I think the honeymoon is almost over.

Yesterday marked a month since I arrived in Leeds. Eleven more to go! I don't mean that statement to say I'm homesick or having a horrible time because that's not true. If you gave me the option to go home tomorrow, I wouldn't take it. It's just starting to hit me that 12 months is a long time to not go home. Hopefully the rest of the year will fly by like this month has!

Have I mentioned that I only have class one day a week? Yes, somehow it worked out that all my classes fall on Thursdays. At first, I thought it was amazing, but now I am realizing that I need a lot more things to fill my days. At this point, school isn't enough. But even if I had THAT much work to do, I need other things in my schedule to keep me fresh and help me be more disciplined in my time management. I'm so used to being the over-committed student, that this new free time idea just isn't working for me.

I joined the Christian Union, a Christian club on campus, and went to my first small group meeting this week. It was the first time I had been around other believers on campus, and I realized how much I had been missing Christian fellowship. Hopefully, I'll make some good friends through this. Friendships have been coming a lot slower than I expected. I keep having to remind myself that it's only been a month and these things take time. I also joined a volunteer organization that works with refugees in Leeds and will start with that next week. I am still looking for a church. This is the first time in my life that I have had to go to church alone, and it hasn't been fun. It's actually been really scary for me. Why is that? Church should be the one place I shouldn't be afraid to go alone. Anyways, I've visited one church that I might go back to, and one I definitely won't try again. The one I liked was actually an Anglican church but it was pretty contemporary and I could tell it was filled with people that truly loved God. I have a couple more on my list though that I want to visit before I make a decision. Please keep me in your prayers!

Crisis: My dissertation topic is due in a month. I am definitely fumbling with this one.

Fun British word of the day: day planner=diary
(It's very funny to hear people use this word, especially men. For instance, I went to meet with one of my professors, and he said, "Let me check my diary and get back to you.")