been pastoring the Bend Church of the Nazarene now for 8 years. Every 7 years in the Church of the Nazarene a pastor is given a sabbatical, and this trip could not come at a better time! The first two weeks of the trip I view as the academic portion where we will travel around Biblical sites in Turkey and Greece. From there we are flying to Kona, Hawaii to rest and recharge as a family.

Today we are flying from Portland to Instanbul via Amsterdam. Who knew that you could get a direct flight from Portland to Amsterdam, but I am excited to fly over the Polar Ice Cap.

It should be an exciting trip and I will definitely post more when I have internet again!!!

Grace and Peace,

Arielle

Trip to Oklahoma!

2011-05-24T20:35:00.000-07:00

Well, everything is starting to come together as I am now less than 3 months out from my move to Oklahoma!

I have put together a map to help you all visualize the journey that my mom and I will embark on, come August 7th.

View The Journey from Oregon to Oklahoma in a larger map

If anyone has any fun ideas of places my mom and I should stop along this route, please comment so that we will have fun things to do besides drive!

Dearest Family and Friends...

2011-03-29T11:41:00.000-07:00

I realize that I have not written on this blog in over a year. However, as I approach graduation I reminded of all the crazy moments that have taken place and how I am excited for the next batch of memories. This summer I will be traveling with my family from mid-June to the end of July before I move to Norman, OK to begin graduate word at the University of Oklahoma. This summer I am hoping to use my father sabbatical to recharge my life and grow closer to God. I am hoping to blog about this journey and keep you all updated on what is going on.

I have been blessed with incredible opportunities and I cannot wait to see what will happen next. Thank you all for your friendship.

Arielle

Update on Summer Plans

2010-01-26T21:06:00.000-08:00

Well, I still cannot tell you where I am going this summer, but I CAN tell you all that I am going to a Creative Access Country where the Nazarene Church as an Unofficial presence. While spending 7 weeks there I shall be living at a University taking language classes and doing relational ministries with my fellow students! I will be going with 4 other students from across the country from other Nazarene schools. It will be an amazing opportunity to interact with other Christians from around the country and around the world!

If you would like to help me out in this effort to bring the Gospel to another country please check out my website where there is information about my trip and my life.

http://web.nazarene.org/goto/arielle.r.askren

Thank you so much for any support that you give! Prayers are much appreciated!!!

Grace and Peace be with you!

Arielle Askren

Back at NNU!

2010-01-18T19:45:00.000-08:00

Well, the transition home has been a little difficult but its definitely getting easier! This last weekend I went with Crusader Choir on a trip up to Spokane and Lewiston. It was great to get to hang out with friends again and really bond with the choir! I have two amazing roommates here who have helped make the transition pretty easy... Also, I got my grades from Oxford and I did pretty well!!! That also helped me feel like the semester was even more of a success and I can take what I learned there and apply it to life back in Nampa.

Currently I am missing A LOT of people from the program. I got to spend the last semester studying and getting to know a group of truly incredible people and having them less connected to my life has been hard. A few weeks ago I found out that I have to opportunity to be a part of the Nazarene Church's Youth in Mission summer programme. I am not quite sure if I can publish where I am going, so for now I shall not, but lets just say it is an AMAZING location where serving will be challenging and very rewarding!!!

This last year has been difficult but amazing! I have grown up a lot. I am not the same person who saw in 2009. God has blessed my life by showing me ways to grow and paths to take! While I do not know the career that I will always strive to lead the life that I am called to live. Life has had its twists and turns, but God is always faithful!

I hope that everything is going fine for you, my readers whoever you are!

Grace and Peace,

Arielle

Oxford Life: LAST POST!!!!

2009-12-12T04:21:00.000-08:00

Upon Reflection, I have no idea why the numbers are off for the Post titles... anyway

Today is my last full day in Oxford, the thought of which makes me really sad and really hopeful! It is incredible that I have had the opportunity to live here this semester and I feel so very blessed that I have been able to do this. Last week I talked a little about the emotional processes that I have been going through. Packing things up today make me only realize this more. I cannot believe how quickly the time has gone and that I have lasted this long here!

A huge portion of the people in the program have left, saying goodbye to them was quite difficult. I have met the most amazing people in this program. Their personalities and spirits helped me keep going through all of the academic and emotional issues that the past few months have had in them. All in all I wrote approximately 31, 847 words, give or take a hundred. I read over 100 books. I slept a fair amount. I laughed over a million times. This semester is full of numbers and memories that I will cherish for the rest of my life. Coming here was the best decision I have ever made. I have found myself, I like myself, I enjoy who I have become. I will miss the friendships I have made more than anything. And I pray that they will continue.

God is good. Even when I question my journey, He knows where I am going. Having trust can be a hard thing to do, but in the end it will lead you to a good place.

Well, I have a little bit more packing to do and presents to buy. Thank you for reading my blog this semester, I have felt your prayers and loved your comments.

Arielle Askren

Below is a group shot of all the SCIO students and staff and the second picture is JCR, the student planning committee I was on this semester...

Scholars Semester in Oxford Michaelmas Term 2009

Junior Common Room Michaelmas Term 2009

Updated Look

2009-12-07T14:57:00.000-08:00

So I figured that my time in England is ending and I need a new look for the blog. I am hoping to keep this going just to keep my family and friends updated on life! God Bless!

Oxford Life: Week Twelve

2009-12-06T05:41:00.000-08:00

Greetings from a Bus going from London to Oxford,

Well, today is my last full Sunday in the land that has completely captured my heart.
It is weird to think how quickly time has progressed and that I am already to this point. It feels like it was just yesterday that I groggily found my house and met the people that would change who I am. This experience has been absolutely incredible and I am glad that God has brought me to this point. I remember coming and being so freaked out over what this time would be like. While being here I have grown, not only academically, but emotionally and mentally as well. I remember being scared to 'grow up', but being here I have learned that being mature and learning you can do things on your own is not all that scary. It is rather invigorating. I have done and seen things this semester that I never thought I would ever have the opportunity to see. This past weekend I have been in London. On Friday I came with a group of people from the other house in our program. Due to the craziness of the bus schedules we ended up on different buses. When I realized that there was a high likelihood that we were not going to be able to meet up, I freaked out at first. Then I realized that while it would be interesting, I fully had the capacity to survive and enjoy London. It turned out that the bus I was on passed there bus at the Park and Ride outside of Oxford, I took this opportunity to run downstairs, and convince both bus drivers to let me switch buses. It was a very fun day! We went to the British Museum, which is SOOO impressive, there are pictures on facebook that I am tagged in, check them out! We after that we made our way to King's Cross and got our pictures taken at Platform 9 3/4! Followed by a west end showing of the 39 Steps, a Hitchcock film that they turned into a comedy play. It was incredible.

Following this I had another moment of adulthood as I left that group to meet up with my two roommates at a random underground station on the other end of the city. We were able to meet up and found our way to the flat in which we stayed the night. Saturday, yesterday, we walked around London and saw Big Ben/Parliment... I got my picture taken with the Oliver Cromwell Statue!!!!!(ok, i'm a nerd, what can i say?) and saw a good portion of Westminister Abbey (the outside, cause we are cheep) We then walked around Hyde Park/Kensington Gardens and saw the Peter Pan statue! The last day stop we made was a pilgrimmage to Abbey Road!!!! I KNOW!!! AMAZINGNESS!!!
The evening concluded with the three of us going and seeing Eddie Izzard at the Wembly Arena. For those of you who do not know, Eddie Izzard is a comedian who I find HILARIOUS! The last two years of college my friends and I would watch his clips on Youtube or get his videos from the library and watch them. Seeing him was INCREDIBLE!

Time in general has been flying by, and it is strange to think of all that has happened! I feel complete in the fact that God has me where I am supposed to be and that my life is a beautiful journey that is leading into an incredible future. I may not know all of the details, but I do know that I don't have to worry!

Thank you all so much for keeping me in your thoughts and prayers this semester. I love you all so much and cannot wait to get home and spend time with everyone!

Love,
Arielle

Oxford Life: Week Eleven

2009-11-29T07:02:00.000-08:00

Hello All,
Sorry, life here has been a little crazy all this last week. I like to call it, the week of the 2 Thanksgivings.
As you know, last weekend I was in Bucharest with Calcy. It was such a great weekend, we walked a great deal around the city and saw a lot of very interesting places. Including the Palace of Parliament and Revolutionary Square. It was so much fun just hanging out. One thing that really struck me about being there was the fact that when I was born Romania was still a Communist Country. It was nice just to hang out with an old friend and visit a place that I never thought I would ever go.

This last week I spent a great deal of time writing and a great deal of time cooking. It was also just a fun week spending time with friends! Monday I read and relaxed, and then on Tuesday I went over to the over SCIO house here and a friend made dinner for our food group, Wednesday I read A LOT and wrote even more. And I again went over to the Vines to watch a movie that they were showing that night. Thursday, while it was Thanksgiving, also brought around a tutorial and LOTS of cooking. I made my famlies Grammy Rolls and I also made a pumpkin pie... The pie I had to make from fresh pumpkin because I could not find it in the can. However, due to this fact I discovered the awesomness of fresh pumpkin and never want to cook with cannned pumpkin again!
Thursday night was fun my roommate made a turkey and lots of other homemade goodies and it might have been one of my favorite Thanksgivings. It is such a blessing to have a great group of people here that I count among my close friends and I greatly enjoy being around.

Friday, I spent a good number of hours at the other house again cooking Turkeys. While it was a bit of a walk, it was a lot of fun and I really like hanging out with them.

Saturday was the day of MASSIVE amounts of food. We went over to the Vines at around 11 with 23 cans of cranberry sauce in tow, as well as a fresh pumpkin pie( pie #2... also incredible, what can I say, I rock at pie making) It was such a fun day hanging out with friends and realizing all the joys in life to be thankful for.

I feel so blessed to be able to spend time here in England, and I want to thank all of you for thinking about me during my time here!

God Bless,
Arielle

Oxford Life: Week Ten

2009-11-19T15:37:00.000-08:00

Hello All!
This weekend I shall be in Bucharest, Romania! I hence, I shall be gone and not have access to a computer to write this weekend... Hopefully, I shall write a post on Monday.

LOVE YOU ALL!!!!

Arielle

Oxford Life: Week Nine

2009-11-15T02:28:00.000-08:00

Greetings from Oxford!
Well, I have survived week #5 of term. Yesterday I pasted the 1 month til home date. This honestly freaked me out a little, its weird to think how fast the time has gone, and the fact that I have a lot to do in the next few weeks!
Besides the fact of the looming departure date, I have had problems concentrating on schoolwork. So today is sit in the cafe and get research and outline done! I have faith that this will be accomplished... I have goals, I can do it!

Next weekend I am going to Romania to visit my very close friend Calcy. It will be a lot of fun, I'm planning on being in Bucharest for 2 days and just see the city. I'm looking forward to it!!!

So currently I am sitting in a cafe right next to two very academic, very British men who are conversing on very wise matters that they can solve with their great brains... It's rather humorous to listen to!

Well, sorry this week is rather short! I hope that you all have a wonderful day!

Much Love,
Arielle

Oxford Life: Week Eight

2009-11-08T06:46:00.000-08:00

Hello!
Sorry for my lack of writing yesterday, I got caught up in some things and completely forgot to do another entry. Oh well, last night I went to the Opera and it was exquisite. It was the Welsh National Opera and their production of Madame Butterfly. I definitely spend a good portion of Acts 2 and 3 crying. It was very sad and very beautiful. The singing was fantastic and the story was extremely moving. I went with my two roommates and we got all dressed up and had a very fun girls night out. The last week was very stressful school-wise, as I am still trying to get a handle on my issues with procrastination. Meaning that Wednesday night I was really tired, really behind, and not understanding what I was writing on. This led to a very poor paper that I turned in on Thursday. Hopefully this week I am off to sturdier start.

Another thing that I have done is baked... In the last week I have made 2 loaves of bread, pizza, cinnamon rolls and I currently am baking a cake... Why you ask? I have no idea. I like making dough because it is nice to take out stressed while kneading, and the cake I made because I have had a thing of cake mix that I bought the first weekend here that has just been chillin in my cupboard waiting to be made.

We have about 5 weeks left, which is so crazy to me. Time here has been flying by and I am excited to see what will be accomplished in the next 5 weeks! Please keep me in your prayers that I made finish strong and learn a lot from this experience! I hope you all have a wonderful week!

God Bless,
Arielle

Oxford Life: Week Seven

2009-11-01T07:24:00.000-08:00

Greetings Everyone!
I hope that you all had a great week and an awesome Halloween! Due to the festivities yesterday I was unable to post, but I hope that posting today is sufficient!
I am a member of the SCIO Junior Common Room, which is like a class council. For Halloween we decided to do a secret murder mystery party at the other house. For this party we decided to have it be a masquerade and have an opportunity for people to make masks before hand. The first part of the party was yesterday afternoon at the Crick Road House (where I live). So for two hours we opened our doors and had about 40 people come and make some pretty incredible masks for the evening. I was in charge of hosting it, along with one other person, and most of my attention was involved with greeting people and making some of the best apple cider in the entire world! Pretty much I made it from scratched, which included apply juice and a whole bunch of random spices, that I kept mixing together. I feel that it went pretty well...

The second half of the evening went very well! We were able to surprise everyone by introducing a murder mystery and it was a lot of fun to get to hang out with everyone in a non-academic setting! I went as Simon Schama for Halloween, this is the Historian that did the documentary that we watched the first few weeks here! It was a lot of fun and everyone at the party really got into their costumes which just made for a great time!

Oxford life seems to be getting more and more hectic, there is never an end to the reading and writing that we do! As soon as you finish one paper, you immediately need to start on the next one! AH! It can get rather crazy at times! I cannot believe it is already novemeber! I have about 6 weeks left in Oxford, and time keeps going faster and faster!

Have a great day!!

Love,
Arielle

Oxford Life: Week Six

2009-10-24T01:18:00.001-07:00

Happy Saturday Everyone!
Well, another week comes to a close here in Oxfordshire as I start plotting how to tackle next week. I learned a lot of things while in England this week, first was that I really like Aristotle, second that I need to do way more reading then I have been doing, and third that Oxford is the academic equivalent to the twilight zone. I will explain when I have learned these things.

#1
I really like the way Aristotle writes and puts things about humanity. While I do not agree with everything by Aristotle, the past two weeks I have really enjoyed reading him.
This brings me to lesson number 2

#2
I really really really need to read more. Oxford is this crazy place, where part of me does not belong. Meaning that I have to devote myself to my studies a great deal more. This has definately been a learning process for me. I feel like I am always rushing and then when I crash, I can't really do anything. On Thursday I kind of collapsed on my bed and was unable to do anything the rest of the day. I did go to Bible study on Thursday night, which was a great time of learning and fellowship.

#3
Oxford is the academic equivalent of the Twilight Zone. Why is this you ask? Here the construction workers read Wuthering Heights, the students spend hours upon hours in the libraries and still have time for a social life. Here, you can be walking down the road and hear about 20 conversations ranging from wolrd politics to what is God, to how can one define Good and Evil. There is a phrase that we throw around here "Oxford, where your best is never good enough." And personally I feel that this is true. I have never be questioned, or examined as much as I have been here... My roommate describes time in Oxford like being in a pressure cooker. One of my tutors said that pretty much here, you go go go go go go go and then at the end of term you collapse. I don't understand at times how people can go here and still come out with their humanity...

I think this is one of the reasons why I am so glad that I have found a church that I like. I think in the states during studies we can, at times, get caught up in the church pharses without looking at scripture. At the church I am going to here, each we we sit down with a section of scripture and pull from it and learn from it. It is really cool to hear various opinions about what they think is going on within the scripture. To examine the actual Bible is really cool, and through this I am learning that I know more of the Bible then I originally thought, which was a pretty cool relvelation.

Sorry this weeks is not has long as they have been. I have a lot to do today and I just finished drinking my cup of tea, so I am off to the library for a fun day of learning and figuring out what I am going to write my Long Essay on! Please keep in touch! Thank you for keeping me in your thoughts and prayers!!!

Arielle

Oxford Life: Week Five

2009-10-17T09:36:00.001-07:00

Hello All!
I hope that you all have had a marvelous week! I have had a cold this week, which has NOT been fun! Hmm... I'm trying to think of what to write. This week was a little hectic due to the fact that it was the first week of term. Term here is Oxford is very different from school in the US.
So I shall give you all a play-by-play of my week:

Monday: Canadian Thanksgiving
I am a member of the JCR: Junior Common Room, its kinda like a class council/SGA for all of us in our program. Within the group of 60 of us, there are about 2-3 Canadians so we decided to throw them a Candaian Thanksgiving pancake party! It was a lot of fun and got a little hectic with everyone coming into our program office... But it was totally worth it! A group even sang the Canadian National Anthem!
The rest of the day I went to a lecture and spent time in the library researching. The lecture that I went to was British History VI... Pretty much it is a lecture series on history in England from 1800-1915! I actually really liked it, because while I know quite a bit about American History and Politics it was interesting to find out the history of an entirely different country taught from there viewpoint. Gotta love all of the angles!

Tuesday:
I had a lecture on Theories of Politics. It was very interesting and I was able to understand about 99% of what the professor was teaching on! I also met some really awesome people and just had a great time. From there I went to the library and studied some more. I was working on a paper about the Aristotellian State. So tuesday was defiantely Aristotle day! Also in the afternoon I went and had tea at our program office Frewin Court. Every week our Tutor of Student Affairs holds a tea for us where we just get to hang out and socialize a little. I also had a JCR meeting where we planned out some fun events for the rest of the term. JCR is realy fun because all the other people on it live in the other house, so its great to get the chance to socialze with them and get to know them better! After the meeting I went back to the library and read more Aristotle.

As you are probably catching life in Oxford revolves around 4 key places: My house, the program office, the library and the exam schools where all of my lectures are!

Wednesday:
This was the day that my cold decided to come out in full force! Which was not that much fun considering that it was my most hectic day. So on Wednesday I had 2 lectures in the late morning/early afternoon, followed by our programs weekly Vocation and Scholarship lecture. It was great to be able to see everyone in the program in one place and it followed with all of us having tea together. From here I went back to the library because my essay was due the next morning. I didn't last long at the library though due to the fever that developed :-(

Thursday:
I decided that I would sleep and finish it all in the morning which I did. By this point I was really sick and so I was unable to make it to my tutorial. We were able to reschedule it, which was very nice of my tutor. The rest of Thursday I spent in bed only to go out to make a doctor's appointment for Friday. It was really good just to spend a day in bed not doing anything.

Friday:
I started feeling better, but still rather sick, so I went to the Doctors appointment where he told me... that I had a cold! I know right, I was not happy to pay a person to tell me that I had a cold, but oh well that is life. Friday was another day where I did a little researcg but mainly stayed in bed.

Saturday:
And well, that brings us to right here. Where I literally spendt all day in the library reseraching whether Irish Feinianism is an ideology or a tradition! I know right, sounds like SO much fun. I really do find it really interesting, but I know nothing about it, and at times it feels rather obscure. So I am pretty much trying to learn as much as I can.

Well, that was my week! Yay being an Oxford student!!! Life here is crazy and hectic, but its great to know that I have some amazing friends here and also everyone who is in the states! Thank you all for you support!

Have a great week everyone!!!

Arielle

Oxford Life: Week Five

2009-10-10T07:54:00.000-07:00

Hey All!

I hope that you had a wonderful week! Things in Oxford have been a bit hectic. On Tuesday afternoon I got back from Spain. We had such a wonderful time during break. Break consisted of walking to the beach and laying in the sun... Awesome right?!?!?!

Well this is zero week of term here in the lovely city of Oxford. Which means that all of the students are getting back for Michaelmas term. It is amazing how the city literally transformed overnight. Also what changed overnight was the weather. Before we left for Spain the weather in England as been amazing and warm. Things here and been wonderful. In Malaga the weather was in the 80s and 90s! But, of course, the moment that we land in England... RAIN! (and yes, I realize that I used a lot of exclamation marks)

Anyways, back to Oxford. So this week we have been getting ready for tutorials and lectures to start up next week. I have met with one of my tutors already. It is for my tutorial on Irish Nationalism, Politics and Culture which is looking like it will be a very interesting class. The meeting went so well and it sounds like it will be a class that I will really learn a lot in. With this time of year also means that there are a great number of social activities are beginning. I have always loved being involved with as many things as possible. This year, however, I am taking a different approach. While before I have pushed myself to the point of madness, this year I am only going to be involved in a few activities mainly concentrating on my academics. I know, its a different approach, but I figure that I will give this a shot! :-)

This week has also been great in my church fellowship. On Thursday night I attended my church's undergrad bible study. I had such an amazing time! The people at this church are so welcoming and kind. The way that the bible study works is really cool, because each week we share a meal together followed by discussion, speaker and prayer. The main point of this fellowship time is to encourage and grow in God. I find this approach so refreshing and welcoming. I love finding a community that is totally and completely welcoming and truly radiating the love of Christ.

I have also done a lot of walking this week. Walking leads to contemplation. Contemplation leads to a lot of thinking. Thinking is great, especially when you are going through one of those times in your life. Within life there are stages of growth and maturation. I feel that each day I find myself more and more. I have learned to relax a lot and find enjoyment in the small things of life. Its amazing the changes that happen when you are willing to listen to God's will. I have no idea where my life is going or what His plan for me is, but I do know that I am where I am supposed to be. I have also found that I am happy with the person that I am. Life is not easy and it is full of painful moments, but I have come to the realization that life is a journey. Constantly moving, constantly pushing me and helping me grow.

I am so thankful for all of the people that God has brought into my life!

Thanks for reading!
Arielle

Oxford Life: Week Four

2009-10-03T00:45:00.000-07:00

Greetings from Malaga, Spain!!!

Hello All,
This week was one that I would really like to forget in all honesty. I had two papers due, which caused a great deal of stress leading up to the day that I had to turn them in, Thursday. I was able to finish them though. I'm not sure how well, but they are done. And so my friends and I decided to take a little vacation... IN SPAIN! I know, it sounds kinda random, but it is. A few weeks ago we knew the break was coming up so we started brainstorming places to go, and I just had one requirement... putting my feet in the Mediterranean. So, this week finally arrived and after trying to write two 2000 word essays, Thursday arrived and I was able to make it through the day with about 3 1/2 hours of sleep... We spent all day Thursday at the Imperial War Museum in London. I saw a lot of guns, a lot of uniforms, and a lot of very strange hallways... It was a huge museum with lots of very interesting things in it, but unfortunately I was a little to tired to care. Life Lesson Learned: DO NOT PROCRASTINATE!

After the very long day at the Musuem ended we waited outside for the car we hired to pick us up. Little did we know that the car was on the other side of the street. So after waiting about 10 minutes we finally spotted it. Our cab driver told us that normally the drive to Gatwick takes about 25-35 minutes. We unfortunately happened to make the drive on a day that took 1 1/2 hours to get to the airport. We finally arrived at the airport, and discovered that British Airport Security are the nicest people in the world. One member of the group forgot to take out the liquids from her bag, but the woman that searched the bag was so kind. We got the the gate with plenty of time. Which was nice because none of us really felt like rushing around.

The plane ride only took 2 hours and 23 minutes. It was really interesting flying over the english channel because one moment you are looking at england and within 5 minutes England goes out of site and you see France. We landed in Spain at around 10:40ish pm and went through customs. IT IS SO EASY TO COME TO SPAIN! All they did was make sure our face matched our passport and then stamped it. We got a cab and made it to our hostel. It is quite an exciting place. The colors are bright, the people are nice, and they all speak spanish, which I do not. Thankfully a good deal of them also speak english. We spent a lot of yesterday at the beach, relaxing in the warm sun. It is soo hot here, and not that humid which is nice. So far it has been a very nice relaxing vaction before everything starts next week. Being here has made me want to learn spanish. I wish that there were more ways that I could engage the culture while being here. they are such a unique and fascinating people.

Well, I'm going to go grab some breakfast. But check on facebook wednesday and I will hopefully have some more England pictures up as well as Spain pics!!!

I hope that everyone has a great week!!!

Love,
Arielle

Oxford Life: Week Three

2009-09-26T07:58:00.000-07:00

A Saturday Stroll in Oxford

Well, this week I decided to post some oxford pictures! So while walking home from the Bodleian Library, I chronicled my journey through pictures!

Here I am reading in the Bodeleian... YAY The Language of 1984, I'm writing about George Orwell in the case study that I am currently working on...

Oh Look at the time!!! It is time to walk back to my house!!!

So I left the Bodelean only to look up and see the face of Charles I staring back at me... Awesome Old Buildings!!!!

After Leaving the Quadrangle of the Bod, I got to walk by the Bridge of Sighs... and of course, I sighed.

Here is a typical Oxford Saturday Street... Unfortunately in Oxford Saturday is Tourist day... DUN DUN DUN

This is the outside of the Sheldonian Theatre, Including the awesome faces outside of the theatre!

Some graduates walking to the Sheldonian for their graduation ceremony...

The colorful buildings of the city!

Would it be England without the bright red Telephone Booth??? I think NOT!

A taxi out side of Mary Mags Church! I really like how this picture turned out. Mary Mag's is a medieval church that is absolutely beautiful!

The Martyrs Memorial outside of Mary Mag's... It commemorates the lives of three men who died during the Reformation

If you look closely you can see the Greens Cafe(favorite cafe) and the Eagle & Child(C.S. Lewis Pub)

Some old vines and signs on the walk. I thought they looked cool...

The Science Complex... mainly physics and engineering departments! So if you watch LOST this is where Daniel Faraday's office would have most likely been... Not in that old room that they showed....

The infamous cross walk that I get to cross every day... sometimes twice... REMINDER LOOK LEFT RIGHT LEFT! :-)

SOOO Close... Just a few hundred yards more! I love the leaves on the sidewalk!

The Back Entrance to Wycliffe Hall, the Hall I am studying here through! This back way to get there makes it about a 5 min walk to classes in the morning :-) Of course as of this last friday we stopped going there in the morning :-( not so happy

I CAN SEE CRICK ROAD! The end is in sight! This corner is one that gets crossed A LOT!

I made it to Crick Road... This walk ALWAYS seems longer than it actually is! The really Old Tree is the tree that my window looks out upon... we love it!

OUR HOUSE!!! Isn't it AMAZINGLY old and british! Gotta love Crick Road #8 It has a lot of Character! My room is the very very top window! We have a great view and, of course, a long stair-stepping walk to get up there!

The Royal Oxford Blue Door! Ahhh, its good to be home!

Thank you so much for reading my blog and keeping me in your thoughts! I hope you enjoyed some pictures of Oxford! I greatly enjoyed taking them! Hope to hear from you all!!!

Love,
Arielle

Oxford Life: Week Two

2009-09-20T02:31:00.000-07:00

Good Morning ALL!!!
Well, It is Sunday, I know that I said I would write on Saturdays, BUT yesterday life was a tad bit hectic, and I completely forgot... SOOO yes, I am writing today!
I am sure that some of you are wondering why I am not in Church. That is because the church that I have decided to go to meets at 7 pm on Sunday nights. Which is nice because it gives me the morning to get things done. I am currently at a little cafe about a 7 minute walk from my house. Its nice, has wifi an awesome staff and comfy sofas if I so choose to sit on them!

Well... this week was one of a lot of research, writing, procrastination and King Henry the VIII!
For Information on this Man please click the link below... There you will here the Simon Schama, historian extraordinaire, version of the life of Henry... TOTALLY WORTH IT!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KCQrnSQ4rTo

Actually the link is a mockumentary with a fake Simon Schama. The reason why I find this so funny is because each morning we all gather and watch an Episode of A History of Britain with Simon Schama... This man has come to mean a lot in my life because of this. The way that he says things just adds so much to the way that I view this great country! :)

In this weeks blogs I am going to talk a little about my life here... I have met so many amazing people, two of which being my awesome roommates! Kate and Susanna are literally the best people in the world for me to live with. We have already gained the reputation of being the party room, because of the fact that at random times we will begin listening to a song and having a spontaneous dance party... Hence why I LOVE THEM SOOO MUCH! all in all, my roommates are fabulous! Another great thing about life here is our food groups. There are six of us that get together every night during weeknights and we have dinner together with each of us cooking a night a week appx. It works out really well, and its nice because we have become a sort of family!

This week was really hectic because of our first case study being due tomorrow! I just have to finish writing the conclusion and edit it... So I am hoping that the rest of the day will go smoothly! Then next week, I have to start work on my next two case studies that are due not this thursday but the next. I have to get them done a little before hand because on that thursday I am going to Spain with some of the friends I have made here. We have a few days off to relax so we are going to Malaga in the south of spain right along the mediterrainan! It shall be glorious!

Well.. Until next time!
Thank you all for your support!

Oxford Life: Week One

2009-09-13T01:44:00.000-07:00

Well, it is Sunday morning here in England and as far as I can tell, it is lovely outside. This last week has seemed so long. It is hard to believe that I have only been here one week. Anyways, the first few days of the week were orientation which basically consisted of being told things to expect, what to do in certain situations, outlines for how the semester will look, etc. We walked A LOT during this week, which made for some very interesting days. Right now I'm still in bed after being out for 14 hours yesterday which has caused my ankle that it really doesn't like the world and is quite painful. To get back to the story of the week, every morning we start out with watching a documentary on Britain, it is turning out to be quite interesting and informative as I learn more about the country that I am quickly falling in love with. Then we break for tea. Yes, that is right we have scheduled in tea times! In the hour between tea and lunch we normally have had a lecture. Whether they are talking to us about England or just program orientation its been sometimes hard to stay awake during this time.

Thursday was the big day of the week where we went on a field trip to Salisbury Cathedral (the tallest spire in all of GB), Old Sarum (Iron age hill for that was used/rebuilt by Romans, Normans and King Henry 2 (Plantagenets), and finally Stonehenge!

Salisbury was absolutely beautiful! We all, in groups, took the tower tour which allowed us to climb up to the top of the tower right as the spire started assending. From that spot you could see so much of the village and water fields below, it was breathtaking. So worth the little steps that we had to climp up to the top!

Old Sarum was a fascinating place because of all the history that was contained in one spot. It started out use as an Iron Age hill fort. These are created by cutting into a hill and creating a very wide ditch that makes it rather hard for poeple to attack it. After it fell out of use there. The Romans step up camp at Old Sarum as they were conquering England. A few hundred years go by and William the Conquer decides to take up shop here. It was at this place where all the noblemen came and swore allegenice to him. Old Sarum is also the site where William was handed the Doomsday Book, which was a book that contained all the property listings within England down to the last pasture and livestock. Pretty cool huh? Well, the story gets better. It was also at this place that Henry the 2nd would come and this is also where he banished his wife! ALL THIS HISTORY ON ONE HILL!! SOO COOL!

After visiting Old Sarum we had one last site to visit on thursday... Stonehenge. Now, poeple warned me before hand that Stonehenge was not exciting/lame/in the middle of a field. Well, this was not my encounter with the Rocks that have been sitting there for appx. 5000 years! Personally I found noting about Stonehenge lame or lacking in excitement. Before we visited stonehenge we were told about its history and the geography around it. Random fact about Stonehenge: it was not built by the druids. It was built about 1000 years before the druids came to be in England. SO HA! Anyways the rocks themselves were massive and far surpassed my expectations. I just stood there in fascination over how they came to be there, what purposed they were used for, how these people with out the use of technology that we take for granted were able to perform the calculations and construction required for it to be built. All-in-all it was simply a fascinating day!

Friday, we had lectures in the morning and seminar discussions in the afternoon. At 3 we left and took a stroll over to Christ Church, which is both a Cathedral and a College in Oxford. Christ Church has had very famous alumni including John Locke :), Charles Dodgson aka Lewis Carroll, AND John and Charles Wesley did their graduate work here and were both Ordained in the Cathdrael that I went to... AWESOMENESS!!! Another random fact about Christ Church. Its dining hall is the Hall used in Harry potter... I know... Pretty cool

Yesterday we went to London and walked around A LOT... It was honestly a very unusual day because we were gone a long time, but I really didn't feel like we did/saw that much... Strange I know. But anyways this week has been incredible. I have made some amazing friends and I cannot wait to see how the semester unfolds! It will be wonderful! Thank you so much for keeping me in your prayers!

London

2009-09-11T23:07:00.001-07:00

I am going to London today, but will write my blog entry tonight... Which I think will be around 3-4 your time in the states :-)

Oxford Life: Week Zero

2009-09-05T04:29:00.000-07:00

So for the next 14 weeks I am going to try and keep this updated and write every Saturday... Fingers crossed!

So my travels over the past two days did end up taking me to my final destination!!! Thank goodness! There were some times I was unsure if we would make it... but here I am. I left the Portland Airport on Thursday around 2 headed for Chicago. At about 7:30 we landed in Chicago O'Hare and thankfully the gate that I had to get to was just a few gates down and I did not have to try and find my way around one of the biggest airports in America. At 9:15 aka 9:45 we left Chicago headed for London. The flight over took about 7 hours and 9 minutes according to our pilot. It was a very long flight. Unfortunately I was a tad bit too excited to sleep and the fact that the seat was extremely uncomfortable led me to be awake a majority of the flight. Heathrow was awesome though, the airport is extremely well organized and all I had to do was follow the signs to the customs area. I stood in line for a grand total of 2 minutes and then talked to the lady stamping my passport for about a 1 1/2 minutes and then was off across the UK border! The longest part of getting out of the airport was the process of finding the Central Bus Terminal and then standing in line for about 10 minutes to get onto the elevator that took me up to the bus terminal. I was able to quickly find the bus that was leaving for Oxford and right as I got there bus driver starting putting luggage in the bus so it was absolutely PERFECT timing! The drive here took about 1 hour to get into oxford and then about 30 minutes to the stop I had to get off of. From there I walked through this quiant alley to a square where a lot of taxi's were parked. The one that I got in had this fun little Indian man and he and I could not understand each other at all, which of course made the whole ride a lot of fun and hand gestures and repeating things! After about 5 minutes in the cab we arrived at 8 Crick Road! The Junior Dean( RA in american) is a British man who just started work here on his Doctorate. Last night for dinner the Programme Director came by and chatted with us about different things as well as giving us our Official University Card. Which allows us to access the amazing library with its 11 million books!

My roommates and I were able to stay up til about 8:30 before finally going to sleep. All of us like to wake up early which was nice this morning because after Breakfast we went exploring the city. WHICH IS BEAUTIFUL! Everything here is so British and old. We walked by numerious shops and buildings all with so much culture. We even found this covered market, that reminded me a lot of Pikes Place, BUT of course this is Oxford so it was not as loud or crazy as some of the indoor markets that we have in the States! I am still adjusting to the time here, but so far the day has gone rather well. Everyone at the house here is pretty great and I cannot wait to see how the semester unfolds. At this moment I just feel so blessed to have this incredible opportunity and I in no way want to waste it. In about an hour we are going over ot the other house which is about a 40 minute walk for a BBQ!

So, with that, Cheerio!

Arielle

I'm HERE!!!!!!

2009-09-04T12:50:00.000-07:00

Hello Friends! Well, after an amazingly long day of traveling and trying to stay awake, I am about to go to bed in Oxford. England is beautiful and has this awesome magical quality about it! Tomorrow I am hoping to type out a better explanation of my crazy travels, but at the moment I am utterly exhausted so I am going to sleep... Have a great day all my American people!!!

2 Weeks and Counting!!!

2009-08-20T19:38:00.000-07:00

Well, I am officially two weeks out til I leave for Oxford! I have most of my shopping done and I still have to pack up everything, but that can be put off a little longer! So far this, for the most part, has been a wonderful summer and I feel fully ready for this next adventure in my life. I feel that it still hasn't fully hit me though. In two weeks I will start attending the oldest school in the English speaking world. How crazy is that? I am excited for all of the challenges that this adventure will bring! If any of you want to check out the program that I am doing check out: http://www.bestsemester.com/sso/ also a lot of information on the University is available at the following link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_oxford

Thanks for keeping me in your thoughts and prayers as I go on this journey!

Pre-England Excitement...

2009-08-03T14:41:00.000-07:00

So, as I sit counting down the days until I leave for England, I realize that I only have 6 more days in Colorado. This summer I worked for the Nazarene Camp outside of Colorado springs. It has been an amazing couple of months. I will truly miss all the people I worked with this past summer. They have meant a lot to me! Anyway, I leave for England in 31 days... which is rather strange... But at times I feel like it could not come soon enough. During this next semester at the University of Oxford I will be studying Political theory by taking "Theories of the State" and "Political Theory and Social Science" as my tutorials. The tutorial system is one of the things that makes Oxford unique. How it works is that once a week you meet with a tutor who sits down and dicusses what you wrote and your argumentation, etc. Then they pose you a new question for the following week. This method of learning is one of the things that excites me most about Oxford. By teaching students in this way I am able to learn about independent research and how to truly express what I am taught. YAY life!