Come knock on my door. I'll be waiting for you

Well I should have known from the first knock that this was going to be trouble, we rarely have people knock on our room door so with some apprehension I answered it. "Hello here to check the heating" so I let him in. Now we don't really need heating just yet- it is still very warm, gets a bit cold during the night but it's manageable but I though I would let the man do his job. He fiddled with the radiator in our room and then this buzzer came out of nowhere, 'what's that' the man asked- well I had no idea but it didn't stop. Suddenly inhaling the smell of burning rubber I decided that it must be the fire alarm (why no bells I'll never know). So in the pouring rain (and I am talking torrential) we went outside and waited....and waited..... and waited, fire engines, campus security you name it they were there, and do you think we know what set it of- Nope! They just let us back in and said it's all ok now.

So thankful that the heat had been put on as got a little cold after standing in the rain I carry on with my study ( yes I was actually studying when all this commotion took place tut!) It got hotter, and hotter and hotter- did I know how to turn the thing of- of course not- so I wedged my door open, opened all windows and tried to cool down- eventually Lindsey came back and she turned it off for us, bless here and then I went out...

11.30ish I wonder back into room and no joke I was almost knocked over by the heat escaping out of the room when I opened the door. How could it be so hot after she had turned it of. Windows were opend rather quickly and then I started searching-for what I hear you cry- for the dwarf with his pick axe, Oh yes for somehow Grumpy from the seven dwarfs had managed to get inside the radiator and was hitting it in every possible place, and running along it with his pick axe and at some point in the night I actually think he was blowing things up in there...

So unable to get Grumpy out of the radiator I try and go to sleep- not only am I being cooked alive I am also being subjected to flipping sound torture, as I toss and turn Lindsey arrives back- also concerned at the prospect of being cooked alive she investigates the radiator- she had accidentally turned the dial the wrong way so it had turned the heat up instead of off. No matter I said- because if the thing is off then it cant make anymore noise. How wrong was I. Grumpy, apparently once turned on doesn't have an off switch, Oh No! So after about a total of 4 hours sleep I am planning a visit to our RA- maybe he knows how to remove Grumpy from the radiator...

oops!

Lol, being the person that I am I actually pressed publish by accident so I shall finish the post here. (I do worry about me sometimes). Ok as you can imagine last night when I had my new camera I became snap happy so we have some few random pics coming up, but its all good.

Ok as you all know this is me, sitting at my desk...wow what an exciting life I lead lol. The chairs are actually really cool you can lean back on them and you won't fall of- that is your interesting fact for the day hehe. Also if you look just behind me-yes can you see all those books I have to read-and my head is covering most of them- shocking!

After a hard night of playing pool ( where I actually potted something more than the white- an improvement I can tell you, we went and did what every wild collage student does...

yes- pop tarts and Top Gear!

And here is a pic just for you Mum...

Oh yes- I thought I would be able to get away from it over here but even Helen has me washing and wiping up tut! lol

I will post again soon with more pics- there is no stopping me now hehe

Its here.....

YEAH! My camera arrived yesterday so we are now back with pics and what interesting pics they are going to be hehe...

This is my side of the room- it may not look it but it is actualy tidy, I have all my pics of my friends and family on the wall.

Lady Tottingham at your service...

Oki...so I have been compared to a lot of things before...but this one definitely takes the rabbit. Sitting down in the dc for lunch (perfectly innocently I might add) and one smiles- which as far as I am concerned is better than sitting and sulking. Suddenly Helen bursts into uncontrollable laughter and realization spreads across her face. Totally oblivious and a little concerned that I may have something in my teeth I ask (why... why do I always do that) anyway I did and I can safely say that I wasn't expecting the answer I got. "I know who you look like she said", "lady Tottingham from Wallace and Gromit the curse of the Where Rabbit"... well stunned! Wasn't quite expecting that response. To top it of Sarah suddenly saw the resemblance and decide that I not only look like her but I also act like her with all the arm waving so I have decided to follow suite and bow to public demand lol..no longer will it be Emmas American Adventure oh know you are as from now following the adventure of Lady Tottingham...have a nice day!

A little lost...

Well on our walk back from the third church in 4 weeks me and Helen were having a good natter, (finding a church over here is proving to be something of a difficult task )and I decided that maybe I should publish what is going on God wise over here...so sorry all those who read my blog and aren't a Christian but this is something that I think needs to be done...

Most of you back home know that when I left, my faith wasn't really in the best of places... I truly believed that coming over here might make a difference- I don't know, I don't think I really expected God to come down and personaly carry the plain over the Atlantic safely to the airport-or for him to suddenly appear among the crowds in the DC and start the feeding of the five thousand but I did expect something. I know that God is here-or there which ever way you want to look at it but I can't feel him... I know 'don't rely on feeling' 'you can see him in the world around you' 'he is with you within the people that you love and who love you' but I can't be doing with that. I want God here with me and I know he must have been because I honesly couldn't have got through this time without some sort of 'divine help'... but I am tired. I am tired of trying and feeling nothing...I am tired of seeing Everyone around me having this relationship with God and me not quite being able to get it...I am tired of the guilt I feel if I don't go to church...sit and read my bible or pray. Pray- that is how you solve these situations but I can't....I can't talk to an empty space anymore it is too hard!

Maybe this time over here is meant for me to step back- to not go to church but give myself some time to find out who I am and how I fit into the surroundings around me...and then maybe I will find out how I fit into God's plan...

But I am scared...I am scared that if I let go I won't be able to find my way back. For a while now church has been my life line that I have clung to for dear life petrified that if I let go the relationship I want so badly...the feeling and the actually knowledge that God loves me and that he has a plan for me might actually ring true-might actually mean something in my life...

I know many of you may not want to here this- some of you might begin to think, aha she is coming to her senses, now she is getting it...finally understanding that there isn't a God after all...Some of you may not understand a word you have just read and I don't blame you because I don't understand it either...How can you want something so badly...Something that you can see people in your church have on a daily basis but just not quite get it...It is like I am reaching-stretching as hard as possible for this 'thing' but it is just out of grasp...

I am now going to create a complete contradiction for which I am afraid I won't apologize for... I ask those who feel able to pray to pray. Pray I hear you say the girl that has just said she doesn't see it working anymore wants us to pray and my answer is yes...for I truly believe that it works...for some reason It just doesn't work for me.
I ask you to pray for Helen...I know that she is having similar faith issues over here at the moment and as much as I would like to help her, to tell her that things will be ok, that God is there and he is listening and speaking even if you don't here I can't because in truth, I can't One hundred percently believe them myself and she needs people who are strong in faith to pray for her not a mixed up person who has trouble saying the Lords prayer...I know this may all seem very random and complelety out of the blue to some of you but I really don't have the words to express how much it would mean if you could pray for here... and me well...Somehow, I hope, I will eventually find my way home...

Picture this- Picture that!

How exciting- well guys I have a digital camera on the way so my blog will soon be filled with pics but until then Im afraid it's just the black stuff. I have uploaded links on to my blog (well technically speaking Helen did) so from there you can now get to Helen's and Sarahs blogs (which are full of pics) very amusing ones actually! Sarah bless her...or was it Helen? One of them have also changed my blog settings so you don't have to be a register blogger to leave a comment.

Lets fill you in on what happened yesterday- well we went apple picking. The weather was not nice enough for climbing the mountain so instead we went on the cheese bus to pick apples- It was fab! If you visit the others blogs they have lots of picks. To top the day of just nicely we went for hot choc...it was the most yumiest hot choc I have ever tasted it was just like drinking melted choc- extremely sickly but oh so nice.

To round the evening of just nicely we had cartons- oh yep ( those of you who here me talk about Chinese will know what I am on about). We ordered a Chinese take away and it came in the proper boxes- it tasted so much nicer just because of that- im convinced! What do you reckon is the likely hood of the trend starting back home?

Hair today colored tomorrow!!

Ok- Sarah, bless her, has changed the settings on my blog so anyone can comment on it now... we are sitting in Helen's room at the mo because she is dying her hair- it looks very cool, we will have picture evidence very soon.

All is well here-had a normal day of lectures and chocolate cake- yum!

Managed to have a very Emma moment yesterday-oh yes... managed to fall flat on my face in Wallmart- I was unevenly balanced and managed to fall over in front of a complete stranger- oh what a talent! Helen thought it was exceptionally funny - can't imagine why!

I have become completely obsessed with Top Gear since I have come to this place- it is typical go to America and find an English program-no seriously you should all watch it is fantastic. We all are very upset about Richard Hammond and we hope that he will be feeling much better soon.

We are just waiting for Helen's highlights to set (is that what they do?) and then the nights our oyster- well till we all fall asleep that is...

Blessed

What can I say. I couldn't have got- or couldn't get through this experince without these two people. They have been here for me through the laughter and thorugh the tears and I just want to say thanks girls- you are fab!

Helen's Birthday

This was last Friday- Sarah and I planned a surprise party- I have never told so many lies in all my life...and what is really funny is that we keep talking about things and Helen is like "so that isn't true"- "that didn't really happen". We all had a fantastic night and it was really good fun. We even managed to get Gill and Nancy to come.
That is them with me, Sarah and Helen near the top.We went to Uno's a very nice place to eat and the evening was filled with laughs - it was great.

Shall leave you now so that you can have a good look at the pics!
Be back soon

Quick Update!

Okidoky- here we go, a fly by account of what has happened up to this moment and then hopefully I can keep updating this and keep you all informed of what is happening.

We arrived here on 23rd August- we had the best taxi driver ever to walk the planet. He took us on a tour of keene before he dropped us of and his wife works at the Uni so we keep going up to say hi- they invited us to there house for thanks giving, so fingers crossed we will have somewhere to go.

We had a weekend of orientation with all the internationals- where we went to a lake for a BBQ and had tours around uni and keene. I remember the first couple of days- I couldn't even get to the DC (dining common) and now it is all so familiar-I can even offer directions to other people ( as long as I get my left and right right)lol.

Lessons started 3 weeks ago (flip- has it been that long already?) Completely different to back home. It is more like school in the way you have homework in for every lesson and we have the same lesson twice a week so quick turn around. We are all a bit freaked out by the amount of work we have to do but we will get through it all. I suppose I should just fill everyone on who we are. That is us to the right. Me then Helen in the middle and Sarah at the end. We are standing outside of the library. In fact while we are talking placed lets show you the campus.
The pic next to us is the DC- this is where we fill ourselves up with chocolate cake mainly-lol-although we do eat some more substantial things (sometimes) it is an all you can eat place, with so lots of different choices healthy and then the not so healthy.

okidoky- right up at the top- to the right is a picture of the campus from Helens room- it really is beautiful over here.

We are going to climb the mountain on Sat and we are going in a cheese bus- so excited lol.

Well that's all for now folks- will post again soon- with more pics and as you all know by now- please ignore spellings lol!

Hope you are all ok- fell free to post comments, (am told that you can but unfortunately can not leave instructions for not 100% sure how to do it myself) lol

Helen Did it!

Hi all- Helen has set me up a blog, not quite sure what to do, but am under instruction that I can keep you all updated this way. This will be a short intro because am on Helens computer but as you may have guessed from the title- I AM HERE- all safe and sound. Things are good over here and the weather is really nice. Waiting for the snow - don't have the right clothes for this weather lol.

Okidoky will post again soon with lots of info.