Manners, Suitcases and Lavender

Let me start off by saying I am just so glad I bought that carry-on-sized rolling Rick Steves suitcase. After dragging it around for hours yesterday, through Windsor castle, Heathrow airport, and Oxford, it handled beautifully and it holds everything I need.

My flight was pleasant, bringing my own snacks was very helpful (thanks to whomever gave me that advice) and Heathrow was oddly deserted. Windsor castle was amazing, breathtaking, exhausting. I am so glad I went - even though I was - by myself!!! Oxford is busy, loud, and rainy, but smells so good and it's so cool to be here. Everyone has manners. A pack of young toughs, they couldn't have been more than 10 or 11, was navigating the train and they offered their seats to some elderly ladies. I couldn't believe it! Both the fact that 10 year olds were alone on the train, and that they had manners enough to offer their seats. Jolly good!

My group of students is so nice. My room was built in Victorian times and has a skylight. I share a bathroom with 5 other rooms (yikes!) I have windows that open and a view of the Thames. It rains a lot, my pants were soaked almost up to the knee yesterday. I love it. Everything is green and smells good. The lavender is particularly amazing.

Grocery stores, internet access, etc. are kinda hard to come by. I will be figuring it all out today (obviously got the internet thing worked out...)

Thank you everyone for your support!!!

One Week and Counting...

Since my departure day is now one week away, I figured it was a good time to do a quick self-analysis.
Emotionally:
I feel ready. The most ready I've been - no "cold feet" lately, which is good. The kids have been thoroughly prepped as well, and they are supportive and oh-so-cute about the whole thing. George is a Superman - cheering me on every step of the way. I just keep saying, how did I get to be this lucky? Why is God blessing me, I'm not doing anything extraordinary? But I am starting to realize that God doesn't ration out blessings according to our performance. He is truly gracious. That has been my word lately - gracious. I am striving to be just that, which is not my strong point, not even close. But through God all things are possible! :0)

Financially:
Hard to believe, but as usual we have just enough. I stress a lot about money, especially since I'm in school and instead of making money I'm spending it!! But all the bases are covered, and it is such a relief not to have to worry about it in the midst of everything.

Practical issues:
I have been cleaning my house like a mad woman. Today I purged Abby's room of all unnecessary books, toys, and clothes. Her little buddy Mikaela will get some of them, and the thrift store gets the rest. I also scrubbed the bathrooms down and I'm doing all the laundry. I guess it's one of my contributions to George, that he will at least be left with a clean house. How long it remains clean.... well, that's up to him :0)

School stuff:
The paper has been extraordinarily hard to write. I'm not sure why, but I have to literally force myself to work on it. I am about 3/4 done with the whole process, and I have given myself a deadline of Sunday to have it finished.

Physically:
Although I have been working out like I never have before, I don't feel happy with the results. I am in better shape and have more stamina, which will be good for all the walking, but I've hardly lost any weight. George and I have a joke - we both know what we need to do - and we laugh about it. "But changing our diet is so hard!!!" So, I will just stay consistent, knowing that I am eating healthy and working out, taking care of what God gave me. The rest is just kinda what society and billboards tell us is "ideal".

Europe, here I come!! Watch out!!

Advice to all Writers of Research Papers

Even the best student among us inwardly groans at the assignment:

Research Paper. 7-10 pages. Cite references (and there must be many). Come up with amazing thesis and tons of supporting evidence. Write your paper clearly, cohesively, concisely, although with little (read: no) help or advice from Professor. Grading will be subjective, of course.

Believe it or not, there is more to be gained from completing a large writing assignment besides a grade. Allow me to share with you a list of the "bennies" of writing The Research Paper.

1) Becoming a mini-expert on the field you are researching.
After sifting through numerous books, articles, and websites, if you have done it right you will know much more than the average person about your subject.

2) Enjoyment of the subject
Hopefully you have had some say in what you are researching, and it will be a subject that interests you. If that be the case, then you have just dug deeper into something you enjoy, and that in itself is a reward.

3) Sense of satisfaction
Seriously, it's akin to completing a marathon. You did it! It is done! You have a sense of accomplishment that builds your self-esteem.

4) Ability to share your subject with others and "spread the love"
If there's an opportunity (and many Professors offer this opp in their classes) you can give a presentation on your paper, sharing all your hard work with other students. There are also student conferences where researches can display their work and give talks.

5) Get published or use your paper in other ways
You can enter an essay contest, use it as an essay for a scholarship, or attempt to be published. Turning in your essay for grading doesn't have to be the end!!

The idea for this blog came from a conversation I had with my husband yesterday. I had hit a rut in the writing process and was giving myself a pep talk. It worked! I am studiously working on my (once-forgotten) paper, and making decent progress.

C.S. Lewis is Totally Cool

The more I learn about him and the more I read his work, the more I like him. He was way cool. I love the combination of incredible intellect and down-to-earth humility. I was apprehensive about doing a research paper on his works of adult fiction, I thought, what if it's too sophisticated for me? What if I can't figure out what he's getting at? Instead, I was pleasantly surprised - not that his writing is by any means elementary, no, it is full of deep truths and subtleties so that each reading brings with it a new insight. But it is accessible! Yippee!!

He used his talents to spread his beliefs - despite the tongue-lashing he would receive from his colleagues, who thought he should focus his energies on more "scholarly" writings. Was he without flaw? No way - and he was the first to admit it. He didn't like to be around small children (who would have thought - the author of Narnia!), he had odd habits, and his lifestyle was far from conventional. He was a late convert - I think he was 31 when he became a Christian. The Screwtape Letters has 31 letters... hmm, I must check and see EXACTLY when he was converted... *pauses to consult sources* Nope, he was 33, but it was in the YEAR 1931, that's why it was stuck in my head. But still - 1931 was the year he was converted, and there are 31 letters... maybe there is supposed to be one letter per day for a month... but no, the events take much longer than a month... interesting.

Anyhow, he was cool. I would have liked to have met him. But the neat thing about writers is that even when they're gone, they leave behind a legacy, a way of getting to know them.