My last full week in Sunderland was easily one of my favorites. Monday night I led our Bible study, after which I regretfully had to say goodbye to Heather. I spent most of Tuesday with Sheldon: we went charity shopping around town, ate ice cream on the beach, made spaghetti back at her flat, and enjoyed fabulous weather all day. Tuesday night my flat hosted the second movie night, where 14 girls ate junk food and watched Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (while we were watching it I kept picking up on little things they say and think "Whoa! British people really do talk like that!"). Wednesday I hung out with Ash; we bought some half-price Sunderland A.F.C. souvenirs at the Stadium of Light, finally went inside St. Peter's church, and then stopped by the National Glass Centre afterwards. Ash had taken a glass blowing class there, so she gave me a behind-the-scenes tour of glassmaking; she showed me where they blew glass in the furnace, fired it in the kiln, and sanded/cut/buffed glass in the "cold shop." A 2-for-1 deal at Pizza Uno provided us with "tea" while we watched Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. When the movie went off around midnight, Ash and I trekked across Sunderland, carrying blankets and pillows and cameras for a sleepover at Sheldon's place. We had a late-night jam session and finally crashed on makeshift couches with the kitchen chairs. Little did I know the following day would be the most memorable of the entire trip.
We knew the sun rose right around 4:30 am (which is why we stayed at Sheldon's the night before: we wanted to get a sunrise picture over Roker Beach. Whereas it would have taken us well over an hour to walk to the beach from Clanny, she lives right at the harbor). Waking up at 3:30 after getting 2 hours of sleep surprisingly wasn't too awful. Sheldon's flatmate Phil joined us on our sunrise adventure as well. While we were out there we took loads of pictures, walked on the pier/jetty leading to Roker lighthouse, and saw a commando ship as it was coming in the harbor (some of the marine guys even waved at us! Yay!). We had brekkie at Sheldon's, then Ash and I ran to the bus stop to go back to Clanny so we could sleep for a couple more hours. Later that night, CU had one last get-together on the beach. We laid out blankets and I led us in a few worship songs while we munched on snacks everyone had brought. There were a few people who stopped to watch us while we sang; one guy even came by and asked if he could take pictures/video our little Jesus session. It's good to know that can God
still gets peoples' attention :) After jamming out at Roker for a while, we all packed up and walked down to the next beach, Seaburn, because it was less rocky and better suited to play football (no, not "soccer," football!). Some people picked up some fish and chips from one of the many vendors, and then we played English vs. "foreigners" football for the rest of the night! I had only kicked around a ball once or twice before so I had no idea what I was doing, but I did end up scoring about 1/3 of the points for our foreigners team. Right before we headed home some of the guys went swimming in the North Sea (they later told me it wasn't worth it, but it sure made for a good laugh). I said my final goodbyes to Pottsy (ahem, "Michael"), Sarah, Alan, and Luke. I wish I could have frozen that night in time and made it go on forever, because I have grown to love each and every person in CU. There was just something magical that took place that night that words cannot explain (Storm, Ash, and I ended up having a wee little sob session on my floor once we got home because it was such a bittersweet feeling). Nevertheless, I knew I would remember that night for the rest of my life. I can't thank everyone in CU enough for making this trip the experience of a lifetime.
On Friday I ran into Tapi at CitySpace, where I said my final goodbyes to her as well. Ash and I met Nick and Joanna at the metro station and went to Newcastle; the Hillsong London concert was later that night and we were all getting super stoked for it! We grabbed lunch at a place called Frankie & Benny's. For the first time in a LONG time, a waitress actually came and took our order without us having to go to the bar! I felt like I was back in the States already. Then we grabbed some frappucinos at Starbucks for happy hour and headed to the O2 Academy to queue for the concert. I think we were all expecting there to be a decent crowd by the time we got there, but we ended up sitting on the steps by ourselves for around an hour until anyone else showed up. At least we knew we were going to get great spots! Ben and Tom later met up with us once the doors opened, and I spent my last night in Sunderland singing and praising and dancing my little heart out with Hillsong London and some of my favorite people. On the metro ride back to Sunderland, a guy from CityLife (the worship leader, actually) recognized me, and somehow remembered that I'm from NC AND that I went to Elevation! I hadn't been to CityLife since the beginning of the semester, so I felt super special. We all headed back to our flat and I had to say goodbye to Nick and Joanna, tearing up in the process. I hate goodbyes so much. Thankfully I still have a few more days until I say goodbye to Sheldon & Becky -- I'm off to Harrogate in the morning with Sheldon, then Liverpool and Manchester with Becky!
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