One More Week

Exactly! Well, less than technically, because my flight is at 8am next Monday.

Time has definitely flown by. Why does time fly anyway? Where does that come from? Why couldn't it have been 'time zaps' or  something, because zapping is surely faster than flying. More stuff to research into while procrastinating! Just kidding, there will be no procrastinating. Other than this.

As a quick update to my last real update (although I am still quite sad that viennetta is no longer produced in the states), Anna and Nia came to visit last weekend! We had fun exploring the whole of London and throwing things on the ground and eating everywhere. Everywhere. Pictures will hopefully be uploaded after this week.

I just finished one final! Yaaay!!!! 2 more to go, to be completed by Wednesday.. and 2 more essays, one more pset. Baahh craziness! But not unwarranted, since I've really brought them upon myself (the papers anyway)

There's a lot that I would have still liked to do - to go to these places, see those sites, try this out and that out, etc etc.. granted, I haven't left just yet, but I don't foresee myself completing that list of wish-I-could-do's in the next week. All said, I don't think that those will be regrets, just a faint kind of 'oh, that would have been nice'. We shall see...

My brother sent me a flat Gabriel and I'll be making some last tourist rounds with him - a small taste of home as I look forward to going! Can't wait lah!!! XD To see family again, friends from home, and also for wonderful home cooking :)

All that stands in my way are those darned papers really... and packing, of course. I actually find packing fun, and slightly stress relieving. Just slightly, because as much as it's an intensive cleaning and organizing ritual, it's also generally combined with the travel, and all the fun and hectiness that entails. 

Wow, the entire lab room just burst into spontaneous laughter. I feel so left out :( I believe they're all laughing at some machine vision inside joke. That's why it's so full in here..

ALMOST THERE!!!1!!1!11!1!!11one

Viennetta

Why don't they make these in the states anymore? That is such a shame. SUCH A SHAME.








Why would you not sell this? It was one of their best. I remember eating it with my family when I was <10, and then one day, they were no more. Sad sad sad.

It's too late to be eating anything really, but I'm arbitrarily declaring that it's never too late for a slice of Viennetta. Indeed, one slice is not enough.

If only each slice were equal to a page of completed essay... mmmmmm

Happy

Ahh, the blessings of family :) I'm thankful for many many things this weekend, and that is one of the highest ones... A happy late Thanksgiving to everyone!!! Although each day is a day of thanks :)

I haven't updated in a suuuper long time - doh! Nuts. Mmmmm I had a really good hazelnut and peanut donut the other day from Tesco :) but really, so sorry to those who have been expecting to hear more from here! D: I cannot make up for it, but will try my best to post more!

As an attempt at a thoroughish update... pictures are now being posted to Picasa from my trip to Europe! Europe mainland, I mean. There's so much to write about that, haha, but those pictures will have to do for now... Schoolwork has definitely picked up a lot, and I've been madly reading and writing and coding and trying to read and write and, well, not really speak, Hebrew. Academic life at UCL is more challenging than academic life at Wellesley - I forget if I've already written about that - it's a lot less guided learning and a lot more "hey welcome to _____ your exam/essay is in 2.5 months have fun good luck" kind of thing, with sporadic assignments (courseworks) spattered between. I quite like that :) Although I do prefer Wellesley's taking care of us much more... Also, there's no good study space here. It's all so crowded wherever I go... I need better places to look maybe, or better times to try :/ I went to retreat this past weekend with the small group fellowship that I've settled with - ahhh it was a wonderful time :) I am reminded again and again of God's faithfulness in everything man, everything, and of His totally awe-some-ness that I dunno how to put into words - His love, His mercy, His wisdom, His sovereignty, His above-all of above-all... WOW it's flooring. Is that a word? He really puts "awe-filled" and "awesome" to a new level, or probably more so, to the one it belongs in.

In other news, our little Wellesley contingent and my flatmates are having a makeshift Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow! It's going to be a crazy fest with a mix of Asian and American and Britishish food, SO PUMPED YAAAAAY!!!! *dances around in flippy floppys!* I just put the bird into the fridge for an overnight brining :) Side note, the bird is chicken and not turkey... the turkeys were all too big to fit into our fridge. HAH! This will be my first ever attempt at roasting a whole chicken! We'll see how that goes tomorrow. I'm slightly afraid that it will blow up. Or shrivel up. Or burn up. Or something to those effects. What a great opportunity though... Thanksgiving! :) Also, I'm slowly picking up a Singaporean accent.. Just now walking back from small group I caught myself talking with the intonations that they speak with, and even after retreat I really had to try hard and stop myself from being a poser and blurting out 'lah's and 'meh's and 'loh's and etc in my sentences..

Mmm one more story of typical Lulu to end this post with (wow what bad English!! One would think that living in England would not result in this). Earlier today I was running from the kitchen (no, nothing blew up) but I rounded a corner too soon and ran into it. And subsequently fell into a heap. And of course, had a great laugh about it. With tears though, of remorse and of hunger (good thing there were snacks at OCF, and Sam's delicious blueberry crumb bars AHHH I ate too many for my own good). I was actually quite amazed at how much running into an inanimate object could hurt! Because it's definitely not the first time that's happened... I would say though that it was a pretty good example of poor proprioception, as in my rush to get to the front door I somehow forgot that my body was a bit wider than just my eye-span. So the moral of this story is to manage one's time better so that one does not rush to leave. Also, wear shoulder pads. You never know when they'll come in handy...

Long legs are good for walking.

Have not posted in a while...

Things have been busy over yonder - psets add up and I can't pretend like I have nothing to do anymore :P I'm witnessing the effects of burial by work right now... And indeed, struggling to self-learn Matlab, still! Academically, I can't say UCL is overwhelmingly harder than Wellesley (minus Matlab) - in fact I really enjoy learning here (even Matlab)! I can't say these are classes I wouldn't be able to find at home either, but the experience itself is different... it definitely takes much more independence. No more hand holding or spoon feeding, not that Wellesley did that either... just comparatively, it feels like it. Also, there's no good place to study! Every study space here is CRAMPED. Unless you come at the absurd hours of the morning or evening... Or maybe I'm just looking in the wrong places.

I've finally settled on a church too - HTB, megachurch of megachurches (ok maybe not that mega). I'm going to a small group slightly related to UCL too, and have finally felt at peace about settling at these places... PTL :) It's comforting to know that there is indeed family everywhere. That said, I miss the family and fellowship back at Minn and Wells sorely... actually sorely. Yesterday I had a bout of extreme homesickness - even knowing full well that people are busy, even knowing exactly what they may be busy with, doesn't quite cover the ache of wanting to see or hear or even read something from them again. Definitely not taking that for granted...

Last Saturday we went to see the Big Ben again - pictures will be up soon! I still can't believe I'm in London. Is that strange?

Ok, will update post later - now for more MATLAB! YEahh!

D:

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So I was thinking today - long legs are so useful for walking! Well, speed walking in particular. Short legs are very useful for walking too (as are feet - can't forget those) But I digress! For a short legged person to walk the same distance as a long legged person, he or she would have to either take very long strides or scuttle madly, or perhaps both. But when both do happen in conjunction, it just looks kind of dumb. Long legged people just look better doing so (except when they also overstep their... steps) Yes, way to state the obvious Lulu.

Good night,
from London :)

One monthish anniversary

It's now been over a month since I've been in London! Which made me wonder, what exactly does "anniversary" mean? Doesn't the word have the root for "year"? Which is strange then, because why do we have "month anniversaries" and so on? Shouldn't it be like... mensisary... or something like that. I don't know Latin. :/ But I am learning Hebrew! Now the one word most on my mind is dagesh. Really, for some reason I just keep saying it in my head - like its a dageshary.

Mmm... waking up in London every morning - I don't see the Monument outside my window, or hear the Big Ben chiming every hour, but wow the feeling is quite amazing. This is actually the view from outside my window ~

That big building on the left is an office - every night there are people working on computers there... kind of bothersome because I like leaving the window curtains open usually :/

Yesterday I went to the Royal Ballet showing of Sleeping Beauty ~ ahhh it was so fantastic! Even though we had a terrible view (i.e. no view) from our standing seats and I had a huge coughing fit towards the end :P The security guard man (like police officer man) was nice enough to let us take over some other seats (well, he tried but then the real seat holders arrived) and we ended up standing a bit higher and got a great panoramic view ~ God provides! :D

Anyway, seeing it reminded me of how much I love dance... I can't say I remember much of dancing itself - who will after 10 years - but returning to it 2 years ago at Wellesley, I was reminded again of its finesse, its difficulty, and once again appreciated a dancer's extreme discipline, grace, and strength that flourish into the ethereal beauty that you see on stage. True performance is when one forgets oneself in the act - when one pours out everything, all energy and fervor, to recreate and share with those watching the beauty that one feels in one's heart. Maybe those of you who've also performed can feel a slight murmur of agreement on this, whether it was dance, or music, or sport, or whatever else. But performance isn't the only word... performance is just another extension of Expression - expression of self, of story, of means of expression, and so on.

Beauty... I was wondering to myself some other day - do we deem something beautiful because it brings us joy, or is it because it is beautiful that it brings us joy? Do we define beauty, or does Beauty define us? Maybe in this world, we do hold the labeler, but is it not the Author of beauty who "labels" us first and allows us to see that there is more? Because where does our sense of beauty come from anyway?

I read the most beautiful chapter in If yesterday... I wish I could write it all out here for you all to read too, but I don't want to break any copyright issues (not even Google Books has any previews on it, and even Amazon has only the first introduction page available) and because of that, EVERYONE SHOULD GO BUY IT! :D And read it for yourself :) Highly highly recommended. For those who have it, it was chapter 2 ~ every word jabbed at me, and by no coincidence, I had been thinking of those exact things, to the phrase, just moments earlier. And no, I don't think it's because I somehow remembered reading it months before...

More importantly, I highly highly x infinity recommend reading this ~ it's got much better stuff. :) In all my foolishness and impatience and distrust, how I despised wisdom and sought after the temperamental and chased after other lovers - there is a Lover who takes me back with such love and grace... there is a Faithful Father, who runs after me who knows how many times, and embraces this too-often astray daughter of His... That is Beauty.

Ok, I am off to make chicken now. Chicken is so wonderful - so versatile! Maybe because it's so bland. But that's what makes it so great! There's probably much to be learned from that. Hahah ~ ahhh I love cooking... And little by little, I'm sure (hoping) it does get better and it's not just me getting more used to it.

Autumn <3

Lulu in London

It's officially been 3 weeks and 3 days since I've been in London - sorry, I really meant to post something earlier, but soon got overswept with stuff, stuff, and more stuff ~

What have I been up to in these 3+ weeks? Well, I've gotten settled in, met new and old friends, explored perhaps the entirety of London on foot, had classes (which I love!) and quite a few homeworks (which I don't love...), visited various museums and took a day trip to Cambridge as well, learned a few new recipes and tried my hand at improvisatory cooking, and have just contracted something uncomfortably similar to H1N1 - yea! :| To see a pictoral summary of my happenings, look on my Picasa, because Facebook doesn't allow me to upload pictures. To my faint surprise, I haven't experienced too much culture shock, at least how I expected. In some ways, London is kind of like a really huge Boston that's been steeped with culture for so many more centuries. It's new (and very old) and exciting, yet strangely nostalgic.

Now that it has been 3+ weeks, perhaps it's a good time to reflect on all that's happened, all my lessons learned and then some. I've definitely learned more about my nasty insides and all the yuck that goes along with it, but have also learned more about His overwhelming grace and all that comes with that... It's quite amazing how He speaks, and how such gentle words can bring me to my knees... There's been a lot of learning about my own thoughts and habits, the endless ways I am lacking and the infinitely more ways that He is my all in all.

At OCF last week, the speaker asked us write out our expectations for this fall in London - honestly, I came here not knowing whether I should even be here or not, but now, though I can't say with certainty exactly why I'm here, I can say with certainty that I've been placed here for a reason.

I do plan to post more! And more regularly too ~ hopefully :) I leave you with these pictures ~

Gifts

Verses are put into one's  heads and hearts for a reason I think.

Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.

"Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him! So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.

Matthew 7:7-12

This reminds me of what someone once said (I forgot who this was, or where I heard it from - anybody know?) about a father who hid away a shiny red bike for his son in their garage, and then set about to convince his son that he wanted a shiny red bike for his birthday. The son is eventually set in his mind that he does in fact want a shiny red bike, and lo and behold, the father produces it from their garage for the momentous occasion. A short and simple story, but the point of it was that God has prepared good gifts for His children, and He wants His children to want it as much as He wants to give it to them. When they do desire it, He is more than happy to give it to them. He won't substitute that with a cheap imitation, or a stone or a snake.

Don't be deceived, my dear brothers. Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created.

James 1:16-18

God will not fool you. He knows better than we do, and what we cannot see or feel or reason in ourselves is not a sign that it cannot be possible, but rather a reason all the more for us to trust wholly in Him... Perfect love drives out fear. Fear of failure and rejection - of the unknown, the unsure, the unstable.

Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. - 1 Corinthians 13:7

He who gave us such a capacity to love must have so much more capacity to love. And He who has so much capacity to love that He is love chooses to shower His love upon us ~ what reason do we have to worry? What reason do we have to fear?