SLU 301: Day 2 (London)

Hey! Here is the recap of the second day of SLU ;)

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Like I said, sleeping on the overnight plane was a joke. Haha it was definitely two hours at the max! But luckily the adrenaline rush kicked in so we made it pretty far! I remember flying over the "Eye of London" right before we landed and trying to wrap my mind around that I was in Europe!!! It was incredible!!

As soon as we landed, we had to go through customs which wasn't as time consuming as I thought! We got our luggage and met a SLU worker named Candie who helped us get on our buses! Then we drove to the hotel to have a quick word from the SLU President, Dr. Jay, before we headed into the city! That was the first time I got to really see the city, and it was so incredible! In a lot of ways it reminded me of New York City on this first day, but that is probably because it is the biggest city I’ve been to that I could compare it to! Either way, it was awesome :)

The first place we went to was the Tower of London! I read about it in my syllabus on the way there, and it has such an interesting history! While there, we got to see the crown jewels! They were GORGEOUS!!!!! Right outside of the Tower of London was Tower Bridge, the place I knew for hanging the Olympics rings last summer! I was excited to get a picture in front of that!!

For lunch we went to a medieval themed restaurant called Beefeaters (the name of the palace guards). It was…interesting to say the least! We only got to each get one piece of chicken and a piece of bread! Needless to say, we were still hungry! Haha its ok, it was worth it ;)

Next we got to go to St. Paul’s cathedral! Seriously, I could only say “WOW” as our bus drove up! Talk about incredible architecture!!! I loved that I had my syllabus with me because I got to learn about the history of the cathedral while everything was right before my eyes! That definitely helped me remember everything that I saw! Inside the cathedral we met Dr. Jay in front of a painting called “The Light of the World.” It is a portrait of Jesus, holding a lantern, standing in front of a vine covered door that has no handle. It shows that the only way Jesus can come into our hearts is if we invite Him in! It looked so lifelike and was so beautiful!! Once we got to talk about the painting, a large portion of our group wanted to climb to the top of the Cathedral! Unfortunately, mom and I got to the end of our adrenaline rush and actually fell asleep for about 15 minutes!!! Haha it was ok, there was more than enough time so we didn’t get left!

After that, we got to take pictures outside and then head back to the hotel! It was fish and chips for dinner with crème puffs for dessert…YUM!!! After that we got to hear from Julia Immonen and her incredible ministry! Click HERE to find out more about her! After that we got some VERY well deserved sleep!!!

Here are some pictures from the day!

Love and London Fun,

Em :)

Tower of London!!!

The Eye of London!!!

Tower Bridge!!!

Mom and I in front of Tower Bridge :)

The Beefeaters restaurant!

A statue of John Wesley located outside of the Cathedral!

Here is the inscription on the statue!

Here is a view of the Cathedral from the bridge we were on :)

Dr. Jay and his wife praying over Julia :)

SLU 301: Day 1 (Travel)

Here is a recap of everything that took place on 

the first day of SLU 301! 

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Our day started around 6:30 am when we got our last shower for a little while (I know, gross!), and hopped in the car. We picked up Joel at his house and headed to the first airport in Jacksonville! When we got to the airport, the security guards stopped us because of mom's hairspray! Haha she had to give her expensive ones away and buy two tiny bottles that were $7 each! Talk about expensive for a tiny bottle! Thats the airport for ya ;)

The plane ride to NYC wasn't too bad, just a little turbulent. There was also a sickly older gentleman who was in the front of the plane that got really sick on the plane! He already looked sick before he was wheeled onto the plane, so we knew it was him as soon as the flight attendants called for medical help. Luckily he woke up after they started giving him oxygen and then they had an ambulance take him off the plane as soon as we landed! Not the best way to start off a long trip, but certainly eventful!

When we landed in NYC, we had a tough time finding the international flights because they are at a different spot, and when we got there it was even more crazy! There were so many people from so many places that it was confusing, but luckily we met some other people who were from SLU so we kind of stuck with them through the check in process. The line to get through security was FOREVER long, so we didn't get to eat until 3! We were feeling pretty sick from hunger then so we definitely were excited for a lunch break! It might have been because I was so hungry, but that was the best chinese food I had ever had! ;) 

After that, we had to wait in the terminal for a while. We spent our time texting our goodbyes to everyone and trying to figure out the cheapest way to exchange money! That was my first time dealing with foreign cash, so it was certainly interesting!

Finally we got to board the plane! I had never been on a plane that flew overseas, so this was the biggest plane I had ever seen! There were seats of two on each side, and seats of four in the middle, going sixty rows back! HUGE! Mom and I sat in one of the two seats on the sides, and Joel ended up sitting on the other side with some strange lady! Haha it was hilarious! The flight attendants were the cutest little British women and they were so sweet!! The food was kind of disgusting, but I was so hungry I didn't care! Then we decided to "try" to go to sleep, but it wasn't too successful! 

Here are some pictures from the travel day:

On the way to the airport!

My first time getting foreign money!

Waiting for the overnight plane to come to the terminal! It was FREEZING in there!!!

Ready for the final flight!

SLU 301 was the best trip ever!!

I'm back jack! Haha I know, its been a while since I last posted something! Now that summer is winding down and school is right around the corner, I hopefully will have more time to blog! 

As I told you before, I got to go on a trip called SLU 301 this summer! It was seriously the best trip I have ever been on. This trip took me to some of my favorite places that I never thought I would ever be able to see, such as London and Paris! I still can't believe that I had this opportunity! Especially since I got to go with my mom and one of my best friends :)

Now, I told you that I would give you all the deets from our trip, and I think the best way to do that is to have a post for each day! That way I can give you all the details! Also, I have a little journal that I carried around with me for the entire week, so I can make sure I didn't forget anything! Be on the lookout for all of the posts, and after that I will catch you up on everything else that I got to do this summer! :)

Love and lots of jet lag,

Em :)