Hello! This week has been dull and raining. I kid you not, the sun has shown for maybe a total of 10 hours or less this entire week. Definitely lacking in Vitamin D. I hope the weather is better where you are!

This week, we had a speaker, Dr. Musharraf Hussain al-Azhari, that came to speak on the topic of religion with an emphasis on Islam. The Muslim population is constantly being scrutinized due to the influence of the media. Do we, as individuals, have a responsibility to take the time to inform ourselves on the different beliefs around the world? Does the government have a responsibility, since we live in a country filled with a variety beliefs? What is your thought? This has been something I have been thinking a lot about and would like to explore some more.

Here are my thoughts…..

Personal responsibility plays a role in understanding other religions, however, I truly believe that the school system also should be held accountable to educate students on the different major religions. I came from a high school where world geography was a mandatory course, otherwise you do not graduate. In this course, we had the privilege of learning about the major religions around the world – Christianity, Judaism, Buddhism, Hinduism, and Islam. There was two parts to our learning – textbook learning and speaker. Our teacher worked hard to find speakers that follow each religion to share their beliefs. This course was not intended to force one religion or another upon us, but rather to inform us about the different religions. If a course like this could be implemented in all curriculums, it would educate the young minds to be open to accepting and respecting various religious beliefs, even if they themselves may not follow those teachings. With a course like this, it would also help eliminate negative perceptions about religious groups that the media may negatively portray. Media does a great job at grabbing the viewers’ attention and eliciting an emotional response. Unfortunately, one of those emotional responses have been fear towards the Muslim population, which leads to an unwelcoming environment towards them. If students have a basic understanding of what Islam stands for, it would help reduce and combat the fear that people regarding the specific population.

            The idea of a mandatory course that informs students about the various religions around the world would get backlash from the public. Some parents may refuse to have their child learn about different religions. Their concern could be addressed by having them understand that the purpose of the course is not to preach or convert their child towards one religion or another, but rather to educated them to better understand others. It is also important to get across that it is not a religion class where students will be reading sacred text from each religion because it some cultures it is against their religious beliefs to read other religious text.

            The world is filled with people from multiple backgrounds and if we do not make an effort to understand them, there will always be a underlying fear towards specific groups of people. Fear comes from the unknown and that is what people are afraid of. If a country plans on having a country with mixed religions, the government should take responsibility to help easy concerns about religious groups that is not the dominate one of the country. Continuing with the example of the Muslim population, these people are being discriminated against because of their religious beliefs. This causes tension and conflicts between groups of people due to a lack of understanding. Tension, conflicts, and fear are not positive impacts on a country, therefore the government should take some form of action to help easy those emotions. The how would be another story. One way could be supporting schools that aim to incorporate a course like the one described at the beginning.

            Religion is an important key aspect of the majority of the world’s population and no one should be discriminated against due to their religious beliefs. Not everyone may agree with the teachings of the religion and that is completely fine, however, respecting other beliefs is important. We as individuals have a responsibility to ourselves and others to be educated about other religions to be open and accepting. If people choose to only have one negative portrayal of a religious group, that creates a closed, single mindset where tensions and conflicts are high. We live in a world filled with different people who have different beliefs and if we are not open to each other’s beliefs, the future will be a segregated one.  

Happy Weekend Everyone! Gosh, it has been a long week and I am so glad it’s the weekend. 🙂 I hope everyone’s week was great and that you are now relaxing because you deserve it!

Last weekend, Emma (a fellow Luther student) and I decided on a whim to get away since we had reading week this week. So we decided to run of to Birmingham for 4 days (Friday-Monday). This was a much needed break because things were getting a bit stressful with class workload. We came back to Nottingham refreshed and focused.

Birmingham is definitely a city I would recommend taking the time to explore. It is the second largest city in England, so you can imagine the several neighborhoods there are. Emma and I did not get to all the neighborhood, but we did get all of the city center explored and its near surround areas.

Day 1:

We took the train and arrive early evening on Friday. There is going to be great advice in a few moments so keep reading! It turned out that the hostel we booked was in a less than ideal place. It got great reviews on hostelworld.com, but we learned the hard way that extra research is required. In other words, CHECK THE LOCATION! We orginally booked a mixed dorm, but the receptionist kindly switch us two over to a private double for a small charge. Since the neighborhood did not feel the safest, we made it a priority to get back to the hostel before 8PM each night. I am sure we would have been fine, but better safe than sorry.

Our first night there, were stumbled onto area that was very hip. We paid a one pound to get into the area and there were food trucks from different areas of the world. We had some Caribbean style fried chicken with homemade coleslaw and sauces. Very delicious! After dinner, we looked online and found an indoor 18+ mini golf. The outside of the facility looked like an abandon warehouse, but the inside was buzzing with fun music and lights.

Day 2:

This was a very relaxing day spent inside since it was raining all day. We went to a coffee shop to chat and do some reading. Emma was reading a fun romantic book, while I was getting some research reading done for my final paper of the semester. Around noon, we went to the largest indoor open market. It sold everything you could possibly need! You can buy anything from jewelry to fresh fish. Out side the market was an enormous fresh fruit and vegetable market! There is nothing better than having fresh fruits and vegetables.

We lost track of time and realized we had not had lunch and were starving! So we went up to the first place we found, which happened to be a burger joint. BEST decision! Neither of us have had a burger since leaving the US, so this place will nailed it. Everything was fresh and the burgers were handcrafted and gourmet. That burger filled us up to the point where we skipped dinner. Don’t worry, we had dessert. ;).

The Birmingham library is the place to go! The architecture is one of a kind. The inside is breathe taking. There is a total of 9 floors and a secret garden! We were able to walk out onto the terrace to get a beautiful view of the sprawling city. If you are going to a library, you have to read there! That is what we did for a couple of hours.

We walked around the massive mall. I am pretty sure it is bigger than Mall of America! There were even more stores outside the mall, so we spent a good amount of time exploring those shops.

Day 3:

This was an art filled day. We checked out the art gallery after going for brunch and coffee. Emma and I do understand art as much compared to our flatmates, but there were some fun and interesting paintings. My favorite was statue of a Jesus on a female and male body with wings. The artist was playing with religion and female and male bodies. It was an intriguing piece.

This was a pretty chill day. After the museum it was almost time for dinner, so we walked around a little bit, then went to dinner. We treated ourselves to some Vietnamese cruisine for the night. It felt like a movie night, so we went to get some Ben and Jerry’s before heading back to the hostel.

Day 4:

This was my favorite day! Emma and I went to Cadbury World!! Since we went to a Monday, we got extra discounts on top of the student discount. Score for us! They gave out several candy bars and a cup with melted chocolate with a couple of toppings. YUM! There were interactive activities with chocolate. For instance, we got to write our names in chocolate and chop and spread some chocolate. There was even a cute ride we go to do through a decorated room.

Overall, this was a great and relaxing weekend! It was very much needed for the both of us. In a way, this was our form of self care. 🙂 We live in a time where things keep moving forward and we forget that we are human and we can only do so much. If we take a moment to stop and take care of our physical and mental health, we can achieve so much more without getting burnt out. So the two important advice I have is do extensive research of the hostel you decide to stay in AND remember to take a moment for yourself. 🙂

Good evening from Birmingham! I am currently visiting a different city and would make a post about my adventures here this upcoming week. This week has been quiet, mainly focusing on studies, so not much happening until this weekend. So I figured I answer a question that a sophomore Luther students are asking me. I have received several emails from students who have an interest in studying abroad, so most common ones are – “Why Nottingham” or “How did you know it was the right program”.

I’ve been asked this questions many times lately. There are several study abroad options at Luther College, but this one appealed to me the most. Granted, if I could go on all of the study abroad programs, I completely would!

The Nottingham program fits best with my academic and personal goals. There are a variety of psychology courses available to me and since the higher educational system in the UK is more focused and narrowed, the courses are more specific. I am able to take my major courses at the University of Nottingham while taking house courses to satisfy Luther College required courses, like Paideia. I planned on and am currently taking a world history course that covers events after 1945, which will satisfy my historical credit. As part of the Nottingham program’s curriculum, traveling is a way of learning. One of the house courses is English History through Travel. We traveled around the UK for our first trip just a few short days after I arrive! Since the first trip, we did two shorter weekend trips.

Since Nottingham has roughly around 289,000 residents, there are more resources available to me. I found a possible place to volunteer and to gain experience at the Centre for Trauma, Resilience and Growth. The organization did not have any positions open, however, I am now volunteering with children who are on the spectrum. This only one example of the possibilities available to me in Nottingham. Our service project is a great way to integrate ourselves into the community.

Another reason why I chose this program was because it is a year long program. I wanted to have time to learn as much as I can about a different part of the world. I never took much time to learn about the history and the arts each country has to offer and now I want to make time for that. I realized during the two years at Luther that there is so much more than just focusing on my major. One of my many goals for this adventure is to be curious and learn about different areas of studies and to gain insight on the different traditions out there. Also, I have been putting some thought into what I believe in (religiously) and have been exploring this area as well. Since it is a year long program, that means there will be more time to travel to different countries in Europe. There is approximately two months of free travel (meaning, I get locked out of the flat and would have to travel). This will be a wonderful opportunity to engage myself into the history and traditions of multiple countries. Some of the top places I plan on visiting is Ireland, Germany, and Greece!

Hello Everyone! 🙂 It has been a quiet week here in Nottingham. Been busy with readings and research for an upcoming paper. Have you ever been researching and just get lost in a rabbit hole. One research article after another. For this 1500 word essay, I have read enough articles and books to write a whole thesis on the topic of theory of mind. It is funny when people wonder how to understand another person (which is what theory of mind is). It is quite simple. You ask. It is not as complex as people think it is and it is also more reliable than reading body language and facial expressions (Some people can mask their emotions easily).

This week’s speaker spoke on primary and secondary education here in the UK. His name was Ben and he has a Ph.D from Oxford University, but has chosen to become a school teacher at a independent high school in Nottingham. I originally thought the curriculum would not be that different from the US, since we all need to learn the basics of all subjects. Not is not entire the case here. Students specialize in their field of study early in life. For instance, Ben has students that state exactly what they will be studying at age 11. That is crazy! From there, they will focus in their field of study and diverge from that topic. So if a 11 year old student says I will study molecular biology, that will be what they focus on until the graduate and go to college/university. I could argue for most students in the US that most do not even know what they will be studying their first year of college, let alone at age 11.

Aside from the early specializing age, the curriculum is structure to prepare students for their standardized exams. There are these entrance exams for all primary and secondary schools, regardless of whether it is an independent (private) or state school. The ones for independent schools are more difficult because they are privately funded and are more rigorous. This is where a major issue arises. State schools are not bad schools, it just that many of them are struggling schools that get passed on from one owner to the next. Students that are attending these struggling state schools come from lower class families. The independent schools are fee paying school and trust me, the fees are outrageous. Ben, who teaches at an independent school admitted that he could not afford to send his children to the school he teaches at EVEN with his 20% off staff discount. That really makes a statement.

I am not saying that independent schools should be banned by any means, but I think the government should put more focus on the struggling state schools, to encourage and motivate the students. It is hard to staff teachers at those school because the students there view education in a bad light and so do the parents. Some people blame the parents for not encouraging their children to work harder at school. But, I personally think it needs to be acknowledge that not all families have that luxury. When the main priority of the parent is to work for a pay check that barely cover basic necessities, education may be the last think of their minds. Therefore, teachers should take an active role in helping ALL children, regardless of their background. When it is difficult to staff a school with motivating and encouraging teachers, that affects the students the most. Therefore, I believe that government resources should be focused on equipping schools that creates an environment for curiosity and learning. If more resources are going towards schools that are already doing well, that does not create equal opportunities for all students.

There is much more to say about the issue of primary and secondary schools in the UK and I could go on forever. If you have the time, I definitely recommend looking into the topic, because it really makes you think. Some of the issues relate back to the US. One major aspect I appreciate from the US educational system is the opportunity to learn and explore multiple subjects. That really creates a well rounded education.

Greetings from Bath! At this point in the post, I’m writing to you all this beautiful, historic city. The group and I traveled to Bath for a short weekend trip, which took several (4 hours) trains. Our stack of tickets felt like a deck of cards. 

The city itself is quite gorgeous, especially with the white limestone buildings. The architecture dates back to the Georgian time period (there were many kings name George, hence the Georgian period). With layers and layers of history to go through, our professor highlighted the significant events/sites.

So… a brief history lecture on Bath. It was found in the first century by the Romans and they built a community here due to the findings of hot, natural spring water. The water is believed to be rain water from thousands of years ago that has been absorbed into the surface and is now rising deep underneath, leading to the warm temperature. The Romans built religious spas surrounding the water, which later turned into a place of socialization and bathing. When the Romans left Britain, the area was destroyed due to flooding and erosions. The area was not discovered again until the 1800s. ‘Doctors’ (individuals who claim to be one) would prescribe 2-3 hours in the water and require people to drink 6 liters of the spa water. People would come from all over to take a bath here because there was this belief that the water of magical and could rid of any disease. Due to this popular belief, the town grew outside its wall over the years, to what is now a city of 90,000 people. That’s a very, very short overview of the city, but that gives you an idea how old this city is and by the pictures below, it demonstrates the care and effort that it took to preserve this area of British history.

Something I found interesting was the Goddess of the place. The Romans had traditions of making sacrifices to the Gods and Goddesses and the Roman Baths were dedicated to the Goddess Sulis. It turns out that if you want someone punished, you would write a letter to Sulis describing the offense and the person. If you did not know the name of the person, list the suspects, and they would be punished. The crimes can range anywhere from theft to murder, and the punishments often times got creative. 

After the Roman Baths, I decided to go the Fashion Museum and look past decades of dress for men and women. The details on the woman’s dresses were reduced as you went up in time. It wasn’t until the beginning half of the mid 1900s that jeans were made for women. That is shocking. Before that, you would only see various dresses for women. However, it was interesting that the clothing for women got more open and slightly more revealing as time went on. The style for men did not digress much from its originally jacket and dress pants. 

Aside from the places we visited, I quite enjoyed the restaurant we went to. It was a local pub that served pies with mash potato and gravy. I got a dish called ‘Wild Shroom’, which included mushroom and asparagus with white sauce in a small little pie sitting on top of mash potato and a wine sauce. It was delicious. The evening was lively and we got to chat with some Brits. The couple was not locals, but they had lots to share about British culture, especially about politics. There are major political changes that has been and will be happening. Brexit, the referendum of the UK, has been the topic of the decade. The UK does not want to be apart of the EU anymore and their fate will be decided on October 31st. It was nice to hear his perspective on the situation. I have read some things about the issue, but its a different experience hearing it from someone who has lived here and have been affected by different policies.

That’s all for now. I do apologize for the late weekly post. The weekend was packed and a little hectic with travels and trying to get back in time for classes today. I also just wanted to wait until I could get the pictures on here to share. Highly recommend a trip to bath (possibly longer than 2 days). This is just a beautiful area of wander and get lost for a bit.

I hope everyone’s weekend is off to a great start! My Saturday consisted of me waking up and heading to the library where I have been all morning and afternoon. This post is being written to give me a break from filling my brain with information on Theory of Mind. There is large amount of information out there on this topic and it is quite interesting, if any of you are interested.

In my Paideia 450 class (Luther Course), we have been discussing race and class. And I would like to share what I have learned and observed so far in the UK, more specifically Nottingham. Before the course even started, I was informed that the UK does not have racial problems to the extent of the US. At the moment in my head, I was thinking ‘Wow! That pretty impressive for a diverse country’. Now, I don’t think that is the case. As I complete more of my assigned reading for the course, the issues of race and class seem to be a much bigger problem than people let on. In the UK, classism is one of the leading issues affecting the citizens and residences. However, if you look closely at those who occupy the different class levels, you start to see a racial problem intertwined in there as well. As you head higher up the scale, there is less and less individuals of color. Is that just a coincident? I don’t think so. Let’s flush out this issue.

There are arguably 5-6 class levels, ranging from nobility at the top to the lower working class. Here, working class jobs include service jobs, plumbing, construction, etc. So now we have to consider what is affecting the working class individuals. Policies affect them. Who makes the policies? People of nobility or the high upperclass individuals. These people are wealthy and can afford to be educated. If you look at the race demographic of these two classes, they are predominately white. So when budget cuts happens, those in governing positions have to make cuts in their city. So what exact gets cut? Well…libraries, health care, government aid, and more. Budget cuts affect the lower working class individuals more than any other class. Cutting the budget or even reducing it for the libraries for an example, prevent lower class individuals from using the resources to gain an education. Libraries provide free programs, books, and access to computers that otherwise would be too expensive for working class individuals. That’s only one example.

Going back to the issue of race within the large gap in class. Many of the working class is made up of non-white workers. This is due to repeated cycles of lack of resources. Many of the working class parents will push hard for their children to get a good education because that is the only way to break that vicious cycle. That one explanation, but that does answer the big question. That because research is still being done on it. There is no solid answer. There are thoughts and opinions from sociologist, however, there seems to be multiple factors at play. For those individuals who are non-white that has made it out of working class and into middle class, their stories usually include a similar message. That message is: people of color (non-white) have to work twice if not three times are hard to be successful. The mystery is why. That big question, I hope can be answered by the end of my course.

I completely understand that there is a limited amount of money in each country and that resources are limited. However, I think it is important to see where those resources are going. The majority of the working class individuals do not believe their voice is being heard and that they have no say in their own country’s policies. That is a large issue that needs to be addressed. Each nation has their own domestic issues that vary in degree in comparison to other countries. I personally think it was unfair of people to state that the UK doesn’t have as big as a problem when it come to race as the US. It is definitely an issue, but its just more mixed in with the issue of class. It has been really interesting looking at issue within the UK. If I was in the US right now, I would not even know about these issues. That the great benefit of studying abroad.

Hello Everyone!! I hope life is treating you all well. 🙂

As my title indicated, I want to take a moment and talk about how completely different university life here in the UK is. Coming from Luther College in small town Decorah, Iowa, I am certain University of Nottingham’s campus is larger than the downtown area and Luther’s campus combined. So in other words, the school is enormous!! Not lying…Apple Maps was my guide to classes during the first week In addition to the campus itself, the lectures are quite different. One of my lectures have close to 400 students. The professor usually stands up in front of the class and goes of off a slide show. There isn’t a lot of chances for questions or interactions with other students or the professor. A lot of the learning depends on the students reading the materials and doing research on their own to understand and/or further their knowledge on a topic. It is no where close to how Luther goes about teaching its courses. After getting a taste of both campuses, I sure miss my liberal arts college.

Tennis has been going great! I have meant some really nice people in the club. The level of talent here at Nottingham is amazing. There are six women’s competitive teams, where team 1 is filled with world rank players. That is outstanding! During developmental training, I have gotten to know some of the other female players pretty well. At first, it was kind of awkward since the attitude on the court is different. For instance, when I play, I will generally give compliments like “Nice serve” or “Great rally” or what not, but when I first said that to my opponent, they gave me a weird look. Also, when I played doubles, I put my hand up for a high five with my partner and she gave me a strange look. Some of the girls I played with caught on and would give me a high five back :). I guess, the tennis culture here does not show much emotion when player. That is a complete contrast to the environment in the US. At Luther, we would cheer our teammates on from several courts down.

One major difference in societies (university clubs) is that their events all center around drinking. For instance, my psychology club has events planned for drinking and dancing at a night club from 9PM-3AM in a Thursday! I am shocked by this!! The sporting clubs also do this. Most events will take place at a dance club or at a pub. I find that so interesting. There is definitely a culture here surrounded by drinking. Some of the girls and guys at practice have asked “Are you going out tonight?” on a Tuesday morning. I was like “um… it Tuesday” and their response to that was “Ya so what. We have been out every night this week”. I was too shocked to utter a response. This was also something that came up in one of my Luther courses that is taught over here. Why is there a larger drinking culture here? Is it because of the lower age restriction? Is drinking a response to a stressor? It is not just the student who drink a lot, adults will be at pubs starting at 3PM (after work) until late. I personally think there is more to the increase in alcohol consumption than what is on the surface.

That’s all for now. Check back this weekend for another post. It has been a crazy week and will catch you up on Week 2 after its done. 🙂

Hello Friends and Family!! As you can tell by the title, I just spent some quality time in London for the weekend. First impression of London is WOW. There is an endless amount of places to visit and events to attend. Three days is not enough time to take it all in. The best way to describe this city is a whole bunch of cities put together. There are several neighborhoods scattered across the city, but each neighborhood feels like its own town.

Something I found really interesting about the city itself is the mixture of modern, Victorian and Medieval buildings. This is mostly due to the city having to go through several reconstructions. There was the great fire in 17th century and the bombings of World War II. Each layer of its history is shown through the structures that are still standing. You can also tell what was on each street base on the street name. For instead, Bread Street would have sold bread back in the day and Thistle Street would have sold thistles and so on. Also, as you walk around, there are plaques with what use to be in the exact place you are standing.

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Our group went to several places in London: National Art Gallery, British Museum, Tower Bridge, Westminster Abbey, St. Paul’s Cathedral. I could go on forever about each individual place, but I would like to focus on the British Museum. Walking through the different exhibits, it makes me question whether our society is heading into a less unique future. This question came up when I first walked into the Ancient Egyptian and Roman exhibits and saw their art. The amount of detail on each piece of artifact is outstanding. There wasn’t a single pattern repeated. Every single stroke of their paint brush resulted in something different. Today, if I would go into several stores, I would see similar designs. Everything is mass produced. There are strong pros in that, such as efficiency, but that leads to lack in uniqueness and creativity. I don’t often see unique designs anymore. The intricate patterns on pottery and tombs strongly hints at the artistic abilities of the Ancient Egyptians and Romans.

I went to visit two religious buildings: Westminster Abbey and St. Paul’s Cathedral. The environment in both public spaces were completely different. There this question that I would like you all to ponder on for a moment: Does tourism result in making a sacred place less sacred? —- Come up with any thoughts? Here’s my take on it. When I was in the Abbey, I did not feel likes I was in a place of worship. It didn’t feel sacred to me at all…Instead, I felt like I was walking through an exhibit in a museum. There was plaques everywhere explaining what everything was and everyone was using the audio self-tour on their phones. What I explained sounds exactly like a museum. That takes degrades the place in a way. Other the other hand, St. Paul’s Cathedral was the complete opposite. There was no photography past a certain point as a sign of respect. We attended a service and I was mistaken for a tourist, so initial, she individual restricted my access into the area (after explanation, I was allowed in). People who came to the cathedral were all followers of God. The environment was peaceful and holy. This is a place for religious sessions to take place, not the Abbey. There wasn’t any plaques and people weren’t walking around aimlessly. So to answer my own question, I think it all depends on how the public space chooses to be open to tourist. It is important to share the public space with others, but we shouldn’t do it in a way that takes away from the place.

Okay… Enough about London. I could really go on forever. Today is Sunday, so that means tomorrow is my first day of classes! I am super excited to get started with this new school year. A few highlight of my day tomorrow: Tennis practice, History (World History after 1945), Developmental Psychology, Netball social for Psychology club.

Check back in a few days to see how classes and tennis is going! 🙂

Hello Friends! Life had been one thing after another since coming to the UK. As I mentioned at the end of my last post, I was on a six day trip around Northern UK. We went to Lake District, Durham, and Edinburgh (Scotland).

Lake District

We took a coach (bus) from Nottingham to Keswick, a small tourist town. I know it sounds silly, but I was completely expecting to see cows in the fields, so it was offsetting for a split second when I saw lots of sheep and lamb. That may totally be due to the fact that I have not really got into my mind that I am not home anymore.

Anyways, one of the first things we did in Keswick was visit the Castlerigg Stone Circle. This site has been dated back to the neolithic period (4000-5000 years ago). The interesting fact is that the purpose of this site is unknown. So possibly interesting unknown fact would be better way to phrase it. There are several theories for what the purpose was, such as trading post, ritual space, or just a place of gathering in general. Although, it was slightly eerie that three bodies have been discover.

Durham

On our way to Durham, we stopped to visit Hadrian’s Wall, which was built starting 122 AD and took 15 years to finish. The Romans built this wall to separate from Scotland, whom the considered barbarians. The entire length of the wall goes on for 77 miles! Don’t worry- we only hiked a little over 3 miles of it. The terrain was tough to hike due to the stone steps and steep hills, but completely worth it for the beautiful views. It funny because the natives would consider that a small walk. I beg to differ.

In Durham, we visited the cathedral, which I initially mistaken for a castle from the outside. It took 40 years to build the massive cathedral (1093-1133). As our group walked through the doors, it was an overwhelming experience. There was so much detail to take in all at once. The architects of this cathedral did an incredible job building what seems like an everlasting masterpiece. Every detail on the stone columns, stained-glass, paints tells a story of the history of this cathedral. My favorite part of the cathedral was the wood carving on the right hand side. It was carved to demonstrate Jesus’s pain and suffering when he died on the cross. If you look closely, the arm on the right hand side of carving on the floor is not attached, and the artist left it that way to demonstrate that Jesus’s work is never done. That is such a powerful wood carving.

Edinburgh, Scotland

We spent most of our time in the City of Edinburgh, which was originally enclosed by a stone wall up until the 18th century. Those who were wealthy enough had the privilege of leaning and returning, while the poor lived their entire life not knowing what’s outside the four walls. When the wall was ordered to be torn down, life started to spread quickly, leading to the ‘old’ and ‘new’ town. These two towns are split by Princes street. We did a lot of tours to learn as much about their history as we could in the three days we were there.

The Edinburgh Castle is sight to take in from the base of Castle Rock, which was formed when a volcano erupted a few hundred years ago. I found it hard to imagine people living in the castle, but as I continued through each part of the castle, my imagination took off. Often times when we think of castles, we think of the royal family, but there is so much more to a castle than just that. There is the story behind each room, from the dinning hall to the prisons within the castle walls. Just imagine the kind of life the royal family, workers, and prisoners had.

On the other days, we visited heritage centers and museums. Scotland had a long history filled with ups and downs. Today, you can still see the affects of trade with other countries and invasions. Anything from dances to a cabinet has influences from the Dutch and/or Norwegians.

Visiting the monuments on Calton Hill was one of my favorite activities. Up on the hill lies Scotland’s National Monument, also known as Scotland’s Disgrace. It was suppose to be a replica of the Parthenon, like the one in Greece, but Scotland ran out of money to fund it. It stands high up in the hill only 10% finished. Up there is also the Nelson’s Monument, along with a monument dedicated to the prisoners of Auschwitz in Germany. While up there, we had a beautiful view of the hill Arthur’s Seat was on, so we decided to make the hike up there. That was one of the toughest hikes I have ever done. It wasn’t a long distance (1 mile hike), but it was one mile of a steep hill filled with rough stone steps. My group members and I wanted to beat the time of our director (45 minutes up the hill), so we set a fast pace and made it in 26 minutes! We were out of breathe, but it was so worth it. The view up there took our breathe away. We could see miles and miles of the city sprawled out. It’s hard to think that this city was once enclosed in four stone walls.

That’s a wrap for my first trip! There is so much going on during these travel days that I couldn’t fit it all on here. This coming weekend, we will be going to London and Bath! Look out for another post on that!

Hey everyone! So it’s Friday evening and I have to say, it’s been quite a long week. My flight landed on Monday (Sept 9) at 8:30am at Heathrow Airport and all of us student got to the flat to unpack. And from there it’s been busy! Keep reading to see what I have been up to! Z

First experience in the coach (van/small bus):

That was a terrifying experience! I kept on feeling like we were turning head on into traffic. It was incredibly hard to to gasp out loud. That took a few days to get used to, but even now, it’s still a little unsettling. I find it surprising how something as simple as driving on a different side of the road can be so different. In my mind, I didn’t think it was going to be that big of a difference until I got into the vehicle. The slow lane that would normally be the right land on a two lane highway (going in the same direction) would be the left lane and the right would be the passing lane. And on roundabouts, you would turn left instead of right. I’m still trying to get used to the traffic situation, as you can probably tell. I think learning how to drive may be out of the question, but who knows what will happen!!

Flat’s (Apartment) and the Neighborhood:

My living quarters is in a neighborhood that sees primarily occupied by people with south Asian descent. I haven’t meet any of our neighbors yet but hopefully the group and I will get to extend friendly hellos to them soon. The flat is on top of a Lutheran Church and is quiet spacious. I don’t feel cramp in the flat at all. There are six bedrooms and my roommate and I decided a double would be best for us. There is a full-size kitchen and living room and dinner area, with two bathrooms.

I went for a few runs so far to get familiar to the other neighborhood and stores. Coming from a small town, I’m not used to all this traffic and noise. My runs are usually on trails or through quiet neighborhoods, now they are right next to all the traffic. That’s going to be an adjustment. Anyways, there is a little of everything that is in walking distance. Restaurants, grocery stories, convenient stores, salons, etc. All the Luther students has bus passes so that will allow us to get to pretty much anywhere in the city.

Exploring Nottingham:

The group and I took the bus to downtown area to look around and see what’s available to us. There is EVERYTHING here. Looking out the window on the route the bus took, there are grocery stores for every type of food you could possible want to cook with – Polish, Turkish, Indian, Chinese, Thai, African, and so much more. There is also a variety of restaurants and pubs.

Although there is a variety of ethnicities here, I have a feeling that it is quite segregated by ethnic groups. During my bus ride, I saw communities of Turks, then communities of people of African descent, and so on. People of different backgrounds are not living in the same communities.

The downtown area is buzzing! There are tons of cafes and stores to explore. I found this massive bookstore called Waterstones. It has 4 floors of books!! That’s massive! Definitely going to be spending plenty of time in there in the near future. While walking through there, I noticed that books have a different cover than they do in the U.S. Found that to be interesting.

The Residences of Nottingham:

This section is going to be short because I haven’t had much interaction with natives here yet. Most of the interactions include saying hello and thank you. However, I did notice that all the natives here, no matter your ethnicity, they all have a British accent. I find that very unique and uniting. Hopefully, I’ll have more to say about interactions with others next week!

Where am I currently?

Right now, I am in Durham on a six day travel trip as part of my learning course. Im on my second day of the trip and will return on Tuesday. Check back next week to see pictures and stories about my trip throughout the UK!