New Beginnings

We have now been in York, England for a week and a day.

First Impressions:

-Bike is kind of scary but mostly necessary.

-This is definitely a university town.

-Everything is expensive (ex: 4 lbs, (app. 6 dollars) for a medium load of laundry).

-It is going to be a cold dark winter- I'm already wearing gloves and am told the sun goes down as early as 2:30 PM in the winter. yikes.

-Our apartment is a bit sketchier than we thought it would be, but it is our own.

- It is nice to be studying what you want to be studying. That being said, it is still nice I don't have classes on Mondays or Fridays.

-I am super excited to go to South Africa.

- The church here is super small but really friendly.

-We are no longer at small little Walla Walla U. My classes are two miles away.

Elaboration:

We arrived in York late last Thursday night. This was after our flight to Denver and our flight to London, both quite nice. It's nice being married to someone who allows you to fly Economy Plus. Once in London, we had to make our way from Heathrow to King's Cross Train Station, easier said than done. With four giant suitcases, two backpacks, and two duffle bags, we made our way through the subway system, past twenty-two stops (we counted), before arriving at the train station. About two hours later, we arrived in York and were very gratefully picked up by our contact from the local SDA church, Wendy. It was at this point, when we were at her car loading our bags, that we noticed we were missing a bag. Yikes. It happened to be the one with Jon's laptop in it. So we trucked back to the train station and reported it, hoped for the best, and started praying. Thankfully, they found it at the end of the train's line in Edinburgh and it is now safely back in our possession.

We got our first glimpses of the apartment, which is a bit run-down (mainly, our bedroom door is off its hinge and doesn't really close), but one could say is a typical "first apartment". Luckily, there are some perks to it. It is furnished with a bed, two nightstands, a small bookcase, a comfy chair, a love seat, kitchen table and chairs, and a closet-esque type thing. Internet can be a bit finicky, but is usually fairly good. We have our own private patio and come in through the back through a cool wooden gate. The kitchen has a waffle iron-looking toaster, a stove, and a mini fridge (which apparently is the average size fridge here. People just go to the grocery store a lot more often). The first night, we managed to drag our weary selves out to get a duvet and pillows and a few food items before collapsing wearily in our lumpy creaky bed of springs.

Friday we walked to campus and did a few registration type things and then Wendy picked us up and we went to town to start a bank account and get Jon and phone and me a SIM card. Nice to feel connected to the world again, and even have free texting between each other. The campus is quite nice, with a river and pond running through it (thus lots of ducks all over the place) and is quite spread out and has very interesting architecture. We tried to find our classes, but the search for mine would not be successful until Sunday. Saturday we made our way to church. Wendy picked us up, but since it was not too far, we walked home (we realize we will be doing a lot of walking here). Church was good. It is somewhat comforting to go to an Adventist church virtually anywhere and have nearly the same format as what you are used to. Opening Hymn, Invocation, prayer, offering, children's store, scripture, sermon, song. It was small, as I said, maybe 40 people, but extremely diverse for its size. Countries represented: America, England, Papa New Guinea, Dominican Republic, Kenya, Zambia, Philipines, at least. They invited us to stay for potluck, which of course given the state of our cupboards we did.

Sunday we set out, determined to find my classes. We asked around a bit, walked around a lot, and two miles later arrived at Heslington East, the campus' new development. Brand new as in built this summer, and there is still quite a bit of construction going on. Again, the architure was unique; it'll be interesting to see the progress develop. The walk was nice; it's out in the countryside, but we decided after that that if bikes weren't a must before, they sure were now.

Monday we each had our induction to our programs and were able to meet our professors and classmates. Both our departments are quite small, with about 30 in Jon's and about 40 in mine. But that is in our whole department. When you split it up by degree, Jon has I believe three people doing an MA in Linguistics like him and I have about twenty doing an MA in Human Rights. Again, the make-up of my classmates was quite diverse. Turkey, Syria, Slovakia, England, Cyprus, Kenya, Guiana (sp), Canada, US, UK, Brazil, Bangladesh, China, Taiwan, Malaysia. I actually only have two professors this quarter, one Canadian and one British. They are both quite facinating in what they have done, working for Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, working as lawyers for refugees and victims of human trafficking, writing articles and books and journals, etc.

Tuesday I had my first class, Law, Public Policy, and Human Rights, Wednesday was Human Rights and Global Politics, and Thursday was just a class I'd have once, Intro to Human Rights Law. Mostly lecture, some discussion. There is usually quite a bit of reading, and a lot of times it is so dense it is not a good idea to skim it. We're reading stuff like United Nation Conventions and Treaties, where every word is critical and when you mention something you read in class during a discussion, he asks you exactly where you found it, which article in which convention. You have to know your stuff. After much frustration and attempts at getting our bikes, we finally managed to make it there and get them on Tuesday. Yea for non-profit bike recycling shops! We're both very happy with our purchases, and it now only takes me 10-15 minutes to get to class instead of 35, though the hills are still very much present. We are going to have legs of steal by the end of this year. I think I walked 9 miles on Tuesday.

We are slowely but surely getting things we need and want to make our apartment liveable and comfortable. We went to a thrift store down the street and managed to get a hat rack that we're using for a coat rack, a bunch of plates, hangers, and a mug (with Oliver Cromwell on it nonetheless), all for under ten pounds. We found a Co-op not far and can get groceries quite cheaply, even found a pain au chocolat there. Still a few more essentials to get but we'll get there.

Yesterday was our anniversary, so Jon sweetly got me flowers, did a bunch of dishes, and then we went out to town. We finally did something touristy in this old historic town, and went inside Yorkminster, the giant cathedral here. It was beautiful. We will definitely have to go back for an official tour and even see underground, and luckily we can do just that for free! Students get in free! We even got tickets for a musical concert they will have Nov. 6; I'm excited. We then went out to eat at an Italian restaurant rated number four in all of York. It was SO good.

Today begins my weekend! Hooray! I should probably still do some homework, but it is nice to be lazy at home. I'll be anxious for Jon to start classes next week so we can both have things to do. More pictures of the campus and apartment, and more to come in the exciting lives of the Campbells!