I don't have my notes in front of me and as some of you have so kindly noted, this was like 3 days ago, so I don't actually remember that much. Today we spent ALL DAY (which, after sleeping late, and before an early dinner at Mark's house, ALL DAY really means 3 hours) at Nero's Cafe, which was THE BEST. When Bridget and I were talking to God that evening she thanked Him for designing us to need a Sabbath, because they're awesome.
Then we went over to Mark's and got to see a children's choir/band concert/thing of awesomeness. He was helping out with it. It was adorable and wonderful. Pictures of all these things coming later.
It was fun to explore the city center of Cambridge a bit on our own :)
04Jan
http://imgur.com/v0lWdE5?tags
TODAY (We're are Rapunzel, btw)
Official formal "let's see Cambridge!" day!! It rained the whole day, but that didn't really matter. Cambridge is beautiful. We saw the oldest buildings in Cambridge, which are churches, which is super cool. And organs. And we had fudge. And we saw a gazillion of the colleges of the University of Cambridge. And we saw organs. And King's College Chapel, which is stunning. It has an organ. In fact, there are on the order of 50 organs in Cambridge (not counting the organs people have in their basement, or the multiple organs people have in their basement). We saw many of them. Organ history is fascinating.
No, but actually, it was wonderful. And then Mark took us to Christ's college, where he went, and played the organ for us!!! And then I think we went back to his house again. Of course, it was dark by 4pm, because for some ridiculous reason the sun sets before then. Sunlight, people!
I loved seeing all the colleges. They are so different from what we are used to at MIT -- much smaller feeling (though all are part of Cambridge University), and much prettier. I think the people who live here are so desensitized awesome old buildings that they don't appreciate how beautiful the city is. Mark took us to MakeSpace, which is a place with cool things like a laser cutter and 3-D printer. It was super cool, and reminded us of good old MIT *sniff*. I tried a traditional English breakfast. It was quite good. Had some great conversations with Mark and Kirstyn about God and stuff.
Mark has been introducing us to different boardgames since we've been here. However, this night, we played Pandemic, which apparently is his favorite ;). It was actually really, really fun! I approve of your board game choices in general, Mark :)
05 Jan
Today was wonderful. Just wonderful. So much God, friends, and general awesomeness. Kirstyn and I met up with Becca in the morning, and went to breakfast and church with her. (Becca was an exchange student at MIT at the same time as Mark -- our freshman year). Becca introduced us to bacon butties, which are basically baguettes filled with bacon. Yummyyyy. Her church was so nice -- great sermon on Psalm 110, and very welcoming people. After church, Becca showed us around her college, and we met up with Mark, and another of their friends for lunch. Did lots of walking around Cambridge again in the afternoon -- no rain this time though! Then we all went to Mark's church in the afternoon. His church was fantastic. I loved it. The people were so welcoming and genuine. Both church services today were a wonderful reminder of how no matter where in the world they may be, the body of Christ is still a huge family. Dinner at the Roberts house was so much fun -- we made crepes! Mark and Kirstyn introduced me to having sugar and lemon juice rolled up in a crepe, which apparently is both a UK and KIRSTYN HEIN classic. YOU HAVE TO TRY IT. So good. I'm a fan.
Ahhh this last day in England was so good. Our whole time there was really great. Huge shout out to Mark and Mr. and Mrs. Roberts, Becca, and Mia!
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| St. John's College |
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| King's College |
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| a sign in MakeSpace :) |
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| Ye olde and dangerous Christ's College chapel stairs |
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| Kirstyn in Cambridge |
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| more Cambridge |
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| More Cambridge |
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| Bridget somewhere in some college in Cambridge |
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| Bridget in Cambridge |
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| In front of King's College chapel |
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| Artsy photography by Kirstyn |
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| Mark in his natural habitat |
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| The MIT-CME crowd :) |
06 Jan
http://www.tumblr.com/tagged/aladdin-gif
TODAY
Because Paris is A WHOLE NEWWWW WORRRLLLDDD. And also because we were singing it for a long time walking up and down Champs Elysees.
WE SAW THE EIFFEL TOWER!! UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL!! UNDERNEATH THE THING!!
Woke up at like 4 or something. Even the sun was sleeping, but that's hardly a surprise. Navigated the UK for the last time in awhile (tear, tear) and LEFT THE UK!! Totally slept a lot on the 4.5-hour train to PARISSSSSSS. Saw so many WORKS OF BEAUTY AND WONDER AND AWESOME. I kept saying it over and over and Bridget was like "girl, it's not actually that cool, get over yourself". But we had SO MUCH FUN. Walked A LOT. Ambulances in Paris make really obnoxious noises. Had a great conversation with Bridget about translating coordinate systems while observing the Arc du Triomphe. Now a delicious dinner!! I love the hostel we're staying in, super excited for the rest of the night!
WOOHOO KIRSTYN'S FIRST EVER OFFICIAL BLOG POST!! More to come!! :-)
Apparently the Americans are the best at playing beer pong? There is a game going in the hostel bar that we're sitting in right now. It's kind of entertaining to listen to... :)
Anyway, to clarify, I think Paris is gorgeous too. I just have less of a fixation with Christmas tree lights. That is all. We wandered for a while after checking into our hostel, getting lost on Paris streets. Figured out the metro (subway) system. The Arc du Triomphe was beautiful, as were all the buildings. I was blown away by seeing the Eiffel Tower at night, though. It's all light up, and you can see every little piece in the structure. It's awesome. We went on a long romantic walk along the river, which we thought was appropriate for the city of love :).
A few preliminary conclusions about Paris: Parisians are even worse than Bostonian when it comes to pedestrians obeying traffic signals. The metro system is very like the T. Kirstyn is a champ at making friends by talking to them in French.
Highlight of the day: Backstory -- Kirstyn kept trying to pay for things with euros when we were in the UK. Now that we're actually on the euro system, she has got everything under control. When paying for dinner at the bar, she turned to me, and commented on how nice it was that now she has the currency right, and is not trying to pay for things using pounds. And then promptly proceeded to hand 15 pounds to the bartender. It was wonderful.
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