coffee culture is probably my favorite place in york to hang out. the lack of internet and space make it a difficult place to do homework and the big windows and interesting customers make it impossible to attempt any kind of productivity at all but it is the perfect place to take friends, grab a coffee and chat. and one of my favorite friends to go on long coffee dates with is ingliv. she is one of my dearest friends this semester and we can chat for hours about everything from music to the bible to my fascination with norway (her homeland) and our mutual obsession with tattoos. we got to know each other because we were both placed on baking and hospitality at the church as our service this semester and the friendship has grown from there. rarely a day goes by that we don’t spend some sort of time together and i know she will be the person i miss most when i leave this place. love you, ingliv!
me and mrs fisher is a cafe i’ve been dying to try my whole time in york. i kept reading its rave reviews online and i knew i just had to go there with my friends. after attempting a few times while they were closed (who closes sunday and monday?), we finally caught them while they were open and we’re so glad we did. it is honestly one of the cutest cafes in york, which says a lot because york is chock full of quirky coffee shops and eateries. the first floor is a tea room and cafe and the second is a craft shop and classroom. the food was simple and sweet, the coffee was good but the ambiance made it exceptional. maybe it was the great company or the torrential rain but i dont think i’ve ever felt so cozy in my life. it not only lived up to but exceeded my expectations and my only regret is not finding it sooner in my semester so i could go back again and again.
on thursday, though it was a little rainy, we went on a hike to picnic at the waterfalls i had visited the day before with bea and chelsay. it was a great hike but the group of people made it really stellar. we ended up laughing most of the time and despite the weather, it was one of my most fond memories of the dales.
my friend cheesy and i made the acquaintance of a very sweet little english woman while we were in the dales. we had tea with her then she offered to drive us around the dales to take photos and see all her favorite places. seven hours and thousands of photos later, we returned to the camp happily exhausted from our wonderful day. here are a few of our adventures:
easter this year was pretty spectacular! the night before, i made cookies with my roommates then i made flower crowns with some other friends. easter morning, a bunch of us put on our easter best and helped serve at church. i think one of the best compliments i’ve received in a while is that i “looked like the bride of Christ”. i’ve been reading this momentary marriage by john piper with my roommates which talks about how we as the church are the bride of Christ which made the compliment especially sweet. after church, we had a picnic on the top floor of our school’s coffee shop and ate lunch and fellowshipped. a few of us left lunch early to attend evensong at the minster which was such a wonderful experience. the music was heavenly and the sermon was fantastic. i went to dinner at a fancy fish restaurant in town with my friend ingliv then came home and ate our easter chocolate and reflected on this amazing day. but what made this day most special is that it celebrates Jesus’s resurrection from the dead. i am writing a paper on this topic for my apologetics class so it is especially near and dear to my heart this easter. the fact that the Son of God died for my sins then rose again will never cease to blow my mind. i hope this ‘easter state of mind’ won’t just be something i meditate on during easter but the whole year around.
i’m back from my very long and very unintentional blog break. wow. so much has happened in such a short time. i’ve been in york, england studying and its divine. i love england, love this school, love my friendies, love this life. i know i always say this on this blog (mostly because its always true) but i just feel so blessed. france was hard. hard in a good, growing way but difficult nevertheless. i know it was necessary to my becoming but i’m so happy to be in the next season. being in such a beautiful place around wonderful, warm, kind people has been a dream. my roommates and i are inseparable and i’ve made many other friends from all over the world. i spend most of my time in coffee shops doing homework, making dinner with my roomies, walking around this beautiful town listening to my les mis audiobook, doing bible studies and praying in the private prayer room at the minster, baking and serving goodies at church and learning to love God more everyday. here are a few pics to attempt to illustrate my wonderful semester so far. i’m planning on posting somewhat regular schedule so stay tuned!