Emily in London

Exciting News!!!

2008-09-14T23:27:00.005+01:00

Attention: I am finally caught up/finished with my London blog!!!! Of course I couldn't possibly write down every little thing that happened, every little experience, but at least I got a big chunk of it down to help me remember this incredible time.

note

2008-09-05T15:40:00.003+01:00

so i don't know if anyone still checks this, but hold your horses, i'm still trying to get around to catching up my blog on my london adventure... it's just always a little crazy the first week of school!

Real Home Again

2008-08-31T04:20:00.009+01:00

Now that I'm actually home in good ol' Gilbert, I can finally take a little bit of a breather. JUST KIDDING!! I leave in two days to go back to Provo! But really, this was all worth it. Even with the Shingles, even with the craziness and whatever other small insignificant downers occurred, my trip was incredible.

I am SO SO SO grateful for this opportunity I had to see a little bit more of the world. I have always wanted to go to Europe, and not only did I get to LIVE in London for seven weeks, but I got to travel to FIVE other countries afterwards! This whirlwind of a trip is something I am definitely going to remember for the rest of my life. I'm so grateful for everything that helped make it possible: BYU, my grades, and MOST IMPORTANTLY, MY PARENTS.

PS- for a more sentimental and sappy post, see "Goodbye to London"

Home Again

2008-08-31T04:12:00.005+01:00

After a pretty snazzy trip on the Eurostar (the superfast train that goes from Paris to London across the English Channel aka Chunnel) we got to St. Pancras train station, and I breathed out a sigh of relief, the breath that I had been holding the whole 9 days I was in countries I had zero communication skills in. I felt like I was home.

I got Mom an Oyster Card (Tube Pass) and went on our way- Victoria Line, transfer to Central Line, off on Queensway. We got off at the Tube Station and there were tons and tons of people, tons of policemen, and it was just weird. Not like it used to be.

We walked just around the corner to our hotel, dropped off our stuff, and then I was excited to show Mom the London Centre (well, the outside of it) and how awesome of an area it was to live in. Yet again, more people, more policemen, and lots and lots of garbage on the streets. I reassured Mom over and over again that it was different when I lived there, but still, it was really crowded and gross. Palace Court though was quiet as always.

We walked a little bit through Kensington Gardens and then got a Waffle on Queensway (there aren't just any waffles, these basically taste like donuts and have chocolate, caramel, whatever on top. So good.) I had to do a little last-minute souvenir shopping for my brothers because my shingles kind of messed up my plans for the last part of my time in London, so we did that and went back to the hotel. It was super early, but we were super exhuasted. So, we went to bed.

The next morning was kind of unevenful. We got up early, took the Tube to Victoria train station, and a train to Gatwick airport.

Also, we found out why all the chaos: The SECOND BIGGEST CARNIVAL IN THE WORLD (Rio is #1) is at Notting Hill. That's why it was psycho. Haha

I saw so many cool cities and did so many cool things, but still, I think that London will always hold a special place in my heart.

The Last of Paris

2008-08-31T04:08:00.007+01:00

My last day in Paris was definitely a good way to end my adventures "abroad". I went back to Notre Dame because Mom and Dad said it was something I would regret not doing later. The climb up was reminiscent of St. Paul's, but the view was so much different. Paris is beautiful. I thought looking down on the city was so cool (apparent by how many pictures I took), and the gargoyles were pretty sweet too. I wish I could see what they looked like when it rains and the water comes through their mouths. Anyway, it was just awesome.

See the Eiffel Tower in the distance??

One of the bells. I really feel like I need to watch The Hunchback of Notre Dame again

We had some time before we had to leave, so we stopped by the "Arc de Triomphe". It's just in the middle of this roundabout street, but it's so big and cool looking.

We walked by the Eiffel Tower one last time. It's amazing to me that a hunk of metal can be so beautiful.

After our stroll around London, Dad had to go since he was flying out of Paris, but Mom and I still had a couple hours to kill before we needed to head back to the airport, so we took a boat tour along the Seine River. It was really cool because most of the neat sights are along the river, and since we didn't get to see everything on foot I got to see quite a bit more. And I liked the audio guide because seriously, knowing the history behind what I'm seeing makes it so much better (we actually had a Rick Steve's Guide to Paris and I read almost the entire thing on the way home because I learned so much about the city, famous artists, and it was just cool).

I'm pretty sure that Paris is my favorite city I saw on my 10-day adventure.

The City of Light

2008-08-31T04:05:00.011+01:00

We woke up pretty early Sunday morning and headed out to see the Louvre before Sacrament meeting. Unfortunately, Mom's Metro Pass got deactivated somehow, so we got held up while we talked to the extremely grumpy French Metro workers to get a new one (everyone in Paris has been friendly, which kind of surprised me after all the stories I've heard about snooty French people- only the Metro workers seem to be mean).

So anyway, we finally got to the Louvre, and the triangle-thing you enter into was actually a lot cooler than I expected. And the Louvre is HUGE! There was no way we were going to be able to cover very much of it, so we headed straight to the Mona Lisa (and of course stopped along the way if anything caught our eye).

And here is the Mona Lisa. I was kind of surprised at how small it was, and also that you couldn't get any closer than I'm standing in this picture, but that's okay. It was incredible to me that a painting has the potential to make so much fuss. There were a lot of people around me (and it wasn't even very crowded since it had just opened), people from all over the world, and everyone was taking pictures of the Mona Lisa. I doubt Da Vinci had any idea that his painting would be so so famous. (Also, I look kind of funny in this picture and I'm going to blame it on pain from my shingles: I was in a lot of pain so I couldn't sleep the night before and I was just in a lot of pain in general during the day, too)

We spent some more time at the Louvre, seeing the Venus de Milo, and some Rembrandt's, Dad's favorite painter. I really liked the Louvre, but I was definitely okay to leave when we did. (I think it was probably because I had been to tons of museums in London, and we there were other things in Paris that I wanted to see).

Church in French was interesting, but I definitely understood none of it. It was still good to go to church though. I asked some missionaries if they knew Elder Fairbourn, my friend from Freshman Year, and they did! (But he's in Southern France right now).

Next, we took the train to Versailles. I was blown away at how huge it is, and this picture does nothing at all to show it (unfortunately I didn't take many pictures). I thought Schonebrunn in Vienna was incredibly big and gaudy, but it PALED in comparison to Versailles. It was super crowded, but we did audio tours through the main palace...

...including the Hall of Mirrors (which is where the Treaty of Versailles was signed, ending WWI).

Us in one of the mirrors!

A view of the gardens from one of the windows. The gardens went out as far as the eye could see. It was incredible.

A very very small glimpse of the gardens. I would have loved to walk around, but it was cold and rainy and we didn't have jackets (which was making me in even more pain from my Shingles... not that I'm totally complaining because it was still awesome to be here, but yah...). Anyway, I had no idea how huge Versailles is, and that you have to walk for like a half an hour through the gardens to even get to Marie Antoinette's palace!

Once again, the Eiffel Tower. Even though it's cloudy, I like this picture.

We ended the day with a trip up the Eiffel Tower. It was really cool to see the lights of the "City of Light", and some of the big places like Notre Dame and the Arc de Triomphe were lit up in a way that made them glow. And also, I don't really know why it was blue and sparkly, but it was cool anyway.

"Paris Holds the Key to Your Heart" (thank you Anastasia)

2008-08-26T21:05:00.007+01:00

By the time we got to Paris and checked into our hotel, it was mid-afternoon: Time to see Paris!

We started at Notre Dame (I wanted to go to the top, but we didn't have much time...)

Cool stained glass inside Notre Dame

This is "Les Invalides", where Napoleon's tomb resides in a crypt under the dome. Unfortunately, it was closed already, so we didn't get to go inside, but it was still cool to see.

I liked this street because it's basically a cross between mine and Amelia's name!

The Eiffel Tower!... and Me!! (and it's super cloudy)

We ate at this nice little restaurant. I got fish and it was so good.

Lucerne

2008-08-26T21:04:00.004+01:00

This is Lucerne (or Luzern in the German spelling). It's a little city in the middle of the Swiss Alps, and it's really pretty.

This is probably my favorite picture of Lucerne. The bridge and water tower are really old and the bridge was pretty cool to walk across.

This is Lowendenkmal, or the Dying Lion of Lucerne. It was sculpted in the 1800s as a monument to Swiss soldiers that died defending the Tuileries. Mark Twain once called it "the most mournful and moving piece of stone in the world". It was actually breathtaking.

I like taking cloud pictures

Lake Lucerne

Venezia to Luzern

2008-08-21T21:34:00.004+01:00

Today marks country #6 of my summer (England, Scotland, Germany, Austria, Italy, Switzerland). 6 down, 1 to go (France). I can’t believe how fast everything is going by. I’m out of clean clothes, leaving me desperate enough to handwash in the bathroom sink. Yaaaahhh buddy (that was for David).

This morning Mom and I enjoyed the fancy breakfast at the hotel made by the fancy hotel owner Matteo. Then, we walked around the markets surrounded by tons and tons of fruit and tons and tons of fish. We went souvenir shopping (I got a mask… like masquerade mask, something that Venice is pretty famous for), then checked out and took the water bus (“vaporetto”) over to the train station.

I look really tired...but the scenery is beautiful

The train rides and transfers went successfully. The second train ride, from Milano to Zurich, was beautiful. When we weren’t going through tunnels, we saw the incredibly beautiful Alps, and the sparkling lakes and all the trees and cute cottage houses. It doesn’t really seem real yet that I’m here in the Alps (in Lucerne… Luzern is how it’s really spelled) because all I’ve really seen is through the train windows. Tomorrow I’ll get to see the wonder of the Alps without glass in the way.

Venezia aka Venice

2008-08-20T20:53:00.007+01:00

I successfully made it through my night-train with the cabin full of people that I couldn't understand, got to the beautiful city of Venice, took a bus-type-boat to a certain area and met up with Mom after about an hour of waiting. Hooray!

Venice is exactly what I imagined. It's breathtaking. Amazingly, peeling paint and algae water make for beautiful beautiful scenery. Ahhh.

After checking into our hotel, we walked around, took the bus/boat to the glass-blowing island of Murano and looked around, and did some more walking around. We ate lunch at this fancy cafe right next to the water's edge. I am being so spoiled.

This is Rialto Bridge, and on Saturdays there's a huge market (well I think it's just on Saturdays, I'm not really sure)

This is a church where St. Mark (???) is buried

This is on Murano, the glass-blowing island. Really the only difference I noticed is that it's a lot less crowded than the actual big island is.

Probably my favorite part of today was our gondola ride. We went at twilight, and I know I'm overusing the word, but it was beautiful.

This is our Gondolier: he was so funny because #1- usually the Gondolier's are young, suave Italian men, #2- he didn't really seem to know much English, so instead of telling us what we were seeing, he just kept mumbling and grumbling. It was funny. #3- right after this picture he gave me a kiss on the cheek!

We finished off the day with a chocolate and banana crepe. What a perfect day.

Vienna: Day Two (and Night Train #2)

2008-08-20T17:05:00.005+01:00

At the exact moment that I am typing this, I am on a train to Venice. I got a “couchette” this time, which is a little bed in a cabin with 5 other beds (a very small cabin). I can’t sit up straight, but I’m so excited to be able to lay down tonight. The funniest part of this situation is that I am unable to communicate with anyone else in my cabin. There is a older-middle-age couple from Romania (Romany???), and three Asian girls. I can’t quite figure it out, but it seems that the Asian girls are with the Romanian couple. Haha. The Romanians keep trying to talk to me, but I can’t understand. It’s funny because they keep trying to tell me things like that I might want to turn around the other way to sleep because if my head is by the air conditioning I might get cold. I tried to explain that I’m just laying this way on my duffle bag right now, but I will sleep the other way. I don’t really know if they understood. What an adventure.

So, about Vienna today. Some of us were planning on going to the Music Museum today, but we had some setbacks: #1: David’s clock was still set on London time and he didn’t even realize it until later that day (he thought we were just being impatient and wanting to leave early when we kept knocking on his door when really it was because he was late). #2: We decided to stop across the street for pastries for breakfast. Sooooo good (and gigantic).

#3: We missed our stop… and went four stops too far because we were so busy talking, so we had to do some backtracking. So… we got to the museum and decided that paying 8.50 euros wasn’t worth a half an hour, so we kinda walked around and looked in stores for a little bit.

We met up with the rest of the group at this one museum that Professor Benfell suggested we go to. We mostly spent time looking at the art, but we also checked out some pretty cool Egyptian stuff. Then, my favorite part of the day was our trip out to Schonbrunn.

Schonbrunn is kind of the Versailles of Vienna. It was the summer home of the royal Hapsburg family, who was in power for SIX HUNDRED AND FIFTY years!!!! (until around 1918 or so). It’s crazy to me that one family was in power that long. We paid a little extra for the guided tour, which was well worth it because we got to hear all the stories about Maria Theresa, her sixteen children (who were married for political alliances--one of which is Marie Antoinette with France), and some of her descendants that lived there. Everything was so ornate, gaudy, spacious. There was a painting of one of the times that the royal family decided to let everyone come watch them eat this six hour dinner. I don’t really understand how they felt that was welcoming??

After Schonbrunn, it was goodbye to my friends. I was kind of sad saying goodbye, because I’ve lived with them for the past two months. It will be so weird not to see them every waking hour, and only run into them once in awhile. I made some really good friends here that I hope I don’t lose contact with.

I saw some missionaries and asked them if they knew Elder Ball (Mason). One of them was actually his companion recently! He wrote down my name and is going to write Mason a note and tell him that I said hi. It made me really excited, and it’s so cool that he’s been serving in this amazing city.

And yes, I am still on the train. The Romanian man and one of his friends just came in and asked if I had internet so I could look up the Beijing Olympics to see Romania and Hungary (and not even in English). Hahaha.

I’m going to be waking up in Venice. How cool is that.

Vienna: Day One

2008-08-19T07:35:00.008+01:00

All day long I’ve had The Fray’s “Vienna” running through my head, and guess what?? For the first time ever, I’m actually in Vienna while it’s been running through my head. I already love this city. It’s beautiful. The buildings and architecture, the streets, I have such a hard time putting how I feel about all these incredible cities into words. Let’s just say I could wander these streets with just my eyes and my camera for hours.

We were all pretty exhausted today after our exciting train ride, so we decided to take it easy.

After we dropped off our stuff at the hotel, we took the U-Bahn into town, just walked around Stephanplatz for awhile,

and then got on a tram that goes around the main part of the city. We rode it all around the circle just to see what there was to see, and then rode it around again but this time got off at certain places. I love the architecture in Vienna. The buildings are beautiful.

The big statue/monument-type-thing of Mozart made me really wish Dad was with me.

After some time in the city, we went back to the hotel to try and solidify what it is we wanted to do. Of course I fell asleep and my friends got distracted by the Olympics for awhile before we headed back out.

For dinner we stopped at a Wurste (pronounced “vurst”) Stand (Wurste are giant sausage-hotdogs). Deeeelicious. Especially because I got a KaiseKreiner (spelling is probably waay off), which has cheese oozing out of the sausage as well.

We threw around a Frisbee for awhile in some grass, and then stopped by the Hofburg Palace (where the Hapsburg Royal Family used to live and now is used for some political thing), where they have free classical music concerts, which are projected outside on a giant screen. It was pretty cool.

We spent some more time walking around, looking at stuff, and taking pictures.

(Courtesy of Lauren)

This is the main political building now... but I don't know much about Vienna's government or what this building is called!

So, today we basically just messed around. But we messed around in Vienna, which makes all the difference.

Night Train

2008-08-19T07:09:00.004+01:00

So, even though this probably won’t come as a surprise to anyone, we did not sleep very well on our train to Vienna. It’s just hard to sleep sitting up (well, hard for most people. Obviously not for Danielle because she slept sitting up with her mouth open for a big chunk of the time). About halfway through the night, we realized that we could pull out the chairs far enough that if it was okay for the person directly across from us (David in my case) we could work out a deal to stretch out next to the feet/legs of the person across. I don’t know if that made sense, but it definitely made for some better sleeping. Also, Alex (the German guy) got off the train at 4 am which made for a lot more room for the rest of us, since we’re all pretty comfortable with each other. Sooo… I guess the point of this story is sleeping on trains not in sleeping cars is not the funnest thing… but that’s okay because just being in Europe is lots of fun.

Berlin: Day Two

2008-08-17T07:04:00.005+01:00

After a wonderful full night of sleep, we got dressed up, jumped on a bus, and attended church in German. Of course the only German lady that I talked to before church actually started has a daughter living in Gilbert. Go figure. PS I really like to sing in other languages. So fun.

We rushed home from church to pack up and check out of our hotel (thank goodness we got to store our luggage at the hotel so we didn’t have to lug it around all day).

First sight-seeing destination of the day = Brandenburg Gate. Really I don’t know the historical significance, but it was a cool building.

We ate our lunches of bread and peanut butter (and I might have just spread my peanut butter with my finger…), first under the Brandenburg Gate, but people were looking at us funny.

So, we moved to the park, which is just so beautiful.

The rest of the afternoon was spent walking around, and taking the Autobahn and seeing the city.

This is some kind of Holocaust Monument

Look how cool the clouds are!!! Also, "DB" is the company that does the trains in Germany (at least I think)

A scene of The Bourne Ultimatum takes place at this very spot. Bourne tells the Julia Stiles character to get on a tram, just like this:

Of course we had to get Stephen to take a picture with the "robot"

I don't even know how many times we yelled "Get out of the bike lane!" to Danielle or Lauren. In Berlin (and in Vienna too), there are SO many bike riders, and they have designated lanes for them on the sidewalks. There were quite a few close calls. haha.

What I think about Berlin:

I’m glad that I got the chance to see Berlin, but it would never be one of my favorite cities. Ehhh, I don’t know.

We are currently on a train to Vienna. A night-train, but not in beds. It’s us five in a cabin (that kind of reminds all of us of Harry Potter) with a 27-year-old German guy who works at Gamestop and speaks English.

Berlin: Day One

2008-08-16T07:02:00.007+01:00

Hallo. I am currently in Deutschland, and no, I do not speak or understand German. I kind of took the lack of language barrier in London for granted.

Our flight from London got us up nice and early in the morning. Next step was to find a bus to take us to our hotel. Of course we got off the bus waaay too early. Of course we walked three hours through the city to find our hotel. Of course we carried our luggage the whole time. But, that’s all part of the experience, right?

We stopped for a little rest in the park

That experience of the afternoon was pretty exhausting, so after we checked in to our hotel, we did just a couple sight-seeing things, like Check-Point Charlie,

and parts of the Berlin Wall.

Then we ended up splitting up, but David and I got some dinner at this little tiny restaurant with only one lady working, who definitely didn't speak English. However, we of course figured out how to communicate because we were so hungry. haha. Then we all stumbled back to the hotel to watch the Olympics. (Oh and don’t worry, we got a taste of the city on our walk to our hotel). My favorite thing so far has just been Tiergarten, a park that has a taste of the foresty-goodness of Germany that everyone has imagined at some point.

Danielle pointed out this statue and said it reminded her of Super Smash Brothers, and I agreed. Haha

This is next to our hotel. It used to be part of a train station where a bunch of Jews were packed into the cars and sent off to concentration camps.

Today was an adventure- the kind of adventure that made me excited to travel around Europe with only a handful of my college-aged friends.

Too bad I hardly know anything about this country. I’m really wishing that my high school history books had told me a little bit more about the Cold War, the Berlin Wall, and all of the other stuff that would make this experience even better.

Here is our hotel:

It's actually pretty nice (don't worry- we used Priceline.com so we got a super good deal). But.. it's kinda funny because the ice block glass definitely makes for a see-through bathroom:

Tomorrow's itinerary: Attend Sacrament meeting at a Church somewhere, and then see some of the major sights here (which I don’t know very much about… yet, but I will be sure to tell)

I am definitely ready for bed. This has been an exhausting day, not just for a girl recovering from the shingles, but for everyone.

Update on ME:

2008-08-15T21:02:00.004+01:00

Question #1: How am I feeling?

I am actually feeling much better. Through a lot of sleep, a lot of medicine, a lot of concern from others, and a lot of blessings, I am feeling pretty good. My rash is in the process of turning from blisters to scabs (sorry, that's gross...), and my back is aching but only because I overdid it today by climbing to the top of St. Paul's. I am so glad and so blessed to be getting over this so quickly. I'm still in some pain, but manageable pain, and every day I feel a little bit better. Thank goodness for that because it's off to Berlin tomorrow.

Question #2: Why all the empty blogs/ blogs with only pictures?

I fell really behind, and will probably be behind for awhile... but check back later!

Love,
Emily

Goodbye to London

2008-08-15T21:01:00.004+01:00

(warning: this post is extremely sentimental and sappy)

Honestly I can’t believe how fast this summer went by. Even though I feel comfortable and even at home here in London, it doesn’t really seem like I’ve been here the full time I was planning on… or at least it doesn’t really seem like enough

This has been the time of my life. The time of my life (so far). Even with food poisoning, even with stress from school, papers, finals, even with sharing a room with eleven other girls, heck- even with shingles, this has been the time of my life.

I love London. I’ve never gotten to know a city so well. I’ve never felt so at home in such a big city. Some of my favorite moments were excursions by myself, confident in navigating the Tube, navigating the streets, and navigating myself.

Being here in London really healed me. It seems like most of the girls here came with questions. I didn’t necessarily come with questions, but I came with slightly broken wings. This has been a time of healing, a time leaving me with the confidence that I can pump and propel myself wherever I need to go, through whatever I need to do.

How can I even describe the beauty of London, especially to those who have never been to this marvelous city? The stuff of not only history books, but the stuff of fairy tales. Explosions of knowledge at such easy grasping distance, just waiting for the taking. Samuel Johnson once said, “The happiness of London is not to be conceived but by those who have been in it.” And even more, one cannot conceive of the happiness of living in London.

Beautiful friendships weaved and knitted together, that I truly hope will last. I’m not a fool anymore to the possibility and reality that not all friendships can stay so potent and close, but I know that I am so much better for getting to know these people on this trip. Through all of the wonder of the city, the laughter as the true goofy sides of each of us started to show, through the stress and annoying schoolwork, through the spiritual moments, through all of the individual growing we were experiencing, we were able to experience together.

The UK is the homeland of my ancestors. Now is the spirit of this great land not only running through my blood, but my heart, my heart of hearts, through every inch and every square of my soul.

I know I can never experience this again. Yes, I hope that I’ll make it back to London someday, and hopefully relatively soon. But even then it won’t be the same. There will never be another Summer 2008 London Study Abroad.

St. Paul's and the Whispering Gallery

2008-08-15T21:00:00.004+01:00

For our last day in London, some of us decided to go to St. Paul’s Cathedral: Most definitely one of the best decisions that I’ve made here. It was the perfect thing to do on the last day: #1: It’s beautiful. It was built (or rebuilt) a lot later than a lot of the other cathedrals that we’ve seen, and it was kind of simple and white, but at the top were these beautiful beautiful painted ceilings. #2: You can go up the 500 and however many steps to the top to see the city of London. I know I already got to see the good view from the London Eye, but it was still really cool to see it from here. Kind of like an Empire State Building type of experience. #3: Half-way up the stairs is the “Whispering Gallery”. Its at the start of the dome at the top of the Cathedral, and it has railing all around. If you whisper something with your head close to the wall, your whisper travels all around the dome. We took turns going across from each other and whispering things and it was basically one of the coolest things ever.

I wrapped up my last day by packing and taking my bag to Victoria station for storage, and a nice walk through Kensington Gardens, where I ran (not literally) into some of my friends playing soccer.

After dinner at the Centre, we all mostly just stayed around, except for a little bit of shopping for Katie on Queensway.

I don't want to leave!!!

Inside the BYU London Centre

2008-08-15T20:42:00.009+01:00

I know I know, it took me long enough, but here are pictures of Home Sweet Home:

The BYU London Centre:

Right inside the front door

Stairs! (which I climb a lot of to get to my room on the 4th floor)

The professors and their families, and whatever students want to come in and fill in the extra chairs, eat dinner here. Also, as shown, studying is a common activity in this room

The "Lounge" or Sitting Room: the setting of a couple of my Shakespeare read-a-thons, games and chess matches (I'm terrible at chess), studying, and the daily devotional with the whole group at 4:45

Another view of the lounge

A lot of the ceilings are super cool, like this one (in the Lounge):

The library! where talking is not allowed (the only truly quiet place to study, that also turns into a sauna once it gets filled)

The Servery: mostly we eat our meals in here, including our somehow almost nightly ritual of coming in, getting a drink of water and maybe a few Digestive cookies, and talking for awhile. also we've played cards in here, watched movies, and as the picture will attest, watch the Olympics (especially during dinner)

Usually lunch (because it's free): Sandwiches

The stairs down to the basement, which houses the Kitchen (everyone takes a week of Kitchen Crew, helping with dinner and doing the dishes), and the laundry room

The Classroom! (not only do we have class here but also weekly Sunday night firesides, sometimes we watch movies in here, and this is most frequently my study area)

The other half of my bedroom (you can't really see but there are three bunkbeds (6 beds), home to: Lizzy Weidemann, Paige Albright, Mollie Dickerson, Hilary Wood, Summer Young, and "Spence" (Kaitlyn Spencer))

MY half of the bedroom, messy from packing to leave :(

Home of: me, Adrianne Olsen, Brittany Watkins, Caitlin Reese, Kaitlin Jacobs, and Rachel Marrott

My room is in the left corner (next to the door to the fire escape)

umm.. probably room 4 is the best. yep.

our bathrooms we share with room 3 (12 girls + 16 girls = too many)

showers! (3)- this is just for our 12 girls

So that's where I live. In LONDON!!!

Last Night in London

2008-08-15T20:41:00.006+01:00

We decided that on our very last night we should probably go to bed at a decent hour since we had to get up so early the next day, so in a way, thursday was our last night in London.

The evening was spent at the British Museum for a couple hours, and then we walked down to Trafalgar Square, where the Olympics are supposedly played on a big projector screen. By the time we got there though, they weren't showing the Olympics but there was a dance group that we watched for a few minutes.

I'm not really sure exactly where we went, but we walked down Leicester Square, got sushi, and just soaked up our last few hours in the heart of the city. I'm really going to miss being in a busy, exciting place like this.

British Museum

2008-08-15T20:37:00.009+01:00

What did we decide to do on our last night on the town? Go to the British Museum, of course! haha. We are such nerds. But seriously, the British Museum is pretty sweet. I had only been once before to do a bit of studying (see "Monday, July 7" post- I think). But yah, the Rosetta Stone, a bunch of cool Egyptian stuff, parts of the Parthenon, and it goes on and on. And it's open late on Thursday nights which makes it even cooler.

Friends! (Paige, David, Me, Katie)

So, I really really love this picture. haha. Except that I was supposed to look like I was trying to hold the guys hand, but it doesn't really. Oh well, I still like the picture anyway.

The British Museum is a must do for visiting London.

Finals

2008-08-15T20:37:00.008+01:00

Finals Finals Finals. Always a crazy time-- no exception in London.

As previously stated I hardly studied because I felt so nasty. But... I was feeling quite a bit better last night, so I got some studying in before today (thank goodness). I think they went pretty well, too.

I rewarded myself and my super-quick-test-taking-abilities by a trip to Primark. Yay for new clothes!

to study... or to sleep??

2008-08-15T20:36:00.003+01:00

The last weekish of school, hardly anyone ever left the London Centre. Paper-writing and studying were the main activities... in LONDON! (Yah, yah, we were there for school, I know).

I have never been so grateful for not procrastinating. Fortunately, I had gotten my papers done really early and I had kept up in my classes, otherwise I probably would have failed.

The last week of classes, on all my medicines and stuff, I would get up in the morning for breakfast, go to school for a little bit until I felt too gross to handle it anymore, take a 2 hour nap, go down and talk to everyone for a little bit, sleep all afternoon, wake up for dinner and stay up for a little while, and then go to bed early. Seriously I slept ALL the time. It was the only way I wasn't in terrible pain.

MediCentre

2008-08-15T20:35:00.011+01:00

So, who gets to have the experience of going to the doctor in London… twice?? ME!!

I had been having these incredibly painful spasms in my back, painful enough that I sometimes couldn’t breathe and it just hurt… really really bad. Probably the worst pain I’ve ever felt in my life. I tried to just tough it out for a couple days, thinking it was maybe a cramp or something… ate a lot of bananas, and still, it kept getting worse. Finally on Saturday I called “SOS” (that the Church/BYU goes through) to see what doctor I should go to, and they told me to go to the Medicenter at Victoria Station (yes, it is in the train/Tube station). And so I did. The doctor said that she thought I pulled a muscle, so she gave me some heavy duty pain killers and muscle relaxers (Valium and Codiene). I left, still in a lot of pain, but really glad I had something that would help. (PS- in the Tube station, a bunch of Americans asked me for directions and were surprised that I wasn’t a Londoner… that’s a huuuuge compliment to us and kind of made my day. Haha)

The Valium made me crazy. My emotions were out of control and I would cry on the slightest provocation (like someone coming in and putting a hat on my head???). Everyone thought I looked like I was on drugs, and when I videochatted home that first night, Dad and Taylor couldn’t keep back the laughs because of how stoned I looked. The medicine was terrible.

So, my back still hurt and the next day, a small rash started. I thought it was just a reaction from my meds (because of the warnings on the box). Nope. The next day the rash was really big, and so I called Mom and Dad and told them about it. Mom immediately thought it was Shingles, which immediately set off my tears once again. I guess that the same kind of thing happened to my grandma last year, with the back pain and the rash and stuff. So… I went and talked to the professors and stuff and decided to go back to the Medicenter. Lo and behold, it was Shingles. I got different meds (a five-a-day for five days Anti-Viral and some anti-anxiety medicine (since Shingles is a virus in the nerves). From my understanding, for those of you who don’t understand Shingles, when you get Chicken Pox, the virus kind of stays with you lying dormant in your nerves. A lapse in the immune system (often caused by stress, which I think is the cause in my case because school and everything got SOO stressful here), lets out the virus, which shows itself as a really painful blistery rash and nerve pain (which explains the back spasms). So… yah. I have shingles. In London no less.

Changing of the Guard

2008-08-15T20:35:00.010+01:00

One of those things that you’re “supposed” to do in London is see the Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace. Well.. we were obviously never too excited to go see it because we didn’t until our last Saturday. After spending the morning at Portobello Road, we took the Tube over and made our way through the crowd of people to try and see what was going on. I don’t think I’ve ever been in such a smashed crowd of people in my life. Probably it wasn’t the funnest thing ever because #1: I was smashed in between a ton of noisy, smelly tourists #2: It was raining a little bit (actually I didn’t really mind the rain but it’s something to add to my list of complaints) #3: Katie, Jacki, Stephen, and I had a tough time staying together #4: My back hurt- real bad #5: I couldn’t see anything (at least with my own eyes). Even amidst all of my complaining, there were still some good aspects of the experience like #1: I can now say that I kind of saw the changing of the guard #2: I was able to watch part of it on some guys video camera that was up high over his head.. perfect for me to watch behind #3: I enjoyed a nice hour-long walk through the parks back to the Center afterwards #4: I’m in London! Anything I do in London is pretty cool.

Westminster Abbey

2008-08-15T20:35:00.005+01:00

Shingles

2008-08-12T09:18:00.002+01:00

Dear Readers:

I am suffering from Shingles. They are very painful, but I will be okay. Please keep me in your prayers.

Love,
Emily

updating..

2008-08-12T09:16:00.002+01:00

I am in the process of updating: I put up my pictures, but in the next fews days I'll go back and add in my commentary, but until then, enjoy!

The London Eye

2008-08-12T09:13:00.001+01:00

I had to actually steal this first picture off the internet because for some reason, I never actually too a picture of the London Eye. Here it is:

Me and Hannah (my BFF!) on the Eye

We were in one of these bubble-like compartments

Parliament/Big Ben!

Buckingham Palace

I love London

It was cool being able to recognize so many landmarks. Definitely worth the £15 (?)

Final Walk

2008-08-11T09:19:00.007+01:00

Finally, I had only one walk left: Walking the Walls of Londinium (which almost everyone had already done). Luckily, Paige hadn't done it either, so we set out together to walk along the original border of Roman-ruled "Londinium". Highlights:

Christ's Church (kinda looks like some of our temples...) Designed, of course, by Christopher Wren, who is pretty much responsible for a whole lot of London

Cool trainstation

I don't really know what this building is, but I think it is pretty cool, and I love the reflections of the sky in the glass of the windows

These are tributes to ordinary people (mostly younger, even kids) that lost their lives trying to save others. If you click on the picture and look at it full size, you can probably read some of them.

Highlight of the walk that unfortunately has no accompanying picture: Getting whistled at by an icecream truck driver. Baha.

King Lear at the Globe

2008-08-11T09:17:00.002+01:00

After an insane marathon-reading and class study of King Lear, it was pretty exciting to actually see it performed. And not only did we just get to see King Lear, but we got to see it in the Globe Theatre: with groundling tickets. So basically, we stood up for 4 hours pretty close to the stage.

For all of the performances at the Globe Theatre, the actors are dressed in the type of clothes that they performed in during Shakespeare's time: basically fancy clothes that usually nobility would wear. But, they did do some of their own interpretation-type-things:

During the storm part of the play, these almost-naked men came out from under the stage (actually right by us), covered in red and brown paint, like they were covered in blood, and they had rain sticks and ran around and make freaky noises. ....Probably they freaked me out. But it was cool.

Also, there was a totally disgusting scene when Regan and her husband pulled out Gloucester's eyes. Not only did they do that horrific number and get covered in (fake) blood, but they kissed afterwards. It was creepy creepy creepy and disgusting.

Overall the play was really good. My only complaint is that I had terrible pain in my back, which actually made it so I never even really felt my feet get tired. haha.

Dover

2008-08-10T15:25:00.013+01:00

Yes, we went to Dover and saw the "white cliffs". And even a castle.

Katie, Paige, Me, Jacki

Union Jack!

Kourtney, Spence, Jacki, Katie, Me, Paige

View from the top of the castle

The "dank" (as Hannah calls it) Westbus: we took this bus everywhere, around England, and even up to Scotland. It was a little crowded to say the least, but it definitely had good windows to watch outside England.

Okay, we seriously took so many pictures in Dover and at the castle and stuff that I was sick of pictures by the end. haha. We wanted to go to the maritime war tunnels, but they were too overbooked, so instead, we took lots of pictures at the castle (which was still cool anyway). This kinda looks like a Prom picture, and I don't know if I didn't know this was coming or not (look at my face!)

I didn't know Stephen took this pic and I'm making a weird face. Yay. (We're on the top of the castle)

This is what exit signs in the UK look like. It kinda looks like the man is dancing.

Stephen, Jacki, and Katie attempting to dance like the Exit-sign man

Yes, my head really did touch the top of this doorway!

Jacki and Me! (and Katie's head squished in between us)

After our time at the castle was over, the whole group headed down to the beach. It was not made up of sand, but really smooth rocks instead. I took one for a souvenir that is white and blue and looks like a heart. Pretty cool. Also- I don't know if you can really tell from this picture but we could totally see the coast of France!

Me and Paige

It was really pretty

White cliffs

"Red" Dave going for a swim in the freezing cold water, and definitely without a swimsuit (don't worry... he did have jeans on)

"Dover Beach" by Matthew Arnold

The sea is calm to-night.

The tide is full, the moon lies fair

Upon the straits; on the French coast the light

Gleams and is gone; the cliffs of England stand;

Glimmering and vast, out in the tranquil bay.

Come to the window, sweet is the night-air!

Only, from the long line of spray

Where the sea meets the moon-blanched land,

Listen! you hear the grating roar

Of pebbles which the waves draw back, and fling,

At their return, up the high strand,

Begin, and cease, and then again begin,

With tremulous cadence slow, and bring

The eternal note of sadness in.

Sophocles long ago

Heard it on the Agaean, and it brought

Into his mind the turbid ebb and flow

Of human misery; we

Find also in the sound a thought,

Hearing it by this distant northern sea.

The Sea of Faith

Was once, too, at the full, and round earth's shore

Lay like the folds of a bright girdle furled.

But now I only hear

Its melancholy, long, withdrawing roar,

Retreating, to the breath

Of the night-wind, down the vast edges drear

And naked shingles of the world.

Ah, love, let us be true

To one another! for the world, which seems

To lie before us like a land of dreams,

So various, so beautiful, so new,

Hath really neither joy, nor love, nor light,

Nor certitude, nor peace, nor help for pain;

And we are here as on a darkling plain

Swept with confused alarms of struggle and flight,

Where ignorant armies clash by night.

Canterbury

2008-08-10T12:26:00.008+01:00

For our very last day trip (sad!) we went down to Canterbury, and then Dover.

Can I just say I'm so glad that I took British Literary History 1 and 2 Winter Semester before London?? It made me appreciate a lot of the trip so much more. For example: Canterbury.

Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Tales were written in Middle English, and a pretty significant contribution to literature as we have it today. And, the whole plot is a group of people that don't know each other make a pilgrimage to Canterbury (which was kind of in a way one of the first forms of sight-seeing).

The reason that pilgrimages were even made to Canterbury was because Thomas Becket was martyred. Basically, Thomas Becket had some hook-ups by being friends with King Henry II, so they had a pretty good friendship. Becket was in some sort of position that enforced the stupid policies of the King that benefited only the King and his Courtiers (sorry for kind-of sketchy details: I feel like I have history running out my ears and it's hard to remember exactly everything). Anyway, eventually King Henry appointed Becket to be the new Archbishop of Canterbury, in hopes that he could get the Church's views more aligned with his own. Unfortunately for the King, Becket's new role made him suddenly pious and religious, which led him to get in quite a big rift with Henry, who couldn't get his way. Supposedly, Henry, out of anger, said something to the affect of "Won't someone get rid of this meddlesome priest?". Some knights interpreted this as a command, and rode off and brutally murdered Becket. That's the gist of the story, and this is not meant to be a history record, so on to my adventures:

The Cathedral was really cool and really huge. Since I haven't seen Westminster or St. Paul's yet, I'm pretty sure this is the most impressive one I've seen.

We took a tour and had a really grumpy older lady tour guide, but it was still cool to hear about what she had to say.

Me and Jacki

After we were done touring the Cathedral, we ate our sack lunches on the grass outside. Jacki had seen a sign about 2 for 1 milkshakes, and she was determined to get one, so a few of us headed to the little coffee place. The shakes were basically chocolate milk, and Jacki hated them. No one knows how to complain and make me laugh like Jacki.

Then it was back on the bus to Dover.

Borough Market

2008-08-10T12:25:00.002+01:00

Borough Market. I was told numerous times, by numerous people before even leaving to London, that I needed to visit Borough Market.

During the week, Borough Market in Southeast London is just a normal wholesale food market, with fruit and vegetables and whatever else. I'm not quite sure. haha. BUT, on the weekends, it turns into a gourmet food market.

Borough Market is FULL: full of people, full of noise, and full of all kinds of food. Tons and tons of fish, all kinds of fruit and vegetables, mouth-watering pastries, chocolate-covered-everything-you-can-imagine, breads I've never seen before, and stands selling food like ostrich burgers. It was craziness.

Jacki got a humungous brownie, while Steve and Katie opted to try disgusting raw oysters. I wish I had the video of them trying it because it was pretty hilarious. We all bought what were supposed to be empanadas but were basically pasties for lunch.

It was kind of exhausting being in a crazy place, but it was definitely fun to see.

Harrods

2008-08-07T11:08:00.001+01:00

Harrods, aka the biggest department store in the world, is crazy insane! It's huge, it's expensive, it's crowded, and it's pretty fun to walk through. We saw a watch that £117,000. ONE HUNDRED SEVENTEEN THOUSAND POUNDS!!! That's roughly $224,406! And it looked like it could have been a Fossil watch. (And that was not enough close to the most expensive things there...we just didn't walk through all of it).

After a lot of wandering, we did "splurge" and bought something. Well... not really "splurged" but it was exciting that we bought something at Harrods:

Turkish Delight

(and some fudge)

Us (David, Stephen, Katie, and Me) enjoying our Turkish Delight

The V&A

2008-08-07T11:04:00.004+01:00

I think my favorite museum here in London is the V&A (the Victoria and Albert Museum). It's within walking distance, across Hyde Park/Kensington Gardens (I don't really know where the boundary between the two parks is), and basically it's really cool. There's a little bit of everything. This is probably too much information, but here are the names of the collections: Architecture, Asia (China, Japan, Korea, India, Southeast Asia), British Galleries (we definitely had class assignments to look a the Victorian and Renaissance sections), Ceramics, Fashion and Jewelry, Glass, Metalwork, Paintings (including Raphael tapestries), Photography, Sculptures (a bunch of Italian sculptures and cast courts)... okay. I'm going to stop now. But really, I like this museum a lot because there is seriously so much to look at. I went with a friend on Monday to do my assignments for class, and we definitely got sidetracked. I had been there before, but I did not object to looking at the Fashion exhibition again.

This dress is from the 1770s...

My favorite dress from the exhibit... from 1959

So, as we were walking along looking at all the cool stuff (especially the stuff we were required to see), I mused that I would love to see an exhibit on the history of instruments. I looked at the map a little while later and... Voila! Discovered that they had an exhibit on instruments. I got pretty excited:

This picture is for Danny, the cello player (ps- I can't believe you just started 6th grade!!)

A "Cabinet Organ", 1610 (the keys are made out of bone)

A "Kit"- probably from 1670. I don't think I ever knew these even existed. Supposedly, dance teachers would keep them in the pocket of their coats, and would pull them out when demonstrating a step.

A piano, from around 1815

A flute from 1720, made from ebony

Obviously, I saw a lot more stuff, and not just dresses and instruments. I love museums. I'm really going to miss having so many in such close proximity.

for Katie...

2008-08-07T10:57:00.005+01:00

(This is kind of a bad picture, but hopefully you'll get the idea anyway):

So, in the Fashion Section of the V&A, Stephen pointed out this picture and asked, "Remember when you wore that pillow on your head?"

Yep. That's all I have to say.

BBC Proms

2008-08-05T09:48:00.002+01:00

Saturday night was my first (and hopefully not only) experience at a BBC Prom. The BBC Proms are two months of classical concerts every night, every summer. The concerts are at the Royal Albert Hall, just a walk across Hyde Park from us (or a short Tube ride), and also broadcast on the radio. Probably the best thing about these concerts is the availability of cheap tickets: for only £5 ($10), you can get a "standing" ticket in the arena, right in front of the Orchestra (there are also a ton of seated tickets, but of course we, as students, were more than happy to only pay £5).
Program:

Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Vasily Petrenko

Kenneth Hesketh, "Graven Image" (world premiere)

Beethoven, Piano Concerto No. 4 (Paul Lewis- piano)

Rachmaninov, Symphonic Dances

What I thought:

The Hesketh was really really strange. I'm not much for modern stuff.

Although the Rachmaninov was probably more exciting and entertaining to watch, my favorite was definitely the Beethoven. First of all, the piano was unbelievable, and also, I just felt really moved. It was beautiful.

I love classical music. And I think I've come to realize I'd rather go to the Symphony than to a West End or Broadway Show.

Not a super good picture, but this is where I stood/sat (there was enough room to sit on the ground... thank goodness. two hours is kind of a long time to stand)

Recitation #2

2008-08-04T10:06:00.002+01:00

(This one was for Shakespeare):

Let me not to the marriage of true minds

Admit impediments. Love is not love

Which alters when it alteration finds,

Or bends with the remover to remove.

O no, it is an ever fixed mark

That looks on tempests and is never shaken;

It is the star to every wand'ring bark,

Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken.

Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks

Within his bending sickle's compass come;

Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,

But bears it out even to the edge of doom.

If this be error and upon me proved,

I never writ, nor no man ever loved.

-Sonnet 116, William Shakespeare

Parliament and a Walk through Chelsea

2008-08-04T09:22:00.004+01:00

Friday morning our whole group, professors, families, and all, went to the Parliament building. The tour was pretty cool, but I feel like I had mostly seen the really neat stuff already when I went with some friends to see the House of Lords a few weeks ago. To me, it was basically the British version of touring the Capitol in D.C. One thing that really stuck out to me was how much time was spent on decorating the building: there were these huge huge paintings everywhere, portraits lining walls, and everything was just incredibly ornate. It was redone during Victoria's reign so I'm thinking (correct me if I'm wrong) that it dates to close to the same time as the Capitol building (mid to later 19th century?). Except that the hall at the front, Westminster Hall, is super old. I think the structure is from the 11th century and the roof from the 14th, or something like that.

Waiting for our tour to start.

Katie and Me

None of us really understood that we were getting our picture taken until it was already taken, which left us with a bunch of pretty funny photo ids.

Westminster Hall

After the morning at Parliament, some friends and I decided to get another one of our "walks" done. It was through the Chelsea neighborhood, which is pretty close to where we live, and it was called "The Superstar Walk". "Superstar" due to the many houses we passed where famous people used to live: Oscar Wilde, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Margaret Thatcher, John Singer Sargent, and a bunch more but honestly I can't remember. We also walked by a hospital that used to be used for British Veterans, a Chinese "Physic" Garden, and an old church. It was a nice day, which made for a nice walk.

This picture is for Uncle Andy, who is obsessed with Ben's Cookies at the Gateway Mall in Salt Lake. My giant chocolate chip cookie was fantastic.

I love some of the signs here!!!

The home of Oscar Wilde (The Importance of Being Earnest, The Picture of Dorian Gray). This was probably the coolest to me out of the many we saw.

Persian Food

2008-08-03T14:49:00.006+01:00

I have to say, I feel like I have become quite the ethnic-food eater here. But seriously, one of our neighboring streets, Queensway, is chockfull of all kinds of food I've never tried before! Wednesday night after our day trip = Persian. It was really good.

Sarah, Hillary, and Lauren

David, Jacki, and Stephen

Stephen (again), Me, and Katie

Churchill and Anne Boleyn

2008-07-31T09:40:00.008+01:00

Wednesday was our second-to-last day trip (seriously I can't believe how fast this trip has gone!). Our destination: Chartwell and Hever Castle.

Chartwell was the home of Winston Churchill (adult life, not birthplace). The night before we went, Professor Holland showed the movie The Gathering Storm to anyone who was interested. The movie followed the time just before the start of the WWII, when Churchill knew what was coming but no one believed him. I learned a lot about Churchill, especially because before watching the movie, I hardly knew anything about him except that he was the Prime Minister during the War, what he looked like, and that I hear his quotes on occasion. A few things I learned from the movie and also from our tour at Chartwell: #1- he had an American mother, #2- he loved to paint, and his house is filled with his paintings, #- he was quite a bit older when he came to office than I thought (66?)

The house and grounds were beautiful. They were not ornate, a little more modest, but beautiful just the same (it actually seemed more realistically livable than some of the other places we've been). Some pictures (there are tons because I'm having fun playing with my camera):

View from one of the landings

I don't know if you can tell, but these leaves are GIANT!

Our next stop was Hever Castle, the home of the Boleyns (as in Anne Boleyn who got beheaded by Henry VIII, the Boleyns from the movie The Other Boleyn Girl, etc). We toured through the castle, when through the hedge-maze, walked around the grounds, and even fed ducks.

Standing on the bridge over the moat

These bushes are supposed to be shaped like the chess pieces used during the time of Henry VIII, and the thing in front of it is supposed to be some kind of astronomical-measuring-thing.

Katie "communing with nature"

Big Ben at Night

2008-07-31T09:37:00.001+01:00

Thursday night we decided to finally take a look at Big Ben at night. I didn't take that many pictures, but we walked around big Ben and the Parliament Building, and Westminster Abbey. It was really pretty.

Do you remember the big fight scene in Big Ben on The Great Mouse Detective? That's what I kept thinking of.

We decided that this is a truly terrible picture of everyone (Stephen, Jacki, Dave, and Katie). Haha. I think our favorite though would have to be Dave's face:

Rachel and Me

Me and David

Ode to the Tube

2008-07-31T09:34:00.002+01:00

I have yet to explain my love for the Tube. I love the Tube. Love love. Even though most of the time it's really crowded and noisy and sweaty, it gets me everywhere. With a swipe of my "Oyster" card, I am free to travel beneath the city of London. Okay enough of that. Really, I just think it's a cool system and I'd really like to know more of the history behind it. And also, for some reason it's kind of empowering to me when I decide to go somewhere by myself and navigate just fine.

A Fitting Quote

2008-07-29T16:14:00.004+01:00

(One of the books I read at home at the beginning of Summer was Charles Dickens' Bleak House (well.. I read part of it, I didn't get quite to the end). This quote is my life right now):

"London was a great wonder to us, and we were out for hours and hours at a time, seeing the sights; which appeared to be less capable of exhaustion than we were."

Oh, how I love Dickens.

Hot Hot Hot

2008-07-29T10:07:00.005+01:00

Ever since we got back to London, it has been insanely hot! Well.. not hot like Arizona-115-degrees hot (I think it's only gotten in the early 90's), but here's the thing: it's humid here, which also wouldn't be a big deal, except that we don't have air conditioning! aahhh! I think it's supposed to cool down soon hopefully because right now this is kind of gross. We're all perpetually sweaty.

Recitation #1

2008-07-29T10:07:00.004+01:00

For my literature class I had to memorize a 14-line English poem (from the Romantic or Victorian period) and recite it to the class. Here was my choice:

Sonnet 32 from Sonnets from the Portuguese

Elizabeth Barrett Browning

The first time that the sun rose on thine oath
To love me, I looked forward to the moon
To slacken all those bonds which seemed too soon
And quickly tied to make a lasting troth.
Quick-loving hearts, I thought, may quickly loathe;
And, looking on myself, I seemed not one
For such man's love!—more like an out-of-tune
Worn viol, a good singer would be wroth
To spoil his song with, and which, snatched in haste,
Is laid down at the first ill-sounding note.
I did not wrong myself so, but I placed
A wrong on thee. For perfect strains may float
'Neath master-hands, from instruments defaced,—
And great souls, at one stroke, may do and doat.

King Lear

2008-07-29T10:05:00.002+01:00

In the tradition of our readings of Twelfth Night and The Merchant of Venice, a bunch of us sat down after dinner for our newest assignment, King Lear. The length of the play and the fact that we don't have to have it read until Thursday accounted for the gradual dropping off of everyone. By Act III we were down to three people. By Act IV and V there were only two of us, exhausted from reading the lines, and sick of putting feeling into them, but we just really really wanted to get it done. So, after 3 hours and 45 minutes and the deaths of most of the major characters in the tragedy, we finished!

I'm looking forward to seeing King Lear at the Globe Theatre next week.

Art and Manuscripts

2008-07-29T09:58:00.009+01:00

Yesterday (Monday) we had class in the morning, and then I devoted my afternoon to museums: the National Portrait Gallery, the National Gallery, and the British Library. I had assignments in Shakespeare and my literature class to go see some paintings (I put pictures I found online of them here). It was just SO cool to see these famous paintings that I've seen for years in textbooks and on PowerPoints in class in real life.

National Portrait Gallery

(Queen Elizabeth)

National Gallery

(Erasmus)

("The Ambassadors"- the cool thing about this painting, is do you see the weird distorted shape on the bottom? It's a skull, and although it looks weird from the front, if you go around to the right side next to the wall and look at the painting, it looks normal)

British Library

This was definitely my favorite part of the day. The British Library has an exhibit with a bunch of original books and manuscripts: the Guttenburg Bible, the first Shakespeare folio, an ancient Chinese acupuncture chart, the Magna Carta, a Wycliffe Bible, manuscripts of Jane Austen, Charlotte Bronte, Thomas Hardy, Wordsworth, written out song lyrics of the Beatles, and my favorite part: music manuscripts of Beethoven, Mozart, Haydn, Mendlessohn. I spent most of my time studying the manuscripts, and to be completely honest, I kind of got emotional. I'm so grateful for music, the power of music, for these composers who wrote what they did. I miss having so much of my life devoted to music.

Teaching Relief Society

2008-07-29T09:58:00.007+01:00

Sunday was a first for me: Teaching Relief Society! Although I am most definitely the youngest (and it's just me and Lauren from BYU in our Relief Society, and I wouldn't be surprised if we were even the only ones under 30), I taught the lesson. The topic was President Monson's talk from Priesthood Session from this past conference, "Examples of Righteousness". I prepared for a super long time on Saturday, and it went well.

So, it was pretty obvious that I got really behind on my blog due to the North trip and not having internet for a week, being crazy busy, and maybe a little bit of laziness. haha. Result: Blogging ALL afternoon. And now I'm almost caught up.

Sunday night we had a "Singing Fireside" here at the Center. People would volunteer to share their favorite hymn and why, and then we would sing it. I was at the piano. It's incredible to me how easily music can bring the Spirit.

Shopping and Ballet

2008-07-29T09:55:00.001+01:00

"Portobello Road, Portobello Road

Street where the riches of ages are sold..."

Does anyone else know that song? I think it's from Bedknobs and Broomsticks, and I think the guy that sings it is also the dad on Mary Poppins, but don't hold me to that. Anyway, guess what?! The Portobello Road is in the neighborhood. Every Saturday, all the vendors and people come out, and there is so much stuff! Antiques galore, jewelry, second-hand clothes, fruit, vegetables, pastries. The road seems to go on forever, and I spent an hour and a half there and didn't even make it very far down. It was pretty fun. I bought a necklace that looks really old and cool. I wish you all could see it.

Next stop: Primark! Primark is this humungous store on Oxford Street that kind of reminds me of Forever 21 back home, except it's really cheap and I've never seen any place so crowded before. Almost all the girls here have been coming back with huge bags of clothes, and so I decided it was about time to check it out. I wasn't disappointed, even with a 30 minute wait to try on clothes. (Tara, Steph, and Mia, I think you guys would keel over with joy if you ever set foot inside.)

Saturday night was Giselle, a ballet from the Romantic period. The set was beautiful, the dancing was beautiful, but what I enjoyed most was the music... I miss being in an orchestra.

Last Day Up North

2008-07-29T09:51:00.003+01:00

The plan for Friday morning in Ambleside was to go to Hilltop Farm, the home of Beatrix Potter. Unfortunately, it was closed that day (and all of us that have seen the movie "Miss Potter" were especially sad). New plan: some of us went on half a hike, walked around town and found a place to place Bocci Ball (very fun), ate lunch, and then couldn't find the bus where we were supposed to meet to go home... oops. So, we were late, and I absolutely hate being late so I felt so bad. But, it all worked out, and we drove home through the afternoon and evening and finally made it back to home sweet home: 27 Palace Court. I think we were all surprised at how good it felt to be back in London and how much it really did feel like home.

A waterfall we saw on our hike

We were SOOOO sick of the bus!

The North trip was SOO much fun, but I definitely still like London best and am glad to be back. Sadly, we are now down to three weeks!

The Lake District: Part 1

2008-07-29T09:28:00.003+01:00

We got on the bus bright and early Thursday morning, bid farewell to Scotland with bagpipe music playing on the bus, and drove about three hours over to The Lake District. First stop: Dove Cottage, home of William Wordsworth for a few years, in the town of Grasmere. We took a tour through the little house, and it was surprisingly really dark and tiny, although it was quite an expensive house at the time. Wordsworth paid the money to live there so that he might be out in nature to help him write his poetry. One such poem, that is pretty famous, is "I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud" (written in the early 1800s):

I wandered lonely as a cloud

That floats on high o'er vales and hills,

When all at once I saw a crowd,

A host of golden daffodils;

Beside the lake, beneath the trees,

Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

Continuous as the stars

that shine and twinkle on the Milky Way,

They stretched in never-ending line

along the margin of a bay:

Ten thousand saw I at a glance,

tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

The waves beside them danced; but they

Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:

A poet could not be gay,

in such a jocund company:

I gazed- and gazed- but little thought

what wealth the show to me had brought:

For of, when on my couch I lie

In vacant or in pensive mood,

They flash upon that inward eye

Which is the bliss of solitude;

And then my heart with pleasure fills,

And dances with the daffodils.

So, I didn't see any daffodils, but I saw the "vales and hills", I sat "beside the lake" and "beneath the trees" in the "bliss of solitude" and saw the "couch" on which he lied. For heaven's sake, if I lived in the beauty of the Lake District, I feel that I could be a poet too. It was beautiful, and I was so busy soaking everything in that I forgot to take pictures, except for Wordsworth's house (I'll just have to steal some from my friends).

Dove Cottage

Another plus at Grasmere was their famous home-made ginger bread. SOO good.

We hopped back on the bus and drove a few miles down to Ambleside, another town in the Lake District where we stayed at a hostel. First thing we did after checking in was change into our swimsuits and jump into the extremely freezing freezing lake. I was probably in for 3 minutes tops. After, I read on the grass by the lake, ate dinner, and then me and some friends walked into town. My friend David's last name is "Lake", so of course he was thoroughly enjoying the "Lake" District, with all of the Lake roads and signs.

"Lake" Lovers... of course we had to get a picture (Megan, David, and Me)

After our walk into town, we spent some more time just laying on the grass outside next to the lake and soaking in the beauty. What a wonderful day.

The Royal Mile

2008-07-28T09:52:00.000+01:00

Talk about an exhausting day. I got up bright and early (downstairs at 6:15) with only some of the group to go on a hike up to "Arthur's Seat". It was a short but pretty steep hike up, and then Dr. Holland gave us a short devotional about the history of the church in Great Britain. I'm so glad I got up early because it was definitely worth it. I wish I had taken better pictures, but it's so hard to capture what I saw.

Next (a couple hours later), was our tour of Edinburgh castle. I liked it better than the Tower of London. First of all, it's on top of this mountain and it's just so gorgeous everywhere.

This is kind of a dark picture, but it's what the castle looks like from far away

Katie and I aren't quite sure that we would like to be prisoners in Edinburgh castle.

After a few hours at the castle, we started our journey down "The Royal Mile", the street in between the castle and the Holyrood Palace. Some things we saw on the way:

St. Giles Cathedral

I've already talked about how I'm obsessed at looking at the architecture of old cathedrals. Yep, I'm still obsessed.

I heart stained glass

A statue of Adam Smith with a pigeon on his head

Adam Smith is basically known as the father of the American economic system. Ever heard of "The Invisible Hand", or The Wealth of Nations? Yep, that's Adam Smith. And this is where he is buried:

After our unfortunate failed attempt for Chocolate Soup, we found out the real address and headed there for lunch. None of us even actually got the Chocolate Soup specialty, but my milkshake was definitely good (ps my face is ridiculous)

Outside of the Holyrood Palace, the royal residence in Scotland since the 15th century. It's still used now during the summer by Queen Elizabeth (II). We got to walk through some rooms that are still used today, as well as some that were used by previous royalty and are now preserved in the same state they were in. No pictures allowed, but a one-word description I would give is ornate.

Behind the palace were the ruins of an Abbey

I love love love daisies.

This statue was in the garden. I think it's kind of funny because he doesn't really seem to have a nose

Ok, so we were pretty much exhausted by this point, but we wanted to get all the way back up the hill of the Royal Mile to go to some old bookshops we had heard about. So... we gave up about a pound each and just took a taxi. haha.

(the back half of us: Stephen, Me, and Molly)

I wish I had a picture of the bookshops we went in. They were pretty cool and they had some crazy old books. I ended up buying an old copy (unfortunately I don't know the publishing year) of a Sir Walter Scott novel (which I thought was fitting since we had just gone to Abbotsford).

For dinner we went to a "Chippy" recommended by Dr. Holland.

Fish and Chips have never been so greasy, yet never so good:

Jacki and Me with our fish and chips

After dinner we decided to stop by "The Elephant House", which claims to be the "birthplace of Harry Potter", as JK Rowling wrote down her first ideas of Harry Potter on a napkin while eating here.

We ended the night by finding a park and just chillin' on the grass. It was the perfect ending to such an exciting, but exhausting, day.

Arrival in Edinburgh

2008-07-28T09:16:00.002+01:00

We finally got up to Edinburgh (pronounced Eh-din-bur-uh), Scotland on Tuesday evening. The town is so old-looking, and the surrounding country is beautiful. We all stumbled off the bus, dropped our stuff off at the hostel, and started wandering around for somewhere to eat. Dr. Holland (who served his mission in Scotland) gave us a list of things we might want to do in Edinburgh. One of these was the mouth-watering description of "Chocolate Soup". I joined some friends in the search, and we walked for probably an hour to no avail. All we found at the address he gave us were two cafes/pubs with names too inappropriate to name on my blog. Tired, hungry, and grumpy, we finally stumbled around until we found a restaurant. Luckily, eating restored our energy and the excitement of being in Scotland, so a big group of us stopped by a pub next door to our hostel for "Karaoke Night".

Two of my friends, Katie and Jacki, had been talking about Karaoke ever since I've gotten to know them, so as soon as we got there, they filled out and turned in a slip to sing "Ain't No Mountain High", and we immediately followed with "Don't Stop Believin'" and the rest with a few other songs. Unfortunately, we were all disappointed that there were so many slips of paper waiting to be called that we would never make it before midnight, curfew time. So we just danced for awhile and went back to the hostel for bed.

Highlight of the night: Okay, so do you know the Boot-Scootin' Boogie line dance? It's like the electric slide, pretty nerdy and line-dancy, and I swear I've done it at every Stake and EFY dance in my life. Well.. some of my friends started it up to one of the country-ish songs that were playing, and by the end, everyone there had picked it up and joined in. Everyone in the Karaoke section of a pub in Edinburgh of all places was doing the Boot-Scootin' Boogie!

Definitely something to remember.

Abbotsford: The Home of Sir Walter Scott

2008-07-27T21:16:00.004+01:00

Our first stop in Scotland was on Tuesday at Abbotsford, the home of Sir Walter Scott! Of course I knew who Sir Walter Scott was to a small degree (the author of Ivanhoe) but little did I know that he pioneered the historical fiction genre. He lived from the late 17 to early 1800s, and he got really famous and his novels were translated into other languages, which also was kind of a first. The coolest thing about his house in my opinion was his massive library. It reminded me of Beauty and the Beast, and the libraries where you have to have a ladder to reach the top books. Also, he was obsessed with dogs, which I think is kind of funny. There was this giant portrait of him and his dog in his house that made me laugh a little.

a perfect hill for rolling

the beautiful gardens

skipping rocks

the water was cold but felt so good

me and Sarah

of course the one day I decide to wear a dress on the North trip we play in the water. oops!

Hadrian's Wall

2008-07-27T21:08:00.004+01:00

Tuesday morning we loaded back onto the bus and drove a few hours to Hadrian's Wall. Hadrian's Wall is this ancient stone wall built by the Romans that spans the whole width of England. It was pretty cool, except that I was running on only a few hours of sleep and still not feeling perfectly well... but it was still pretty cool.

Lauren, Hannah, and Me

Yep, we spent the night in a CASTLE

2008-07-27T17:10:00.008+01:00

Monday evening we got to Durham, a small city in North-Easternish England. Durham is home to a huge Norman cathedral and a castle, which we actually stayed in for the night. We had some time to go to the cathedral, eat dinner, and just wander around. The city was beautiful, I am so obsessed with old cathedrals, and the weather was perfect. After our wandering, we got together and told "scary" stories (none of them were very scary... we actually laughed a lot) next to the Cathedral's graveyard.

I think this would be such a great picture if only the stupid lamp-post wasn't in the way.

See the cathedral in the background? (And also the castle we stayed in, but it's smaller)

I don't remember who this monument is...

Me and Annie

Me and David (the son of Dad's friend from high school and the nephew of the Jolleys in our ward!!! small world)

The Cathedral, which was a lot older and a lot bigger than most of the ones I've seen so far. I love love love just spending time wandering through these cathedrals and looking at the architecture and the stained glass.

A bad picture of the entryway of the castle that we stayed in. I think I need to get some better pictures of it from some of my friends...

And despite all the grandeur and princess dreams of staying in a castle, it looked like this inside. (But who's complaining, it's still a castle!) The room Lizzy and I shared was up pretty high (126 stairs high). It was pretty sweet.

I have to say that the night in the castle was pretty interesting... I had been feeling sick to my stomach all afternoon, and so of course I threw up that night and stayed up until 2 am-ish. At 5 am, the fire alarm went off and we all evacuated and waited outside for them to tell us it was okay to come back in. We all were really out of it, and some people (like Annie), even forgot to put shoes on!! After maybe 20 minutes or so, we went back to bed for a little bit. So... I started off the trip on not very much sleep which wasn't that great, but fortunately, I didn't throw up anymore and felt pretty good the rest of the time.

Haworth Parsonage

2008-07-27T16:36:00.006+01:00

First stop of The North Trip: Haworth Parsonage, home of the Bronte sisters: Charlotte, Emily, and Anne (as well as their brother and father). Having just reread Jane Eyre (Charlotte Bronte) for my literature class I'm taking, I felt like I had a lot more appreciation for this stop. All three sisters, as well as their brother (not even including the other three siblings that died before reaching adulthood) died within a few years of each other, in their early thirties. Their father outlived not only his wife, but all of his seven children! How sad! They lived in a Parsonage, so they were in a house next to a church and a graveyard. I thought that the graveyard was pretty cool, which accounts for the many pictures:

The House

Caitlin, Kiley, Me, Alex

A view from the graveyard of the house and church

Look at the moss on that thing!

Yah, this is just the road back to where the bus is parked. Just the road? Yah right! Seriously everything here is so surreal and I constantly feel like I'm in a storybook-land. No joke.

Sunday, July 20

2008-07-27T16:28:00.002+01:00

On Sunday I was gone from 9:15 until 5... Forget the afternoon nap!

Church was really good. I sang and Lauren played the piano for a musical number in Sacrament meeting, which went well. After church, a family from the ward (American family) had us over for dinner. We played games, and had fun with their two little kids. It was nice being back in a family setting for a little while

Sunday night was devoted to packing for the North Trip!!!

Pygmalion

2008-07-27T16:15:00.003+01:00

After the Oxford trip, I went to see Pygmalion, a play by George Bernard Shaw that is basically the original "My Fair Lady". It pretty much was the same story except without music and as happy of an ending. But, it was really funny. And of course we finished off the night with a McFlurry (I think I've had more McFlurries here in London than I've had in my whole life)

"The Old Vic" Theatre (and yes, there is a "New Vic" supposedly) I love the old theatres here.

Oxford

2008-07-27T15:34:00.012+01:00

The Saturday before the North trip some friends and I headed over to Oxford. (I worked super hard on my Shakespeare paper the day before so I could go since it was due that day). I was a little hesitant to take the time to go to Oxford because I was feeling overwhelmed with all I needed to get done, but I am definitely so glad I decided to go. Oxford and Cambridge are the same in the aspects that they are both gigantic universities with all the different colleges that have their own buildings and lawns, etc, but the places themselves were pretty different. Cambridge had more of a smaller town feel, and Oxford was busier and bigger??? I'm not sure exactly, but that was my feeling. Oxford has incredible history. It's the oldest English university, and many famous people went to school there. Also, another bonus is that some of Harry Potter was filmed here. Haha. We had a Harry Potter buff with us (Erin) and she kept getting really excited. We spent almost all of our short time there at Christ Church College (and Cathedral). THIRTEEN of the Prime Ministers graduated from Christ Church!

(Probably I don't really remember what building this is, but it's SO cool that I had to put it on here anyway)

Yay for friends!

Christ Church College, with a line in the front for tourists to get in

We got bored in line???? haha

We think that this hallway was used in one of the Harry Potter movies? Even if not, it's still pretty cool. Look at the ceiling!

Becky, Lauren (aka Lambwyck), Rachel, and Me!

I'm obsessed with the architecture of these old buildings. Look how cool this ceiling is! (Still Christ Church College)

The Great Hall of Christ Church College (what the Hogwart's Great Hall is based off). The students of Christ Church actually still eat here

This is a random picture, but look at the little monster-face thing in the middle, they lined the walls of the Great Hall!?

At Christ Church Cathedral, this cool guy that worked there gave us a tour around and pointed out a lot of interesting things, but unfortunately, I can't really remember any of them. oops...

(A the train station:) It looks like the boys are hard-core about school, but really they are just the slackers of the group, scrambling to finish their papers while waiting for the train

I'm back!

2008-07-27T15:33:00.001+01:00

So after a crazy, action-filled and bus-riding-filled trip up North, I have returned "home" to London. Time for some blog catch-up!

I fell asleep Blogging last night

2008-07-21T07:08:00.002+01:00

So I was trying really hard to catch up on here but I fell asleep last night, and I'm leaving for Scotland and Northern England for the next five days, so I guess it's adios for now. Check back this weekend and hopefully I'll have updated on not only the trip I'm going on, but I still need to write about Oxford!

Stratford-upon-Avon

2008-07-21T00:37:00.007+01:00

William Shakespeare was born in Stratford-upon-Avon in 1564. On Wednesday, I went to Stratford-upon-Avon.

First we stopped at Anne Hathaway's family's cottage (not Devil Wears Prada or Princess Diaries Anne Hathaway, Shakespeare's wife Anne Hathaway). It wasn't that significant to me that Anne Hathaway grew up there, but it was really cool to be inside a house and see what it would have looked like at that time. Another plus- the gardens were beautiful. Hope you like loads of pictures:

Me and Summer (who I actually went to Highland with)

It was raining and we all had left our umbrellas in the bus since it was a quick stop... oops!

I love the symbol here in England for women's restrooms (or I guess "toilets" is the proper word). Look at the dress she's wearing! hah!

Look how cool this tree is!

Me and Hilary (who also went to Highland!)

Obsession of the Day: Taking Flower Pictures

After the stop at Anne Hathaway's cottage, we went the mile into town and went to Shakespeare's birthplace. The town was really little and cute. My favorite part of the day though, was when we saw The Merchant of Venice performed by the Royal Shakespeare Company (they're stationed in Stratford-upon-Avon). I have never enjoyed watching Shakespeare so much in my life. The cast wore modern dress (business suits actually) and the set was very minimal, but the way they spoke the words was so beautiful but at the same time so easy to understand. I was also sitting in the third-ish row and it was fun seeing their facial expressions. I feel like The Merchant of Venice was a really good one to see (even though in my past experience I don't really like it) because there truly are so many ways to play it and so many possible interpretations. Before seeing this play, I had read the characters of Shylock and Portia as completely different, but the cool thing is, that it worked either way. I was just fascinated and I wish so bad I could go back up and see Hamlet which is being played right now, but I think I'm too busy seeing the rest of London... what a bummer (haha just kidding).

Shakespeare's Birthplace

Stratford-upon-Avon

The Globe Theatre, Tate Modern, Jeremy Bentham, and Les Mis

2008-07-20T23:22:00.005+01:00

Tuesday was a pretty crazy day. We started out with another "group excursion", this time to The Globe Theatre. We didn't see a play (that's for another week), but we did have a tour and stuff. The theatre is built basically as close as possible to the original Globe Theatre where many of Shakespeare's plays were performed, and it actually was only rebuilt in 1997 I think. Now they perform plays mostly by Shakespeare, and a lot like they were performed back then with Elizabethan costumes and no electricity, etc. Here are a few pictures (I stole one off the web...) and I'm excited to actually see a play here in a few weeks.

Some friends and I headed to lunch in the area right after and then spent some time in the Tate Modern Art museum. It is HUGE!!! So, from my previous experience, I'm not that big of a fan of modern art, but I figured I needed to give it another try, especially with such a cool-looking museum. Verdict: I still don't really appreciate modern art, but it was definitely fun anyway. There was some just really really weird stuff. Hmph.

After the museum, Jackie, Stephen, and I decided to tackle another one of our assigned "walks". This one, called the "Scholar" walk, took us through some cool parts of London yet again. We stopped by the University College of London and took a glimpse at Jeremy Bentham's "body". Seriously, this man was crazy or something. Jeremy Bentham is known for Utilitarianism, and he decided that he wanted his body to be preserved and stored out in the open. His head kind of rotted away and so they put a fake head on and put the original head down by his feet, and there are some stories that his head was removed because some kids were trying to steal it to play soccer with or something?? I'm not sure exactly, but it was pretty weird. You couldn't actually see any of the body because it was clothed, but yah. Gross. But kind of fascinating at the same time.

We also saw the area where Charles Dickens used to live (although I don't know which building exactly):

And the British Library, which contains the Magna Carta and some original writings and manuscripts of famous authors like Charles Dickens (we didn't have time to go in (we will another time hopefully), but we did have time to sit down on this humungous cardboard furniture and look at a statue (of I don't know who but I think someone told me Newton, but he's holding a compass (geometry- not navigational compass):

We raced home afterwards to try to do some homework before dinner, and then raced to the Opera House to try to make it into the Opera that night, but unfortunately it didn't happen. So instead, I went to Les Mis (and for only 15 pounds!). I'm really glad I went even though I've seen it before because for some reason, seeing it at the beginning of high school I mostly only focused on Eponine and her unrequited love. This time, Jean Valjean was the hero like he's supposed to be, the cast was incredible, and now I really want to read the book.

Parliament and The House of Lords

2008-07-19T22:55:00.003+01:00

On Tuesday some friends decided to go sit in on Parliament and I tagged along. Our original plan was the House of Commons, but it being a longer wait, we settled on the shorter wait for the House of Lords instead. My impressions: #1 The Parliament building is incredibly ornate and beautiful. #2 I was really surprised at how many women were in the House of Lords. #3 The clerks still wear white wigs! Yay!!!

(Me in front of Big Ben (I think I already said before but I just really love Big Ben for some reason))

Brother Chittock and the London Blitz

2008-07-19T22:33:00.002+01:00

On Monday night Brother Chittock (the man from our stake who took us on the walk) came and spoke to us about his experience during the London Blitz. He spent about an hour telling us about the conditions he lived in, the rationing, etc. Something I learned was that, even though kids (like on the Chronicles of Narnia and Bedknobs and Broomsticks) were evacuated to the country, they were evacuated quite awhile before any bombing actually took place. Because nothing happened for so long, a lot of the families actually had their kids return home, and they were at home in London during the Blitz. Anyway, so Bro. Chittock was home with his parents and little brothers (I think he was around 5 or 6 when it started?) during this whole time, and I guess they had these shelters (that really didn't protect against the bombs but against the fallout (I hope that's the right word)) that they would sit in for days and days on end during the bombing (which was signaled by church bells), that would fill up with water partways when it rained, and were just basically miserable. It was really interesting hearing about it, especially from a first hand view. Once again, like after going to the Imperial War Museum, I am SO grateful for this time and safety that I live in.

Sunday, July 13

2008-07-19T16:59:00.002+01:00

Because of the time difference here, the wards miss some of the later sessions of General Conference. So, all the wards in our stake were assigned to watch the Sunday afternoon session instead of having Sunday School and Relief Society/Priesthood. The only problem... the DVD didn't work. We got halfway through Elder Holland's talk and then it froze and wouldn't play anymore. After probably a half an hour sitting in the dark trying to fix it, one of the missionaries in the ward finally went and read another talk from the Ensign over the pulpit, and by then, it was time to be over. The whole experience made me realize how ungrateful I am for how easy it is to watch Conference. We just have to stumble out of bed and turn on the tv and it's right there. And not just that, but I actually attended that particular session.

After church we had a ward "Munch and Mingle" in the cultural hall in honor of the senior missionary couple that had been serving in the ward that were about to finish their mission. It was SO funny. In our ward there was no such thing as lines, manners, or sharing. Everyone just rushed at the food and grabbed it until it was gone. The Clapham Common Ward is pretty cool. haha. Oh and also, my 11-year-old friend Lawrence had a pair of sunglasses and he asked me what they call them in "America". I told him sunglasses, but sometimes shades, and he got pretty excited. I heard him later talking to his friend about his "shades". Hah!

Blogging to Come...

2008-07-18T09:40:00.001+01:00

-Church

-Brother Chittock and the war

-Globe Theater

-Tate Modern

-Stratford-upon-Avon and Merchant of Venice

-Les Mis

-Scholar walk

-Parliament

Dance Dance

2008-07-15T10:44:00.004+01:00

Saturday night we went to a Young Single Adult Dance at the Hyde Park Chapel. Dave, who lives here with his family (I think his title is "facilitator"), just got called to be the Bishop of the Britannia Singles Ward so he told us about it.

A group of us girls (refer to picture) headed over to the dance only to discover we were basically the only ones there. That was okay with us though. We danced like crazy and ended up spreading out over most of the gym floor. Eventually some of the ward members showed up and it was fun. I didn't really meet any "Brits", but I did get a night of dancing, which is always something not to be missed :)

A Country Walk

2008-07-13T15:48:00.006+01:00

Yesterday (Saturday) we went on a "walk". Brother Chittock, the former Stake President of the stake we're attending, offers to lead this walk each time the BYU students are here. I'm so glad I went! This walk consisted of almost 10 miles of beautiful beautiful time out in the countryside (we took a train ride out of London). It's so unfortunate that my pictures can't do it justice at all, but just believe me when I say I saw some of the most picturesque and beautiful places I've ever seen in my life. Seriously I felt like I was walking through a storybook. Hope you like pictures!

Adrianne, my bunk-mate

We got really lucky with the weather. It was overcast and beautiful but didn't rain on us.

See the lavender?

Paige, me, and Hilary (who went to Highland with me!)

Katie and Jacque

We were laughing about how these looked like the fake backgrounds that they put up in elementary school for picture day.

This was pretty steep and muddy

Old castle ruins that we wandered upon

David, Rachel, and Stephen in the freezing cold stream (?)

A cool bridge we walked under

I don't even know where this was, but it was cool enough to take a picture of

Danielle, Jacque, Katie, Rachel, Lauren, and Me in front of an old giant house that you have to pay money to tour

At the Lavender Festival (it's pretty famous, and there are just lavender fields all over. It's beautiful (but I think I'm allergic because I kept sneezing. haha). I also tried lavender cake and some girls got lavender icecream and one of my friends even bought some actual flowers!)

I hope these pictures of the scenery weren't boring to look at. It was just so beautiful and I wish that everyone could have seen it with their own eyes!

Imperial War Museum

2008-07-13T15:14:00.002+01:00

For some reason, I was really interested in going to the Imperial War Museum so I got some friends to go with me Friday after we were done at the Banqueting House. It was definitely worth it. The museum covers war from the First World War up until present times, but we spent our time looking at the period of time covered during the Great Wars.

One of my favorite parts of the museum was the "Trench Experience" where you went inside this dark room that was basically a model of the trenches. It felt pretty realistic, smell and everything! Haha. No but really, I can't even imagine having to fight in a war. The sometimes monotony and most of the time terror... I just can't even imagine.

It was really interesting seeing all these exhibits about the wars from a different (meaning non-American) perspective. We saw the British version of Uncle Sam, British uniforms, etc. If you really think about it, Britain was in the wars longer and also much much closer to the wars, and closer meaning bombs were dropped in London. What a scary time. I'm so grateful that I've been blessed to live in how peaceful a place I live in.

We also went through the Holocaust Memorial in the museum. I most definitely cried, and I most definitely had quite a few soul-searching moments. One of the things that really got to me the most were the pictures and videos of Jews before the whole incident even started. Happy pictures, videos of dancing and parties. They had normal lives before all of the terrible things that happened.

Also after the Holocaust exhibit I felt a little guilty about how selfish I have been over the past few weeks, and how worried I've been about stupid things like the details of traveling around Europe after my time here in London. I have a healthy, happy family that is sealed in the temple. I have a strong foundation in the Gospel. I am going to school at an extremely good university. Heck! I'm spending the summer in London!! I am so blessed and sometimes it's so hard not to get too caught up in the stupid things that don't really matter in the long run, instead of enjoying and being grateful for everything I have that is more than I need a hundred times over.

(This is a picture of the museum that I found online because I had accidentally changed my camera settings while I was there and couldn't get any good pictures myself)

The Banqueting House

2008-07-13T15:01:00.003+01:00

Friday morning was our second "group excursion", to The Banqueting House. (It's kind of stupid because I always learn so much history about all the places I'm going, but when it comes down to details, I feel like I'm learning too much to retain specifics, so by the time I get on here to blog I sometimes have to re-look up some of the information about the places I've been). But anyway, it was built in the 1600s and used by royalty for entertaining, etc. Mural canvas paintings are on the ceiling, and they're incredible. Also Charles I was executed right outside which is pretty interesting. It's still used for parties and stuff like that today.

Me and my friend Becky

A little alone time

2008-07-12T22:33:00.003+01:00

We don't get much alone time here at "The Center". There are 11 other girls in my bedroom, and 26 more students besides that, not even including the professors and their families that are all living here (55 people total??) Luckily, there are opportunities to do things on your own if you ever have the desire:

After class on Thursday I went to the Victoria and Albert Museum. Some other girls went with me, but they had to leave for their turn helping with dinner ("Kitchen Crew") pretty soon after we got there. Since I wasn't assigned, I ended up staying at the museum for a couple hours by myself. First of all, the V&A is SO cool, definitely one of the cooler museums that I've been in. I didn't even make it to half of the exhibits but some of what I saw included an exhibit on the Renaissance, with all kinds of artifacts and old "things" from that time period, a lot of art and sculptures- some from Asia, some from Europe (aren't I descriptive?), a photography exhibit, and one of my favorites was a fashion exhibit, showing clothing from the 1700s or so up until modern day. I just can't believe some of the clothing people used to wear. How uncomfortable!!! Anyway, it was pretty fun to just wander around for a little while by myself. And I definitely need to spend some more (or a lot more) time at that museum.

Rain and Colds

2008-07-12T22:27:00.003+01:00

So as I already mentioned, I have had a cold. A bunch of girls had been getting sick, and I was trying to avoid it but it caught me anyway (or I caught it?). So Wednesday, due to not feeling too well, incessant rain, and having lots of homework, I stayed in basically all day. Bedtime=10:30.

Moral of the story: Even though not every day here is one of the most exciting days of my life (even though most are), it's still more fun to do homework and have a cold in London than it is in Provo.

Shakespeare-palooza

2008-07-12T22:21:00.002+01:00

For our Shakespeare class we were assigned to read "Twelfth Night" by Wednesday. A group of about 10 or so of us got together on Tuesday night and read through the play, each taking a part (I was the accidentally-love-struck-for-a-boy-that's-really-a-girl Olivia). It took a little over 2 hours, but it was so much more fun than reading it by ourselves. We definitely got a kick out of some of the funnier parts, and it was nice stopping every couple scenes or so to recap what was going on. Now I'm supposed to go see the play so I can write a paper on it... I should probably get on that soon.

Day Trip #2: Cambridge

2008-07-12T20:54:00.005+01:00

On Tuesday we took a trip to Cambridge, but on the way, we first stopped at this old church in a small town named Groton. This was the church that John Winthrop (as named by Professor Holland, "the most important American that most Americans don't know about") attended before leading the Puritans of Massachusetts Bay Company over to the colonies. So, it was just a really really old church, which was really really cool.

Then we rode a couple more hours on our "coach" (bus) to Cambridge. We spent the afternoon just wandering around, and seriously, it was just so cool (I should start counting how many times I say "cool" while I'm walking around London, because it's pretty ridiculous..heh). And it was beautiful and nice weather too. And I got a Cambridge sweatshirt, which I have been wearing a ton ever since. Here are a bunch of random pictures to kind of attempt to show what it looks like:

Ok, about this picture... I think I look really funny in it but I put it on here because I look like I photoshopped myself into the background, and the cool thing is that I did not! I was actually here!!!

I think this might be Trinity College (Cambridge (and Oxford too) are universities are made up of different colleges which have different buildings. Tourists can't actually go past the gate to the college (this is as close as we got) without paying. But it's beautiful and a lot of my friends kept saying it reminded them of Harry Potter.

This is the River Cam. You can go "punting" along the Cam, but we put it off and ran out of time. Punting is where someone stands on the back of the boat and has this long pole that they stick into the ground to push off the bottom.

This is King's College, and also my friend Lauren and I at King's College.

We got to inside the grounds because we went to Evensong, a music-filled Church of England service, with all male choir (boys for the higher parts) and all. It was really interesting going to a different church service. A lot of the music was really beautiful, and especially the Church itself.

I can't even wrap my brain around what it would be like to go to school in a place like this!

Monday, July 7

2008-07-11T08:34:00.007+01:00

Monday was pretty awesome. I had class all morning and loads of homework, but me and a couple friends (Lizzy and Stephen) decided we didn't want to study at home. We rode the Tube over to the British Museum, walked around for a minute with mouths gaping at some of the Egyptian and Parthenon stuff, and then planted down in a corner to do some reading for our literature class. Most definitely the best study session I've had in awhile. I mean come on, who does homework in the same building that houses the Rosetta Stone? Some pictures (PS- I have no idea what my face is doing):

That night I experienced my first West End musical: The Sound of Music. Besides getting used to a not-Julie-Andrews Maria, and the dad kind of being a "goober" as we termed him, it was way good. The set was amazing, and one of my favorite parts was when the von Trapp family was performing in Salzburg, they dropped banners and turned the lights up so it was like we were in the theatre they were performing in (hopefully that makes sense). Anyway, I love musicals, and I definitely loved this one!

Sunday, July 6

2008-07-11T08:24:00.002+01:00

Sunday meant another trip to our new ward, the Clapham Common Ward in Wandsworth Stake. Everyone is super nice and friendly, and I played the piano in Relief Society for my new calling.

We had visitors for dinner: Brother and Sister Tanner. Brother Tanner is the Academic Vice President at BYU and Sister Susan W. Tanner was recently released as the General Young Women President (which means that she was the President for most of the time that we were all Young Women). We were lucky enough to also have them speak at a Fireside upstairs in our classroom. They talked about charity, and getting rid of pride and covetousness in order to have that love of Christ for others.

I am seriously so blessed to be here and to be having these experiences. I just can't get over how wonderful of a time I'm having!

and the colds keep spreading

2008-07-10T22:40:00.003+01:00

So I think almost everyone here either had, has, or will soon have a cold. It's going around, and we're in such cramped living spaces that it's pretty unavoidable.

I'm actually suffering through it right now which isn't too much fun, and also one of the reasons I haven't been updating my blog this week. Hopefully I'll beat it off soon because this is definitely not the place to be stuck in bed!

falling behind..

2008-07-09T09:47:00.002+01:00

I don't seem to have time to do everything here. (Reminder for me: More blogs to come on studying, Cambridge, and The Sound of Music)

Eritrean Food

2008-07-06T16:11:00.004+01:00

So after my trip to the temple, I went with some friends to what I thought was going to be an Ethiopian restaurant, but was really Eritrean (which is a teeny country right next to Ethiopia, so it was basically Ethiopian food).

This was most definitely the weirdest strangest food I have ever tasted in my life. They bring out plates of stuff like spinach and lamb, this orange hummous thing, spicy beef stuff, or whatever you ordered, and you don't get utensils. You get this crepe like bread that tastes a lot like sourdough (from fermentation) but is even more sour. Then you rip off pieces of it and scoop up the messy food. Believe me, it was really messy. Not everyone liked it but it was really fun to try something so different.

AND, for the first time, I got to ride a Double Decker bus to get there and back. It is definitely a bumpy and jerky ride, and the driver doesn't wait for everyone to sit down before he starts moving. SO fun.

Paige and the Tube

2008-07-06T15:57:00.003+01:00

One of my best friends here so far is Paige Albright.

We knew each other from some mutual friends, and we're in the same room. She's 5'2'' (which doesn't really matter but I think makes the story better).
On one of my first rides on the Tube with Paige, I vividly remember her saying that she was really afraid of getting trapped in the Tube doors. I laughed at her because I didn't really think it was possible.

THREE TIMES in the past few days has Paige really almost gotten stuck in between the doors. They are not like automatic doors or elevator doors or even garage doors that open if they sense something in the way. They just keep on closin'. Anyway, the first time it happened she leaped out with a shriek right before it was too late. And not only that, but it's happened twice more, each time with a shriek and a whole lot of "I'm American, look at me" pinned to us. But it is SO dang funny.

This is Paige after her icecream that she paid 4 pounds for (because she really really wanted it) melted because she couldn't put it in a freezer:

London Temple Trip

2008-07-06T15:45:00.004+01:00

Yesterday I had the incredible opportunity of taking a trip to the London Temple. Getting there consisted of a ride on the Tube to Victoria Station, a 45-minute train ride (with trains only leaving every 1/2 hour so there was definitely some waiting involved), and then a 5 minute taxi ride the rest of the way. We were gone from 10-6. I spent almost 18 pounds (about $36) on transportation not even including my prepaid Tube ride. I was feeling very grateful for such close temples in Provo and Arizona. It was definitely worth it though. I love going to the temple anyway, and being able to go inside a different one was a neat experience.

The grounds are incredibly beautiful. My pictures do not do them justice:

of Church and State

2008-07-06T15:38:00.002+01:00

I'm about done with 7 of my assigned 12 "walks" around London. The other day we quickly rushed through the "Church and State" walk which finally gave me my first look at Big Ben. I love Big Ben and the rest of the Parliament building. It is just so cool! Unfortunately, no pictures yet.

Earlier in the day we stopped by St. Paul's Cathedral (but haven't gone inside yet). That is beautiful too. I just love looking at the outsides of buildings, even though I really don't know much about architecture or art or anything. But just looking at them intrigues me.

Homework Schmomework

2008-07-06T15:33:00.002+01:00

In case anyone is curious, often my blog skips over days that I have been here. Those are the days that I stay inside and do homework. But, since "all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy", and I probably shouldn't fail my classes, I have been working hard to establish a happy medium--which I think we're all discovering is pretty difficult. Imagine staying inside to read when you have all of London outside at the accessibility of your Tube pass. Like I said, it's pretty difficult.

But most definitely worth it.

The Tower of London

2008-07-06T14:59:00.007+01:00

On Friday morning, we had our first "Group Excursion", which took us to the famous Tower of London. (The Tower of London started out with The White Tower built by William the Conquerer in about 1060ish, and then eventually other towers and buildings (like the Bloody Tower) were built around it, moat and all. I could give a much greater history of it but I would rather talk about me instead. haha).

A not very good picture of where we went:

We entered in through Traitor's Gate (kind of funny because it was Independence Day) started out taking a tour from a "Beefeater", or Yeomen Warder. The Beefeaters are these big gruff old army guys who give tours and guard the castle. Supposedly they are the oldest group of uniformed guards still in existence. And, they're hilarious (well at least we thought so). A small snippet of one of the many funny things that our tourguide, Dave said:

•"Do we have any Americans here? Apart from today being Independence Day, let me remind you that if you'd paid your taxes, all this history could have been yours."

Me and Paige and Yeomen Warders:

After the tour we walked around and saw of course, The Crown Jewels, as well as a bunch of armor and weapons (that I'm pretty sure my brothers would have appreciated a lot more than I did).

So even though I was sad I didn't get to join in the family tradition of watching fireworks on Coronado Island on the 4th of July, at least I got to do something cool instead :)

One of my very very favorite parts of this trip so far is the people here. Here as in, not the English people, but the people in my group. Everyone here is SO nice and SO friendly and I just want to be best friends with everyone. It has been so much fun getting to know everyone, and we all feel like we know each other so well already, and we're only a week and a half in. Yay!

preview for what I need to blog about:

2008-07-05T23:56:00.002+01:00

Stay-tuned for blogs on:

The Tower of London

a small portion of St. Paul's Cathedral

London Temple Trip

Paige almost getting stuck in the Tube door

Ethiopian Food

Sunrise, Sunset

2008-07-03T23:12:00.000+01:00

The sun sets here around 10 o'clock. Weird.

Things I have done in my sleep thus far...

2008-07-03T18:04:00.002+01:00

Those of you who know me pretty well know that I talk in my sleep. Last year in Mozambique I would talk all night long and keep a few of the girls up in my room so I was really worried about it this year. But luckily... they all just think it's funny (at least so far) :)

-The other night I said, not just whispered, "It's 78 degrees!" Who knows were that came from? Some of the girls teased me about being an indoor thermometer.

-The night before last I sat straight up in my sleep. That wouldn't be a problem besides the fact that I'm in a bottom bunk. I whacked my head pretty hard. haha.

I'm in the room with 12 girls in it. (There is also one with 8? and one with either 14 or 16, I forgot). It's almost like 2 adjoining rooms but without a door, so it kind of seems more like I only have 6.

I love being here.

Bath

2008-07-03T14:43:00.007+01:00

Bath, a small town in southwestern London, is the setting for some of Jane Austen's novels, (like Northanger Abbey for instance, which is part of the curriculum for one of my classes here). The Romans built baths around the hot-springs, where the water was thought to have health benefits. Bath eventually became a place to vacation (around the time of Jane Austen- she actually went to Bath a few times herself), for the supposed restoring water, as well as the social life.

They've kept it looking pretty close to the same way as it did back in Jane Austen's time. (There is even a Jane Austen Center now). You can't bathe in the baths anymore (and I don't think you'd want to anyway, they look pretty gross). But you can taste the water (it's been treated) if you pay 50 pence. And we did. It's super-minerally and really hot. Here are some pictures from the Roman Bath part of our trip to Bath:

Bath was beautiful. What I enjoyed most was just walking around, looking at the town, and trying to imagine what it must have been like during Jane Austen's life and her novels. I imagined Catherine walking down to the baths or going to balls in teh Assembly Room, hoping to run into Mr. Tilney. Some of the buildings were really neat architecturally, but besides that, the scenery around it was beautiful. Obviously, I really loved it and I have five million pictures to prove it:

Stonehenge

2008-07-03T08:39:00.003+01:00

Yesterday was our first day trip. Our whole group took a "coach" (greyhound-type bus) down to Stonehenge and Bath. It was roughly a two-and-a-half hour ride to Stonehenge, and then another two hours to Bath. I loved the bus ride, especially looking out the window. It was beautiful. Anyway, Stonehenge was pretty cool. I mean, I've seen millions and millions of pictures of these rocks in a circle, whose exact meaning are still debated and unknown. But to see them, these giant stones in the middle of nowhere (nowhere being beautiful green fields and some sheep) was definitely worth seeing. And of course we took some touristy pictures:

Sweet Home Away From Home

2008-07-02T07:11:00.011+01:00

I need to catch up, but for now, here are some pictures I got from Paige (and some will also be added to my older posts, so you might want to look at those again).

Here is where we live: 27 Palace Court
This is our street.

(Cool fact: a girl from our group saw Reese Witherspoon and Jake Gyllenhaal running in Kensington Gardens nearby and also somehow we found out they're living on our street)

Kensington Gardens

2008-06-30T22:16:00.004+01:00

Kensington Gardens is in extremely close walking distance from the London Center. It's basically the neighborhood park, and it's beautiful. Here are just a few pictures:

Kensington Palace and Queen Victoria

Peter Pan

A Day of Rest (?) And Yet Another Walk Through The City

2008-06-30T19:05:00.006+01:00

First, to catch up: Yesterday was Sunday. Our group got split up into 6s (ish) and sent to different wards of the Wandsworth Stake. To get to church, us six girls took a tube to Victoria Station, and after some confusion and a missed train, made it down to the Wandsworth Common train stop, where we walked for a few minutes through a really pretty townish area to get to church. Travel time: about an hour? I don't know, we'll have to see next time if it takes us as long to get there.

Church itself was a neat experience. Most of the wards in the stake are actually made up of those with Caribbean-African descent, and around 80-90% of the members are converts. Pretty different than home. An adorable 11-year-old Black boy with a British accent named Lawrence sat by me during Sacrament Meeting. We got callings: I am the Relief Society Pianist. I'll update more on the ward as I get to know it better each week.

So the whole ordeal ended up taking quite a bit of time and energy, so we didn't do much else yesterday.

Today: Second day of class. And I'm still pretty excited about class, even though it is kind of painful to do homework when you could be exploring London instead. I have class from 9-11:40, and then it's free time until 4:45. Me, Lizzy, and Steve set out to do another walk (but first stopping for lunch to get Falafels at a little restaurant near us called "Kebabs-Falafels" or something along those lines. Haha. We decided on the "Walking Through The City" walk. Here are some things we saw:

•We got off the Tube and started walking on Cheapside (which I swear I recognized from Dickens' novels or something
•The Mansion House (this awesome old building from the 1750s where the Lord Mayor of the city used to live. We stopped in to see if they had tours (closed 'til September) and they had some of the highest security I think I've ever seen here so far)
•The Financial District (this is the Royal Exchange)

•I can't remember what this building was, but it was in the area of the Financial District. Look closely at what is topping the building

•a bunch of cool buildings with really neat modern architecture that I didn't manage to take pictures of, like Lloyds and Minster Court
•The Church of St. Michael Cornhill (Mendelssohn's practice organ is in it. The Church was built in 1040 but then was rebuilt by Christopher Wren (who seemingly built everything in London) after the Great Fire

I just love the history of everything here. Ancient, old, and modern are all combined into this bustling, incredible city. You could spend hours and hours in every little piece of the city, and the city is huge!

(PS- I'm trying to be better about taking pictures... sometimes when I'm walking around I kind of hate to because I like just looking around everywhere, trying to process everything that I'm seeing)

Being here is exhausting, but definitely the coolest thing that I've ever done. I'm so glad I have as much time here as I do, even though I know it's going to fly by.

Touristing and Mozart

2008-06-29T16:10:00.007+01:00

Saturday was the first day of class. We won’t usually have class on Saturdays, but this has been kind of a crazy week. I’m taking Shakespeare and a Victorian Literature class called, “The Woman Question”, about the place of women during that time. It’s actually pretty interesting. Anyway, I’m such a nerd and I totally am excited for my classes (except for the homework part). We have one classroom in the place that we’re staying in, so we just have to go down the stairs to get to class.

We finished the Theatre Walk that we had started the day before, and saw cool places like Leicester (pronounced “Lester”) Square (some of the spelling/pronunciations are so weird here) where you can buy half-price theatre tickets on the day of the show, Trafalgar Square, Piccadilly Circus, which is kind of London’s version of Time Square, London’s Chinatown, and so much that I could keep going on forever. And even if this is lame, we all took a quick stop at McDonalds to see how their McFlurry's measured up (kinda melty).

We ate dinner at "Kahns", an Indian Restaurant that is just down the street from us. And I discovered that I love Indian Food.

Last night we went to a concert of Mozart’s Requiem at an old church called St. Martin’s-in-the-Field.
It was incredible. The acoustics were so so amazing, and the orchestra/choir was good, and it was all just such a neat experience even though we paid for the cheap balcony tickets and couldn’t see a thing. I love Mozart. And I’m so glad that I re-watched Amadeus with Dad just before coming here because it just made it even that more powerful to me.

Dear Dad:

2008-06-28T23:53:00.002+01:00

Thank you for instilling a love for Mozart in me.

London Walks

2008-06-27T23:02:00.012+01:00

While I'm here I'm taking 3 classes, one of which is a 1 credit class entitled, "London Walks". The textbook is basically a travel guide of walking tours. Today some of us attempted the "Westward from the City: Theatre Walk". We spent all afternoon doing it and only made it halfway through! Some highlights: walking along the Thames, seeing Big Ben and the London Eye for the first time (though at a distance), taking touristy-but-much-needed pictures in a Phone Booth...

Me and Lizzy

Fitting as many of us as possible

...and even just walking through the city (or a small portion of it) was so cool. We saw the Somerset House (an old basically palace built in the late 1700s that royalty liked to use). I don't know if you can see because it's not that great of a picture, but there are fountains in the back that they turn into a skating rink in the Winter...

...and we also saw the famous "Drury Lane" (which it turns out was a pretty scandalous place for awhile)...

.... we also got stuck in some of the hardest rain I've ever been in. We ran to the tube and by the time we got out at the next stop, it was completely cleared up. And then tonight we went to a play called "The Woman in Black". Uh.. it was okay I guess but I would definitely never recommend it.

Today was fantastic. I still can't really believe that I'm here!

Updates to follow. FIrst day of class is tomorrow so I'm thinkin it's time for bed.

specifically for Stephanie Marie Olds

2008-06-27T22:58:00.004+01:00

Sorry that most of you won't think this is funny (unless you are Stephanie, Tara, or Amelia).