Canterbury and Battle Day Trip

Today we took a day trip to Canterbury and a town called Battle, which are both south of here, apparently near the coast, which we did not go to. Honestly, it was alright... but it's like, I've seen so many cathedrals and ruins of medieval structures that they're all just starting to look the same. I guess it was nice to get out of the city for a few hours, but at the same time I think I may almost have rather had the extra day here, especially since I'm leaving tomorrow. The other thing was that we spent too much time in both areas- we saw everything there was to see and still had like an hour to go until it was time to get back on the bus. So I guess I'm glad I got to see these places, but they just weren't too big a deal to me. Chaucer and his Canterbury Tales just aren't that exciting, and a medieval battleground was cool, but still not my cup of tea.

This evening after we got back I've just been trying to get ready to leave in the morning. Or rather, later tonight. I have to wake up at 4:00am to be ready to leave the flats at 5:15 so we can catch the tube to King's Cross Station where we'll catch our Eurostar chunnel train at 6:30 which will take us under the ocean and we'll arrive in Paris around 10:00am. And then we'll have a very full couple of days! I'm super excited to go to Paris, a little nervous with my first experience with a language barrier, but a couple people in the group speak French so hopefully we'll get on alright. I'll post pictures from the Eiffel Tower as soon as I can! Love you all and I'll talk to you when I get back, probably not Saturday since we won't be getting back until late, but Sunday for sure!

Last of my sightseeing in London

I'm sad to say it, but it's true, today was my last full day of sightseeing in London. Tomorrow we're taking a day trip to Canterbury, we'll get back in the evening and I'll pack for Paris, for which we'll be leaving bright and early Friday morning and getting back late Saturday night. So then Sunday we'll all have church and have to study for our final exams taking place on Monday, after which I'm planning on doing some shopping, hopefully seeing Leadenhall Market, where they filmed Diagon Alley, and dreadfully, packing. Then we'll leave to head up north Tuesday morning. I can't even believe it.



I don't want to focus on that though, so I'll just write about my day today. This morning we had our last class (Monday we'll just be taking written and oral exams), and then Courtney, McKell and I headed off for Kensington Palace, which we actually made it into today. It was cool, definitely not as good as Buckingham however. It was awesome seeing some of Princess Diana's gowns, but there really weren't as many as I'd been expecting. There was kind of a cool debutante exhibit, but the state apartments were just nothing compared to Buckingham. I'm still glad I went though. So then we made it home in time to leave with some others from the group to find Samuel Johnson's, where the entire group was meeting for a tour. He wrote one of the first dictionaries back in the day, and we'd been talking about him in class so it was cool to actually see his house and stuff.



After our tour a few of us went to Westminster Abbey, the last sight I was required to see here. It was cool, but I'm kind of getting cathedral-ed out a bit. And truthfully, the effigies frighten me. Just as it weirds me out a bit walking over stones marking ancient graves. This was definitely much more elaborate though. So to quote Chandler and Joey in the Friends episode when they go to London, "hands down, best abbey ever." After we finished at the abbey we walked to Buckingham Palace. It's funny, when you ride the tube everywhere everything seems so far away, but when you walk, you realize how close everything really is. So it was fun, we walked through the guard house and took a picture with a guard, not one of the one with the big furry hats though, we're thinking they may have gone to Scotland with the queen, but it was funny anyway. I wonder how legit this guard really was, he was making farting noises underneath his crazy helmet while we were taking the picture. I laughed really hard. It was fun coming at the palace from a different direction though. We took lots of pictures, but with how cloudy it is here all the time, the lighting in most of our pictures is pretty bad.

So yeah, we rode the tube back home and stopped at the grocery store (food glorious food!) and we watched the Holiday this evening. Let's just say I now understand everyone's obsession with Jude Law after watching that movie. Alright well I best get to bed, we're leaving bright and early in the morning! Hopefully I'll be able to talk to yall before I leave for Paris for the weekend!

Peter Pan

Alright well, today didn't turn out exactly as I had planned, but at least it started out well. After class we headed over to the theatre in Kensington Gardens, just about a 20 minute walk from home, to see Peter Pan. I've always loved Peter Pan, or at least the story of it, like the Disney movie and the Disney ride, though I've never read the book (yet). So I was very excited to see this play, and I was not disappointed. It was a little different from the traditional Peter Pan that we all know, but I really enjoyed all of it, except for Tinkerbell. She was just not has the fairy is normally perceived- she was rough and not very pretty or feminine at all, and I just couldn't accept that, but everything else was amazing. The set work was so awesome, and the best part was that it was in a tent so the backdrops were projected onto the ceiling of the tent all around us. It honestly looked like we were in the setting at times, with palm trees blowing in the wind and waves crashing around us, to pirate ship flags blowing above us. So cool. The best was when they all take off flying and it felt like we were really all flying over London. It was amazing being like hey, there's Big Ben! And there's Trafalgar Square- I've been all those places! It kind of had a Soarin Over California feel to it. I seriously wanted them to hook me up to the harnesses so I could really fly too. Maybe someday. But yeah, the acting was all great, and we had amazing seats- right up front and center. Oh yeah, and Peter Pan was definitely good-looking- very... well built. Oh and here's one more little tidbit- Meg Ryan was sitting in the section next to us! Like right next to us! A couple girls tried to get pictures with her, which she refused, so that was kind of disappointing, but it was still cool to actually see her up close like that.

So yeah, the play went longer than expected, so after it finished Courtney, McKell and I took off across the park at top speed trying to make it to Kensington Palace before it closed at 5:00. We got there at 5:05. So we'll try again tomorrow I guess. This afternoon has been pretty mellow- most everyone has been working on assignments all day. We have papers and a whole bunch of stuff due tomorrow since it's really the last day of class (what the heck!?). Plus I was completely out of clothes again so if I hadn't taken tonight to do laundry I would have been in trouble. Some of us may go out a bit later though. I can't believe tomorrow's nearly my last day here... Thursday is a day trip, Friday and Saturday is Paris, then I'll just have Sunday and Monday before we leave for Scotland on Tuesday! It kind of makes me want to cry.... In a good way though, because it will be nice to come home and see everyone... I'm just really going to miss it here.

Buckingham Palace!

Yep, I finally made it to Buckingham Palace today! Unfortunately the queen wasn't there, but that's actually the reason why it was open for tours anyway. It's only open to the public for like a few weeks out of the year when the queen leaves. So I was pretty happy that it actually worked out for us to go! After class and a lunch Courtney, McKell and I set off in hopes of getting tickets, and after standing in line to buy tickets, which we got, and standing in line again to get in, we got in! Woohoo! Oh my goodness, it was absolutely beautiful... I just stood there in awe half the time unable to believe I was actually there. Sad to report though, no sign of William :( But yeah, the tour was amazing, I saw some of the most beautiful rooms I've ever seen, as well as some of the most gorgeous gowns I've ever seen- there was an exhibit with all of the gowns she wore back in the like 50s or 60s when she went on a tour to visit all the countries in the commonwealth, and some of them were absolutely stunning. My favorite was the one she wore in Wellington, it was gold thread with white lace over it... oh man. I was also rather fond of a light blue Cinderella-y dress. It was all just so beautiful it made me want to cry.

After the tour we got some ice cream in the cafe set up behind the palace and walked around the grounds where there is this beautiful lake just like the one in Princess Diaries 2- it was amazing! We also spent like an hour in the gift shop... oh man, there were so many things that I wanted! I was pretty happy with my purchases though. So yeah, the whole thing took about 4 hours, so after taking some pictures outside because we couldn't take an inside, we found another souvenir shop of just London stuff and I got a bunch more stuff there (oh, you all should be excited :) hehe well not too excited, just remember that I have to find space to bring everything home in my suitcase- not an easy feat).

This evening for FHE we went to the park again and talked about our favorite stuff in London so far (the one I said, though it's hard to pick a favorite, was the view from the top of St. Paul's Cathedral. Although now that I think about I think Buckingham may have trumped it...) and we played a game called Clue Charades or something, it was pretty fun, we've got some good actors in the group when it comes to acting funny things out for games. But yeah, afterward a couple of us just went for a walk through the park, ended up staying so late that we had to climb the fence to get out because we got locked in- that was definitely a first!

Sundays

I've found that Sundays can either be really long boring days, or they can be really tiring. Today was a tiring one, but I think it's because it has to start so early for us, and includes so much traveling. We left the flats at 8:00 this morning and still just barely made it in time for church at 9:30. Janet and I were with Amanda and Joe-Joe again in the nursery. We tried to teach a little lesson, but basically we just let them play and tried to keep them from fighting. They told us to bring them back with the rest of the primary when they were learning some primary songs, but they were just so crazy the whole time. So tiring. And then I feel bad because I can't help snoozing through Sacrament meeting, but I just get so tired! It's like how I can't help snoozing on the bus or trains. It just like lulls me to sleep.

So when I got home I decided to try out the singles ward, just for the experience, and I did actually learn something- singles wards in England are still singles wards. The choir was alright, and there were a ton of people. But it's like, I couldn't have gotten much out of it just going once or twice. Maybe if I could have gone the whole time I was here, or if I were here for an extended period of time. I dunno. But the meeting when for an hour and a half, the Area Seventy, somebody Sybrowsky, who mentioned being from Holladay, which is kinda funny, anyway, he went on forever after the previous 3 speakers. Way long.

So I decided I didn't need to stay for the rest of the meetings, so I walked down the street to the Victoria and Albert museum (it's free) and wandered through there for a bit. My favorite was the fashion exhibit, particulary all the 18th and 19th century gowns... so beautiful. But yeah, by the time I got back my feet hurt from wearing my tall and not easy to walk in but so darn cute shoes all afternoon and I was starving because I hadn't eaten all day. Some of the evening was spent talking to my parents on skype (yay!), organizing my pictures, and a few of us watched a movie called Dear Frankie on the projector. I stayed up quite a bit later just talking with some people, sitting in the windowsill of the kitchen (we're not exactly on the ground floor so it's kind of exciting sitting in the window). So now it's ridiculously late and we have class tomorrow... so unmotivated to do class-y stuff... and I only have about a week left here in London! I am going to miss it so much!

My weekend holiday

Alright, so it's been a crazy weekend, we just got back this evening but I haven't had two seconds to sit down and catch up on my journal, and because we stuff so much into each day, I'm worried that if I don't update this right now by tomorrow I'll have forgotten everything. So here we go, starting with July 23, the day we left.

July 23
We left bright and early this morning for our weekend holiday. It's kind of weird traveling with only a backpack, which is totally stuffed full so souvenirs are basically out of the question. But at the same time it's almost a little liberating ot only bring bare minimum of what i need for 3 days. So the first stop this morning was Windsor Castle, which I knew nothing abotu, but it was pretty cool. It's actually still an operating castle, like the queen lives there sometiems. It was so beautiful; some of the gorgeous rooms almost made me want to cry. So yeah, we got to see a changing of hte guard with a much better view than at Buckingham, and there was this amazing doll house biutl for oen of the queens, complete with working electricity, plumbing, and real silver on the dining table. I wish I could have taken pictures, but it wasn't permitted.
After the castle we made our way to Bath. I didn't really know what to expect, but it was pretty cool. We took the tour of the Roman baths, took some pictures, I threw a penny into one of the pools for good luck. It was pretty interesting to see the ancient ruins like that. Afterward some of us just wandered throught eh town, looked in some shops, ended up in a grocery store for dinner yet again. Eating has seriously becoem such a pain- I'll be hungry adn know that I have to eat, but I'm just sick of having to deal with it.
After some more nap time on the bus we made it here to Cardiff, Wales. From what I've seen so far... let's just say that I prefer Conwy. The hostel is alright, a little cramped, and there are like rave lights in the hallways, but it'll do for a night. Once we got checked in at the hostel we met up with the Wales study abroad group (I'm so glad to be in my group- some of them were pretty weird, and we have 4 more guys than they do) and learned a Welsh song in a park, walked to McDonald's and I got a caramel shake, and we came back and about half the group crammed into our room for a massive game of pictionary.

July 24
Happy 24th! Ha. My celebration was listening to some people on the bus singing Pioneer-y songs whiel I tried to sleep. Which I did a lot of todoay, because we were on teh bus alot. So first thing this mornign we stored all our suitcases in a storage room at the hostel while we walked over to meet the weird Wales group at Cardiff Castle. It was alright, not my favorite, plus it was pouring down rain so walking around the grounds wasn't too enjoyable. Our tour guide was funny though, his jokes reminded me of the Jungle Cruise guides. By the way, I'm so exhausted of souvenir shops. I just walk around driving myself crazy over what I should buy for myself or family and thinking I should get somethign but not seeing anything i really want.
After the tour Jacob, Courtney and I found this awesome Pizza Hut that was like some swanky sit-down place, and Jacob and I split a large stuffed crust pizza, it was delicious. Anyway, after a fairly short bus ride we arrived at this outdoor museum type place called St. Fagans or something. We saw a couple Celtic huts that were so smoke-filled that I couldn't even go in, we waited for some peopel to buy bread, I found the school house, looked through the gift shop some more... kinda boring actually, but whatev.
Next stop was the castle... Coch, I think. It was similar to Cardiff, but I thnk I liked it a little better... it may have been the amazing window seats in all the rooms. Next we had a longer drive into Salisbury where we checked into the hostel. By the way, there are 12 of us in this room, way crazy. It was also crazy being in different countries so quickly. Oh, one time when i woke up we were driving through Wiltshire, which Will informed me is where the Malfoys are supposed to live, so I took a picture of a mansion and am pretending that it's theirs.
So after we got here soem of us walked into town for dinner at a Thai place. Not my first choice, and I was still full from the pizza, so I just got a starter peanut chicken thing. We were there forever and just had time to stop at a Tesco to pick up some food for tomorrow before making it back in time before they locked up the outside doors.

July 25
Today was so jam packed, I hope I can remember everything we did. We set off ridiculously early this morning for the Salisbury Cathedral, which was pretty cool. I hate to say it, but at this point it's kinda like wow... another cathedral. And the effigies, they're like stone carvings on top of tombs to look like the dead person laying there... yeah, really creepy. Like my irrational fear of mannequins but way intensified. But yeah, we were there way early so it was nice and quiet, and the sun was actually shining so it was nice to sit in the garden outside and take it all in.
So then we walked back to the hostel to get ready for the bus to come pick us up, only we ended up sitting on the curb waiting for him for forever. Seriously, I could have used that time to be sleeping in. Oh well.
Our next stop was the Wilton House, where the Earl of Pembroke lives, but it's much more exciting due to the fact that much of the Pride and Prejudice movie was filmed in the mansion. Just our luck though, the house is closed on weekends for weddings. We did get to walk around the grounds though and pretend to be walking the grounds as a character in a Jane Austen novel... or at least that's what I did. There's a pretty archway that we found that's supposedly in the movie as well, though I'm not sure if it's the old or new version, so I'll have to find out.
Nex thing we made our way to one of the most recognizable sights in Britain... Stonehenge! I gotta say, it wasn't quite what I was expecting. For some reason I always imagined it on a mountain top or a cliff or something, but you just drive through the countryside and bam, there it is. It was pretty cool though, took lots of pictures. It even stayed beautiful weather, which was a miracle. There were all these gross little black bugs all over the place though, that wasn't so fun.
After Stonehenge we went to Jane Austen's house, which was pretty cool. I'm a big fan of hers, so it was cool to be in the house where she wrote or edited several of her most famous novels. I even learned something new, that she was an accomplished musician, and I took a picture at the very piano that she played at, it was so cool. I was also a big fan of the gift shop, where I spent the last of my money before I got back to an ATM here in London. That was one shop I didn't mind, except the problem was that I could have bought way too much stuff there... I was happy with my purchases though.
Alright, so that was it... it was a couple hours drive home from the house, and it's nice to be "home." I do like traveling though, I find that you spend more time with the people in the group that you don't always see as much of during the time that we're here. I don't miss the bus though, it gets exhausting taking little cat naps throughout the whole day.
So after we got home this evening I was going to go with a group of girls to a fondue place at this big shopping place called Harrod's, but then they ended up going out to dinner with one of hte girls dad who is in town on business, which I didn't feel comfortable doing, so I talked to Jacob for a while while we ate pasta in the kitchen before a group of us went to see Harry Potter. Yes, I know I'm a loser for seeing it twice already, but it was so interesting watching it again, knowing what was coming and stuff, I felt like I could really watch it more. Plus it was fun seeing everyone else's reactions for their first time seeing it.

Alright! Well you are now caught up on my adventures, and it is after 1:00 in the morning here and I'm going to be leaving for church at 8:00 in the morning, and I already know I'm going to be crazy tired. Woohoo!

A very full day

Yep, today was stuffed with as much go go going and fun as I could make fit. We got out of class around 12:30 and came home to grab some lunch before taking off again. Denise, Will, and I first went to a place called Temple Church, which is this cool old round church. It was really pretty inside, and the master of whatever of the church was the inspiration for the character in the book the Da Vinci Code, and apparently part of the book takes place in this church. So I need to read this book now for sure. So we met up with Janet and Julianne at the church, and then Julianne joined Will and me going to Southwark Cathedral, which I believe is the oldest Gothic style cathedral, I think in Britain. It was really pretty and had a lot of really elaborate windows and things around, including a memorial for Shakespeare with a stained glass window above it depicting some of his characters, it was pretty cool.

So then after that we went to the Museum of London, but we only got there like a few minutes before closing time so we didn't have much time to look around, but what we did see was pretty cool- like really ancient human skulls and elephant and hippo skulls, all of which were found where London is now. Pretty interesting.

This evening after we got back nobody was really doing anything, and I just can't justify sitting around in the flats while I could be out doing something, experiencing something in London. So I was originally going to just go for a walk through Hyde Park, but then I remembered that there's a YSA center open in the stake center in the evenings, which is where we have our classes, just like a 5-10 minute walk from the flats, so I headed over there, figuring I could just check it out, see what was there. So when I got there there were just a couple people there, but the missionary couple was very friendly and showed me around a bit, introduced me to a girl who is from Holladay, Anna Boyer's neighborhood actually, who is living here getting her TEFL, so that was kind of cool. So I was just going to head out from there, continue to the park for my walk, but the Littles absolutely insisted that I stay and play a game of ping pong with a guy named Robert, which I did, and had a great time! He's an investigator from Poland, he's just here working, but he's been investigating for a few months now and as soon as he quits smoking he wants to be baptized. Poor guy, he's 24 and been smoking since he was 16 and is having a really hard time quitting. He was so nice though, we played for over an hour, neither of us are very good so we didn't play with any rules or keep score or anything, just played and talked. It was interesting hearing his opinions and views on stuff, and I thought it was cool that he'd heard of Salt Lake because of the Olympics- they really put us on the map! He also knew about Karl Malone and John Stockton, which was pretty sweet. So yeah, it was after 9:00 when we finally were tired out, and it wasn't completely dark yet or anything, I'm sure I would have been completely safe on my own, but he offered to walk me back. The couple missionaries insisted that he not smoke while he was with me, so I convinced him to eat a chocolate bar instead, which he readily agreed to, which was cool. So yeah, it's always fun to make new friends! We're leaving for Wales in the morning but there's a YSA activity on Saturday night which we might make it back in time for, but if not I think I'll go to the singles ward on Sunday afternoon. That'll mean a full day of church since I'll still go to the ward I've been assigned to in the morning, but when will I ever again have a chance to make friends here? That opportunity is worth more to me than the nap or reading I would do otherwise. Once in a lifetime!

Anyway, we'll be in Wales for the next two nights and I haven't decided if I'm taking my computer because I don't know if we'll even have internet, and I'm only taking my backpack and packing everything in that rather than taking a suitcase, so if you don't hear from me until Sunday that's why. But I'll be sure to post pictures and update you all on the trip as soon as I get back! Love you all!

As You Like It and Hairspray!

Yep, today was definitely a good day. It was a bit rainy for the first time in a couple days, but I realized that I really don't mind the rain.... it keeps it from getting too hot. But yeah, about an hour and a half into class we all left to go to the British Museum where there was this medieval falconry thing going on. Not totally my cup of tea, but it was interesting anyway.

From there Will, Matt, Denise and I headed off for the theatre where Hairspray is playing to see if by any miracle we could get some tickets at the cheaper student price, and lo and behold we got 4 seats for student price, and the seats were amazing! We were toward the front and middle of the stalls, and it was incredble! But more on that later....

From the theatre we went straight to Shakespeare's Globe Theatre, which is in fact not the same Globe Theatre where Shakespeare's plays would have been performed, but a new recreation of the theatre as a tribute to Shakespeare. We saw As You Like It, as "groundlings," which means that our tickets were for standing on the ground in front of the stage. It was totally authentic, because that's how it would have been back in the day- the poor people standing and the richer people sitting all around and above. So I was a little worried about standing for that long, like 3 hours, and it was pretty tiring, plus it was raining most of the time and we couldn't have umbrellas, but it was actually really cool. Like I kinda forgot where and when I was for a bit. Except when the planes flew over, it kinda ruined the mood. I wasn't familiar with the play at all, but I really liked it. It was really entertaining, and it was so fun for the actors to be like, right there in front of us. Orlando actually slipped on the wet stage right in front of us and almost biffed it, it was pretty funny, not gonna lie. Ooh, and at one point he starts writing all these love poems to Rosalind and tosses a whole stack of them into the audience, and then staff members threw a bunch more of them into the audience, and I got one, and I was really excited!

So after the play a couple of us walked across the Millenium Bridge, which is destroyed by the Death Eaters in the new Harry Potter movie. We took pictures clinging onto the bridge as if it were falling, and I'm imagining some photoshopping of streaks of gray which would be the Death Eaters in the background- saweet!

We came home with enough time to grab a quick dinner, and then the four of us were off to see Hairspray! This was the first really more upbeat show we've seen, and I loved it! I'd only seen (and loved) the movie and wasn't as familiar with the stage version, but I absolutely loved it! It was so fun and lively and I just wanted to get up and dance. Actually, we did dance at the end during the curtain call, we were standing up and clapping anyway! I actually ended up buying a You Can't Stop the Beat shirt, it's my favorite song!

So after the show ended and we were walking out we were kinda jokingly talking about sticking around the theatre hoping to run into some of the actors. Well, once we got outside we saw a bunch of people queueing around the corner and saw that it was outside of the stage door, so we stayed and ended up getting pictures with several of the stars of the show! I got pictures from a distance of most of the characters, and Denise and I got pictures with the girl who plays Tracy and the guy who plays Link, two of the leads- Link had the most amazing biceps by the way! So yeah, it was awesome, we were wishing we'd known we could do that for all the shows we've seen. We all couldn't help singing the songs the whole way home and are planning on watching the movie one of these nights so we can sing and dance along- such a blast!

Hampton Court

Alright, so I'm feeling a bit better after getting a little more sleep last night. It's kind of annoying though, our room faces the street, so I get woken up way early every morning by all the cars going by, which is weird because it's not like a major traffic street or anything, but the walls are really thin I think so everything just seems so LOUD, especially the construction going on on the flat right across from us. So yeah it's a pain.

So today in class Denise and I did our presentation on the Yorkshire dialect of English, which is quite different from the standard British dialect, and a bit more hard to understand. I hate giving presentations, even though it like wasn't a big deal, but I still get all nervous and my voice gets all shaky, and it's super annoying. It was fine though. Then after class we had a few minutes to run back and grab some food (which we were like completely out of until we went grocery shopping tonight) and then we headed off to Hampton Court. I honestly wasn't sure what it was, but it ended up being really cool. It took us a couple hours to get there first on the tube and then the train, but it was great. And here's a crazy thing, on the way back to the train station we saw a sign saying that we were in Surrey- like where Harry Potter lives with the Dursleys! We unfortunately didn't have time to look for Privet Drive, if it even exists, but we did take a picture with the Surrey sign, so that was pretty exciting.

But yeah, Hampton Court. So apparently this year is the 500th anniversary of the ascension to the throne by Henry VIII, the king that got married 6 times, so there have been big exhibits and stuff on him, first at the Tower of London and now at Hampton Court. So we got to walk through the castle and see some displays (my favorite was the one called Henry's Women- a bunch of us girls took a picture next to it) and see some of the rooms around the castle, and then we walked through the gardens. There was one garden that was completely full of roses, it was so beautiful, and it smelled amazing! There was also this maze which supposedly the most famous maze in Britain, but we only made one wrong turn before we found the center and the way out, so it wasn't bad at all. There was weird like polka music playing in the bushes though, that was kind of weird. There are also all these ghost stories about Hampton Court, like a couple of his wives who were executed and Prince Edward's nurse or something, I hate that stuff, it seriously freaks me out, so whenever I heard doors or saw people out of the corner of my eye I had a mild heart attack. They also had all these kitchen display things up, the fake food looked pretty gross, but it remided me vaguely of the movie Ever After.

So after we left we had to wait for our train, and by the time it got there I was way pooped so I totally zonked out the entire train ride home. I'm falling asleep more in places I never would have at home- like in church yesterday, by the time Sacrament meeting came I'd been babysitting in the nursery for two hours and was wiped out, and I kept doing the nodding thing where you start to fall asleep but then your head falls over and it wakes you up- I never do that! And then on the train, normally I'll just like close my eyes but not really asleep, but this afternoon one of the girls actually had to wake me up when we got to the station, and I was all disoriented and was worried I was going to lose the group before we got to the tube station that brought us home. I did have to run to make it on the tube train in time, but I did make it, and didn't get lost. Yay!

When we got home we had like 5 minutes to eat before we were out the door again- more nutella and bread, because that was all we had left. So we walked through the park, which I love, to the BYU London Centre on the other side. The former stake president who now works there wanted to talk to us about living in London during World War II, which was pretty interesting, like talking about kids being sent to the country like in Narnia and Bedknobs and Broomsticks, or the air raids and spending hours in the shelters, and blacking out the windows at night. I can't even imagine. Oh yeah, and I feel a little jilted after being in the BYU Centre- they are in a townhouse similar to ours, but it's all fancy and nice looking, and there's a kitchen and all this stuff... ours is so plain and like not very pretty in comparison. Oh well, such is life.

So yeah, after that a few of us headed for the grocery store, Sainsbury's, and I am so unbelievably excited to have real food again! And I'm excited to go to bed too. It was fun, I talked to my parents on skype using video for a few minutes, it was so nice to see them, and Katie and Kristie too! Hopefully I'll get to talk to more of you soon! Love you all!

so... tired....

yeah, gotta be a quick update tonight, i feel like the walking dead...

total of 11 hours of sleep in the last 48 hours

had to get up crazy early for church, after a tube ride and a train ride we were still late

janet and i got put in the nursery so we babysat two CRAZY 4-year-olds for an hour and a half, it was exhausting but fun- amanda and jo-jo

some of the girls wanted to stay after church for a kid's baptism, but some of us didn't feel comfortable doing that so we stayed for part of it then headed home

came home, ate, worked on the super slow process of uploading pictures onto facebook- just started with the ones with people in them, will add scenery pics later

went to a ysa fireside at the stake center around the corner from us tonight, didn't really apply because they were talking about the incredible national conference at the end of august- i wish i could go

had hotdogs and salad and talked to a couple people in the ward, lots of americans that are here studying, nice people, maybe will go to the singles ward next week

we had a bridal shower/party for one of the girls in the group who is engaged- the 4 boys were invited over for games and food and then were kicked out for the gift part, just in one of the rooms so it was crowded but fun

denise and i have our presentation on yorkshire tomorrow in class so we spent the rest of the evening finishing up everything for that, will be glad when it's over- never will be a fan of presentations

excited for the upcoming week

falling asleep...

now

Covent Garden and Phantom of the Opera

Yep, those were the two main events of the day, a day that didn't exactly start out very happy, but has ended fairly well. I got up early this morning after likek 5 hours of sleep so that I could take this blasted laptop to the computer store and demand that they make it work. Well, the guy wasn't exactly kind, trying to make it seem like there was nothing wrong with the computer, I must have done something wrong, I could pay them 70 pounds to do something, blah blah blah. Well, I burst into tears in my frustration, but he still basic ally did nothing to help me out at all. The plan for the rest of the group was to head out to get Phantom of the Opera tickets, but I just needed a minute to calm down before I got home, so instead of walking home on the street I walked through the park and found a nice bench to sit on for a few minutes. It was interesting to people watch- lots of people running or walking their dogs, and surprisingly enough, lots of Asian tourists.

So I got home and Will, Jenny, Tiare and I headed right off for Leicester Square, where there are stands that sell discount tickets, but all of the discount tickets for Phantom were sold out, so we decided to try the theater and see what we could get there. We got a little lost in our search for Her Majesty's Theatre, but eventually found it and got some pretty reasonably priced tickets for the matinee showalot this afternoon. So since we had just a couple hours, we decided to find Australia House, where on the inside of the building they filmed Gringotts Bank in the first couple Harry Potter movies. We couldn't go inside, but we took pictures outside of it just to say we'd been there. We also took pictures at Trafalgar Square, where you can see the Death Eaters flying through in the new Harry Potter movie- woohoo! We also took pictures with the giant "Aslan"- from the Chronicles of Narnia, lion monument, which we had to climb to get to it, but it was fun.

Most of our time waiting for the show was spent at the Covent Garden market. It was a bit like Portobello Road, but much less crowded. I really liked it alot, there was a really fun atmosphere. We looked around for a bit and I got a ham and cheese croissant and some fresh raspberries for lunch (mmmm), we watched the entertainment- a man on a 12 foot unicycle, and I bought a really cool looking ring from this awesome jewelry shop. I felt pretty good about our time spent there.

Then it was time to see Phantom of the Opera! I was really excited, especially because my parents had taken me to see it when I was little, but since then the movie has been made, and I was just excited to see it from an adult perspective. It was amazing! I was surprised at how well the movie really follows the stage production. It was beautiful and moving, and I really liked all the performers. Phantom is one of my favorite shows, so I was glad that I got to see it here. So excited in fact, that I couldn't help buying a souvenir program and a keychain. I'm such a dork. Ooh ooh, I also bought a pair of "tube" socks today... hehe you'll understand why it's so funny when I post some pictures.

So anyway, we got home this afternoon and Will offered to take a look at my computer and see if he could do anything, and lo and behold, he looked at it for like 10 seconds and somehow I'm now able to access the wireless internet here in my room. What the heck? After all that? Why is it that boys have the talent for fixing things? I wish I could do that. But the point is that I have a fully functioning laptop with accessible, albeit slow, internet. You know what this means? Skype conversations and uploading pictures onto facebook! Hopefully! It's been so incredibly nice to be able to talk to some people in my family the last couple days- I didn't think I would care so much, but what's the point in having all these experiences if I don't get to share them?

So anyway, this evening we had another movie party in Will's room- the feature was Bedknobs and Broomsticks tonight, in honor of Portobello Road, which we didn't make it to today, but I have been there. So it is now once again quite late and I have to get up early again in the morning for our journey to church, so I am off to bed!

Lots of sightseeing

What a day it's been! It all started out this morning when I received a very exciting package- my new laptop! I know I know, everyone here thinks I'm crazy for buying a laptop here, but a few days ago I was thinking about how much I wanted a laptop, both for after I get home and for while I'm here- I miss talking to my family or it costing an arm and a leg every once in a while when I call, plus I've been sad that I couldn't post pictures on here or on facebook for everyone to see- what fun are my adventures if I don't get to share them with everyone I love?! And so, after a rather homesick phone call with my parents, they suggested that I just go ahead and buy a laptop here. And I figured, why not? It would be great to have a laptop of my own, and rather than wait until I get home, why not just get one here? Besides, whenever I use it I'll always be reminded of this awesome trip I got to take! But yeah, it hasn't been as easy as I'd thought. After wandering around alone finding the computer store, finding the right computer that my dad found for me only to realize that the only one they had in stock was pink, and I do NOT want a Barbie computer, ordering a nice white one online, going through payment issues with that, it finally arrived this morning, all cute and little and white. But, I received it practically as we were going out the door this morning, so I'll return to the computer issues momentarily.

So this morning Will, Denise, McKell and I set off to try once again to see the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace. Well we got there, and there were like a gazillion people there! So we crowded in as much as we could and waited for something to happen. Finally we heard drumming and whistling and saw that the guard was coming down the road in a parade fashion. So we got excited, but then they went around the fountain on the opposite side for us, so we couldn't really see them. Then they got into the palace grounds, and I really couldn't see them. If I held my camera up above my head as high as I could, I could get some decent enough videos and pictures, but I couldn't really see anything for myself. So yeah, they were all standing around for quite some time, not really sure what was going on, but then some of them busted out their instruments and started playing some sweet tunes, even some swing songs, I was like ok, random.... And apparently in the midst of all this the queen left in a car... Denise and McKell got separated from Will and I so we didn't see anything, but the other two said they saw her driving away. Man... I missed seeing the queen? I noticed that the flag on top of the palace had been changed but didn't know what it meant until later when I read somewhere that they change the flag when the queen leaves to just the regular flag. Crazy eh? But yeah, we left after like an hour because there wasn't much going on... it was cool to see them all though- man they can stand still for a long time! And in those uniforms- it actually got fairly warm this afternoon, I bet they were dying out there in the sun.

So anyway, after we left we got on a train and headed for Greenwich, where the Prime Meridian is! You know, like the Equator, only the opposite direction. It was cool, we took pictures standing on either side of it. So I was standing in two hemispheres at once! Now I've just gotta make it to the equator some day. Oh yeah, and we ate lunch at this like really posh McDonald's, and I got this delicious cadbury chocolate caramel milkshake... it was divine. Anyway, we wandered through the museums and a really cool planetarium with lots of interactive stuff to play with, and then we headed for home. It sounds weird, but public transportation takes a lot out of you. It can get really crowded and hot, plus it's like riding in a car for long distances, the rocking motion just makes me so sleepy. So we were all exhausted enough, and I'd started not feeling very well, so around 5:00 we came back home. We'd talked about going to another museum, but I think we were all kind of in need of a night to just chill for a bit- we've been going pretty nonstop the last couple days.

Plus, I needed to figure out this new computer! Only my excitement has been temporarily stifled again, because apparently nothing is ever easy for me. Annoyingly enough, I can't get the wireless internet on this thing to work. So I came back down to the lab yet again to plug into the ethernet, and hey, I got to talk to my dad on skype once I got it downloaded! And my mom for like 2 seconds, and even Alex for a minute or two! Man it would be so nice if we could figure out how to get this to work so I could talk to everyone! And it'll be easier also once everyone gets home where there's solid internet instead of the sketchy wireless at the campground in Nephi that keeps dropping our calls. So annoying! So yeah, I'm exhausted, I wish we could just figure this out already. Hopefully the next time I post it will involve pictures instead of more disappointment!

Speaking of camping, as crazy as it sounds, I'm kind of sad to be missing Fountain Green this year- first time ever! It's weird to be missing out on all the traditions. Don't get me wrong though, I love being here and seeing all these amazing things. And I'll be home soon enough- less than a month now! It's so weird... it seems like I just got here, but like I've been here forever at the same time. It'll be good, the next few weeks are pretty booked up and busy, but that's how I like it- I want to go go go while I'm here! Except for tonight... I'm tired :)

A very productive day

Yep, overall a good day. Had a little bit of stress this morning with some purchases that I'm making/trying to make, but I think it's all good now. So today 4 of the 6 of us still here in London did some sightseeing, starting off at Buckingham Palace to see the changing of the guard. Ok, so for some reason the changing of the guard didn't happen today, but the Palace is beautiful anyway, and the plan is to go back and try again tomorrow.

So then we set off for something I've been very excited for- King's Cross Station! We found Platform 9 and 3/4 and took pictures with the trolley going through the wall (if you're a Harry Potter fan you'll know exactly what I'm talking about). It was awesome! The station in general isn't particularly what you see in the movie, but just the fact that we were there made me very happy. After we left the train station we went to the British Library to see one of our required sights, a manuscript exhibit there. There are tons and tons of original manuscripts, some of my favorites being Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte, a couple of Jane Austen's original works, Handel's Messiah, the Wedding March, Alice in Wonderland the lyrics for some of the Beatles' biggest hits written on the back of birthday cards and scraps of paper. It might sound dorky, but it was unbelievable to see these classics written in the author's own handwriting. I'm a huge Jane Austen fan, so to see her words in her handwriting... to see the scratch marks and inserted words, to see her thoughts... oh it was all just amazing! I almost wanted to cry. I feel like I've been crying a lot this trip... today, at Les Mis, Wicked, Harry Potter... am I a bundle of emotions or what? Oh yeah and another cool thing about the exhibit were these like virtual books- they had these computers set up where you could pick some of the books and like flip through the pages of a copy of the original manuscript. Like it felt like I was looking through the pages of the real thing. One of the coolest was the Alice in Wonderland one, with Lewis Carroll's own illustrations and everything. Amazing!

After the library we ate a quick lunch at Burger King (I know, I'm in London eating at an American fast food chain, but sometimes it's just what you want, you know?) we set off for the British Museum. It reminded me of Night at the Museum, maybe because the second one was the last movie I saw before I left home, but it was lots of fun. There was just so MUCH. Like from all over the world- it was almost too overwhelming. We had to see some exhibits about British history (some of the jewelry, I tell you what... that's another thing that's becoming a theme with me over here- I get very distracted by anything shiny, but some of the jewelry you see is just amazing!), and we spent some time in a room they call the Enlightenment room, and without all the statues and other displays, it would look rather similar to the Beast's library in Beauty and the Beast. It was so cool- I would totally have a library like that some day- oh there's another theme... books. I've already bought I think 3 books here, mostly because I want to own them from here: a book of children's poetry from Oxford, a picture book version of Alice and Wonderland from Alice's Shop, and a really pretty little copy of Peter Pan from the library today. I don't need them, but I just feel like it'll be fun to have copies I got where they were originally written. Plus we're seeing Peter Pan performed in Kensington Park in a couple weeks! But yeah, we had another survey to do, to interview a non-American English speaker and ask them about British English, and after some debate of who to talk to, we talked to a really nice girl probably around our age at the information desk and she was really nice and helpful, which makes it easier to do our homework.

Next we went to Westminster to sit in on a session of the House of Commons. I think you could compare it to like Congress or something, but let's be honest, y'all know all that government-y stuff is all over my head. It was fun to listen to all the different accents though, and it was interesting that they were talking about all the Afghanistan/Pakistan issues. It's like we're all part of the same world, ya know? Oh but it was crazy getting into this- we had to go through security like at the airport and sign a form and leave all of our stuff in cubbies. Probably the most secure place I've ever been in.... I kinda had a hard time staying awake after a while though, it had been a long day.

So we came back and grabbed a quick dinner (the British equivalent of Cup o Noodles) and then Denise and I set off on our little swing dancing adventure. She has a friend from school who is from her and told her about the swing dancing places here in London, so we decided to try a place that's not necessarily near to where we live, but it was within our traveling zone. It was the farthest I've traveled on the tube, so I was a little worried, but it didn't seem like too bad an area of town or anything. So we took off down the street trying to find the right address, only to realize that we were going the wrong way. No big deal, we turned around and went the other direction from the station, found where the address should have been, but realized that we needed to be on the other side of the street. Only, when we got to the other side, the addresses were like completely different! Like back at home, if you reach 179 on one side, 178 should be right across the street right? Nope, it was like 130 something over there. So we went back again in the direction we came from, in the rain that was starting, and finally found the swing dancing place! Hooray! But we went inside... and there were like 10 people in there. The nice girl at the desk felt really bad at us loser Americans, and gave us some information about other times and places where there would be more going on besides lessons for the 10 people there, and then we headed home, not in defeat though, because we'd found it on our own, and we at least tried. We may try to go to this thing going on Tuesday that's supposed to be a pretty big thing, only problem is we'd been planning on going to see Hairspray that night. So we'll see what happens.

So we stopped at the store on the way home to buy some treats, then came back and joined the rest of the group to watch the Illusionist on the wall in Will's room- I love the projector! And yeah, now here I am! At 1:23am in the freezing cold computer lab. There are a couple other people in here, but it looks like they're working on assignments- something I should be doing but have no motivation to do, despite the fact that I have a presentation to do on Monday. Oh well, it'll get done. I should probably get to bed soon though, we're trying for the changing of the guard again tomorrow. Maybe I'll see Prince William around the palace... I keep hoping I'm going to run into him somewhere... according to our bus driver he and Harry hang out at this club that's pretty nearby, we're gonna have to go check that out... :) You guys wouldn't mind if I married the prince of England right? You could all come live in the palace with me! :D Love you all!

Harry Potter and a Snog

Yep, today was the big day. For the last week whenever Will, Denise, and I have seen a Harry Potter poster, we've pretty much freaked out, but nooowww we can freak out when we see the posters because we've seen it! Class got out an hour early because about 2/3 of the class were taking off for France, Spain, or Hungary for the weekend, and it would have been silly to continue class for the 6 of us who'll be staying here. So after running back to the flats for lunch, us and McKell and Wendy, one of the directors, set off for the theater! We were there like an hour early because we were worried about getting good seats, but we were the first people there, but hey we did get good seats! Right in the middle, perfect eye level. And guess what- no large men sitting right in front of me- I could actually see! It was amazing. I hadn't read the book for a while so I didn't remember everything, but overall I was pretty pleased with the film adaptation. It's always so hard the first time you see a movie based on a book because it's inevitable that you're going to compare the two, when you really just can't. But I really thought this movie was one of the best, it moved well and had a good mix of everything. It's crazy how much they're all growing up... and it's funny, in the tube stations I've seen posters of Daniel Radcliffe and Rupert Grint (the actors who play Harry and Ron) and they're supposed to be all like, alluring and stuff, and it's just so funny to me, because I still think of them as little kids.

But yeah, after the movie we went to this placed called Snog. If any of you have ever seen the frozen yogurt places in Utah called Spoon Me, it's basically the same idea. So if you listen during Harry Potter, the new one especially, snogging is the British term for kissing, so it's just funny. They have pins that say like, you never forget your first snog, stuff like that, I totally bought a couple. But yeah, it's just funny. And the frozen yogurt is delicious! They have just a couple of flavors, but tons of toppings so I got the natural flavor and got raspberries and oreos on mine, it was so good!

Well anyway, there are just six of us here now, it's going to be weird without everyone for the whole weekend. I'm kinda sad I'm not going, but there's lots to do here in London, and I think I may actually get to go to Paris for a weekend at the end of the month! Woohoo! But yeah, this evening was pretty relaxed and quiet, considering that pretty much everyone is gone. I'm living off of readymeals, which are actually not bad. I did indulge at the grocery store the other day on some Snickers ice cream bars and these Cadbury chocolate and caramel cake things that you heat up in the microwave... divine! This evening we had a movie party in our room- we borrowed Wendy's projector and watched the movie Stranger than Fiction on our wall! It was pretty sweet. We may have to do that more often, especially while there's so few of us here.

Tomorrow's plan: leave at 10:00 for Buckingham Palace to watch the changing of the guard, on to King's Cross Station to take pictures at Platform 9 and 3/4, then to the British Library for the Manuscript Exhibit, maybe St. Paul's again (so worth the 1,000+ stairs), maybe a museum or two. So we'll see how long that takes and then go from there. Other weekend plans include: possibly seeing Phantom of the Opera, back to the Portobello Road market so I can actually buy something cool, maybe, possibly Westminster Abbey, maybe sitting in on the House of Parliament for a bit... Kensington Palace, mostly to see the display of royal gowns.... Yep, we've got lots planned.

St. Paul's Cathedral and Wicked!

Alright everyone, so today was a good day. After class Denise, Janet and I headed off for St. Paul's Cathedral. We met up with Rachel there, and the four of us climbed the 528, yes 528, stairs to the top of the cathedral for what I would consider the best view of London. It was amazing! We were right above the river where we could see the ferris wheel and everything, it was so cool. I had jello legs by the time we got to the top, and we had to climb some kinda scary spiral stairs toward the top, which made me nervous, considering my tendancy to trip while barefoot on flat ground, but I made it up and back down just fine, and took some pretty sweet pictures along the way.

So after looking through the cathedral a bit we walked down the street to another sight we were told about, a church called St. Mary le Bow, or something like that. It was pretty cool. It's still kind of different sitting in churches that are so elaborate, and some of them so OLD. Like hundreds or a thousand years! It's so crazy to think about. But yeah, after the church and looking through a fun little dress shop which I am planning on going back to one of these days that I'm gonna set aside just for shopping, we made our way to the street where the Wicked theatre was. WICKED!! But first we stopped at a little pub for dinner. It's kinda funny, this is the second place I've eaten at where you have to order your food at the bar.

So... Wicked was amazing! But how could it be anything less? It couldn't. I was way tempted to buy a shirt or something, but they're even more expensive here- like the equivalent of like $40 or so for a t-shirt. No thanks, but you have to pay for the programs here, but they had a really nice one so I bought that. So yeah, it was kind of hard getting used to the British accents (imagine Dancing Through Life with the British "a") but I still really enjoyed it. We had surprisingly good seats, on the ground level, what they call the stalls here, kinda stage left, and it would have been perfect, if I had not been seated yet again behind an abnormally tall man, who i had to continually lean around to be able to have a good view. What's the deal? But yeah, it was really fun to go as the whole group, there were some who had seen it before so we could all compare performances, and some who hadn't seen it before tonight so it was fun to hear their opinions as well. As for me, I still really loved the show we saw in Salt Lake. Of course, it may have had something to do with our seats. I don't think anything will ever beat being close enough to see their faces and to feel like you could make eye contact with them. But it was still fantastic!

The weather's been weird lately. It was cloudly and rainy for days straight, then kinda more sunny for a couple days, then the last day or two it'll be sunny then rainy then sunny then rainy. It's so hard trying to decide what to wear every morning- when I wear pants I get too hot, when I wear shorts I freeze! I still like the humidity though, despite the fact that it's making my face break out like crazy, that's annoying. But everything just feels fresher here than back home in the dry desert air. And I love this city, but I'm kind of missing the countryside of Ireland. Everything seems so crazy here... there are people EVERYWHERE! This afternoon we had to wait for two different tube trains until there was actually one where there was room enough for us to stand. Being on a packed full train, so much so that you can't even move, on an underground train no less, is really difficult for me with my claustrophobia. Plus it gets so hot in the trains that I feel like I'm going to suffocate. I like it when it's not so crowded that we can sit down though, it's fun to people watch. It's interesting to hear all the different accents and languages and people from all walks of life.

But anyway, I think I'll head to bed, probably after listening to Wicked for a bit :)

Tower of London

Ok, so today was pretty cool. We had our second class today, which was fine... just more English-y stuff :) It's interesting though, it's fun to see where words come from and how their meanings have changed over time, stuff like that. So then after class a group of us went to the creperie for lunch, and it was so yummy! I'd been craving a ham and cheese hot pocket, like my favorite thing of all time, so I got a ham and cheese crepe, which was delicious, but I have to say... I still miss my ham and cheese hot pockets.

So after lunch and a quick stop at the flats to drop off books and such, we headed off for the Tower of London. We went on a guided tour with one of the "beefeaters," these military guys that wear cool costumes and take people on tours around the castle. Ours was hilarious, cracking jokes and making everyone laugh. It was interesting to hear about the castle and all the stuff that went on there, and how it's been around for like a thousand years, so crazy. All the torture stuff isn't exactly an interest of mine, but we did get to see the Crown Jewels, which were amazing! I felt like I was waiting for a Disneyland ride or something, the queue aka line, was so long, but I thought it was worth it. I loved all the crowns and sceptres and rings and stuff. Too bad we couldn't take pictures, but I did buy a couple postcards with the jewels on them. When we left the Tower of London we walked across the Tower Bridge, which I think is basically London Bridge, so that was really cool, I took lots of pictures.

Later this evening we had FHE- we got divided into two groups, so the 12 or so of us walked over to Hyde Park and after a short little lesson we played the Adverb Game. I think it was more fun last time we played in the hostel in Killarney, but this was cool too. After we came back to the flats for juice and these cookies that everyone's just raving about over here, they're called Digestives, I went to the grocery store with Matt, just to have something to do. I hate just sitting around in the flats... I feel like if I'm just going to be sitting in a room, I could be sitting in a room at home! So anyway, I've been on a major sugar thing lately, I guess because I like didn't have any for a couple weeks so now I feel like I need to catch up or something.

Well anyway, that's pretty much my update for the day. I'm pretty excited for tomorrow, we're going to see Wicked tomorrow night! And Courtney and I were talking about going shopping tomorrow afternoon after class, there's some place called Harrod's which apparently is pretty big over here, and there's a sale going on, so that's even better! So yeah, I'll talk to you all soon, love you as always!

Les Mis!

Alright, so this post is going to cover yesterday, which was Saturday, and today, Sunday.

So yesterday morning Matt, Denise, and I set off early for Leicester Square, which is where we were able to buy discount tickets for Les Miserables! But I'll get to that in a minute. After we bought our tickets we wandered around for a bit, looking in souvenir shops and stuff. Matt and I found a "Joey hat," like the one that Joey buys on the Friends episode, the one where they go to London, but the only ones we found were hung up on the ceiling, most likely so that people like us couldn't try them on just to take pictures and not buy them. Oh well. So then we got on the tube and went to meet Janet and Julianne at Portobello Road- anyone remember that from the movie Bedknobs and Broomsticks? I haven't seen the movie for ages but I could still remember part of the song, so that was really fun. Look it up on youtube if you want to see that video, because I was there! Of course it doesn't look like that anymore, but it was still cool. There was this awesome outdoor market going on today so we wandered through that for a while. There were alot of really cool antique and vintage stuff, and I looked a bit for something I'd like to buy, but there was like almost too much stuff, and too many people so it was hard to even stop for very long to look at anything before you were swept away in the crowd. I was hungry though so nothing could stop me from buying some delicious looking peaches and this awesome pizza baguette thing. There were alot of cool shops there that weren't part of the market so I'm thinking I'd like to go back one day when it's a little less crowded.

After the market we were pretty much exhausted, so we came back and rested for a bit before getting ready to go to Les Mis! The only time I'd seen Les Mis was when Evergreen did it the year after I left, and that was pretty amazing, and I've always enjoyed the music, so I was pretty excited to see it. Our cheap seats were like way up in the "partially obstructed view" section, but it was only like the far left of the stage we couldn't always see. That wasn't even the problem though, it was the gigantic man that was sitting right in front of me, and he kept moving around so I had to keep shifting in my seat to be able to see around him. It was ridiculous, like if I leaned back in my seat all I could see was his head and like the back of the stage. But, it was still amazing. I was crying like all throughout, and by the end I was like sobbing, I felt pathetic, but it was just so amazing! Plus it got me really pumped up to see Wicked on Tuesday! Wahooo! So yeah, after the show we stopped at the grocery store and bought some food, I was on like a major sugar rush, and I'd bought a little cup of chocolate ice cream that they were selling at intermission, but I was still starving. I think all the walking I'm doing here is messing with my appetite.

Alright, now onto Sunday. For church here for the next couple weeks we've all been divided up into smaller groups to attend several different wards in the stake here. So I'm in a group with Janet, Marianne, Sarah, and Mandie, and we were assigned to the Stratford Ward- Stratford, I almost feel like it's at home! :) So this ward meets at 9:30, and the stake here is huge, I'm pretty sure it covers like at least half of London. So we'd been sent directions a couple months ago in an email, but then one of the girls was given completely different directions and we were told to follow those. So we started out on the tube and went as far as we could until the line was closed and we had to take a bus the rest of the way. Well, with each bus stop, the neighborhoods were looking sketchier and sketchier, and by the time it was time for us to get off, we were all feeling like way nervous and uncomfortable, 5 white American girls in this like, ghetto of London, totally lost. So we finally found the church building, only as we got closer we realized that there were like chained padlocks on all the doors, and these barred fences alll around the building, and there was garbage everywhere, and a sign on the door with the police department phone number... I don't think I've ever seen anything so creepy in my life. It was like really scary. So the building obviously hadn't been used in a very long time, so a couple of us kind of remembered the directions we'd been given previously, so we decided to try that, even though we knew we might not even make it on time.

So we got back on the bus, back to the tube which we took to another station, where we took a train, which basically is just overground instead of underground like the tube, and found the stop where we thought we were supposed to be. Ok, so when we got here we were given money to buy what they call an oyster card, and we had enough money to pay for one month's use within zones 1 and 2, which is like the center of London where we're doing most of our traveling. Well, there was a little bit of money left over, and we were told if we put that on the card as well, that should help cover any extra traveling we may need to do. Alright, so we figured we'd be alright to use our oyster cards for the train, which we had to take to zone 4 for church. Well, we go to use our cards to leave the train station, and they wouldn't work! So we talked to the guy and he told us that our cards wouldn't work and we were supposed to buy a ticket, so we were going to be charged a penalty fee of £20, or like $35 to $40! So we really start panicking, and the guy let us through as long as we purchased our return ticket right then and didn't do this again. Great, so now we have to pay to go to church... seriously ridiculous. But thankfully just about 5-10 minutes after we left the station we saw the church steeple and made it to the church in one piece. Of course, we made it just in time for sacrament meeting, which was the last meeting at the block. But everyone in the ward was really nice and welcoming, I was surprised that we were in the minority- the majority of the ward are black. But they were all so kind, and we met lots of people just in the short time we were there, and the bishop asked us to help out in the primary while we're there, and the kids are absolutely adorable, so we're really excited.

So by the time we got home around 2:30 we'd been gone for like 6 hours, so I made myself some mac and cheese before crashing for a like 3 hour nap. It was the first nap I've taken here, because I've tried to not like waste too much time sleeping, but I was just completely exhausted. Denise's ward isn't until 2:00 so I had the room to myself for a bit, and she got back while I was sleeping. So this evening some of us watched the Emporer's New Groove on Julianne's laptop, and then a few of us walked a couple blocks over to Hyde Park. It was so pretty! It was just around sunset time, so we could take a few pictures, but we're going to go back during the day time, becuase it's just beautiful. We saw the Peter Pan statue that James Berry, the creator of Peter Pan, gave as a gift to the park, and we walked for a bit along the Princess Diana Memorial Walk. There are quite a few memorial things for her, like a fountain and a playground and stuff. One of these days we're going to go to the other side of the park where Kensington Palace is, and there's this display of royal dresses that I'm really excited for.

But anyway, I'm about to go call my family, and I haven't talked to them in ages so I'm very excited!! Talk to you soon, love you all!

The rest of the day

Sorry everyone, you're probably all going crazy because I keep posting new stuff, like all day. Just trying to keep you all updated :) Alright so, it was kind of a not very exciting day, consisting of laundry and blogging, but this evening was a bit more fun. Denise and I went with Jules and Rebecca to this great little creperie nearby, and the crepes were amazing! I got a strawberry cream crepe, it had strawberries and cream of course, and like Belgian white chocolate or something, oh my goodness it was incredible. But yeah, then a bit later a group of us rode the tube down to Westminster, where there's the abbey and Big Ben and the Eye of London, that cool ferris wheel thing, all right along the River Thames. It was incredible... like we came up the stairs from the underground and I was just like wow, this is the London I've always imagined. Everything was all lit up and reflecting off the water, and Big Ben was especially cool I thought. I wanted to fly around it and take off for Neverland, like what happens in Peter Pan. Really cool, and I took quite a few pictures. Speaking of, I don't think there's going to be any way for me to put my pictures on a computer! I found a couple of computers here in the lab that have places for a memory card, and I tried it out with both of the memory cards I've used so far, my nearly filled 4 gb and the 8 gb that only has a couple dozen or so pictures on it. I think the computer recognized the card, but whenever I tried to click on it the computer just froze up. So Dad this is mostly for you, do you have any ideas of what I could do to put pictures on the computer? Are the memory cards maybe too big or something? I dunno, I really want to be able to put my pictures on here. Maybe I'll try that USB thing again... I tried it on one computer once and it said it couldn't read it or something, but I'm wondering if I'd switched the lock thing on the memory card and not realized it. But then I tried it on another computer and it said that I had to be an administrator to install the hardware... so I have no idea. Maybe I'll just try it on different computers every day or something until I find one that works.

Well anyway, it's after midnight (they use army time here, it's really weird, like when I turned the computer on the time it showed was 00:00, or midnight. How would you even say that, zero o'clock?) and we're getting up semi-early to try to get tickets to see Les Miserables tomorrow night. So I'm gonna head to bed but I love you all and will talk to you soon!

That's it!

WOOHOO! I'm finally up to date. You all now know everything that I've experienced up until today. I know it's a novel and will probably take forever to read, but I hope you enjoy reading about my experiences, because I've sure enjoyed having them! It's been really nice to have today off- we slept in late for the first time in weeks. I'm really excited to have my blog all caught up, and I'm even more excited that my laundry is almost done- clean clothes!! Denise and I are doing our laundry together to save money- it's 2 pounds a wash and a pound a dry here- nearly 10 bucks for one load! It's ridiculous! It's taken like 3-4 hours, but our last load is almost done- hallelujah! I think we're gonna go do some shopping this afternoon, just pick up a few things we need. I'm so glad to have this day to regroup. Alright, well it's early morning there so I hope you all have a good day and I'll talk to yall later!

July 6

It's been another long traveling day. We had breakfast at 7:00 this morning and were headed out by 7:30. A bus took us to the coast where we got on a ferry for Wales. I was not sad to leave Dublin, not a huge fan, but I will miss the green landscapes and quaint seaside towns and open air of the Emerald Isle. I think either Dingle or Killarney were my favorite towns, with the Blarney Castle quite possibly being my favorite sight. But anyway, the ferry was not at all what I expected. It felt more like I was getting on an airplane, checking luggage and everything. The boat itself actually reminded me of Titanic a bit. It was rather crowded so at the beginning a bunch of us sat up on the deck and looked around at the view and Will and I took Titanic pictures. Shortly after the wind picked up and it got too cold to stay outside so we came in and looked around a bit but I was getting pretty sick and having a difficult time walking so Denise, Will, and I watched Meet the Robinson's in the little theater area. Well, more like I slept through most of it. I've had a hard time staying awake on some of the longer traveling trips today.

Wales is different than Ireland, but still beautiful. I'm not sure how to describe the differences though. It's all still very green, the mountains were more rocky and craggy though. I don't know. Anyway, a bus picked us up and we started off across Wales. We stopped at a railway station that is famous because it has the longest name of a railroad station in the world. Welsh is a crazy language! None of hte letters are pronounced how they're supposed to be. The bus driver played us a song that's supposed to help us learn the name of hte station but there's no way. It was way cool though! We bought soem food at a nearby grocery store for lunch and I withdrew my first pounds, very exciting.

Next we drove into the mountains and saw what they call the roof of Wales, at Snowdon I think. It was absolutely breathtaking. Many pictures were taken. FInally this evening we arrived here in Conwy, and thi shostel is amazing! Why couldn't this have been the plaec we stayed in multiple nights?! It's so clean and new and there's just 4 of us to a room- with our own bathroom! And there's a nice kitchen and an observatory room upstairs and it's just beautiful.

This evening a group of us walked into town in search of a grocery store for dinner but ended up at an Italian restaurant, which was great, like authentic. Will and I shared a pizza and we all got different desserts and shared, but my strawberry cheesecake was the best by far- everyone was jealous. We then just wandered around the town, which I really liked. Everything felt very... lived in. Like everyone had been settled there for hundreds of years. We walked down to the pier and along a wall that starts at the castle and encloses almost the whole town. The view from the tower was absolutely amazing. I wish pictures could capture what I see, but not even close. I've been trying to take more videos, but I don't think anything can compare to the real thing.

July 5

It's been a fun and tiring (surprise!) day. We went to church and ended up walking for like an hour to get there (getting lost didn't help) and I was so tired by the time we got there (fasting didn't help) that I nearly fell asleep multiple times. It was pretty awesome though. We seriously like doubled their ward. There were like a dozen missionaries there that all bore their testimonies (including a red-headed Elder Watts- weird). It was so interesting to hear so many different accents. It was also interesting that church is still church over here.

The funnest part of the day was after church. A few of us practiced How Gentle God's Command to sing at the fireside this evening, then like half the group hung out all afternoon in the YSA room instead of walking all the way back just ot walk all the way back again. We broke our fast with bread and nutella and hung out for a bit. The best part was when a bunch of people our age came in and hung out with us. I got my first British crush, a guy named Ryan. Laugh all you want, but he was beautiful. He came in and sat next to me and talked with us about movies and music and stuff, and we found out he's from Leeds, England, and served his mission here in Dublin, finished a few months ago and was back visiting. Us and a girl named Jenny played some silly card games like Bible Match and Go Fish with pictures of sea creatures on the cards, and I bruised my thumb playing Slap. and we talked a lot about each others lives. Here's my dialect experience for the week- Jenny trying to say cow and have us figure out what she was saying. I thought it was coy, wouldn't have figured it out if one of the other guys hadn't said mooo.... But yeah, everyone was really cool and we had a really fun afternoon.

The fireside was pretty sad, hardly anyone showed up. Ryan and that group didn't even show up until like right before our musical number. Everyone's talks were good though, and I think our number was alright. After the fireside we were ushered into the YSA room for food (FOOD! we were all starving) and interacting some more. Then we had to walk all the way back to the hostel in the rain, then I took a hot shower and checked emails and crashed at bed time.

Indepence Day!

I find it funny that we're spending Independence Day in Ireland, but it would be even funnier if we were in England.

It's been another exhausting day. I think I'm pretty much over walking. Since today was free, I woke up just in time to take a quick shower and get breakfast before it ended. Denise, Garrett and I set off, trying to walk to Phoenix Park, where we thought we'd be able to see the President's house, the jail, and some other sights. Well, we ended up walking for 2 and a hour hours, in the pouring rain for most of the time, through the city and almost to the far end of the park, which is apparently twice the size of Central Park. We were exhausted and semi-lost and I knew I was getting blisters, but I didn't realize how badly until we found a Visitor's Center and I saw that my heel was covered in blood. Great. We finally got a map and directions to a bus stop where we got on a bus that brought us back into town. Apparently we were supposed to see this exhibit at Trinity College, the Book of Kells, so we made our way there. We got Subway and ate it on some steps of a building on campus, it was pretty cool. The Kells exhibit I could have passed on and not cried, but what made it worth it was the library at the end. It had like 200,000 of their oldest books, just like rows and columns of neverending books, pretty amazing. We walked down kind of hte main road, O'Connell, saw a couple monuments on the way back to the hostel, where we crashed. I tried to keep busy and not fall asleep, but it was inevitable. Later this evenign Denise and I walked back into the main city so I could buy some souvenirs and to get some groceries for today and tomorrow. I discovered that I am such a sucker for those souvenir shops. I wanted one of everything! I was pretty happy with my purchases though.

This evening when we got back we ate and checked emails and stuff, and the best thing happened- Jacob let me use his skype thing on his computer to call my mom! I didn't even realize that it would actually work, but I gave him the number and then he was talking to my parents who were so confused, but then I got on and got to talk to them! Plus everyone was at Shayna's so everyone was there. It was just perfect!

July 3

We checked out of the Killarney Hostel this morning, thankfully- I was getting tired of the see-through showers and the low bunk bed. I did love the windowsill in our room however. I was a little carsick this morning and was feeling a little blah, but we just finished at Blarney Castle and I'm now feeling much more pumped for the day. I liked this castle best of all- it had a more ancient and ruin-y feel to it... crumbling walls, caves and crevices to crawl in, and... the Blarney Stone! I kissed it! Way scary- leaning over backwards and upside down over a ledge of a castle, but worth it- now I have the luck of the Irish and the gift of eloquence, according to the legend. There's a group of us that I'm staring to feel more comfortable with- we all took pictures together and Will, who reminds me of someone, possibly John Ericson, even waited for me to go to the bathroom and we took pictures of each other throwing our pennies into the river to make a wish. With the others, I think playing the game last night helped breka the ice- a couple people commented about it. I think we'll all get even closer over the next few weeks.

After Blarney we went to the Rock of Cashel, which is in fact not a rock, but a castle, and a pretty cool one too. There's like a St. Patrick's monument cross thing, and the castle was mostly all opena nd in ruins, it was really pretty. I was proud of myself- I saved money today by taking my apple from the hostel breakfast and buying a cheap muffin at a stop this morning and ate that for lunch instead of buying more expensive food. I did exchange some more money at Blarney for hte next couple days because I was completely out.

I slept pretty much the entire way to Dublin, where we arrived this evening. The hostel's not bad, there are 10 of us in a room but it's pretty open, and the window is amazing. We wandered around a bit looking for a place to eat and ended up at Burger King, kinda nice. I gotta say though, I miss the quaint towns we've been in- the big city is just not for me, I'm too paranoid. There's finally (slow) internet here so I'm just waiting for Denise to finish so I can use her computer- I'm kinda wishing I had brought a laptop. There'll be a computer lab in London though so that should be ok. I've loved Ireland, but I'm kinda excited to get somewhat settled in London- at least not living out of a suitcase. It'll be nice to have regular access to a computer/internet. I'm sure my family must be going crazy not knowing what I'm doing. I've been sending my mom a text each night so she'll at least know I'm alive and well.

July 2

It has been a fun but exhausting day. We had the choice of sitting on a bus for 8 hours to see the Ring of Kerry, which would have been cool, or what I did, which involved much more walking. We got dropped off in the midst of a massive rainstorm this morning at Muckross House. It was a beautiful mansion, plus it got us out of the rain, which cleared up so that after a quick lunch a group of us were free to explore the grounds and gardens. It was absolutely beautiful- I fell in love. It was like a mixture of how I imagine Forks, Narnia, Middle Earth, Jurassic Park, and the Secret Garden... the trees and plants were gigantic and everything was just so green. It felt like I'd stepped into a dream world. I took about a million pictures. One of my favorite parts were the secret stairs- so fascinating and beautiful.

Next we set off for Ross Castle, which ended up taking us about an hour and a half to 2 hours to walk to. It was a nice walk through the forests and town, and it stayed pretty nice weather- it was just long, and we were all pretty exhausted by the end. The castle was cool, we were just so wiped out. A couple of us got dinner at a little place called Humble Pie, pretty fun and reasonably priced- always a plus.

Now we've just got back to the hostel and everyone's just laying around- too tired to do much else. PS, the humidity, and even more the rain, are making my hair go crazy! It's nice to have some wave, but it was weird today when my face framing frizzies became ringlets. This evening a bunch of us ended up staying up late in a room downstairs playing the adverb game. It was so silly, one person went out and we decided on an adverb, then the person came back in and asked people to do tasks in the manner of the adverb. So it involved doing things like throwing a pillow dramatically and falling asleep frantically. Plus we were all so sleepy so we were even goofier. Definitely a fun bonding experience. We even made a friend- a girl from Australia heard us laughing so she came in and played with us, it was pretty cool.

July 1

Right now I am on a rather comfy bus, so in order to keep myself awake so that I can enjoy the Irish countryside that I may never see again, I'm going to write a bit about my day so far. It was wonderful to sleep in a bed last night, even if I had to wake up super early to get one of the 2 showers divided by all 20 of us girls. No problems though. We had a great breakfast of cereal and toast before heading out ot see the rest of the Dingle Peninsula. It truly is beautiful here. Every once in a while you see something beautiful adn ancient among the patchwork farmlands and mountains, like the 1300 year old oratory we saw this morning. These structures literally look just as they have for thousands of years. Coming from a country with such a short history, it's hard to grasp the concept of so many years. Everything seems so simple here. Innumerable sheep alongside the tiny winding roads, every shade of green you could ever imagine, the scattered rain showers that keep the air feeling purer than anything I've ever breathed before, the quaint towns every once in a while, like Dingle Bay, where we just stopped again and I bought a pair of earrings made up of a Celtic symbol of completeness. Maybe now that I'm venturing outside of the bubble I've been living in, taking advantage of seeing some more of the word, experiencing new cultures and people, I'll be able to feel more complete.

Every once in a while our bus driver will tell us stories as we drive, and even sing us songs. He's also teaching us a few phrases in Irish Gaelic. Not that I can actually pronounce them :). Something surprising here is the palm trees, or something that looks a lot like palm trees. But with all the water here and the plant life being so abundant, it makes sense. Another thing I don't think I'll get used to is driving on the other side of the road. I still panic and think we're going to get hit every time we go around a turn the wrong way.

We just finished our time at Inch Beach. We ate our packed lunches from the hostel on the boulders near the shore and walked around the beach for a couple hours. I took lots of pictures and found some pretty cool seashells. I'm excited to put all these pictures on the internet so my family can see. It's crazy to think that I've been on both sides of the Atlantic now. It was chilly, and the water was freezing, but I still had to put my feet in.

After the beach we made out way toward Killarney, stopping briefly to take a short hike up the Gap of Dunloe and take some pictures. Once we got here we checked in at the hostel, which si much better than last night's, but it almost wasn't. Our door didn't close, so when we got back from dinner at Danny Mann's pub (I just ordered potato skins off the appetizer menu, much more reasonable) we came back and had to switch to a much smaller and junkier room on the other side of the building. Luckily there were a couple extra beds here in this room with the other girls in a much more open and less claustrophobia inducing room. This evening a bunch of us had a Twister Tournament and started watching the Sword and the Stone, but we were all way too tired to finish it.

June 30

It has been a very long, neverending day, or two. The layover in New York was long and pretty boring. We ate, wandered around the gigantic airport trying to catcha glimpse of the city, and did a lot of sitting around, and talked to my mom a couple times. I sent my family picture messages from my phone of New York, and I missed them already.

My flight across the ocean was long and exhausting. I watched a couple movies and tried unsuccessfully to get some sleep. I was just too darn uncomfortable. No room to stretch out and nowhere to rest my head. At least I didn't get sick. It was kind of surreal landing here in Ireland. I couldn't see anything from the plane so it was kind of hard to believe I was actually here. But I did get here just fine, no problems. We sat in the airport even more, I got to use Kenzie's computer to update my blog, ate, and finally set off for the Bunratty Castle. It was rainy, but it was beautiful. The antiquity definitely impresses me. I've already taken over 200 pictures! Our bus is really nice, much more comfy so I actually got a few minute nap in this afternoon. We stopped in a little quaint town called Adare (wouldn't that be a pretty name?) and walked around there before ending up in Dingle. The bay and the ocean are amazing. I got a way too huge order of fish and chips for dinner and we took some amazing sunset over the ocean pictures before arriving here at the Dun Chaon (pronounced like dun quin) hostel. I'm in a tiny room with Denise, McKell, and Rachel, top bunk because bottom bunks made me claustrophobic, but I have an amazing view of the of the ocean and I even got to talk to my family this evening.

June 29

Ok, thus begins my going back to my journal and typing it up so you all can hear about everything I did in Ireland. I hope it's not too confusing, but I'm just going to type up everything I wrote in my journal. Hope it all works out.

Well, here I am, in the sky, finally on my way. All I can see is indistinguishable landscape and a few wispy clouds from the tiny airplane window on the other side of hte elderly couple sitting next to me, although the moving map in front of me says that we are now flying over Waterloo, Iowa. Just about halfway there. Even though I can feel the powerful engines beneath my feet, see that I am currently 36,999 feet above the ground, I still can't really believe that I'm here, on my way to Ireland. I felt like I was in a daze this morning as I woke from my 4 hours of sleep, left the familiar comfort of my bed and made my final preparations for this journey into the unknown. While my dad's blessing brought me some comfort, my mom's tears and the sick feeling in my stomach, as well as the shedding of some tears of my own, made me question if I'm strong or brave enough to do this. I'm glad we arrived early enough to avoid last minute panicking, and I made it through baggage checking, security, and finding my gate without much trouble. It broke my heart to hug my mother one last time and then leave her in tears, but at least we live in a time when I could call her not 10 minutes later. We were even early enough that I could make a surprise call to Brad before he got to work. I was feeling sad and lonely but it helped to joke and laugh adn talk with him like normall. Almost like normal. I'm glad there are several others from the group on the plane with me. I spent some time talking to Matt, who ended up sitting in the seat right across the aisle from me. The flight hasn't been too bad; there is TV and music that I can plug in and listne to or watch, I have my Sudoku book, Pride and Prejudice, and of course, this blessed notebook and pen which allows me my release of getting my thoughts onto paper.
I just found the Bonnie Hunt show on TV. I wonder if my mom watched it today?

07/08/09

Ok folks, are you ready for this? I've got a half hour until I can move some laundry around (I am SO excited to have clean clothes) and so I'm going to start on my update so you all can have a day-by-day account of everything I do (or so I can have a better record of my time besides my journal which I can barely read my handwriting in).

I'm starting with the day that I skipped this week, Wednesday, which happened to be 07/08/09 (I bet there were lots of marriages that day). Alright, so that day was our first day in London, also our first day of class. Not gonna lie, I was sitting there thinking, am I really sitting in a class again? But it was interesting, plus it's what I'm here for (kinda), and it took place in the nearby LDS church building, the Hyde Park chapel, which is pretty cool looking. I'll post pictures soon hopefully.

After class, Will, Denise, and I set off for the Fulham Road Cinema, to purchase our.... HARRY POTTER TICKETS!!!!!!!!!! Can you tell I'm a little excited? We're going to see it at 2:15 next Wednesday, the 15th, which will be like 7:00 in the morning over... so I'm almost seeing it before people over there see it at the midnight showing... oh well, I'M SEEING IT IN LONDON!!!!! :) Anyway, it was kind of a longer walk than we'd thought, but it was fun to walk around the city a bit. On the way back we stopped at this rare book store where they have all these like collector editions of the Harry Potter series, like some of the originals, some autographed... like one set was worth £20,000, which I think is somewhere between $30,000 and $40,000. Can you imagine? There are lots of cool shops around here, lots of wedding stores we noticed. There was one store that had the most beautiful wedding dresses I've ever seen... I was so tempted to go in just to see what the price range was, but I decided I didn't even want to know.

After a quick lunch of a frozen ready meal, spaghetti carbonara to be specific (I don't remember if I mentioned, but there's a small kitchen on our floor with just a microwave and an oven and dishes and silverware and everything, nowhere to really sit. And we have small fridges with a little freezer section at the top so we keep our food there, cook it in the kitchen and eat it in our rooms.) We met up with some others from the group and we rode the tube to Picadilly Circus, the area of town where most of the theatres are. The plan had been to look around, look at what was available, prices, etc. We're hoping to see Les Miserables, Lion King, Hairspray, maybe Mamma Mia and Thriller, but the show we ended up seeing this night was Hamlet. Everyone was really excited about it because Jude Law was starring in it. I hate to say, I've never seen anything with Jude Law in it, but oh well. So the show was sold out, but we were told if we stood in line outside the theatre then people would come and sell us their tickets. There were seven of us, and three people got tickets like right away, the but rest of us were just standing outside the theatre for like 2 hours, thinking we probably wouldn't get in, when a lady from the box office came out and told us to go in, tell the guy that Catherine sent us, and he'd sell us 4 tickets all together. It was pretty much a miracle. The tickets cost a bit more than I'd have liked, but we had amazing seats, and the play really was incredible. I'd read Hamlet in high school but didn't remember everything of the story, but Jude Law really was amazing, and kept my attention (mostly) for over 3 hours of Shakespeare. I'm still more of a musical fan, but I really enjoyed this show. Oh yeah, and while we were standing in line we were looking at a newspaper, and found out that the Harry Potter premier had taken place like right where we were standing, the night before! What are the odds?? But we didn't get into the city until like 8:00pm, and the premier was probably before that, but still... if we'd known I would have tried to make it down there, just to be where the action was. Oh well, at least I still get to see the movie here!

Oxford!

Hello friends and family! Well, the plan had been to do my updating for last week, and yesterday, but sadly I forgot my journal upstairs, and the computer lab here is like impossible to get to, there are staircases and doors everywhere, and I really don't want to have to go get my journal, so I'm just going to write about today and then later, maybe tomorrow, write about yesterday, along with my week in Ireland. So sorry, I'm sure this is going to be so confusing to read, but I'm doing my best!

Ok, so this morning we had to wake up early to get to the tube station in time to ride that to take us to the train station so that we could catch a train to Oxford University. My first train ride, if you don't include trax, but this was like longer and stuff. A lady even came down the aisle with a trolley full of food, just like in Harry Potter! Man, I wish I could have been going to Hogwarts... there was a building at Oxford that some of the scenes from Harry Potter have been filmed, like the great hall and one of the staircases, but sadly I didn't make it due to several circumstances. But let's get back to the beginning.

Ok, so if you don't know, Oxford is a very old and very prestigious university over here, just a couple hours outside of London. But unlike what I had thought, it's not just a college campus, it's like a whole town. So when we got to the train station we decided to take one of those tour buses, the really tourist-y double decker ones where everyone sits up top and takes pictures- there were even headsets that we could plug in and listen to a British woman's commentary on everything we were seeing. So we rode that all the way around the town. Sadly the group had been split in half for a tour we'd be seeing later, so pretty much all of Denise's and my friends were in the other group, and our tour was an hour earlier than theirs, so they all got off and saw all the cool sites while we had to head straight for our tour. It was a cool tour though, it was of the Oxford University Press, which is mostly famous for printing the Oxford English Dictionary, you know, like THE dictionary. It was interesting, but the dictionary isn't the most fascinating thing to me, so I could have taken it or left it, but oh well. But it was fun, we had just a few minutes after we got off the bus before it was time for the tour, so Denise and I meandered down the streets and found this awesome little vintage store so we looked around and we both bought some fabulous vintage dresses! And they were even pretty cheap, so that was even better! Well, I don't know if you can really call anything over here cheap... the dollar is worth like almost twice as much as the British pound. That really hit me just now when I was checking my bank account and thinking where in the heck did I spend that much money? Oh yeah, that was all the stuff that I thought I was getting such a great price on... oh well, all part of the experience eh? Anyway, another absolutely amazing thing we saw, something that I was soooo excited to find, was a local pub called the Eagle and Child. It's the pub where J.R.R. Tolkien, the author of the Lord of the Rings, and C.S. Lewis, who wrote the Chronicles of Narnia (two of my favorite authors ever, and favorite books of all time) used to meet with a couple others every week to discuss their books. For this study abroad we all had to read some sort of a book related to the UK, and the book I read was all about the friendship between Tolkien and Lewis and how they helped each other out with each other's books, and this particular pub, which they nicknamed the Bird and Baby because they were there so often, was mentioned a lot in this book. I almost cried when we first went in, there were all these pictures of the authors and like tributes to them... it was absolutely amazing. Plus, the prices for the food were amazing! Denise and I were going to eat breakfast there but the kitchen was closed for some reason, but we did make it back for a late lunch.

So after our OUP tour Denise and I walked back into the main part of town to do some shopping, the author of Alice in Wonderland, Lewis Carroll, was also affiliated with Oxford, so there's an adorable little shop called Alice's Shop, so I bought a little bag and a picture book version of the story. We also found a little kiosk with Oxford souvenir type stuff so I bought a t-shirt which I was pretty excited about as well. Then it was time for our friends' tour to be over, so we met back up with them at the Eagle and Child for dinner. I had a delicious steak sandwich (I'd been craving steak for some reason) and then I was kind of upset that the rest of the group had already been on the tour of Christ Church, where the Harry Potter great hall and staircase had been filmed, and it wasn't something Denise was interested in seeing, so after I ate I went off by myself. Now before any of you freak out, it was like a 5 minute walk, and I didn't even make it halfway before I ran into Diane and Larry, one of the directors and her husband, and they walked the rest of the way with me. Sadly, like so sadly that I almost cried, the tours were over for the day. So no Harry Potter sites for me :( Not long after though the entire group met up to go to a service at the cathedral there, so that was cool to see anyway. The service was interesting, kinda weird, but just different I guess. Oh, and before that I'd met up with some others from the group to go to the like official Oxford Press bookstore, and I bought a book of children's poetry, because I thought it was cool, plus I really wanted to be able to own a book that I bought at Oxford. Dorky I know, but oh well.

So anyway, after another train ride, and another tube ride, we made it "home" to the flats. I ate a cup of noodles, watched some funny videos with Denise and Will, and found my way down to the computer lab so that I can keep up to date with all my loved and missed friends and family. It's so nice to hear from you guys, even if it's just on facebook chat. I may try to call soon, we've got a lot of free time this weekend so it would be nice to actually be able to talk. Well anyway, I think that's all for now. Hopefully I'll be able to get this all completely up to date soon, but for now I am cold and tired and very much looking forward to crawling into bed and (hallelujah) hopefully sleeping in a bit tomorrow. It's been really hard these last couple days to make it through the day without getting really sleepy... because for a week we spent alot of time on a bus, and a lot of that time sleeping, but now we just have to go go go all day, lots of walking, not a lot of breaks. I'll get used to it though. You all can be proud- I've been wearing my good shoes so I've avoided blisters again- yay! Alright well I love you all and will talk to you soon!