our first day in the dales, we were given a few hours to look around and explore. my dear friend ingliv and i decided to venture off the beaten path and ended up following the rail road tracks for a few miles. here are a few photos we captured along the way.
while we were in the dales, we stayed in little cabins at a christian retreat compound called the jonas centre. from the cherry blossoms surrounding the campus to the big red phone booth, it was wonderful and so quintessentially english. we explored, chased sheep, played cards late into the night, had worship nights and prayer meetings, ate amazing meals and lots and lots of great fellowship. it was the perfect home base for a weekend away and i’m so glad i had my camera to capture it.
this past week, my school went to the Yorkshire dales on a retreat. I can honestly say I’ve never been anywhere so beautiful in my entire life! it is beyond stunning there! I probably took a million pictures so ive prepared quite a few posts over the next few weeks to attempt to illustrate my wonderful week. the dales is somewhere I can see myself going back time and time again and never getting tired of. it reminds me of the ring of kerry in ireland, which is one of my favorite places in the whole world, mixed with the quaintness of carmel-by-the-sea. I had so many great experiences and adventures over this week and I wish it lasted longer. so stay tuned to follow along on my beautiful week in the dales.
for my outreach trip this semester, i went to iraq with a friend to visit her family. honestly, iraq blew my mind. it was so beautiful, the people were so kind and open, the language was so fun and the culture was so fascinating. the reason i chose to go to iraq was because it seemed the most adventurous and interesting. before i went, i didn’t even think about what it would be like. somewhere in the back of my mind, i think i had visions of desserts and women in burqas and bombed out buildings but this couldn’t be further than what i found. we were in kudistan in the north and it was beautiful and green and lush. during our visit, we spent a lot of time with my friend andie’s family, visited some of the surrounding cities, worked on our hands and knees at the freedom center (the building andie’s dad is in iraq to help construct), had lunch with the kindest muslim family and had lots of great fellowship. i can honestly say i have fallen in love with iraq in every way and would love to go back someday. what started out as an adventurous outreach choice turned out to be one of the biggest blessings of my life. till next time, iraq.
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!
this city is so beautiful and magical lit up. there are lights scattered everywhere throughout the city and there is a huge pillar of multicolored lights right outside of the gate to my apartment. the christmas market, which will have its own post soon, takes on a life of its own at night with random disco balls and christmas music (in english!) blasting. but the pièce de résistance is the ferris and tree grove in the center of town. i never get tired of taking pictures of it so i hope you don’t get tired of looking at it. it surely is a sight to behold and i’ll be so sad when it leaves after the holidays.
