Who even knows really

Well, sitting here in my once scary dorm room on a Monday evening, I have lost track of which day it is. What I mean by that, is I've stopped counting how many days I've been away from home, and just began to live in the days. It's been quite an experience really! 

Last week, Wednesday to be precise, the group I've gotten close to celebrated Rosh Hashanah with our Jewish friend from Israel. It was honestly such a great moment. We were able to share a holiday together, only after knowing each other a week really. You know the best part? It truly felt like a real holiday. Ya know the kind where mom is cooking all day, and you listen to jazz through the house, and you just have the feeling of content? It was like that!! 

Here's a photo of us all in the Hub, attempting to watch Top Gup, but also sharing in a Jewish tradition: apples and honey for luck.

There have been many moments where I could have just shut down and really cried about home. I will not lie there. It's taken pushing myself out of my comfort zone over and over again, to really begin to feel at home here. It's really just crazy to think, I've not even been here two weeks! 

This past weekend ended Freshers week. And believe it or not, I went to the club. I know! Who would have thought, old soul Lauren would be out on a Saturday night!

Proof:

On Sunday, I went to a church crawl with Yotam, who is Jewish. He rocks. Anyway, in the morning Yotam and Brooke accompanied me to a Catholic Church in town, St. Anne's. It was awesome. 

Honestly the blessings God continues to give to me are overwhelming. Later in the day we checked out another church called Red Church. It was a little chaotic, but I enjoyed the praise and worship!

Today began our first week of class. I was freaking out. I'm sure my boyfriend would tell you that nervous was an understatement. However! My class today went quite smooth, and I get the feeling as though it will be an awesome experience.

Today I also received my first package from America! (Thanks mom) But if you read this and feel a special calling to sending me a letter, or anything of the sorts, here is my address!

Lauren Rabine 

35

Katherine Fletcher

Edge hill university, St. Helens road, Ormskirk, west Lancashire L39 4AH

Day Six - Liverpool

Well today was just really filled with so many things. To begin, we had our Study Abroad orientation, which consisted really of a lot of logistical things such as important dates and what not. Which I love!! Me and my planner were a very happy pair :) Just about immediately after our orientation, we made our way into Liverpool!

 

We got off of Liverpool Central and began our tour. Honestly I really just found the city so beautiful, it has the perfect combination of history and modern buildings. For instance, when you first get off the train you walk down the street, to Liverpool 1 which has loads of shops and things. Then if you walk just a little bit further, you hit this:

 

Here you'll find just rich history from all over many periods of time. This is an area I will definitely going back too! Just look at this building here:

 

This building used to be filled with homeless people and rats, in I believe just the 1980s. Now it is an apartment complex, and has shops within! I mean really just cool things! The greatest part is that all museums and historical locations, are FREE. I mean really, what more could a history major ask for.

Check this out:

 

I mean really these buildings are just SO incredible, you can't find stuff like this in the States! We went to two cathedrals today, this one I just thought was so amazing. I was totally overwhelmed, it is just so beautiful:

 

Later we were walking down the street, and out of a hotel restaurant walked the entire Liverpool soccer team. I AM NOT JOKING! Like I'm not a huge soccer fan, but I saw all the people running towards them so I took a few pictures.

So cool right?! Anyway we finished up our trip with dinner in Liverpool 1, and then made our way back on the train to Ormskirk. 

All in all, a long but good day! 

Day Five

Today began actual freshers week, and I tell you what it is a busy one! Today we had to check-in to the international office, and then enroll. In doing that we received out Edge Hill ID cards! Mine looks like this 

So today we were able to use our food plan, and the free bus for the first time! So we got to go into town a bit more easily, and visited the post office. Here I got to send a few letters!! 

This evening we went to the Golden Lion for dinner with a whole group of us, which was a lot of fun!

Tomorrow we have orientation, and more fun!

Day Four!

Today was a bit more relaxed than the last few. All that was going on from school was a little information on tables. However! This morning began with coffee and breakfast, with the intention of following with a devotional. When we, Lizzie, Brooke and I, were sitting, our friend Erin was in line. She was approached by a woman who is part of Ormskirk Christian Fellowship! Erin directed her our way, and we met the pastor, Mike, and his wife Adrienne. Anyway, that being a huge blessing in itself, we began our bible time. After sharing a few passages, and moving on to things we were thankful for and prayer, that same woman who approached Erin came to our table and joined us with another! Their names were Beth and Laura, and they were very welcoming. Telling us we were more than welcome to join, and eat supper at their houses, just really awesome stuff! But wait, the blessings continue! We followed our bible time with a quick run through of the info tables, and found the chaplaincy services. They told us that they hold a breakfast with a "Church Search" so you can find a church you enjoy! We then went on our run, and found this amazing forested area then came out to these places. 

Beyond beautiful right?! Just countless blessings today I swear. After our run we headed back, grabbed some lunch, and were off to the showers. We had a hall meeting and then a housing meeting with all new students. Then we had some dinner and were going to head to the student bar for the start of fresher week, but weren't really feeling it. 

However now laying in bed, with the music and screaming from the club, it feels like I'm there! 

Until tomorrow!

Day Three - Wales!

Today we took a trip, with just about all of the international students, to Conwy, Wales. It was a beautiful place to go, with a gorgeous castle, and just stunning scenery. Here are just a few pictures from the trip:

This picture is the first one I took after getting off the bus. I had to snap it because one of the guys on the trip, Yotam, said on the way in, "You know we're in Wales because there are English letters in words you cannot pronounce." As you can see from the top part of the sign, there is just no way to decipher the words!

This is from the top of the first wall tower we climbed into. It was really high up, and honestly I was nervous to go on the stairs, they still looked so rustic! But I managed my way to the top to take this, and below is a picture of Yotam, Erin, Evans, David and myself on the wall!

 Here is just a fun picture of me, with the wall in the background!

This here is a picture of the town we were in, Conwy. I took this from the bridge covering the sea, which was a very different smell to take in. Coming from a Great Lakes gal, I think I prefer the smell of fresh water!

As you can see, this is Conwy castle! We didn't have enough time to go inside, but look how beautiful it is!

I took this shot because being a history nerd I thought it was interesting. This was inside of the pub we ate at for lunch, and as can be seen it is an old advertisement for a slave auction. It's just not something you would ever see in the states!

Today was just really an exhausting day, and tomorrow I'm sure will continue the journey. After my previous posts about my rooming floor, I thought it would be good to show a bit of where I'm living.

Here is my room:

 My picture creation I made on my wall! Along with the pillows I had to buy at the Pound Stretcher, so I could get some comfy snoozing.

Here are two storage cupboard spaces, which I've put my suitcases for the time being, along with my awesome slippers!

Another slipper featuring picture, along with a peak into my washroom area.

My desk/dresser area. I've placed my laptop here, and had to purchase a mirror to do my hair!

 Just a closer picture of my washroom space, and behind the sink is my closet, which is pictured below!

 This here is my hall, with 8 other dorm members, and it is co-ed.  As I said in previous postings, us 8 co-ed people share one shower and one toilet. These beautiful rooms are pictured below.

This room here is our kitchen area, with a working stove and oven. Below are our food pantries which we each are given a key to our own!

Tomorrow we have a sort of club fair, to see what things we can get involved in while we're here. A few of us girls are going to look for a Christian fellowship, which hopefully will be just wonderful! Until then!!

Day Two - Already?!

Well, after staying up until about 4am scrap booking, I fell back asleep and woke around 12:30pm, which is unheard of for me! Around 1:00pm, myself and a friend, Lizzie, went for a run around. We found ourselves here:

It was the most pleasant surprise! It's just outside of campus, and honestly overwhelming with beauty. Just one house for example looks like this:

It was just stunning! We found this church, which is an Anglican parish, and honestly too beautiful for words. Here are a few pictures of the church and the graveyard we found:

After we got back from our run, I showered quickly, and then went into town with Erin and Josh to get a few things. When we got back, I got ready for our international mixer! Which was loads of fun, we met a few different types of people. Here's a picture with some of them!

It really was a lot of fun, but still being a bit jetlagged, had to come back to the room around 9! I know, grandma Lauren!! But tomorrow we leave to go on a trip to Wales, which should be loads of fun! 

First Day -- Done!

So! I've landed, gotten my room, and been to town more than once. Immediately after landing, I connected with a girl in baggage and we found our connection, Jane, together. From there we met up with a bunch of other American students who are studying at Edge Hill this semester. Here's a quick snap of us all on the bus! 

We took the bus about 45 minutes away from Manchester into our sweet town of Ormskirk! Here's a shot of the entryway:

Getting into school, we grabbed some lunch, had a quick orientation and got our room keys. I am in Katherine Fletcher hall room 35! We have our own place to sleep, however we share one shower and one toilet with our floor. Suuuuuper awesome (note the sarcasm). Anyway my room, while I've added a bit, still has that nice hint of jail:

Town is so awesome, there are pubs everywhere and awesome little shops. On Thursdays and Saturdays there is the market, which has a bunch of odds and ends. We went to Styles, which is a hip bar right in the center of downtown. After all of that, we came back and went to bed, needed to get over that jetlag! However, I slept from about 9pm-2:30am and then was ready to go. Soo I decided scrap booking was a solid idea!

And that's about it for Day one!!

One. Week. Away.

Alrighty.

I leave next week..

WHAT?!

Needless to say, this whole thing has not hit me yet. Well to be fair, it has, but not in the idea that I'm actually going to another country for three months.

Starting earlier this summer, I started a truly troubling experience with anxiety. Long story short, I was thinking of just pulling out of my study abroad. I figured that I was experiencing such awful anxiety because of this new transition in my life, and by taking it out I would be relieved of my anxiety.

God blessed me with many opportunities to talk to many AMAZING people who reassured me that this trip is necessary. One amazing gal, Sarah Walker, introduced me to the podcast app on the iPhone. Here I added the LifeChurch.tv app, and I tell ya some of those sermons have gotten me through. In one podcast, the entire message was about walking through the fire. The idea that trying times come to us, because we were born to get through them.

How cool is that?

This experience is something God put into my life for a reason! What reason that is, I'm not entirely sure right now, but God knows, and really that's all I need. I'm going to be obedient to God, and let him deliver me through to the other side.

Currently I'm trying to figure out how to get all of the things I want to bring with me into one suitcase, while allowing for room to bring back goodies. This is proving to be the hardest task so far! I'm thinking I need one of these handy suitcases:


Hopefully it all works out, keeping my fingers crossed!!

Oh! Something that's got me a little excited, is my Delta app! I can actually see where I'll be sitting, and what not. Which awesome for my planner brain, so I can sort of visualize where I'll be going.

Check it out!!



Seat 27C here I come!


Jeremiah 29:11