Sunday 2 October 2011

I Survived Freshers Week!

As the title suggests, I survived freshers week. It has been fairly up and down really. I got to know my lovely flatmates better and go out a couple of times (yes only a couple of times!) which has been pretty fun. I think I have some great friends in the making. 
I have also seen a couple of churches which has been good. I still can't decide, but I don't want to spend all term hunting for one, I need to find somewhere to get stuck in. At the moment my favourite one is the first one we visited...small but really welcoming and great worship and preaching. I think I am planning to see a different one next Sunday. So I think I will make a decision then. 
Things have been hard sometimes. Homesickness has really hit me hard. I speak to my family nearly every day and have a long conversation, and last night I spent over an hour on the phone, crying to my best friend. I miss her so much, and the distance makes it so hard to just hop onto a train and see her or my family. Still we will meet up in London for a day which is much easier to get to than home is. I am certain that when I get into a routine and get used to being here I will love it. 
The prospect of starting lectures is terrifying...they will all be delivered in French (bar the grammar ones) but I am also pretty excited about it. A chance to finally do something people are equally enthusiastic about as me. Still, I am enjoying not being obliged to do any work yet. 
Today, I went for a swim. I am determined to be healthy while I am here and I refuse to put on weight. In fact, I would like to lose some. Not obsessively, but enough to have a lean, toned figure. 
Anyway, I am totally wiped out so I will get a very early night (11pm, shockingly!). That way I can be bright eyed and bushy tailed for lectures tomorrow.

Sunday 25 September 2011

Hello University :)

I have arrived at university. Everyone kept telling me "You'll love it", "it'll be the best thing that you've done" and at the moment it doesn't seem that way. I don't hate it, in fact after seeing and unpacking my room and meeting my new room mates it is pretty good. They are really nice, and everyone seems pretty friendly so I can't complain. I even think my room is pretty nice :)

The main reason is home. This is not yet home. And I know I will be living here for 10 weeks without my parents. No home cooking or an oven :( This is a scary prospect, but I can get used to it, and some how I don't  feel ready to try and be self sufficient.

Still, after a fun night getting to know the other people in my house and flat (which ended with loud singing and a lot of laughter and started with being chatted to by drunk irish people), I feel tired but much happier. I am sure that if I give it time then things will fall into place and I will settle in.

I know this is the right place to be and Jesus is already working wonders in my life. For example, I was worried I was going to be virtually the only Christian in my house, and then when I went out with my flatmates I met a guy who was a christian, and also looking for churches and who introduced to me to a girl who I happened to know because we both went to the same school a couple of years ago.This may not seem a big deal, but when your school only had 400 pupils it's a slim chance you'll bump into them. It has given me so much encouragement and I know that this 4 years will be amazing.

This blog really may not be amazing, and I am not sure how to go about writing it so these thoughts are just put down as they come to me. Enjoy.

Thursday 15 September 2011

Goodbyes

So, I have just over a week until I go to university and for some of my friends this time has already come. It is a daunting prospect, university. I mean the idea of taking up one subject for a few YEARS is a scary prospect. Yes, I am confident I have chosen one I CAN spend 4 years doing, but I have all sorts of worries and doubts. Such as, will I be good enough for it? Will I enjoy it? Will I do well? And they only concern the course. What about: living away from home? Living in halls with a whole new group of people? Learning to be self sufficient and budgeting? The truth is, I have no idea how any of these things will work out; if I could predict the future I would be rich and far less anxious.

Instead I am doing my best to hand over my worries to God. He cares and he has a plan for my life. I have no idea what it is or where it'll take me, but I know he will come through. He always has. "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future." Jeremiah 29:11-12. << This verse is such a reassurance and reading on to verse 14, the Lord declares that when you call upon him in prayer HE WILL HEAR YOU, and when you seek him with all your heart YOU WILL FIND HIM.

So, at a time where goodbyes can be painful and the future is unknown, I trust God. I know his son gave his life for me on the cross and I know that wherever Jesus calls me to he is looking out for me every single step of the way.

This doesn't mean that there won't be hard times. I am finding the reality of saying goodbye to the people I love and leaving the familiarity of a place I have lived for most of my life terrifying. But I am clinging to God, because I know he is just and loving.