Our first visitor!

Greetings! Mel and I were gladly reminded of home last weekend when our good friend Kyle Cressman came to London on a business trip. We of course trained down from Cambridge to spend the weekend with him running around London and exploring the many sites the city has to offer. Kyle had meetings through Friday evening, so we met up with him Friday night and had a marathon walk along the Thames, highlighted by Big Ben, the London Eye, the Millenium Bridge, and of course routine stops at fun little pubs along the way. On Saturday, we basically re-traced the steps that Tommy, Melissa's brother, took us on when we first visited London a year ago. We hit up the famous Portobello Market, Hyde Park, the quaint little shops of Notting Hill, and finished the day off with a evening walk along the London canals (used to serve as primary commercial trasport routes back in the day) and a delicious meal at a cool upscale restaurant off Piccadilly Circus. After a Starbucks breakfast on Sunday morning, Kyle took off to the airport while Mel and I hopped on a train back home to Cambridge. The quick visit inspired us to inspire you to visit us. Cambridge is only 45 minutes north of London by train, so if any of you are close, let us know!

Aside from the nice weekend reminder of home, I have been busy at school, trying to stay afloat with all the reading while adjusting to being a student again. My first 3 weeks of school have been a really exciting time, as I've been able to dive into some really diverse material and interact with some really cool and focused people. And I've quickly learned that this program is not at all limited to the environment, it deals with development as a whole. I've been tossed into economics, education issues in Afghanistan, energy efficiency in buildings, management of technology, the relationship between cell structures and public policy (really random, but super interesting), entrepreneurship...the list goes on and my head spins after leaving each lecture. Nonetheless, I am really valuing my time here and am encouraged by my choice to learn here for a year.

But onto more important things...I need to tell you all about my darling little wife. I could pour into how grafeful I am for her encouragement and confidence in moving to a new continent with me and jumping head first into a stuffy and intimidating academic culture, or how she is slightly timid to admit to new folks that she isn't actually studying (what a humongous dwingie), but I'll stick to updating you all on what she's been doing since we got here since her humility would restrict her from telling you herself.

First off, she got a JOB! Not just any job...after briefly entertaining the heinous thought of pushing coffee at starbucks, she perservered and finally found a great little cafe/lounge called the Snug and is now their newest waitress! The Snug is slightly upscale -- which is perfect for Cambridge because it keeps out all the undergrads naively experimenting with cheap alcohol, while not overpricing everything as to exclude the normal person looking for a beer and good food. Its inviting charm includes dark wood, dim lighting, comfy leather chairs/sofas, and great service (something super rare her in England). She just finished her first week and and is encouraged by the cool folks she works with, and I'm stoked because it is right around the corner from the Engineering Department, and is the perfect mid-day coffee oasis.

Aside from her new job, she is the cutest little active member of Wolfson College. She joined the college choir (with her first concert in less than two weeks at the huge University Cathedral in the center of town!), the aerobics group (with the most ridiculous and endearing instructor named George), the yoga club, the wildlife society, and is still finding time to learn SPANISH!

Dwingie, dwingie, dwingie. Aboslute dwingie.

Hope this posting finds you all well, and know that while we are soaking up the experience, we certainly miss the connection with family/friends/community back home. We are looking for a little church to attend while we're here and hopefully a little community to plug into.

Love,
Christopher