Well I know, I did not blog yesterday. We have been very busy these past two days. Since we are leaving Cambridge tomorrow at 9:30a.m., we wanted to visit as many places as we could. Honestly, I could stay here much longer, but I feel that we experienced and toured all the places we hoped to see.

Yesterday we toured most of the campus of Cambridge. There are 31 colleges within the University. The colleges that appealed to me the most were King's College, Trinity College, St. Catharine's College, and St. John's College. Our group was split into two groups and a student from St. Catharine's College gave us a tour of the University. I was amazed at how large the University was. Shops, restaurants, theaters, and markets were all located around the University. I found it interesting that each individual college competes against the other colleges within the University. The largest college is Trinity College. The College today consists of a Master; about 160 fellows, most of whom are engaged in teaching; about 320 postgraduate students; and about 650 undergraduates. The College was founded by King Henry VIII in 1546.

Later in the afternoon we went shopping, stores were everywhere. I knew it was expensive over here, but I had no clue it was this expensive...don't let the £(pounds) fool you. For example, if a shirt is £16, in American dollars it would be over $32. Yeah, it is expensive, but I am trying to watch what I spend...

At night we usually go out to eat around 7p.m. After roaming the streets for a half an hour trying to decide where would be the best place to eat, we usually find a little cozy restaurant down the road from were we are staying to kick back and relax. Last night we went to "The Eagle." The food is always great and the portions are large as well.

Each morning we have leadership sessions. Yesterday we talked about the differences between leadership v.s. management and personal leadership development. Today we focused on cultural differences in the world and how we as students can improve diversity issues on campus and in the community. Each session is about 4hrs. long and is compacted. I enjoy learning something new in each session. It is nice to have the resources such as Dr. Terrell, Dr. Rhodes, and Ms. Johnson mentoring us. They are intelligent, kind, and reliable people. During each session they speak about what it takes to be a leader in our organizations and on campus. We break up into small groups and learn more about one another and their opinions on certain topics. We are assigned a personal leadership development activity as well. During the sessions we have tea time and eat biscuits (cookies). After each session we eat in the main cafeteria at St. Catharine's College. I feel that each session is a good length of time and it is nice to have the afternoons and evenings to explore the town.

Every morning when I sit in the conference room for our sessions at St. Catharine's College, I am reminded that the College is older than the United States of America. That blows my mind because I try to picture how many generations of people have been sitting in the same room I am learning in. There is such great history at the University. What a great place to study abroad.

This afternoon all the students and faculty members went 'Punting'. If anyone can guess what this is I am impressed because no one in our group knew what it was- and no it is not punting a football. Instead it is riding in a boat with someone standing in the back and steering it with a long pole. While we were on the boat there were at least 50 other boats in the canal. The ride was suppose to be pretty relaxing, but instead it was adventurous. Boats were running into one another and people were falling out of their boats. Luckily I did not fall, but a guy in a boat next to me did and managed to get me wet. Oh well, it was entertaining.

I am thankful to be a part of such a great program and group members. Everyone brings different characteristics to the table. We all know one another fairly well and are learning each others cultures and different backgrounds. Although we leave for London tomorrow, I will miss the campus and the city. We made many memories, learned much from the sessions, and were able to speak with students from the University. My favorite part about today was touring King's Chapel. It is the largest chapel in the area and is well-known all over the world. I was in shock when I walked into the chapel because it was beautiful and breath taking. Here are just a few interesting facts about the chapel;

-King Henry VI laid the foundation stone of 'The King's College of Our Lady and Saint Nicholas in Cambridge' on Passion Sunday, 1441.
-The Chapel took a century to complete.
-The Chapel is the product of three separate periods of construction.
-The Chapel is 88 meters (289 feet) long, 12 meters (40 feet) in span between the piers, and the vault is 24 meters (80 feet) high.
-26 stained glass windows were installed- it took about 30 years to complete.

As you can see I'm having the time of my life... I'm truly grateful and blessed. I will try to post pictures soon. Thanks for all the comments and encouraging words from everyone.