Covent Garden, church, and being poorly

Hello pals, so sorry that this is late, I meant to do this on Sunday night, but I was so exhausted and overcome with laziness and the urge to eat an entire bag of popcorn that blogging about my weekend just got pushed to the side. I sincerely apologize.
The end of last week and this weekend were equal parts insanely busy and extremely lazy. If I wasn't going going going at super speed, I wasn't moving at all. Two extreme ends of the spectrum, but oh well, it was good while it lasted.
Thursday, my art history of London class (I don't think that's what it's actually called, but I just like that name better) was taking a trip to Westminster Abbey. I love that class because it doesn't start until 10 a.m., however, this gloriously rainy day we had to be at the bus stop by 8:30 a.m. Joy to the world. So we arrived and then had to travel as a class down to the Westminster tube stop. Getting 40 people on public transportation during morning rush hour went just as efficiently as you would think it did (aka not). Westminster was the coolest place ever, the only thing that I didn't like was that considering how beautiful it was I think it was so beyond rude of them to not allow photography. I mean, obviously I took pictures and recorded video anyway, but I had to be sneaky about it (which I'm horrible at) so it was annoying.
We saw so many interesting things in there, I loved it. The architecture was insane and just thinking how much had happened in that building and all the history that was there was the coolest thing ever. We got to see the chair that all the kings and queens have sat in during their coronation (nbd), the tomb of the unknown warrior where Kate and Queen Elizabeth laid their bouquets after their weddings (so precious), I lit a prayer candle in the church, saw the oldest door in London, and the Shakespeare memorial, etc. Also, there are literally dead people everywhere; buried in the walls and the floors. All over. In the charming words of my professor when some kid asked her about them, "Oh yes, we're walking on bones, darling." Gotta love her. So we saw about a million tombs and statutes and memorials and stuff which is always rad. Fun fact: all churches back in the time that the abbey was built were built in the shape of crosses, so when we were standing at the high altar we were right in the middle of the cross where Jesus' heart would've been (TFIOS, anyone? Emily? Paige?). So by far one of the dopest buildings I've ever been in.

 Ceilings are cray.

 Stained glass windows are my new favourite.

 Jesus was throwing deuces in like ten different rooms.

 Oh ya know, just posted up chillin' on top of her tomb.

 Even in the rain it was so beautiful.

 Cool little hallway thing that was also incredibly cold.

I wish I could lay on the floor and stare at those ceilings all day long.

So after our class was over, we were free to go, obviously, and so we decided to head down to Covent Garden and get some food (Shake Shack) because I'd heard a lot about the cool things they had down there (Shake Shack) and we wanted to look around at what it had to offer (Shake Shack), plus it was cold and rainy and Covent Garden has a covered market area so we wouldn't be super miz. They had so many great stores and shops and stuff (Shake Shack) there it was great. Also Harry Styles had walked those streets so it was truly a magical experience. They also had the coolest little food vendors, so I have to make a trip down there again and eat from the kiosks.

 A selfie with Ben was mandatory.

 London buildings are the coolest.

 This tray makes me happier than any boyfriend ever could (except for you, Niall).

 Mecca

I asked myself WWAHD (what would Abby Head do?), and the answer was obviously buy one of these cupcakes. Of course it was the right decision.

So Covent Garden was so fun, then after spending a couple hours there and eating too much (Shake Shack) and buying lipstick and almost purchasing five body butters from The Body Shop (there was a sale, okay? And I still kind of regret only buying one.) we set on our way back to campus because we were all exhausted. Then I took a quick nap and set off towards Waterloo where I was meeting with the Bridges STINT team to go to one of their socials. I ended up getting to meet more people from their team and also some students from LSE which was so awesome. I love seeing different branches of ministry in different countries and it's just cool to see how the Lord calls us to be all over the globe and designs specific people to be certain places. Like wow He is so detail oriented it's crazy. So I got the train home (after sprinting through the station to make it on time. Late and sweaty always) and I've decided that trains are by far the best mode of public transportation there is.
Friday I took it easy in the morning. I woke up and got to see everybody's beautiful Rose Ball pictures. Like wow my friends are all so fun and beautiful, how lucky am I to get to follow them on Instagram and hang out with them in real life? (The answer is extremely lucky). Then Alex and I ran into Putney to get some groceries and run some errands. I bought some real food and everything is just so natural over here! I know what all the ingredients are when I read them on the back! So fun!Non-processed or chemicalized (hope that's a word) food is so yummy and great! And then I got a Starbucks and came back and got ready for Sisterhood with church!
Allison and I headed over to City of London and got there early so that we could hit up Nando's beforehand. Unfortunately Niall was unable to make it this time, but I hold onto hope and faith that one day we will share a peri peri chicken together.

 St. Paul's is so beautiful.

 Notice the beauty of that Sprite and the fact that it came with free refills. #blessed

Worshipping with my sistas.

Wow Sisterhood was so great I really cannot adequately put it into words. It wasn't just one of those things where they gather us all together and some guy talks at us and tells us what to look for in a boyfriend (which is great once or twice, but as a single girl I am really tired of feeling like the only thing that matters is finding a boyfriend because I just really don't want one), they told us how important we are as girls (because we are, duh) and how beautiful and special we are (I know, thanks for the reminder) and how Jesus has incredible plans for our lives (I'm stoked) and that He wants to use us in such fantastic, awesome ways. It was just such a sweet reminder from the Lord about how incredible it is to be a woman and how there is so much goodness in that and there is so much fruit that can come from relationships with my girlfriends and those friendships are so special. We learned about sharing our testimonies and how important that is and how we are so equipped and able to do it. Then we got to hear four beautiful stories from four beautiful humans and just see the beautiful work of our beautiful Saviour in all of their lives and man it was just beautiful. God is so great and so are women. Girl power to the fullest.
I also liked how they called us nice things like beautiful and girlfriends and sweets and babes and lovelies and everyone had accents (duh) and it was fabulous. Also they gave us gummies when we were leaving because my girls just understood that calories are my love language. What a great night of worship and food and friendship.
Saturday I felt like complete and utter crap (or "poorly" as the Brits would say) so I did absolutely nothing except watch YouTube and Netflix and eat and so we're not gonna focus on that laziness for too long.
Sunday was so so great. I still wasn't feeling my best, but I had arranged to start serving with Hillsong that day (yippee!!) and so I was so pumped to be alive (what's new?). I slept in a bit and then ended up sitting in the 1:15 service with Allison which was fantastic as always. Then I got a McDonald's (conveniently around the corner from church) and was actually planning on heading home after that because I just wasn't feeling too great, but I decided that since Jesus carried a cross up a hill for my sins so the least I can do is push through a cold and serve in His house for a couple hours. So I met with Ems and she told me all about what the host team does and the kind of tasks I would be doing (turns out her sister lives in Birmingham so she said roll tide and that she wants to go to a (American) football game, so it was a great friendship already) and I got more and more excited.
Then at four I met with Monica and we hiked up probably 1,000 stairs to the team room in what had to be Heaven because it was so high up and I started making packets to put on the seats and I met friends (yay)! British people are crazy because they love America, but like they live in England so I don't know why? Also a guy said my accent was cute, but I don't know why he did that either because he obviously didn't notice the entire room full of British people that we were in. So I joined the team that hosts/ushers/holds doors/does offering/is awesome in the balcony of the theatre. Aside from it being extremely hot (I was sweating, obviously, because I'm still me) it was so amazing. God is just so great to give me a team (incredible, incredible people) and a job (smiling and holding doors, two of my favourite things) and a church that I love so much so quickly here. Wow He is just so so amazing! Like damn.

I snapped this during the lull in the madness between services.

I'm just really thankful this week to be living this life and to be serving my God and to be friends with my friends and to be a part of my family and to be a human on this planet. Everything is amazing. I'll talk to you guys tomorrow probably because we're doing a tour about a murderer so I'll take pictures and things. I love y'all so much and hope you're all enjoying the snow!! Please be safe and make lots of snowmen (no, you're not making too many Frozen references) for me!!

xx

And if you want to see, I made a sneaky video during my day at Westminster Abbey and in Covent Garden, so you can watch that here.

Also, I'm trying (AND CURRENTLY LOSING) to win a free ride to the airport at the end of my program so I don't have to carry all my bags on public transportation and be a sweaty mess all over the city of London. Basically, all I need is the most Instagram likes on all my pictures with #CISLondon, so if you would like to help me out with that you can do so here.

Good brews, brekky, and a wee little room tour

Hi love bugs, Rachel here, still reporting from London. It's been a quiet couple of days around Roehampton, just going to class (gross) and finally getting settled into somewhat of a routine (still way too much freetime). Monday and Tuesday were both very chill, I just went to my classes and caught up on sleep, laundry, Chinese homework, etc.

Here's the view out of one of my classroom windows, though. This campus is totally beautiful.

Speaking of laundry though, let's talk about how that's one of the biggest differences we have over here. I'm realising that I was completely spoiled by having three different laundry rooms in my dorm building at Alabama because here they have about five different laundry rooms for the entire campus. So, if you aren't blessed enough to be living in one of the blocks that have laundry, you have to make quite a trek. Let me set the scene for you: Monday night, Alex and I decide that since we haven't done laundry for two weeks, now must be the time. So we gather our (huge) bags of laundry that we've accumulated and set off. We only had a vague idea where we were going and we were covered by the darkness of night, so I was hoping that we wouldn't run into a member of One Direction or another hot British boy during this journey. Luckily, we made it there with no problems, the only awkward part was walking past the Union (which was quite poppin' for a Monday night) and the tennis courts (where a sports team was conveniently practising) with our embarrassingly huge bags of dirty clothes.
We arrived in the laundry room (that was hidden in a dark, dingy alleyway thing) and I actually wanted to cry. There were two washers and two dryers. The washing machines and dryers were kind of different and we had to wait, but we weren't sure how long because they were hard to understand. Basically, it was one of those culture-shock moments that they talk about where I was just in a real I-miss-America-and-wish-we-could-do-everything-here-like-we-do-there moods. I know it was super overdramatic of me, but the moment passed quickly and everything was fine. We ended up making friends with two of the cutest girls in the laundry room and they invited us to go to a club with them in Kingston on Saturday, so I guess there are happy things to be found everywhere (even in super cold, somewhat gross laundry rooms).
Tuesday I only had one class and then Alex and I got lunch from a café on campus, which was nice. Then I took a super glorious nap in the afternoon that was exactly what I needed. Then I made a pizza and watched Modern Family (at the same time as Niall was, I might add #MeantToBe) until we decided to have a little girls night and go grab some drinks in Hammersmith. The five of us ended up at a super cute pub right across from King's Mall and we just had a couple pints and talked and enjoyed each others company. Yay life, I love people.

I felt extremely British here.

Always leavin' lipstick prints, you know me. (Also beer is still not my favourite).

 I really like you.

The Tuesday crew.

Then today has just been really laid back. Slept in a bit, and then grabbed a delicious English breakfast with Alexa and Alex at a little café that's just a short walk from us. Love it there. We're determined to become regulars. I was just really happy and also really thankful that the Lord is good enough to allow us to get our calories from exciting things like breakfast foods and not just boring things like kale.

HYFR

Then I had a bit of a headache (no, Dad, I wasn't hungover) and I needed to get some work done for my Chinese class, so I've just stayed in all day while Alex met Alexa downtown to take her to Primark, so that's why I thought I would include a lil' room tour seeing as I did nothing else exciting to talk about and I'm really proud of the way that I've gotten my room settled. Rooms are weird for me. I feel like as soon as I get really moved in somewhere and get used to calling it home, I move. Just thinking about the fact that in the past year I've lived in five different rooms on three different continents is insane to me. I've had quite the nomadic lifestyle so far, and I couldn't be happier, wow Jesus has taken me on some crazy adventures lately. That's about it for this week so far! I'm excited about what the rest of the week and the weekend holds because tomorrow I'm going to a Bridges bible study with the STINT team over here, Friday Allison and I are going to Hillsong's Sisterhood event, and Saturday we're going to Kingston with our new friends, yippee!! So lots of activities, I will make sure to document it well (and will probably make another video). God is so great! Life is so great! London is so great! Now onto the room tour...

Shout out to mom for sending a comforter with me to England because the one the school gave me doesn't smell like my favourite thing, so I'm glad I have this one to cuddle up with.

Gotta have the SnapBack set up sorted.

That kettle was the greatest £8 I've ever spent. Thanks ASDA.

Obvi the greatest part of any room (especially The Wet Brush).

Wouldn't be a blog post without some kind of selfie.

I brought the perfect amount of shoes to fit in the bottom of my closet. Also shout out to my reusable grocery bags that I have in the corner that help me rep my squirrels (AGD fo lyfe).

That's all for now, folks, you'll be hearing from me soon enough, though. I love all of you an incredible amount and miss you all tons. I hope everything's going well with you and please keep updating me on your lives. Sidenote: I'm still not completely sure how my texting works, but obviously texting my 843 number doesn't work anymore, so you'll either have to iMessage my email (raychillo@gmail.com) or text my British number (+447502947640) to get a hold of me, otherwise I won't get your messages (I promise I am not ignoring you or hate you, annienewt). Also I would really appreciate it if y'all would pray for my coveting as Alpha Gam has been experiencing the best menus in the history of the world these past couple weeks, so let me find joy in what the Lord has blessed me with over here (which does not include Chipotle or Fried Fridays, in case y'all were wondering). I'm great. I love y'all and life. And I hope everyone has the most fun time at Rose Ball ever!! Be safe babies!!

xx

Also, I'm trying to win a free ride to the airport at the end of my program so I don't have to carry all my bags on public transportation and be a sweaty mess all over the city of London. Basically, all I need is the most Instagram likes on all my pictures with #CISLondon, so if you would like to help me out with that you can do so here.

Pub crawls, The Bop, and artsy stuff

Hello my loves, this weekend was another great, eventful one for the books. I feel like I've lived here for a really long time, it's crazy to think that it's only been less than two weeks, because I've somewhat gotten into a routine. Still kind of feel like I'm on vacation and that I'll be headed back to Bama to start classes or something soon. Also, I extremely miss the snacks at Alpha Gam because they don't have gushers or Doritos or a hot chocolate machine here and I'm really sad about it.

So the first week of classes was an extremely easy success. I'm in class only four times a week on three days, so it's grand. Since Thursday was the beginning of our weekend, we decided to get a group together from Roehampton and go to the West End (Liam and Sophia have been spotted here, not a big deal) for a pub crawl, yay. So we finished our classes and I took a nap, as always, and then we got ready and headed out. I wore my ADIDAS' (obviously) and jeans (what else), and while on the train I saw a girl in bright red disco pants and stilettos, so I could see that I was not in proper going out attire, but whatever. We arrived at the first bar and checked in and got our wristbands and then set out to take down the city of London (kinda). The bar crawl was a great deal because it was £12 and we got free entry and a drink at each bar. Unfortunately, the drink vouchers we got were for shots so I ended up giving mine away at each place we went because shots are gross and taste like alcohol, so, bye. The places were really fun and even though most of them were small, we still did that white girl thing where we stood in a circle and moved our arms up and down, so it was a good time. The second to last club was my favorite because it was all black and they played rap music so I was in my element.

 Selfies obvi.

Post up, flawless.

So Alex and I ended up taking an Uber home which was one of the greatest decisions I've ever made. The app was fantastic and made us feel so safe and a sweet man named Mohammad picked us up and was just the kindest soul. (Also his voice sounded like Zayn's so I wasn't complaining). Got home super quickly and warmly and (somewhat expensively) I felt like a British YouTuber, life was great at 2 a.m. on Friday morning.

No class on Friday, so we just slept in and then went to McDonald's (yay) for lunch and just to run some errands in Putney (Poundland is the business, once again hit the jackpot). Then it was time to get ready for The Bop. It was American high school themed, so I took advantage of the opportunity to wear whatever I wanted (no one could tell me I was wrong because I'm one of the only ones there who actually went to American high school *hair flip*) and wore a frocket, leggings, and Nikes. Yes. So we had to buy our tickets and then come back and finish getting ready.

We ended up going back around 11:30 and it was poppin'. They had set-up a bar, dance floor, and DJ in the same building as the Union (also the Starbucks and on-campus café, weird) but it was on the downstairs level so there was more space. It was my dream party: no excessive dance floor make outs, everyone was excited to see me even though they didn't know me (lots of hugs), no one was too drunk, they played great music (hip hop), and everyone had British accents. Apparently, everyone in England interprets American high school as us wearing football jerseys and cheerleading uniforms all the time, so everyone looked at me like I was weird for wearing a tshirt. Okay.

Best part of the night was by far when, towards the end, the DJ shouts, "It wouldn't be a real American high school party without this song!" *cue the Grease medley* Like, what do they think that we do in high school? Wear football jerseys with war paint and sing "Summer Lovin'"? Because that's the impression I got. Maybe I went to the wrong high school. Oh well, it was a grand time and I love British parties.

 Their version of fraternity letters on the wall.

I don't know about y'all, but that's obviously what I wore to high school every day.

Yes I do.

Saturday was pretty laid back, we slept in once again (I <3 sleep) and then had to go into Central London to visit some museums for one of our classes. Museums are so cool. We're learning about the time period when the Romans ruled London and so we had to go see some exhibits about that, which was awesome. Paintings are also actually insane because, just how? They're so detailed and huge and great, how were they actually made by humans? Blows my mind. Also artifacts are the coolest things ever and I just love learning about this city.

 Unreal.

 #AncientCivilizationSwag

 Broken plates and shiiii.

 This was my favorite painting. It's called, "Concrete Pavement with Dead Leaves." Genius.

 Old Bibles rock.

 #Vogue

 "Selfie With An Unknown Building" A memoir I'm writing about my time in London.

 Guildhall Art Gallery

 The Queen rides in style.

 London is pretty.

 This is for my mommy.

 A piece of the Roman wall that used to surround the city of London when the Romans ruled here.

 We got yelled at by CIA-esque guys in all black for trying to walk too close to this. Something important was happening, so I took a picture in case it ever becomes famous and I can prove I was there.

Carriage swag.

After our day spent exploring museums and other interesting business, we got back to Hammersmith and ended up going to our first Nando's, yippee. (Shout out to Nando's for putting directions in the menu about how to work the restaurant so I knew where to order and pay. Y'all rock). Unfortunately Niall couldn't make this trip because he's recovering from surgery, but he'll be there next time. It was freaking delicious and I've decided that I will become a regular there and it was incredible and yes. I support Nando's and demand that they put one on the strip immediately. (Also whoever told me that it was like Chick fil a was an actual liar). Funniest part was when I gave the woman my debit card and she tried to put it in the chip-and-pin thing and then got a confused look on her face and said, "I swipe this, right?" (How do you not know????)

After we ate dinner it was around seven, so we were gonna run in the mall so that Alexa could go into Primark, because she had never been (tragic, I know), but everything was closed. You know how New York is the city that never sleeps? That is not true of London. London definitely gets her eight hours each night because the entire mall was dead by the time we got there at seven. What even? Don't they know that night shopping is a thing? Ugh. Well, I at least know that I chose the right city because sleep is important to me as well (duh). So then we just came home and I FaceTimed the fam and went to sleep.

Hi Niall bae.

Then today I went to Hillsong again, and it was just so great! Allison came with me this time and it was so nice to have her there. The people there are just so incredibly nice and welcoming and the messages are convicting, but in a good way that pushes me to be better. Going to church there just really makes me love God more. It also makes me realise how much I take for granted as a Christian living in the south, and how incredible is the size of the church here. Last week in all the Hillsong services there were over 300 people who gave their lives to Christ, and in a city where it is so not the cool thing to do to be a Christian, that is just so amazing. The Lord is so not held back by any boundaries that people try to set on Him, He does work all over the globe regardless of what the world or celebrities or the government have to say. It's so awesome to see how the Lord is still alive and moving in this city in such a different way than in the States and it's just cool that through traveling I've gotten to see so many sides of Him and how He shows up in different cities. I love Jesus.

This week I've realised how much free time I'm going to have this semester, so it's going to be different to try to find things to do. I'm definitely missing the way that I could just go to Alpha Gam whenever I wanted and always have someone's bed to sleep in or someone to cuddle with or food to eat or people to hang out with. It's weird having nothing to do and not a huge house I can go to with comfy couches to sit on. (Also I am a professional procrastinator and so what am I supposed to do now that I have nothing to not do?) So it's kind of been hard on weeknights when there's nothing really going on and I'm just eating pasta and watching Netflix alone in my room (actually not as horrible as it sounds).

Well I love you all and I love Jesus and y'all are all so beautiful and incredible and perfect and I miss you all and just want to hug y'all so hard. Jesus is so great and y'all are so great and London is so great (and also I'm great, but we all know that, right?) and life is so great. I hope y'all have a great MLK Jr. day off of school, do cool things for me because we're British over here so we don't celebrate civil rights and I have classes. I'll talk to y'all soon.

xx

Also, I'm trying to win a free ride to the airport at the end of my program so I don't have to carry all my bags on public transportation and be a sweaty mess all over the city of London. Basically, all I need is the most Instagram likes on all my pictures with #CISLondon, so if you would like to help me out with that you can do so here.