The Holy Roman Empire was neither holy, roman, nor an empire. Discuss.

Here I am again - in McDonalds, taking advantage of free wifi at a most pagan hour...I woke up at 6 and didn't really feel like dragging myself out of bed to walk 4 blocks in the frigid English summer and force down the dirt-in-a-cup the British like to call coffee (just so I don't feel too bad mooching some internet).

so...highlights for the week:

• first off - possibly one of the best moments of the week...I GOT MAIL! haha - thanks for the letter Ali...it made my week and it came at the best possible time! i was feeling so home sick and missing everything about home and westmont and friends and family, especially since i've talked to very few people so far - so, to get your card was the little extra strenght i needed to motivate myself for another busy week in london :)
• so, anyway - since i last posted, i've done quite a bit...last weekend wasn't incredibly busy... i tried going to church at westminster abbey but apparently the tube doesn't stop at westminster on sundays (something i found out a little too late) so i had to get off at waterloo, the next one over and also across the thames...needless to say, having to walk from waterloo to westminster took a good 15 min of brisk walking and i made it just in time to be late :( instead i walked around westminster and through st james park to hyde park... it was so relaxing and refreshing to be by myself again after being with people 24/7 it seems like...i met up with friends who attended reality london in notting hill and i think i would have liked notting hill if it weren't for the fact that we chose the one sunday they had a jamaican carnival going on....it was nothing impressive - unless dirty crowds of drunk and half-drunk people dance-walking to thumpthumpthump is your scene...
• monday through friday we spent in birmingham at a quaker study center. it was really relaxing and peaceful - a much needed break from busy london...There wasn't too much to do in Bham in particular (besides the cadbury factory :) ), so during the week we had outings to oxford, stratford and coventry...oxford was absolutely beautiful! we ate at the pub that cs lewis and jrr tolkien spent tuesday mornings discussing their works! also saw christchurch, which was where parts of harry potter were filmed...stratford was small and besides seeing where shakespeare was born we just mostly sought shelter from the rain before going to dinner and then seeing as you like it. the performance was phenomenal! there was so much interaction between the audience and the actors and the actors were so good - indescribable!
• we went to coventry on our way back to london and saw the cathedral that was bombed during the blitzkrieg in world war II...it's hard to describe really what it was like walking through the skeleton of a medieval cathedral that was flattened in a matter of hours...i was in awe...

well that's about it - i hope this wasn't too much of a repeat for some of you...hopefully i'll get to talk to more of you soon this week, but since i'm in london without wifi it might be a bit tricky (sometimes i can get a bit of wireless in my room...you know, if i tilt the laptop 47 degrees against the horizontal and lift it 20cm from the windowsill holding it up to the sky...something like that)

oh and i'm also the lucky recipient of the "you-get-to-get-rid-of-15-pounds-of-luggage reward." that's right. be jealous.