July 16 – August
14, 2018 – “The London 15” – OBU Student Abroad in London, England
This summer, I had the privilege of spending a month
in England with a group of 15 students from Oklahoma Baptist University. Dr. Lindsey Panxhi (an English faculty
colleague) and myself, along with our respective spouses, conducted a
faculty-led Study Abroad that spent four weeks on the ground in London teaching
OBU courses to OBU students while being immersed in the culture and history of
Great Britain. These are our stories!
Friday, July 27
– Shopping!
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| The Ubiquitous "Mind the Gap" |
We sent two groups off early this morning – four girls
(Lauren, Chloe, Allison, Rachel B) flew to Ireland for the weekend, while the
Panxhi’s took five others (Katie, Anna, Stephanie, Kalyne, and Rachel F) to
Wales. Vanessa and I stayed in London
with the other six students (the Pickwick Six – Emma, Sierra, Sydney, Noah,
Casey, and Saydi).
Today Vanessa and I spent most of the day grocery
shopping. She wanted to try a different
store (Asda) from what they have been frequenting (Lidl and Sainsbury’s). She thought we’d give it a try, so we
wandered out with our suitcase for grocery-packing, and took the train to a
neighborhood Asda. It ended up being in
a bit of a sketchy neighborhood, and it was more like a small market than the
Superstore or Walmart that Vanessa was hoping for. There was a Tesco next door, so we visited it
and bought a bit.
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| Shopping! |
Then we took a bus to a big Lidl in a different
neighborhood and bought a lot of food
for the weekend and upcoming week. I got
the experience the difficulty of hauling everything back to Pickwick – a bit of
a chore for the shoulders and arms!
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| Canary Wharf District |
We got back late in the afternoon, and I got caught up
on some OBU emails and chores before supper.
After supper, Vanessa found a large Asda out by Canary Wharf, so we took
the train out there. That brought us
from the Tube (underground) to the DLR line, which runs above ground, and gave
us a nice view of the River Thames and many of the canals that run along
downtown. Very upscale feel, huge
skyscrapers – a quite intimidating and impressive sight. The big Asda was more like Walmart, but much
smaller clothes and houseware section.
We picked up a few things and headed home for the night. A fun day for Vanessa and I to spend together
on our own exploring some grocery stores.
We love having the students in England and sharing the experience, but
it was also nice having some time just for the two of us!
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