Putting the Study in Study Abroad...

Saturday, March 21 to Thursday, March 26 was characterized by coursework, researching, writing, stress, regret for procrastinating, and minimal sleep. For a second I thought I had been thrown into the typical week at Grove City! Thankfully, however, my vacation semester continues. Here’s how the week went:

Saturday, March 21:
The major highlight of Saturday was watching Ireland defeat Wales in the final Six Nations Rugby Match! Kara, Emily, Bernie and I walked to The Bureau in Whiteabbey Village to watch the match on TV. What an intense game! Everyone was on the edge of their seats. Going into the half, Ireland was losing. But, within the first seven minutes of the second half Ireland scored two tries! Everyone was going wild. Wales got back into the game, though, and had they not missed a final kick, they could have won the game. Ireland’s victory earned them the Triple Crown and the Grand Slam Championship title. American football has got nothing on rugby!

Sunday, March 22:
I was the only international student to go to the morning service in Carrick. Kari was in Dublin for the weekend and Bethany was in Castlederg. After service, Leanna brought me back to campus and I worked on coursework for most of the afternoon. Sunday evening my small group went to New Mossley Presbyterian Church where we usually do outreach. The pastor, Ian, had asked us to participate in a service and tonight was the night. I sang The Lord is My Shepherd with Nicky and Jo. Those two girls have lovely voices! It was so good to sing in church again too! I hope I get the chance to do that again before I leave. Stu and Kari both gave wonderful testimonies of God’s faithfulness in their lives during the service and Paul gave a sermon on John 6:1-14. This passage is the story of Christ multiplying the five loaves of bread and the two fish to feed thousands. Paul used this passage as an encouragement to the congregation as they reach out to the surrounding community. Little is much when God is in it! The congregation was so appreciative of our participation and our willingness to help them. Afterward we all went to McDonald’s, which seems to be a new tradition after outreach (I’m not complaining – I love Cadbury cream egg McFlurries!) and then headed back to campus. Thankfully we made it back in one piece…Paul is a crazy driver!

Monday, March 23:
I had class all morning and spent the rest of the day working frantically on my group paper. Let’s just say that editing the compiled paper amounted to pretty much re-writing the entire thing. I’m not sure if they teach writing in high schools here.

Tuesday, March 24:
I spent the entire morning in the library editing the paper and meeting with my group. Then I went to class at 1:15 and handed in the group paper. After class, I immediately started working on my paper for Services Marketing that was to be handed in on Thursday. Tuesday evening we had outreach at New Mossley again. This time we actually did door-to-door outreach. Bethany, Johnny, Jonny and I knocked on doors in the estate and handed out “wee leaflets” about the church’s Easter service. Some people greeted us enthusiastically and seemed genuinely interested in the service. Others shut the door in our faces. I was really nervous about talking to people about this because I was afraid of the rejections and hostility, but God supplied the courage for me and by the end, Johnny and I were taking turns talking.

Wednesday, March 25:
I worked on my paper in the library from 8:30AM to 8:30PM. Then, I left the library and worked on my paper in my room from 8:30PM to 4AM. Why do I procrastinate? Although I’ve vowed to never let that happen again, it undoubtedly will. The day wasn’t all bad though. I had some great company at the library…thanks Kari and Stu!

Thursday, March 26:
After sleeping only three hours, I got up and showered at 7AM and then spent a couple more hours finishing up my paper. Then I went over to the library to finish referencing and print my paper. Of course it was just my luck that the printers weren’t working in the library! Luckily there were several other computer/printer labs, so I got it all taken care of and handed in by 12:30 PM, which left me four hours to pack for my trip to London later that day!!!