It's never too late to do some catching up!

Well, hello there!

I know, I must confess: I have been gone from my blog for a long while. I believe it's been about four weeks since I've posted? Yikes! I arrived home (in California) Monday, August 4th, but I have three weeks of London adventures to catch you up on! Three weeks of a jam-packed internship is most definitely going to be hard to describe. If I described everything that I did in my last three weeks in London, this blog post might turn into a book! Therefore, I have decided that I will entertain you with some highlights of my last three weeks in London, so you can at least get a good sense of what an amazing time I had in this incredible, incredible city. And of course I'll include pictures along the way too!

So what did I go in my last three weeks in London, you ask? Well, not too long after I wrote my previous blog post, I went to my first pub! It was quite exciting. This was my first pub experience in which I was old enough to get a drink. Of course, I got a typical, first-time-at-a-pub drink: a half-pint of Blue Moon! And yes, surprisingly, this pub did carry Blue Moon (even though it's an American beer). This, I might add, was also my first drink ever outside of my home/parents' guidance – my first drink on my own, as a legal adult in England. Very exciting times! Here's a picture of that first drink for your enjoyment:

The pub culture in England is so different from the bar culture in America. Pubs are almost like what coffeehouses are in America – you go with a friend (or a group of friends) and you catch up or chat over a drink. It's a very casual, very enjoyable atmosphere. And not everyone always gets a drink either – you can go just to spend time with friends. Pubs are a vehicle for socializing. I absolutely loved the pub atmosphere! The other interns (and the other university students I met through this internship) and I frequented pubs quite often, actually. I tried a couple different kinds of beer and a couple different ciders as well. And interestingly, I liked beer better than I liked the cider. However, since I am now back in America, it's time to put my taste for beer to the side for two more years whilst I wait to turn 21. Nevertheless, my pub experiences were all very, very enjoyable, and they are definitely memories that I will not soon forget.

As some of you might know (and in case you don't), I am absolutely in love with BBC's television series Sherlock. And fortunately, they film a lot of the television series in Central London! They don't use the actual 221B Baker Street for the show – instead, they use the outside of a flat on Gower Street to portray 221B Baker Street (the inside of the flat is a set somewhere in BBC's studios). The outside of the flat (along with the cafe right next to the flat) that they use for Sherlock is iconic in the show. And even more fortunately for me, Gower Street is right next to UCL (where we were spending most days of the internship). So one Friday night after our campus devotional, one of the friends I made on the internship (Becca) took me to see the Sherlock flat. Of course, I was giddy with excitement – I was like a child on Christmas morning! Here's a picture of the Sherlock flat and cafe:

The only unfortunate part was that the cafe was closed by the time we got there. Apparently, the cafe is actually quite good and serves exceptional food. Well, I guess I'll just have to head back to London sometime soon and go to Speedy's when it's open! 

Next up on my list of London highlights: a one-year-old's birthday party! The couple in charge of the internship (Brian and Lauren) have a son (Braden), and his birthday happened to be during the internship. So, of course, we had to throw him a birthday party! It was absolutely adorable watching him eat his first cake. The birthday party was too cute, and it was definitely a great way to spend a Saturday:

                 

Another highlight: I don't remember exactly what I was doing, but there was one Sunday that I had to go through Paddington station to get to the Tube. And since my blog is called "The Paddington Files," I figured it was only appropriate to take a picture of the classic Tube sign with the station's name. I also took a brief moment to capture part of the train station:

                

All the above highlights were in the third week of the internship. Now, during the fourth and fifth week there weren't too many "big" highlights. Although, in general, being in London was a highlight in and of itself. The internship carried on as usual – the other interns and I would meet at UCL every morning at 10am. And from that time until about 5pm we would have intern meetings, we would share our faith with other students on the UCL campus, and we would also study the Bible with people. As more and more people began to attend our daily Bible discussions, they became more and more interested in learning about God. So we would get together with them at other times during their week, and we would teach them more about God and the Bible. It was wonderful to sit down with other women who knew nothing about the Bible and teach them what it really says and how amazing God is.

One highlight during the fourth and fifth weeks (that I sadly didn't get any pictures of) was the opportunity to play the drums for the Southeast region of the London ICOC on my last two Sundays in London. It was so much fun to be able to get back on a full drum kit. As I've said in a previous post, I play the cajon for the NYC church every Sunday. But a cajon is in no way as much fun as a full drum kit. The feeling you get as you pour your heart into the music, as your energy travels through you to your drum sticks. Playing the drums gives me a joy and a happiness like no other (I would definitely be in a band if I could). When the Southeast region asked me to come play the drums for the Sunday morning worship, I didn't hesitate in jumping on that drum kit. It was such an amazing feeling to be playing a full drum kit for church again. There are many ways that we can worship God, and playing the drums is one of the ways I love to worship God. I love pouring my heart and soul into those songs and really feeling every word, every beat. Not only do I miss London, I miss playing the drums in the Southeast region. It made me look forward to each Sunday morning even more than I already did. Yes, that was most definitely a huge highlight of my time in London.

So, yes, the fourth and fifth weeks were pretty low-key but definitely jam-packed with serving God and the campus ministry in London. I don't have too many more highlights, so I'll start wrapping this blog post up.

Although there weren't many enormously big highlights in those last two weeks, my last two days in London were so, so, so much fun. Our last official day of the internship was August 2nd, which also happened to be my spiritual birthday (the day that I got baptized and became a Christian). I can't believe it's been five years since I became a Christian! And no doubt, these have been the best five years of my life. Anywho, continuing on with London. On the last official day of the internship, all of us interns went to Thorpe Park to celebrate! Thorpe Park is a huge amusement park just outside of London, and it was so much fun! The roller coasters were absolutely amazing – better than American roller coasters, I thought. Unfortunately, I didn't grab any pictures at Thorpe Park either, but I like to live off of memories anyway. Sometimes pictures just don't do the actual experience justice, but of course you'll always have those memories. We went on lots and lots of roller coasters! There's this one roller coaster called "Stealth," and it goes from 0 to 80 mph in just 2.3 seconds. It was absolutely insane, but absolutely exhilarating and enjoyable. At one point, I also went on the merry-go-round four times in a row with Braden while we waited for his parents (Brian and Lauren both wanted to go on a roller coaster, and I love spending time with one-year-olds). Though I must say, I got quite dizzy by the fourth time around... Thorpe Park was such a fun experience, and an incredible way to end the internship.

The next day (Sunday, August 3rd) was my last full day in London. In the morning, I went to church and played the drums, of course. Then, I got lunch with some of the other interns who were still in town. The afternoon was actually quite busy. As most of you know, I was staying in South London, which is quite far from Heathrow Airport (Heathrow is about an hour to an hour and a half Tube ride from Central London). So I moved all of my luggage from where I was staying in South London to Brian and Lauren's flat in Central London, which is where I spent the night before leaving for Heathrow in the morning. After moving all of my stuff (with two people helping me, of course) to Brian and Lauren's flat, my friend Jessica and I decided to go be tourists during our last full day in London. Jess is from Canada, so naturally we wanted to see the sights just a bit more before leaving the UK entirely. We decided to go on the London Eye – what better way to spend our last day in London? By the time we headed out for the London Eye, it was evening and nearing sunset. We happened to get on the London Eye right as the sun was setting. It was absolutely, incredibly beautiful. I really could not have asked for a better evening. I'll give you just a taste of the many pictures I took on the London Eye. Words truly cannot do this beauty justice, so I'll just show you a bunch of pictures.

By the time Jess and I got off the London Eye, the sun had set. But this meant that all of the lights for the city were beginning to turn on. Of course, we seized this opportunity to take even more beautiful pictures of the great city of London.

After enjoying the sights for a bit longer, Jess (who was also staying with Brian and Lauren) and I headed back to the flat. We spent of the rest of the night relaxing. We went to bed earlier that night, but not before deciding to wake up early the next morning to watch the sunrise on the Thames! So, we woke up at 4:45am the next morning, went out to the Thames, and watched as the sun rose over Tower Bridge. And we took some time to walk part of Tower Bridge as well. London at 4:45am is so serene – I wonder why? But on a serious note, London was absolutely beautiful at that time in the morning – quiet, calm, peaceful. You would never know it was a bustling city. Here are some pictures from that sunrise morning:

And with that sunrise, I said my last farewells to London. I left Central London around 8:30am that morning, boarded my flight at 12pm, and by 12:30pm I was headed back to California. Thorpe Park, London Eye, sunset, sunrise, friends... What a perfect way to conclude my time in London!

London was a great, great adventure. Looking back at the entirety of my trip, I can truly say (beyond even the slightest of doubts) that I wouldn't have wanted to spent my summer any other way. I am so eternally grateful for this opportunity, and I wholeheartedly know that this opportunity was a blessing directly from God. I learned so much during my time in London – I learned more about how the church ministry works, but I also learned a lot about myself as well. I felt that I grew more in character during these five weeks than I have in a long, long time. I'm still so awestruck that God chose me and allowed me to go to London. God truly is good and awesome. I built memories that I will never, ever forget, and I definitely made life-long friends among the other interns. I wouldn't have traded this opportunity – this gift, really – for the world.

Psalm 105:5
"Remember the miracles he has done; remember his wonders and his decisions."

I love this scripture because it reminds me to remember – to remember all that God has done for me, all that he has given me, all of his wonders! London truly was a wonder, it was God's goodness – I never want to forget that, and I know I never will.

Thank you for coming along with me on my London adventures. Although I wasn't as descriptive and thorough as I would've like to be – and I do apologize for my lack of consistent posts – I appreciate every one of my readers. I like to know that others were experiencing this marvelous adventure with me. London was truly more than I ever could've asked or imagined (Ephesians 3:20). God truly did have an amazing plan for my summer (Jeremiah 29:11)!

And with that, I bid you all adieu. But who knows – maybe I'll be back to posting in the spring? Study abroad program? We'll see what the future holds!

Farewell and thank you,
Hannah Middlekauff

It's Okay To Be A Tourist Sometimes

Hello again! I'm back once again to update you all about my exciting adventures in London. I believe that I left off on Thursday, so I'll start this update from Friday!

On Friday, my day was much like I explained in the last post. However, on Friday evenings the campus ministry has what we call a devotional – basically a time where all of the campus students come together to hang out, chat, socialize, hear the Word of God, and meet each other's friends. They're always really fun and a perfect way to start the weekend. This devotional was especially fun though, and let me tell you why. So, as I'm sure most of you probably already know, I play the drums – I've been playing for about seven years now. When I moved to NYC for university, I began to play this instrument called the cajon for our church worship every Sunday – a cajon is that box that people sit on and play like a drum, it's a really cool instrument, I love it! And if you're still not entirely sure what a cajon is, you can check out this song that our church did a couple months ago (skip about 2 minutes into the video, I'm on the left playing the mahogany drum): http://vimeo.com/94020845! Anywho, I've been dying to play my cajon since I left NYC for the summer, but I didn't bring my cajon home with me to California. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to get my hands on one in London either. However, this didn't stop me, I was determined to play some type of drum for the portion of devotional when we sing songs. As we were searching for a makeshift drum around the room that we were renting for devotional, we came across a first-aid kit. Still determined to get some sort of drum sound into the worship, we emptied out the first-aid kid to give it a more hollow/drum-y sound. Low and behold, it sounded really good, almost like a real drum. Thus, Friday night was the night I played a first-aid kit as a drum. It'll probably be the only time I'll ever do that, but it's definitely an experience I'll never forget. I mean, how many people get to say that they played a first-aid kit as a drum? The worship (song) part of the devotional that night was infinitely more fun and amusing for everyone.

Saturday was HOPE Day of Service! Every year, the London International Church of Christ sets aside a day when each region is able to serve the community as part of the HOPE worldwide UK effort. I'm currently living in South London, so I helped the South Side region on this day. We went to Sutton Community Farms and helped pick weeds out of the tomato plants. Although this might sound boring or bland or unappealing to some of you, I actually found it quite fun! The time went by so quickly, and I found the weed-picking quite therapeutic actually. The only downside was that there were a ton of spiders among the tomato plants, and I absolutely hate spiders. But other than that, I quite enjoyed serving – it almost made me want to work on a vegetable farm during the summer holiday. I also loved the beauty of the surrounding land – Sutton Community Farms was quite cut off from anywhere urban, so there were loads of fields filled with vegetables, fruits, flowers, etcetera. It was so amazing and beautiful, it reminded me a lot of the time my family and I spent in the English countryside several years back. I would love to experience more of the English countryside.

Nonetheless, my service shift was only from 9:30am until 1pm, so I still had about half a day ahead of me. This is when my friend (Jessica) and I (who is a fellow North American) decided that it's okay to be a tourist sometimes. Luckily, Jess is staying with a British family during this internship, and there is a girl our age among the family (Becca). We decided that Becca would be our tour guide for the evening. We met up around 6pm at the London Bridge Tube Station, and this is where our tourism began. We took the Tube to Waterloo Station, and from there we walked to the London Eye (about a half-mile walk) along the Thames, stopping at markets and stopping to take pictures along the way. Then we walked across Westminster Bridge while fawning over the Houses of Parliament and Big Ben. We then walked past Houses of Parliament/Big Ben, still taking even more pictures, and walked over to Westminster Abbey. Of course, we took more pictures, and then walked from Westminster Abbey to Buckingham Palace. After fawning over Buckingham Palace for a while (taking still more pictures), we walked from Buckingham Palace to Trafalgar Square. There, we rested for a bit before heading home. Yes, this was an incredibly long walk (my feet hurt so bad and my legs were sore the next day), but we did all of this in less than 3 hours! However, we did make sure to take the time and really appreciate everything that London has to offer. It was such a wonderful evening, filled with great conversations, great sights, great pictures, and even greater friends. I'll post some picture from the evening down below this post. And like I said, it's okay to be a tourist sometimes!

On Sunday, we had a London-wide church service, so it included every church region in London (over 1,000 people)! It was amazing seeing all of the London's disciples together in one place. After church, a couple interns and I headed over to Camden Town to explore the markets. To be quite honest, I wasn't exactly a fan of Camden Town – I found it too overcrowded and too touristy, but I did have fun with the interns. After that, we all headed to one of the interns' flat, and we all had dinner together. Then we headed home for a good night of sleep before another busy week started. Toady (Monday) was about the same schedule that we've had the other days. Except this time after Bible discussion, instead of going to a park, we all went to the British Museum (which is really close to UCL). It was so amazing, and it was kind of déjà vu since I went with my family about six years ago – as soon as I walked in, all of these memories swarmed back. At the time, little did I know that I would be back in London in six years doing an amazing internship. God is so good – He's constantly blessing me with incredible opportunities.

Well, now that I'm all caught up, enjoy some pictures from my touristy Saturday! Have a wonderful week everyone, and I'll try to post again when I can!

Week One: [Almost] Done!

Hello there! I do apologize for my absence – I've been quite busy these past few days. I've also been running into trouble with acquiring wifi. I can only get wifi every so often, and when I do get wifi, I don't have much time to post. So my posts might be a bit more spread out than I first thought, but bear with me.

Anywho, where shall I begin? I believe the last time I posted was on Sunday, and it is now Thursday. Oh, dear! I've done so much in these past four days, and as I said in my title: I am almost done with my first week of the internship! I can't believe how fast it's going by, but at the same time I feel as if I've been here for ages. Tomorrow will mark a week since my arrival, but I feel as if I've been here for a month. It's weird how quickly you can become accustomed to a new place or a new way of life.

So let me tell you what I've been doing during this internship so far. We start everyday at 10am – not too early, which is wonderful. I'm not a morning person, you see. We start every morning with a lesson to set our minds and hearts on God for the rest of the day and for the rest of the internship, really. Then, we get some time after the lesson to talk amongst ourselves about how we can continue to grow in our faith and help others grow in theirs as well. Usually we finish all of this at about 12pm. Afterwards, we have lunch together as a group until about 1pm. We then head over to University College of London (UCL) to share our faith with other university students until Bible discussion (which we hold in a University of London café area at 3pm everyday). Then round 3:30pm, we (everyone who joined Bible discussion) all head over to a park to either hang out, play some football (also known as soccer for us Americans), or play some games. I pretty much summed up everything in short, because it would talk too long to describe it ALL. But each day is quite exhausting – we do a lot of walking and a lot of talking. My feet definitely hurt by the end of each day, and I sleep like a log every single night. And so far, the other interns and I have been able to see God really work in our lives and the lives of others as well. We are constantly having great conversations with others about God and the Bible, and we always have wonderful time together (as interns) as well. I already feel so close to the other interns, and I know they will be friends for life. There are 15 of us, but we've become such tight-knit family in such a short amount of time. Oh, and I've finally got a hang of the Tube system, which makes getting around London much, much easier now!

Now, let me tell you some interesting things that I've learned about London this week! Let me start off telling you what I dislike most about London, and one of the most appalling facts about London I have learned thus far: they do not serve iced coffee here. Can you believe it? No iced coffee. None at all, zip, nil. Sure, they'll serve you regular hot coffee. However, if you ask for iced coffee, they will either serve you an iced latte, an iced cappuccino, or a frappuccino of some sort. The closest you can come to iced coffee here is an iced Americano – they simply will not ice the coffee here. In fact, when I asked some of the other interns about this (most of them are from the UK), they didn't even know what iced coffee was. No, I don't mind drinking hot coffee, but I do love my iced coffee. So much, in fact, that I used to get an iced coffee everyday at NYU during the school year, even if it was -10ºF outside. But let's move on from this iced coffee dilemma and talk about other things, because I'm starting to crave iced coffee. So another interesting fact: UK students who want to go into medicine go into medicine straight away. They don't have four years of undergraduate pre-medicine and then four years of a separate medical school like we Americans have. They apply to university as a medical student (right out of 12th grade) and stay at the same university for a six-year medical program – from the moment they enter their first year of university, they are considered a medical student. And once their six years are over, they are doctors (considering that they passed all of their required exams)! It makes our process to become a physician seem so long and tedious. Also, since they don't have pre-medicine here, it's quite difficult to explain to the Brits what I'm doing at university – I end up telling most of them that I'm majoring in biology and on the road to becoming a doctor.

So there are some interesting facts about London/England/UK! There are many more interesting facts, of course, but sadly I can't detail them all. It is quite different here than America, but I absolutely love it. I wasn't so sure about studying abroad in London before I came here – I was kind of on the fence about it. However, after spending only a week in London, my desire to study abroad here has been completely solidified. I've already started my application for the spring semester study abroad program, and it's not even due until September! I hope (so badly) that I will be able to come back to London in the spring.

Well, I must be off, I need to get my rest, but I hope this post will suffice for now. I'll be sure to post within the next few days. But for now, enjoy these lovely photos of the Tower Bridge and the Thames! The other interns and I had lunch in Potters Fields Park today, so I made sure to grab some photos. The weather here has been quite beautiful, and it's only rained a few times. But I don't want to get sidetracked right now, I need sleep! Goodnight all – I hope your summers are going as lovely as mine.

Sunday Funday!

Hello there! Today was quite a glorious day. To start it off, I didn't have anything to do until 4pm, so I got some much needed rest (yes, that jet lag is still killing me). Apparently it takes one day for every hour of time difference to be completely rid of your jet lag, which means that it should take me about eight days to get over this jet lag. But I do hope that it goes away sooner, feeling tired at odd hours of the day certainly isn't fun.

So today, at 4pm, the campus students had a church service in Central London at The Swiss Church in London. It was quite a lovely place, very small and homey. There weren't too many people at the church service, but it's always fun to attend smaller services because then you really get a chance to meet and talk to everybody. I got around to knowing some more campus students who were all, of course, extremely friendly and fun to talk to. The lesson itself was about exercising self-discipline and humbling ourselves before God – two things that I always strive to work on – so the lesson was perfect for setting my mind and heart right before diving into this internship.

After the lesson was over, they had tea and biscuits laid out for the congregation to snack on – how British! And after enjoying some tea and biscuits and talking to lots of people, the interns and I headed over to a Chinese restaurant called Wong Kei for dinner. Apparently the restaurant is really well known about London, but the reason for its fame might surprise you. The restaurant is know for its staff being rude – yes, you read that right. Londoners love the fact that the waiters are rude – they find it funny and enjoyable. Interesting, right? The food at the restaurant is good as well, so people don't just go for the rude waiters. But I didn't find the staff to be too rude. They were the usual "we want more customers, so leave as soon as you're done eating" rude. Perhaps I'm just used to it, because that's the restaurant attitude in New York as well. Nonetheless, it was a unique and fun experience.

After a good dinner with some great friends, I headed home on the Tube – I finally feel like I'm starting to get the hang of it! And with that, I am ready for tomorrow, for the true start of the internship – we have a very full day tomorrow as we are spending practically all day (9am-3pm) in Central London. Now I must get some sleep. I bid you a good night!

And So It Begins...

Hello there! As of 12:30pm yesterday, I have arrived in London! So far it is everything I had imagined and more. But before I begin detailing my London adventures, I must talk of my travels...

So, the 12 hour flight was a bit too long for my tastes – those airplane seats are so uncomfortable and make it almost impossible to get any good sleep. Thus, I arrived in London quite exhausted and a little bit disoriented, seeing that I practically skipped an entire day (I left on Thursday afternoon from San Francisco and arrived in London on Friday afternoon, which also explains my lack of a blog post for Friday). It was a really weird time warp, and of course this did not help my jet lag at all.

Nonetheless, I would not let my exhaustion get to me! I crossed the UK border, and another intern was waiting at a cafe for me with a sign. After getting all set up with an Oyster Card (kind of like an NYC Metro Card), we took the Tube from the airport to meet with the internship leaders at their flat in Central London.

And while riding the Tube, I began to realize that London reminds me incredibly of NYC. I felt at home almost immediately. London has all of the glorious aspects that NYC possess as well – the bustling crowd, the Tube, the fast-paced feel in the air, etcetera. Although I must admit, London is much more beautiful. Maybe it's the old buildings with lots of character, the cobblestone streets, or the River Thames running through the middle of the city? I'm not entirely sure what it is, but London is breathtaking – the same way NYC is breathtaking, but multiplied by 10 (or possibly 100).

So – back to the details – we arrived at the intern leaders' flat in Central London, had a quick lunch, and then set out to meet my host. My host lives in South London, about a 20-30 minute train ride from Central London. Of course, I don't mind being a bit further out because I just spent a year in New York! I know how to work the train system, and I know how to commute. Plus, London is London – I'd be happy to live anywhere in this city! I love the neighborhood that I'm staying in, too. It slightly reminds me of Little Whinging from the Harry Potter series.

Friday was quite a busy day – I arrived at the airport, got settled in my host's house, and went to a church event that the South London Church was having that night. It was definitely exhausting, no doubt, but it helped keep me awake and fight off my jet lag. Needless to say, I slept like a log that night.

Today (Saturday) was the kick-off for the internship! We all gathered in the internship leaders' flat and got to meet each other in person for the very first time. It was so much fun to meet everyone and hear everyone's background – where they come from, where they live now, what university they go to, what they're studying, etcetera. We had a quick lunch, and then we had a lesson – getting our minds and hearts focused on God and serving His Kingdom. After the meeting, we all took the Tube and headed over to a park to meet with the other campus students in London. We also had a quick lesson in the park, and then we all got to talk and hang out with each other afterwards. All of the students were so kind, and I got to know/talk to quite a few of them. I'll tell you now, I don't think I'm ever going to get tired of that British accent – it's too amazing. I love the Brits, so good thing I'm spending five weeks here.

Anywho, this was a slightly longer update than I'll probably usually be doing, due to the fact that I had to detail Friday as well. I'm still very exhausted, and very jet lagged, but I'll keep moving forward. Nothing can stop this grand adventure! So, until next time – I'm off to bed, toodledo!

Can I put you on hold, USA? London's calling!

Today's the day! I'm off to London for five weeks. I cannot believe how quickly my time at home went by. Alas, I can't pretend to be sad about leaving California, I'm too excited for London – I'm ready for some adventure!

I have a quick layover in Seattle before I head over to London, and I have to be honest: I'm not entirely thrilled about sitting on a plane for 12 hours. But that's only a tiny, tiny annoyance in comparison to what awaits me on the other end of that flight.

At this point, I am beyond ecstatic for these next five weeks. I was nervous at first – the ideas of not knowing anyone else in the internship and having to get used to a new city in such a short time were cause for nervousness. However, I soon realized that I did exactly the same when I moved from California to New York. I had to make a whole new set of friends as well as get used to a huge and sometimes confusing city (although once you get the hang of NYC's grid, it's not nearly as onerous). If I did it in New York, I can surely do it in London. Plus, God is with me wherever I go – He didn't stay in California or New York. If God chose me for this internship, I can have full assurance that there is absolutely nothing to be nervous about. So now, excitement reigns – I'm ready to go!

Well, it seems that it is time to hop aboard my plane. See you in 12 hours, London!

Welcome to "The Paddington Files"

Hello there!

To briefly reiterate the description, this blog will follow my daily life and adventures as I spend five weeks in London serving the London ICOC's Campus Ministry. Five weeks in London! I don't think I can wait another minute. I'll be departing California on June 26th for my grand British internship, but I'd rather call it a grand British adventure. Adventure is out there, and I believe living life to the full is the way to go. Otherwise, you'll look back with regret. So an internship in London – why not?

But before I hop on the fast-moving train of explaining how I came about this internship, I would like to give a little background of myself. And I will explain why I chose the name of my blog, of course!

My name is Hannah Middlekauff. I spent most of my childhood in California, which was only briefly interrupted when I lived in Virginia during my second- and third-grade years. Although, I wouldn't necessarily call it an interruption since I have an affinity for the East Coast – it was more of a blissful two years in Virginia. I now attend New York University – I recently finished my first year! Let me just say: New York City is everything I had imagined and more. I thoroughly enjoyed my first year, and I cannot wait for the next three years. I secretly wish that the school days wouldn't go by so quickly, because NYC has stolen every bit of my heart. I could not have picked a better university to attend or a better city to live in. The people of New York are, interestingly, my favorite part. I have found friends for life, and they have all stolen my heart just the same.

And this is where the internship comes in. Earlier in the spring semester, I was discussing with one of my friends the idea of studying abroad. Of course, I would love to study abroad, but it is surprisingly quite difficult to figure out. You have to make sure the foreign site offers the courses you need. And if it doesn't, then you have to account for potentially losing a semester of credits you could've been taking at your regular campus. Since I am a Pre-medicine student, this turns out to be even more difficult to figure out – I have to plan my semesters accordingly for MCATs, as well as Medical School applications. Well, I wanted to study abroad in London. As I was talking about these frustrating difficulties, my friend mentioned that there was an internship for the London ICOC's Campus Ministry. Of course, I jumped at it immediately – a chance to serve God and spend decent time in London. It couldn't have been more perfect.

After sending in my application, there was nothing left for me to do but pray. The whole process had been so sporadic and so on a whim that I didn't know if I would actually get the internship. So I prayed for God to make His plan to me obvious – if I wasn't meant to go to London, then I wouldn't get the internship. No matter how much I wanted to go to London, I knew God's plan would always be better than mine. The weeks passed, and I didn't hear much about the internship. I became discouraged (especially since I had been rejected from about two other internships in the weeks after I submitted my application to the London ICOC) and started to give up on the idea of the internship. Nonetheless, I decided to trust God, because who am I to tell Him that He's wrong about His plans for my life? Unbeknownst to me, God absolutely had a plan. And His plan was for me to spend five weeks in London building up His (United) Kingdom. (Did you like my play on words there!?)

I'm so excited to serve God this summer, as well as learn from the Campus Ministry leaders in London! I'll be learning Biblical leadership skills, and I'll be learning how to study the Bible with fellow campus students. I'll be sharing my faith on campuses in London, and I'll be serving at Campus devotionals as well as church services.

Now on to the name of my blog! Not only is Paddington a district within the City of Westminster (in central London), but Paddington also happens to be the name of my well-loved teddy bear (I call him Paddy for short). Of course, I'm sure many other children have Paddington Bears since he is a well-known bear (check out his website: http://www.paddington.com/home.html), but my Paddy is very special to me. Paddy has practically been with me since birth – he is, quite surprisingly, still with me today. He is well worn and greatly loved, and he still holds in one piece (thank goodness). Lucky for him, Paddy comes with me almost everywhere. He was with me all throughout my childhood. He came with me to college, and will continue to come with me to college. He has been on every family vacation. And now, he will be accompanying me for five weeks in London. Paddy is a well-traveled bear!

Since Paddy will be with me in London of course, I decided to name this blog "The Paddington Files." A reference to London, as well as a reference to the dear bear that has kept me company my entire life.

With that, I conclude my first post. I wish you all the best, and I can't wait for you to share in my British adventures! And for these next fourteen days, Paddy anxiously awaits our departure: