Capernwray

Ok, well for some reason my hotmail account is "temporarily unavailable" and I can't seem to send anyone any emails so could those of you who read this blog please pass onto everyone else that I've arrived safely and I'm having a great time so far? Thanks very much.

Yeah so about that great time I'm having. I arrived on Saturday thanks to Tim and Francesca. The drive over here was absolutely beautiful! I love the North! Upon arrival I was a bit overwhelmed. For those of you who don't know Capernwray was built in the 1800's for a family and since then has been turned into a school/hall. The building is pretty much like an old castle and there are fields and farm land around. There are also sheep just outside my dorm room who aren't really that shy about letting us know they're there....especially at night.

I share a room with 4 other girls. Two are from Germany, one is American and the other is from Korea. They're all lovely and I'm getting along with them great. I've also met loads of other awesome people here. The majority of the students are from North America and predominantly American so it's almost like being back in Canada...except for the Castle.

The schedule is pretty full with 4 lectures in the morning and 2 in the evening but they're great. So far we've started looking at Kings and primarily the life of Solomon. I feel like I'm learning so much already and it's only been two days! The other lectures we had today were on forgiveness and they were awesome as well.

Breakfast is at 7:30 every morning so that's a bit of a change since I'm not used to starting work until about 10 and after breakfast there's morning duties. Mine is to clean the bathrooms for my dorm which isn't too bad. After breakfast lectures start. Then lunch and then we have the afternoon free until tea.

Everyone is also put into a family group with about 10 students and two "mentors" and we meet regularly to share and pray together and sometimes we'll have social nights on Fridays. This week I'm going bowling with my family group so that should be fun.

I've also managed to meet a running friend!! Yay! Her name is Rachel and she's from California and she's just finished a marathon in Rome about a month ago. She's really great and it's been fun getting to know her.

Yesterday for the afternoon we decided to walk into the nearest town of Carnforth which turned into an hour and 15 minute walk each way!! It was crazy but a great time of getting to know some people a bit better. My feet weren't very appreciative though as I wore some new shoes and had some nasty blisters when we got back. Also, we were late for tea which isn't very good. You're required at all meals and to be on time at them at that. Oops...it was still a fun afternoon though.

Hmmmm I'm not sure what else. I'm sorry if I'm a little all over the place I only have 20 minutes on the internet so I'm trying to get it all in at once.

Overall I would have to say I'm loving it here and I'm so glad that I came. Part of me wishes it could have been for a full year but 2 months is still good. I'm just happy to make the most of this opportunity.

Anyway I should run, I'll try an attempt my email account again.

Best wishes to everyone and perhaps I'll get a chance to write some more on Thursday!

Love Jenny*