There is a season...

I wish it was summer! This picture is dedicated to Eric.
My blog seriously needed some lightening up. I need some lightening up. So, I will take things as they come, and as I was so helpfully reminded today... anything that I think I can be so overly stressed about... it too shall pass... and I know it sounds trite, but you know what I have so many loving people in my life, and guess what, they are healthy and wonderful... and I have a place to live and food to eat, and I will be ok. This is a pump up session for myself obviously. Things have been diffacult lately here, but I know that I have a reason for being here, and that God is watching over me. I guess its when you are really having a hard time that those one liners seem to really be true.
And sometimes you just need to realize it.
To get out of your body for one minute and realize it.

And the term continues...

I am 25 now.

And so. Here I am working most minutes of the day. I am not going to lie, it is hard. And I have missed home more than usual this time around. This time is definately stretching me, and I am sure when I leave here I will be glad for what I struggled through, even if I feel like I am sinking at times.

On the bright side, I have managed to take a few pictures since I got back, so I will let them do the talking for now.

Noora made us dinner! She made rice with chicken and Tzatsiki sauce (have no idea how to spell that) It was really good.
Patrick, he's German, tried to help in bringing cookies, they ended up like burnt non cookies. But we had fun giving him a hard time about them.
My first night out, back to the 'living room' (a very nice bar/restaurant) where everyone gets dressed up pretty nice and has wine or a Carlsburg. Fun, but no dancing this time, Noora didn't like the music. Usually they have a live band then a DJ, but his time, the live band decided to let random people sings 'classic' songs. Which means 80's americana.
Walking home from my Jesus class. Nice buildings etc.

The entrance to the main, big, and fancy Bodleian library. I try not to go to this one too much because you can't check out books, you can only read them there.
Leaving the quad of the library... silence please.

Alright, here is the inside of my favorite coffee shop called 'Green's Cafe'. There are notes on the walls that say, sorry about the walls, they are made of hay and plaster from centuries ago (forgot when) so we will have a specialist come fix them the marks. Funny. Free internet here, a rarity. And they don't charge you on top of your food to come and sit down and study.

Ok... so I went to the Ashmolean Museum's downstairs cafe to grab a quick sandwich. They are usually baguettes, or they come in little containers like this... Now. So I go grab one, the most simple one there, just ham, cheese, and wheat bread. And I grab a Pepsi. I get to the counter, and the lady says, 5 pound 50 please. ! Ugh that is like 12 dollars. Apparently the sandwich was 3.75.... about 8 dollars. Yuck.

Eric and I want to go to Norway when he gets here in March. The home of Kings of Convenience, and the Nordby ancestry...


Watch at least until ballerinas come back in.

Winter Break at Home

Went home for break. I was there 4 weeks, it flew by too quickly. Unfortunately, from the first day in Oxford I had tons of work to do, a sinking feeling of being completely overwhelmed, no sleep, less confidence in my work than I need, and a diffaculty eating. I also miss Eric. Diffacult to leave the one you love. again.

Four days later, I have read this massive book, and am beginning a paper. Stress still lingers heavily, but I stopped feeling sick most of the time. I unpacked today... went to the grocery store yesterday. Things are looking ok, in recovery I guess.

I guess it is times like these you finally start praying as often as you would like... and wish you could cry more than you can.

Besides all that I had an amazing break... I fight the urge to put a plane ticket on my credit card and fly home. However, I must finish what I started, and more importantly, I need to remember why I started it in the first place.

Here are way too many pictures from break time. I couldn't cut them down enough.

Eric at dinner. Our last date. We had a bottle of wine between us. P.s. if you want me to bring things up that shouldn't be brought up on a date... first or last... give me two glasses of wine.
We love them. Engaged couple looking adorable. American dream pizza of course.
Eric worked hard to get me the perfect locket for my birthday. He even put little pictures of us in it. It is wonderful and I wear it everyday.
It snowed! Corvallis hills were beautiful that morning. More than usual.

Oh Gustav's! Fondu with two of our favorite couples.
Ben... is actually responsible for Eric and I meeting... thanks Ben. I like Eric.
Blazers game #2 for Eric and I in about 2 weeks. They won both times.
The picture from the game that looks fake. I love it. Eric has since gone to another game, and plans to go to 2 or 3 more. They really are super fun...

Eric in the snow... he looks regal.

Sin weekend (?, its called that, not sure why) New Years day... Lincoln city. Then we went to the outlets, shopped and grabbed lunch at Moe's.
Salem's Gov cup. Trying out the new camera I am oh so happy with. No more blurry pictures!
Eric in his new sweater, we were having another date night. We even went and saw a movie, which is very rare for us. We are usually busy doing other things... I think we've only watched like 8 or 9 movies together in our entire relationship. Which is nice because it makes it really fun when we do.

Thai restaurant...mmm.

Ellyn and Jordan
My favorite new friend. Eric's roommate Tom. He is wonderful.
I should have turned this but I didn't. Ellyn and Andrew are engaged! See rock.
I love Ellyn.
More beach shots

Eric and his kitty meemers. I forgot what his real name is. He is definately a family favorite.
First night in Lincoln city for New Years. It was nice because it was just the six of us (the next night there were 19 people). We were experimenting with the camera timer feature.
My favorite place.
New Years. This was supposed to be of the girls, but Eric Steen always jumps in pictures.

Christmas at Eric's parents house. My other christmas pictures are on my old camera, which I gave to Eric. So maybe once he gets his blog up he can post some.
Eric with Brian Mosher's baby. I put this on because apparently Eric "hates babies."
My papa and my cousin's daughter. My papa is one of my favorite guys.
Eric before his show, practicing in the garage with the band.
At Eric's parents house everyone takes off their shoes before going in. They always somehow get all organized too and I like it. You will notice the two brown pairs are Eric and I's. About the same size.

Sorry these aren't in order and are a little random. They are just ones that I picked out, pictures I like.

Eric got his plane ticket and is flying out to see me on March 12th - April 1st. He will arrive on March 13th which is my brother's birthday, but also... our 2 year anniversary!