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!
Monday, July 23,
2018 – Cambridge!
 |
| C. S. Lewis's Chapel! |
Today was our Cambridge Day! We left the hostel just before 8 to head to
King’s Cross train station. Picking up
our tickets at the machine went very smoothly, way easier than I anticipated –
yay! Turns out our team had about 20
minutes of free time before needing to get to our platform. Most of the team went to the Harry Potter
store at Platform 9 ¾ and looked around.
Lots of fun – they had a good amount of Harry Potter stuff. We sent pics of a bunch to the kids, and
might go back to buy some things a bit later in the trip.  |
| Newton's Apple Tree |
The train ride to Cambridge was uneventful and pretty,
taking us through a bit of quaint English countryside. After arriving, we took an hour-long walk
through town, stopping briefly to see some sights – the Cambridge Botanic
Garden, the Scudamore Punting shop on the River 
It was, again, very
hot outside. The group was happy to get
to the cooler confines of Round Church – a unique stone church whose original
structure was (wait for it …) … round.
The church was covered in plaques providing an excellent history of
Christianity in Cambridge (and, by extension, the Empire).  |
| Famous Reformation Pulpit ... Tyndale's? |
After a nice lunch of sandwiches, water, and chips, we
did our tour. My group’s guide was Ian,
a retired man with a comprehensive knowledge of Cambridge and a passion for
evangelical faith. We were all over town
– visiting the grounds of various colleges (Trinity, Magdalen, etc.), various
churches. It was quite pleasant, and very
educational.
 |
| The Bridge of Sighs (River Cam) |
After the tour, we allowed our team to split up and do
some personal excursions. Our group
(Vanessa and I, Lindsey & Arsid, Noah, and Katie) went punting on the River
Cam. A punt is a long wooden canoe,
intended to be propelled with a long stick at the back of the punt. I started off as the ‘punter’ – it’s a lot
harder than it looks! I couldn’t steer
the boat! I needed Noah to use the supplied
paddle to keep us moving in the right direction. Eventually, I handed the punt over to Arsid –
and he did fantastic! He knew to use the
stick as a propeller and as a rudder
– to move it and keep it steering 
properly. It was quite impressive. It was a hot day, so eventually Arsid took his shirt off, which certainly pleased all of the female tourists along the river – it was pretty amusing to see the heads turning! Vanessa got quite a kick out of the reactions.
After we returned our punt to Scudamore, we ate supper
at a riverside pub. Vanessa had a very
good fish and chips; I had braised lamb shoulder! Yummy.
Then we took the train back to London.
A bit of a later night, but a very satisfying day. 
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