As Fi Bows to Peer Pressure

Tonight is the official Freshers party at LSE and somewhat unsurprisingly I decided not to go . . . not really my idea of fun. So this provides a fantastic time to catch up with myself and talk about what I’ve been up to for the past three days. It’s all been insanely busy and so it’s nice to have a night to relax a little . . .

So, I spent Sunday morning at Hillsong London. It’s truely an amazing experience and the worship was unbelieveable, truely out-of-this-world. It’s held in Dominion Theatre (a real theatre that is currently playing “We Will Rock You” during the week), and the place is full of people. There are 3 services on a Sunday and I figured I’d try the 10:30am service. Apparently it seats 2,007 people and although it wasn’t totally full it was pretty near it. I loved the worship, which had a full band plus 7 vocalists, plus the opening song was “Take It All”, which I became addicted to after we listened to it too many times in the car up to Hawkes Bay. Worshipping with around 2000 other Christians is such an incredible feeling and you All Saints people would have loved the number of people dancing at the front . . .

But that was one of the things that “bugged” me about it the most, at times it kinda felt less like a church and more like a concert. This video is exactly what it was like (this is a short video of Hillsong London) . . . all the lights and noise and everything was a little distracting . . .

Anyway the preaching also completely sucked for me. It was all hype and no substance, plus I’m really not sure what the man was talking about and he was this very-hyped-up preacher from the States who has apparently got the third largest church in “America”. I think I remember agreeing with some things he said but in the end it lacked biblical backing and had a very televangelist-type feel. Anyway he talked for about an hour on whatever it was he was talking about, and then there was a little more worship and that was the end. The people at the door, who had lovely badges that said “host”, were really friendly and managed to work out that I was new. I must have looked completely lost I think, but anyway the church definitely appeals to young people looking for a specifically “non-denominational” church and it seems to have a large following so it must be doing something right . . . but it’s definitely not the right church for me. A great experience but I think I need a church with a few less people and a bit more substance.

The rest of the people for the hall arrived on Sunday arvo and it was cute watching all the Freshers arrive, it made me want to be first year again. We had dinner at the hall, where I met some more “grad students” from the States and then we spent the rest of the evening in the Passfield bar sharing silly stories . . . twas great fun!

Today and Monday were mostly spent trying to take in a presessional economics workshop for development studies/management students. Basically they tried to teach us 2 years of undergrad economics in the space of two days . . . so I’m feeling quite tired now. The teaching was intense but there’s lots of us that haven’t done any economics before and they’ve reassured us that the courses don’t involve massive amounts of economics. I am now able to tell you about some very odd things, including concrete that conducts electricity and Russian tennis racquets. The teaching was excellent and both our lecturers for the workshop were really good at explaining things.

Last night was great, my ex-bosses are currently in the UK for a brief networking trip so we met for dinner last night and had a fabulous time getting lost in Covent Garden trying to find restaurants. It was great to catch up on the news from New Zealand (I know I’ve only been gone a week but a week’s a long time in politics) and see friendly familiar faces. It’s amazing how God provides because I’ve got work friends and family coming to London, and therefore see me too, quite regularly over the next few months. Hopefully that will help to keep me from being too homesick.

I do miss New Zealand, I really miss my family (although I talk to my mum and dad a lot at the mo), I miss Dave, I miss my friends (and flatmates), I miss knowing exactly where to shop for specific things, and I miss All Saints and having a church to call home. I’m slowly adjusting to living in London, while realising that I was a lot more attached to New Zealand than I thought.

And with that thought, I shall leave you for today. Tomorrow is the school induction, followed by an intense day of DESTIN (DEvelopment STudies INstitute) induction. I am truely glad I came, but sad to be away from everyone and everything I know and love.

P.S Thanks to everyone that’s been leaving me comments on the blog! You guys are such fantastic friends!