August 4
It was very sad leaving Metrogate this morning, and even harder because I was going off of 4 hours of sleep- I went to bed at 2 and got up at 6 to take a brisk walk to the local suitcase shop to try and get a duffle bag, but just my luck, the store wasn’t open yet. So I got back and managed to stuff everything in and get it all together in time to leave. It was so weird cleaning out our rooms and seeing the rooms all empty again… they’d been so lived in. I was exhausted and it was basically a given that I was going to sleep on the bus, if you can call sleeping on a bus sleeping… it’s not exactly comfortable.
Our first stop at Stratford-upon-Avon was Anne Hathaway’s cottage (the wife of Shakespeare, not the actress), but we only stopped to take a couple pictures before getting back into the center of the town. We saw Shakespeare’s birthplace, the church where he’s buried (there was construction going on so the pounding was pretty entertaining), we went to a park called New Place where there’s a mulberry tree that’s supposedly like a descendent of a tree Shakespeare planted, and if you take a leaf you’re supposed to be like a special literary person or something, I dunno, but I got one, and there was a guy there telling us about the mulberries so we even ate a couple- hopefully it doesn’t make us sick or anything. Yeah, so we had 4 free hours there, about twice as long as we needed, so after getting some shakes at William’s Shakes, we ended up just sitting around for quite a while. In the rain too. Lame.
We got checked in at the hostel, which wasn’t bad, there were 12 of us in a room, but 6 in each individual room, with a couple sinks between them, so that was pretty nice. Then it was time to head back into town to get some dinner before going to see The Winter’s Tale, a Shakespearean play. It was… really weird. Plus I was barely awake and functioning by that time so I kept falling asleep, and I’d wake up and something crazy would be happening, like books crashing all over the stage or weird book animals doing tribal dances… yeah, it was really weird. Then we had an hour walk back to the hostel in the dark, it wasn’t too bad, but I totally crashed as soon as we got back.
August 5
I slept like a log last night, but when I got up this morning I still felt like I could have slept for a lot longer. After a good breakfast we left to come here to Liverpool- home of the Beatles! We got here around noon and dropped off our stuff at the hostel before setting off to explore the city- or in other words, to find Beatles sights. The first thing we did was a museum-type place called the Beatles Experience, and it’s just an audio tour that takes you through the history of the Beatles, from the beginning when John and Paul met all the way through the breakup, as well as some of John Lennon’s stuff afterward. It was really cool, I’ve always loved the Beatles’ music but haven’t known that much about them or their stories, so I enjoyed hearing about it all and seeing the pictures and recreations of places and stuff. I really didn’t need anything/don’t have room for any more souvenirs, but I couldn’t help getting a t-shirt, keychain, book, and guitar pick- not that I’ll ever seriously use it, but I just thought it was cool.
Next we got a bus pass so that we could ride a bus to Penny Lane, which has a song written about it- we took a picture in the roundabout that they sing about, and a street sign, and found the primary school where John Lennon went to school. Next we took another bus to Strawberry Field, another subject of a song, Strawberry Fields Forever. There used to be like a children’s home where some of the guys spent a lot of time or something, but it was closed down, so all we could see was the fence, but that was awesome anyway. We took lots of pictures to document our being here.
This evening we had dinner provided by the hostel, and thankfully it was fantastic, although that could be attributed to the fact that none of us had eaten since breakfast and were absolutely starving. I ate plenty and was plenty stuffed afterward. A few of us went back into a main-er part of town to go to the Cavern, the club where the Beatles first played together, and you’ll never guess who we saw there…. Ok, it really wasn’t that cool, but the first manager of the Beatles… Alan something maybe, was totally sitting there wasted. He’s the one that sold the Beatles for like 30 pounds or something- he’s considered to be the man who made the biggest mistake of all time I think. We tried to get a picture with him, but I think he was too drunk to even understand what we were asking him. Oh well.
We wandered around for a bit after that, took pictures with a couple statues, one of one of the guys, possibly George, but it was hard to tell, and a statue of Eleanor Rigby that’s dedicated to all the lonely people- if you’ve heard the song you’ll understand. It was pretty much awesome. I was thinking though, like if you lived here, would all this awesome Beatles stuff seem boring to you? Like thinking about Salt Lake, there’s nothing really cool there… but maybe to people who don’t live there, some of the stuff I think is rather boring would be more exciting…. I dunno. I think it’s because all we really have are church history sights, and only people in the church would find them even remotely interesting.
But anyway, I found out tonight that McDonald’s here have free wi-fi, so a few people had brought their computers (not me, because I didn’t know about it), so we went there and got some ice cream and people passed their computers around so we could all check our emails. I didn’t really have time to do much besides read them, and then we came back home and people are telling scary stories in my room, but I’m a baby and I really get scared so I’m sitting out in the hallway typing this stuff until they finish. People seem to have a fascination with being scared. Like people were so excited about going on London ghost tours, like following Jack the Ripper stuff, and people are talking about a ghost tour in York tomorrow… definitely not a fan. I’d rather be entertained by being happy, not given nightmares.
August 6
It’s been another day full of… well, not much. We left bright and early this morning on our way to York. We stopped at the Preston temple just long enough to take some pictures, which was alright. Then we spent most of the rest of the morning on the bus, which meant I slept on and off the whole time. Luckily though I was awake when we were driving through Leeds, which made me really happy because that’s where Ryan, the beautiful one that I met in Ireland is from. Oh Ryan… he was so beautiful. But anyway, we made it into York this afternoon, and had a whopping 8 hours to hang out here. Let’s just say, there really isn’t 8 hours worth of stuff to do here. Well I guess there could be, but just not that was available to us maybe. So we started at the minster which we thought we’d visit, but it ended up being more expensive than any of us cared to pay for to see another church. So we wandered back the direction we’d come from, stopped and got some sandwiches, and then joined in on a free walking tour. It was this sweet old man just taking us around to see some of the sights in York, but it was fun because it was stuff we probably wouldn’t have seen or noticed otherwise. We walked along the wall surrounding the city, saw some buildings that are supposedly famous, whatev, I couldn’t always hear him because we were in a big group, but it was cool anyway, to see the sights in an organized manner at least. After the tour we wandered around a bit, looked through some shops, I bought some jellies at topshop, we got dinner at this great burger place, it was great, and the waiter had a perfect Yorkshire accent, I was really excited. We checked in at the hostel this evening and everyone’s just hanging out, trying to get an internet connection, people are talking about telling scary stories later tonight, I may have to skip out on that because I probably won’t be able to sleep for days or weeks afterward. Just not a fan of getting scared.
August 7
Our first stop this morning was a place called Fountains Abbey. It was a ruined abbey kind of out in the country, it was really pretty. I’ve been feeling kind of pictured out the last couple days, but I did take more today because this place was pretty cool. Plus the weather was beautiful so that was a plus.
Next we stopped at Durham for a bit and went to the cathedral there, and that was what I did my report on during the prep course so I was pretty excited, even though it was still just another cathedral. It was pretty though, and supposedly some of the Hogwarts Castle was filmed there, some of the exteriors of the cathedral, so that was pretty cool. I got some garlic bread at a market and an ice cream cone, and it made me happy.
This afternoon we stopped at a place called Hadrian’s Wall, I can’t actually remember the historical significance of it right now, but it’s very old, but the point is that we got to climb some cool hills and walls and stuff, and I really enjoyed that. It felt great to get off the bus and into the fresh English countryside air. It was the last of that that I’ll see, so I was also a little sad. Driving into Scotland this evening people were watching Harry Potter 1 (so funny after watching the 6th, they were all so little), but I had to keep looking out the window because I’m going to miss England so much. It was strange how once we got to Scotland the scenery changed almost instantly. It became more foresty and mountainous. It’s pretty, but so far I’m not in love with Edinburgh. Once again we’re not in the best area of town, and the hostel is probably the worst we’ve been in, and this is the one we’ll be in the longest. There are 12 of us in one room, and that would be fine, but there’s absolutely no space. Getting into my suitcase to get some clean clothes for tomorrow was like a nightmare. All my stuff is just shoved into a corner and it makes me feel crazy. And the only plugs are in the lobby, so that’s where we all are with our computers plugged in- at least there’s free wireless. Some of us went to a little food place around the corner and Jake and I split a pizza, so at least we got some good food tonight. I really hope I’m tired enough to go right to sleep so I don’t have to be awake in that room more than I have to.
August 8
Today we went on a bus tour to some places in Scotland that I enjoyed much more than Edinburgh. Our bus driver was great, perfect Scottish accent (the way he said “book” in facebook was my favorite) and kilt to boot. We started off this morning and after some sitting on the bus listening to Brian telling us some history and stuff about the sights, as well as listening to some Scottish music, our first stop was in Glasgow. It was only long enough to use a bathroom and see the Cathedral, but I was excited, mostly because of the Mamma Mia song Super Trooper, because of how it says “I was sick and tired of everything when I called you last night from Glasgow…” Next we did one of my favorite things of the day, we went to Loch Lommond, not Loch Ness unfortunately, so I couldn’t find Nessie, but this lake was still way cool. We went out on a boat and it was freezing and raining off and on, but it was so beautiful. Almost everyone went downstairs inside but I stayed up the deck so I could take it all in. Of course I was frozen by the time we got back to shore, but it was worth it.
We stopped a little ways away from the lake for lunch, and we all ate at a cafeteria in this woolen mills store, where there were all the traditional looking Scottish attire, like scarves, sweaters, etc, and… kilts. I know that’s what everyone wants, but they’re so darn expensive! The cheapest adult sizes I’ve seen run about 50 pounds, which is close to $100. I’m sorry, I just don’t see how I can make that work… first to have the money to buy them, then to pack them, and to get them through customs… I just don’t think I can do it. I feel bad because that’s what the boys wanted as souvenirs, but I guess we’ll just have to come back someday so they can get their own. Personally, I’m getting a little souvenir-ed out. I just have so much stuff, and being so crammed in here at the hostel has really made it so that I don’t want anything more. I’m sure I’ll get something from Scotland for myself, but it’ll have to be small- I’m worried enough as it is about getting all my crap home.
Next we took a lovely drive through the mountains. It was rainy and misty but it was so beautiful. My favorite part was this small lake with this gorgeous mansion that reminded me of the movie Maid of Honor. I would live there… ha. Just kidding. It was beautiful, but I still miss the rolling countryside of England. Our last stop was the castle in Stirling. It was alright, but the best part was the view. You could walk along the castle wall all around and see for miles. I really love being up high like that, where you can see all around you and the wind is blowing and you can look straight down and it goes forever… it’s funny though that that doesn’t scare me, but then we walked into the kitchens that they’ve recreated to look like medieval kitchens, and all the creepy mannequins set up scared me to death. A couple of the guys think my fear of mannequins is the funniest thing… they’ll always make sure I see them by surprise so I like jump and fall over… I know it’s silly, but they just frighten me.
Well anyway, we got back this evening and some of us found a grocery store to get us enough food to last us for the next couple days, plus hopefully I’ll have some snacks for the plane ride home…. Ugh, the plane ride home. I’m not looking forward to that at all.
August 9
Today was a fairly relaxing day, but it was needed. I keep getting up way earlier than I need to so I don’t have to worry about the shower rush, but that’s making it so I’m not getting as much sleep as I need. So it was like a 45 minute walk to church, not bad, plus I was wearing an all new outfit which was fun and doesn’t happen often. Church was fine; it was my first time in relief society in a while and ysa Sunday school in a few weeks, so that was nice. I was nodding off by sacrament meeting though. After church a bunch of us stayed like we did in Dublin, so we wouldn’t have to walk all the way back and forth. It wasn’t as nice as in Ireland though- no ysa room with comfy couches and games, nor fun locals to hang out with. So we had to settle for a classroom with regular chairs and just us to entertain ourselves. We’d brought food with us so after I ate some of my food I decided to lay across some of the chairs and rest for a bit, but apparently I was sleepier than I thought because I was basically out cold for like 3 hours. I woke up a little every once in a while to turn over (and wipe the drool from my face- gross, I only do that when I’m like really deeply asleep, which apparently I was) but when I really got up it was about 3 hours later and everyone was gone. It was very confusing. Actually everyone was just kinda spread out around the church, singing in the chapel, hanging out in the kitchen. I don’t know what’s happened to me this trip, but I’ve gotten really good at falling asleep in places other than my bed, which I could never do before. Like to be out enough that I couldn’t even hear everyone getting up and leaving… and I was just spread out over like 4 church chairs! Crazy. So we just hung out for the rest of the evening, snacking, practicing a bit for the song all the girls sang at the fireside. There was a better showing at this fireside than in Dublin, but it was more like adults and families and missionaries, not so many ysas. So I guess my dream of finding myself a Brit are done for now. I can’t believe I only have 2 days left before I go home… it still kinda feels like this is just a trip and when we leave I’ll be going back to London. Agh I miss it so much! I can’t believe I fell in love with the city so fast like that… I guess it’s because it became so familiar in an unfamiliar place. Somehow I just felt at home there. But yeah, this evening we’ve just been hanging out, everyone’s been on their computers and just hanging around. It’ll be so weird to get home and have a room all to myself after sharing a room that’s not much bigger than my room at home with 12 girls. And a hostel full of drunk people- they’ve been downstairs playing super loud music all evening, shouting, singing, stomping… right now they have on like country music. They’re so weird. And I had my first experience of sharing the bathroom with a guy in tighty whiteys this morning. We’ve been lucky enough to not have too many guys sharing our bathroom, but it sure is awkward when it happens.
August 10
Today I got to see a bit more of Edinburgh, which was fun. Everyone slept in a bit this morning, which was also very nice and appreciated. After breakfast and getting ready and everything a few of us walked to the Edinburgh castle, but most of us didn’t go in because it was quite expensive and to be honest, I’m a little castled out. I know, I didn’t think the day would ever come. So we walked around the castle instead, and walked through the main-ish/touristy part of town, got some souvenirs, which I do NOT need, but couldn’t resist. Then Jake wanted to find the university to get some information on applying for grad school so I went there with him and we walked around for a bit, it was nice. Our group banquet was tonight so when we got back to the hostel I ate some lunch and some people were here just lounging around for a couple hours, so I worked on packing, which I think is going to work… hopefully… and then we set off walking and riding a bus to a far side of town for our banquet. It was a really nice dinner- the food was fancy and delicious, especially my raspberry cheesecake, and after dinner we watched a slideshow of pictures that Rachel made. It doesn’t feel real that this is almost over. I’ve come to a point where I feel like I’m ready for this particular experience to be over, I’ve gotten everything out of it that I can, but now I’m ready for something new and different to start.
This evening it was late by the time we got back but some of us had a massive dance party in the lobby of the hostel and the managers even gave us some speakers and told us to enjoy ourselves, it was fantastic! I love dance parties, you can just let loose and have fun, for me moreso than I can in other social situations. It’s so weird to think that tomorrow is not only our last day in Scotland, but the last day of this entire study abroad… I can’t even believe it.
August 11
Today was possibly the perfect last day. Most people got a kind of slow start- I’d been planning on getting up and showering before I ate breakfast, which ends at 9:30, but I ended up rolling out of bed around 9 and getting breakfast before getting ready for the day, but it felt good. Plus it feels good that that was my last hostel breakfast- I’m not going to want to eat cornflakes and toast for a while.
After some packing and getting kebabs with Jake and Matt a group of us went to hike to Arthur’s Seat. I was a little worried at the prospect of a hike, but some of my favorite moments here have been on top of hills and such where I could see the landscape and feel the wind and so I just couldn’t pass it up. It was quite a walk just to get to the mountain, and the hike was pretty much as tough as I anticipated, but so worth it. It was raining and got pretty chilly but I was hot from the hike so I didn’t want to wear my rain jacket so I was just wet and cold, but it really was so awesome. To get to the very top we had to climb up some like actual rock face, like finding footholds and stuff, and the rocks were slippery and I slipped several times but managed to catch myself and not actually fall or even hurt myself- it was a miracle. Once we got to the very tippy top I was sure the wind was going to blow me right off, but the view was absolutely amazing, possibly the best view of all I’ve seen. We were just so high and we could see the ocean and the greenery around the mountain and the city of Edinburgh… it was just the perfect thing to do this last day. We were way exhausted by the end, but again, so worth it.
When we got back to the hostel we were only back long enough to get some more of the group so we could all go get dinner at this awesome place called GBK- Gourmet Burger Kitchen. Courtney, Denise, Matt and I had gone there in York and fell in love so we were pretty excited when we found one here, and a bunch of people wanted to experience the deliciousness. It was just as great, and… a perfect last dinner. We got our 20 pound deposit back when we turned in our keys today, plus we got a last 20 pound refund from our directors of money that they didn’t use, so since I had some money to spend, after dinner we stopped at a souvenir shop and I bought a really nice rain jacket for only 10 pounds, I was really excited, especially because it says Scotland on it.
When we got back this evening some of the girls had made a birthday cake because it was Diane, one of our directors birthday, so we at the cake, and then most people were planning on just hanging out around the hostel, packing and such, but I was mostly packed already, and a few people were going on a ghost tour around the city. I was very opposed at first but then I figured hey, it’s my last night here, I’ll be able to just relax and hang out when I get home, but I won’t be able to go on a ghost tour in Edinburgh, so even though I normally run away from anything involving ghosts, I decided to go. Luckily it ended up not being too scary, just like a nice night walk through the town. Just a couple scary places- a cemetery and a hill with very scary stairs. The three boys I was with started making noises and scaring me once we got to the tunnel at the bottom of the stairs and so I ran the rest of the way out and the tour guide gave me the funniest look. So yeah, I’m feeling completely wiped out after a day of hiking and walking and a walking tour, but it was pretty much a perfect last day. Sadly it’s going to be a very long day tomorrow… all day on a plane with sore muscles. It’s just so weird to think that tomorrow night I’ll be home… sleeping in my own bed… I think that may be what I’m most excited for- besides seeing the fam.
August 12
Today was probably one of the longest days of my life. I debated not going to bed at all last night, since I was up doing not much of anything, besides watching Hairspray with Will until he had to leave at 3:00 to get to the airport. I had to start getting up around 4:30 to be ready to leave the hostel by 6, so around 3:15 I decided to take a little nap. There was a big group of us leaving at the same time, so the shuttle picked us up around sunrise and dropped us off at the airport, where we had to sit forever because we couldn’t even check in for another couple hours. Luckily there was a bag weigher thing so we could all check our luggage weights- mine was a kilo and a half below the limit- wahoo! Unfortunately though that meant that my backpack, where I’d put all my heavy stuff, was so heavy that it felt like it was crushing both my spine and all my innards. It was terrible.
So after a couple hours of waiting we finally got on the plane and we were all sitting fairly close to each other- Garrett and Jake were both in the row in front of me. Plus I was really lucky- I was in a window seat with an empty seat between me and the lady on the aisle. So I got to spread out a little and it was so nice to be able to lay on my pillow against the window. I played the in-flight trivia game, watched tv, listened to music, and watched a couple movies, Ghosts of Girlfriends Past and My Life in Ruins. I fell asleep at the end of the first one but I really liked the second one.
When we got to JFK we changed over our remaining pounds and then I took off for our terminal because I wanted to cry my backpack hurt so bad. Our terminal didn’t have seats, weird, so I just laid down on the floor and stretched out for a few minutes before going to buy a ridiculously priced sandwich, and then it was time to get on the plane again. Ugh. Plus they changed my seat for some reason, so I was at the very back of the plane, which was kind of annoying. I was on an aisle seat this flight but there was an empty seat between me and the girl on the window so that was really nice as well. I watched Seventeen Again and He’s Just Not that Into You, but I fell asleep through the second one again. Luckily neither of the two flights was very bad, and we actually landed in Salt Lake like half an hour early.
It’s weird being home again. The first thing I noticed was how stinking hot it is here. And everyone sounds so boring. Being in the Salt Lake airport again, it almost felt surreal, like I hadn’t even left yet or something. It was great to see my parents, and it was fun to introduce them to some of the people I’ve been spending all my time with the last few weeks. Driving home it was weird firstly to be in a car, and on the right side of the road, and to see like, regular houses, including mine! It was great to see all my family when they came up and talk to them for a bit, but I was so tired that I could barely hold my head up or form sentences. Having a good shower was amazing, even though I wasn’t in my own bathroom which is being redone at the moment, I still felt cleaner than I have in weeks. And sleeping in my own bed… pure heaven. I was awake only long enough to register how comfortable I was before I fell asleep.
Friday, August 14, 2009
Saturday, August 8, 2009
Quick update
Hello everyone! This is just to let you know that I am still alive and well, I'm just staying in a SKETCHY hostel where the internet is as great as the room, the bathroom, the kitchen, the area of town in Edinburgh... yeah, you get the picture. I can't seem to get it to work well/long enough to get a good blog entry written, so I'm typing them all up in a document to put into my blog as soon as I get home next week. So until then I'll be putting little updates on my facebook, probably not posting pictures because it seems highly unlikely the internet is strong enough for pictures either. But I'll be home next week and will update everything then, even though I'll just be able to talk to yall about it anyway, but oh well. Love you all and I'll talk to you soon!
Monday, August 3, 2009
Last days in London
Ugh, I can't believe I'm leaving here tomorrow... the thought honestly makes me want to cry. I've grown so accustomed to life here in the last few weeks that it makes me sad to think that this won't be my life anymore. I've been trying not to think about it too much, but now that I'm trying to pack ever so unsuccessfully it is all coming down on me. No bueno. Don't get me wrong, I'm excited to come home to be able to see you all again, I've just really grown to love London and I'm going to miss it so much.
Alright, so yesterday, Sunday, I was feeling so crappy in the morning that I couldn't even get out of bed, so I skipped going to my assigned ward and didn't get out of bed until 12:30. I seriously needed that. So when I got up I felt a bit better so I just went to sacrament meeting at the singles ward, but that was about all I could take.. come to find out that singles wards in England aren't much different than singles wards in Salt Lake.
This afternoon a group of us went to find Abbey Road to take a traditional picture walking across the crosswalk near the Abbey Road studios, as made famous by the cover art of the Beatles Abbey Road Album. I was pretty excited about it. It's pretty funny, it's not exactly a quiet street, and there were a ton of people there yesterday all trying to take pictures, but the cars driving by really do not like stopping for people walking across the street taking pictures. There are like hundreds of accidents there all the time. We survived though, and it made me happy. After we took pictures in front of the studio and signed our names on the wall outside where everyone does, a few of us went to Kensington Park to take pictures with the Peter Pan statue. I'm sad that I didn't spend more time in the park, but it seemed like we always had so much to do. I wish I had more time here to just hang out, now that I've seen all the big sights that I wanted to. But yeah, then everyone had to spend the evening doing my least favorite thing to do- study. We all had finals, but nobody was very motivated to study. Me especially I think, since the credit does nothing for me- I'm just here for the experience.
Now on to today, Monday. Will and I got up super early to do our laundry so that we wouldn't have to worry about for the rest of the day, our last day here in London. Then we had to head over to take our finals- the first was an hour long written test for the history of English class, and yeah, I didn't feel too good about it... I have a hard time with history, and I just couldn't remember a lot of the answers. The next one was a group oral discussion type exam for the varieties of English class, and while I was nervous for that one, I think it ended up going alright. i was super nervous about being required to talk in the discussion, and we even ended up having to answer the question that I was like the facilitator over, but I was somehow more confident than I expected. Matt was in my group and even he commented that I'd done a good job, tying in personal experiences and stuff, so that felt pretty good.
After the final Matt and I went to the creperie, but it was closed for some reason, so I went and bought some last postcard stamps and ate some lunch before us, Denise, and Courtney set off first for Matt and Denise to buy Hairspray tickets (I already saw it and didn't want to see it again, I loved it the one time) and then we met up with Will at Leadenhall Market, where they filmed some of Diagon Alley and the Leaky Cauldron, which I'm sad to say is actually an optical store or something. But we took pictures anyway, and got amazingly delicious cookies at Ben's Cookies- there's actually one at the Gateway in Salt Lake, I think that's the only one in the states, but they're so so so good. Next the girls went to do some shopping, we went to Apricot, H&M, Top Shop... I bought some tops, shoes, and accessories, and I was pretty excited- I hadn't done any good real shopping liike that for a while. It was exhausting though.
So I got home in time to drop off my stuff before Will and I took off to try and get on the London Eye, and although I had to wait in the queue for like an hour, not sure if I would get a ticket since it was getting close to closing time, we both made it on and it was amazing! It's this gigantic ferris wheel type thing over the Thames across from Big Ben, and the view was amazing, around sunset so there was still some light but everything was getting lit up... it was, well, amazing!
This evening has been super stressful... I thought I'd be able to pack everything alright, but apparently all the stuff I've bought takes up more room than I'd thought... I've just wanted to cry all night. I'm gonna have to get up in a couple hours to try to figure everything out, possibly buy another bag, before we have to check out and leave my home of the last month... :(
Alright, so yesterday, Sunday, I was feeling so crappy in the morning that I couldn't even get out of bed, so I skipped going to my assigned ward and didn't get out of bed until 12:30. I seriously needed that. So when I got up I felt a bit better so I just went to sacrament meeting at the singles ward, but that was about all I could take.. come to find out that singles wards in England aren't much different than singles wards in Salt Lake.
This afternoon a group of us went to find Abbey Road to take a traditional picture walking across the crosswalk near the Abbey Road studios, as made famous by the cover art of the Beatles Abbey Road Album. I was pretty excited about it. It's pretty funny, it's not exactly a quiet street, and there were a ton of people there yesterday all trying to take pictures, but the cars driving by really do not like stopping for people walking across the street taking pictures. There are like hundreds of accidents there all the time. We survived though, and it made me happy. After we took pictures in front of the studio and signed our names on the wall outside where everyone does, a few of us went to Kensington Park to take pictures with the Peter Pan statue. I'm sad that I didn't spend more time in the park, but it seemed like we always had so much to do. I wish I had more time here to just hang out, now that I've seen all the big sights that I wanted to. But yeah, then everyone had to spend the evening doing my least favorite thing to do- study. We all had finals, but nobody was very motivated to study. Me especially I think, since the credit does nothing for me- I'm just here for the experience.
Now on to today, Monday. Will and I got up super early to do our laundry so that we wouldn't have to worry about for the rest of the day, our last day here in London. Then we had to head over to take our finals- the first was an hour long written test for the history of English class, and yeah, I didn't feel too good about it... I have a hard time with history, and I just couldn't remember a lot of the answers. The next one was a group oral discussion type exam for the varieties of English class, and while I was nervous for that one, I think it ended up going alright. i was super nervous about being required to talk in the discussion, and we even ended up having to answer the question that I was like the facilitator over, but I was somehow more confident than I expected. Matt was in my group and even he commented that I'd done a good job, tying in personal experiences and stuff, so that felt pretty good.
After the final Matt and I went to the creperie, but it was closed for some reason, so I went and bought some last postcard stamps and ate some lunch before us, Denise, and Courtney set off first for Matt and Denise to buy Hairspray tickets (I already saw it and didn't want to see it again, I loved it the one time) and then we met up with Will at Leadenhall Market, where they filmed some of Diagon Alley and the Leaky Cauldron, which I'm sad to say is actually an optical store or something. But we took pictures anyway, and got amazingly delicious cookies at Ben's Cookies- there's actually one at the Gateway in Salt Lake, I think that's the only one in the states, but they're so so so good. Next the girls went to do some shopping, we went to Apricot, H&M, Top Shop... I bought some tops, shoes, and accessories, and I was pretty excited- I hadn't done any good real shopping liike that for a while. It was exhausting though.
So I got home in time to drop off my stuff before Will and I took off to try and get on the London Eye, and although I had to wait in the queue for like an hour, not sure if I would get a ticket since it was getting close to closing time, we both made it on and it was amazing! It's this gigantic ferris wheel type thing over the Thames across from Big Ben, and the view was amazing, around sunset so there was still some light but everything was getting lit up... it was, well, amazing!
This evening has been super stressful... I thought I'd be able to pack everything alright, but apparently all the stuff I've bought takes up more room than I'd thought... I've just wanted to cry all night. I'm gonna have to get up in a couple hours to try to figure everything out, possibly buy another bag, before we have to check out and leave my home of the last month... :(
Sunday, August 2, 2009
My weekend in Paris!
Alrighty, so here is the update for my lovely weekend in beautiful Paris...
Friday the 31st
We started this morning before dawn, woke at 4:00, left by 5:20, rode the empty tube to the Eurostar station where we got our passports stamped and set off on the chunnel train. I was surprised, but despite being uncomfortable, I actually slept a little on the way. Actually, I don't even remember being underground... every time I looked ou the windw we were outside- I just remember my ears kept filling up, apparently as we were going down. Actually, when I really woke up I didn't even realize we were in France, not until I got a text message saying Welcome to France did I realize we weren't in England anymore.
It's been kind of scary being here, not knowing how to communicate, and we all came close to getting pickpocketed several times already. London is definitely not like that, and I'm glad- I've never not felt safe in London. So thankfully Jules has been here before and she and Matt can get around in French. So this morning after getting crepes (Frommage and Jambon!) we went to a church on a hill of which I can't remember the name, but we had to climb lots and lots of stairs to get to it. We had a pretty good view of the city though, so we took some pictures, and I bought Eiffel Tower keychains that the guys on the street were selling 3 for 1 euro. Then we wandered down a street that had some souvenir shops and I bought a bag I'd been wanting since one of the girls who went to Paris a couple weeks ago brought hers home- it's so cute! It says Paris and France all over, and has a fabric flower on the front. I was going to go for the simple black and white, but everyone convinced me to go with the red and white, and I'm glad I did, because it is so cute!
So anyway, next we rode the metro to this pretty cool old cemetery, that was slightly creepy because of how old and kind of overgrown it was, full of mausoleums and really old graves. So half the group wandered through some more, looking for the graves of some famous authors whose works I've never read so it wasn't a big deal to me, so a couple of us just chilled on a bench in front of a huge monument statue thing. It was nice and peaceful for the most part.
Next we went to the Arc du Triomph (don't mock me on any of my French spellings, I had a hard enough trying to pronounce them... I avoided having to buy stuff as much as I could because it was scary trying to either say the words in French, or not know how to do that so I would just kind of gesture a bit, or just hand them the item and the money I thought I owed... the scariest was when someone would start speaking in French to me and I would have no clue what they were saying or what to do... oh man). Paris started to feel more real then, but mostly when I could catch a glimpse of the Eiffel Tower in the background. So aft3er some more pictures we walked down the famous street for which I can't write it to the Liuvre(?). It was arm, probably mostly because we're so not used to the sun. I was dying though, almost out of water, when we found an awesome fountain meant for drinking (it's like the 4th one I've seen this entire trip, apparently they don't believe in water fountains over here) so we all filled up our water bottles ever so thankfully.
When we reached what's considered the center of the city there are some cool fountains which we stopped to take some pictures by, as well as to rest in the cool spray coming off the water, and I threw a penny in and made a wish- I've done that now in a river in Ireland as well as one of the Roman baths. So anyway, the Lieuvre wasn't the most exciting thing for me, I've never been a huge museum buff, but we did get in for free because apparently it's free on Friday nights for people under 25 (are they trying to get people to date too??) and we did get to see the Mona Lisa, which was pretty darn cool.
After the museum we set off back toward the Eiffel Tower, looking for food along the way, and took some cool sunset pictures over the Seine river. So every cafe we passed was ridiculously expensive, and we kept thinking we'd find something cheaper, but eventually we were so starving that we passed a Domino's pizza and couldn't pass it up. So Matt ordered for us in French, and it was amazing, and we took the pizza to a park by the Eiffel Tower and ate it there. This was by far my most favorite part of the entire weekend- eating our pizza on the grass by the Eiffel Tower. There were people everywhere, and the tower was all lit up, and on the hour the whole thing just started sparkling like diamonds- it was amazing! Seriously, one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen. That's when I really felt like I was in Paris. And man, it really would be a very romantic place to be. I was so sad to leave, but we were all exhausted and ready for a bed.
Our hostel was actually pretty nice. the four of us girls were in one room and the 2 guys were next door in their own room, and there was this awesome little balcony and the windows actually opened! I'm not sure exactly how safe it was, but Jake was the only one who would come out there with me so we stood on the little balcony and listened to the sounds of Paris... we couldn't see anything besides the building next to us, but there were people walking and driving beneath us, and it was just really cool.
Saturday August 1
This morning the first thing we did was the one thing I really cared most about doing while here in Paris- we went to the top of the Eiffel Tower. We got there a bit later than planned due to some room key mishaps, but it was fine. Jake and Jules didn't come so it was just the four of us. It was absolutely amazing! The first several hundred stairs we had to walk to the first and second levels were tough, but not unbearable- I really should have legs of steel after all the walking/stairs we've been doing. Plus we stopped on each level to look around and take pictures, and buy one of the best ice cream cones I've ever had (as well as one of hte most expensive, but it was well worth it). The elevator ride to the top wasn't nearly as bad as I've heard, sure it was crowded, but I'm getting used to that, and it only lasted maybe a minute anyway. I actually thought it was really cool- I guess my excitement for heights is also being brought out on this trip. The view from the top was indescribable. You could see everything for miels around. It was crazy looking down adn seeing the shadow of the Eiffel Tower beneath me and realizing that I was actually on it. It's kind of hard to describe, but it's like, practically my whole life I've imagined going to Paris and seeing the Eiffel Tower, and I think that when you dream about something enough and long enough, when it becomes a reality, it becomes difficult to grasp that reality. But, although it's still hard for me to believe, I have pictures to prove it.
After the Eiffel Tower I somehow got separated from the group, but we'd set up a meeting spot with Jake and Jules at some fountains across the street so I made my way there and found them. The rain started up about then, but I realized how much I've come to love th erain- it feels like home now. I'm going to miss it going home to the desert. Sadly though, as soon as we set off for Notre Dame the sun came out and it got super hot, way hotter than it ever gets at home... I mean, in London. I only brought jeans because normally I need them to keep warm enough, but I was wishing for shorts today. Anyway, it took us quite a while to walk alogn the Seine toward the Latin Quarter, which is where Notre Dame is. It would have been a lovely walk if it weren't for the heavy backpack I was carrying. I barely brought anything with me, but it wasn't exactly light, and the straps were rubbing against my neck. Plus I got this weird blister on the bottom of my pinky toe... it was weird, I was wearing my good shoes and everything. Oh yeah, so I saw somethign I'd never seen before today- brawls. Twice in like a couple of hours! First beneath the Eiffel Tower, something with the keychain guys, then at a cafe where we were going to try to use the loo. It was kinda scary, I was worried someone was going to pull out a gun or something. That didn't happen, but there were both punches and glasses thrown. Kinda creepy.
So when we finally made it to the Latin Quarter we bought smoe lunch/dinner (Frommage and Poulet crepe) and ate it outside the Notre Dame before going inside. We just walked through the cathedral, we didn't make it up to the towers, but honestly we're all a little cathedraled out. Isn't it funny, I'd never seen a cathedral in my life before a few weeks ago, and now I've seen so many that the Notre Dame in Paris wasn't even that exciting. It was fun to hear the bells of Notre Dame though- I want to watch the Hunchback of Notre Dame now. And Anastasia- I kept thinking about that "Paris holds the key to your heart" song. Mostly though the song I've been singing in my head all weekend is the one from Mamma Mia, "Our Last Summer." It talks about walks alogn the Seine, laughing in the rain... we made our way along the river and we sat down in hte grass by teh Eiffel Tower- all things that I've doen now! Unbelievable.
After Notre Dame we went to a cool little bookshop nearby, but it was stuffy and dusty insdie, and apparently cats are known to wander in and out, and on top of that I think I may be getting a little cold- my nose is stuffy/runny and my sinuses are full- fabulous. The rest of the evenign we sat at a park, bought some souvenirs, ice cream, and Jake, Jules, and I walked aroudn the Notre Dame to another little island in the Seine (did you know that Notre Dame is on an island in the river? I didn't!) and walked along the river, listened/watched soem street performers, it was pretty cool.
After riding an icky, hot tube we made it to the station, through security and customs, and are now on the Eurstar train home. I'm not too excited, I'm just ready to get home and live up these last couple days in London before we leave for Scotland.
Friday the 31st
We started this morning before dawn, woke at 4:00, left by 5:20, rode the empty tube to the Eurostar station where we got our passports stamped and set off on the chunnel train. I was surprised, but despite being uncomfortable, I actually slept a little on the way. Actually, I don't even remember being underground... every time I looked ou the windw we were outside- I just remember my ears kept filling up, apparently as we were going down. Actually, when I really woke up I didn't even realize we were in France, not until I got a text message saying Welcome to France did I realize we weren't in England anymore.
It's been kind of scary being here, not knowing how to communicate, and we all came close to getting pickpocketed several times already. London is definitely not like that, and I'm glad- I've never not felt safe in London. So thankfully Jules has been here before and she and Matt can get around in French. So this morning after getting crepes (Frommage and Jambon!) we went to a church on a hill of which I can't remember the name, but we had to climb lots and lots of stairs to get to it. We had a pretty good view of the city though, so we took some pictures, and I bought Eiffel Tower keychains that the guys on the street were selling 3 for 1 euro. Then we wandered down a street that had some souvenir shops and I bought a bag I'd been wanting since one of the girls who went to Paris a couple weeks ago brought hers home- it's so cute! It says Paris and France all over, and has a fabric flower on the front. I was going to go for the simple black and white, but everyone convinced me to go with the red and white, and I'm glad I did, because it is so cute!
So anyway, next we rode the metro to this pretty cool old cemetery, that was slightly creepy because of how old and kind of overgrown it was, full of mausoleums and really old graves. So half the group wandered through some more, looking for the graves of some famous authors whose works I've never read so it wasn't a big deal to me, so a couple of us just chilled on a bench in front of a huge monument statue thing. It was nice and peaceful for the most part.
Next we went to the Arc du Triomph (don't mock me on any of my French spellings, I had a hard enough trying to pronounce them... I avoided having to buy stuff as much as I could because it was scary trying to either say the words in French, or not know how to do that so I would just kind of gesture a bit, or just hand them the item and the money I thought I owed... the scariest was when someone would start speaking in French to me and I would have no clue what they were saying or what to do... oh man). Paris started to feel more real then, but mostly when I could catch a glimpse of the Eiffel Tower in the background. So aft3er some more pictures we walked down the famous street for which I can't write it to the Liuvre(?). It was arm, probably mostly because we're so not used to the sun. I was dying though, almost out of water, when we found an awesome fountain meant for drinking (it's like the 4th one I've seen this entire trip, apparently they don't believe in water fountains over here) so we all filled up our water bottles ever so thankfully.
When we reached what's considered the center of the city there are some cool fountains which we stopped to take some pictures by, as well as to rest in the cool spray coming off the water, and I threw a penny in and made a wish- I've done that now in a river in Ireland as well as one of the Roman baths. So anyway, the Lieuvre wasn't the most exciting thing for me, I've never been a huge museum buff, but we did get in for free because apparently it's free on Friday nights for people under 25 (are they trying to get people to date too??) and we did get to see the Mona Lisa, which was pretty darn cool.
After the museum we set off back toward the Eiffel Tower, looking for food along the way, and took some cool sunset pictures over the Seine river. So every cafe we passed was ridiculously expensive, and we kept thinking we'd find something cheaper, but eventually we were so starving that we passed a Domino's pizza and couldn't pass it up. So Matt ordered for us in French, and it was amazing, and we took the pizza to a park by the Eiffel Tower and ate it there. This was by far my most favorite part of the entire weekend- eating our pizza on the grass by the Eiffel Tower. There were people everywhere, and the tower was all lit up, and on the hour the whole thing just started sparkling like diamonds- it was amazing! Seriously, one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen. That's when I really felt like I was in Paris. And man, it really would be a very romantic place to be. I was so sad to leave, but we were all exhausted and ready for a bed.
Our hostel was actually pretty nice. the four of us girls were in one room and the 2 guys were next door in their own room, and there was this awesome little balcony and the windows actually opened! I'm not sure exactly how safe it was, but Jake was the only one who would come out there with me so we stood on the little balcony and listened to the sounds of Paris... we couldn't see anything besides the building next to us, but there were people walking and driving beneath us, and it was just really cool.
Saturday August 1
This morning the first thing we did was the one thing I really cared most about doing while here in Paris- we went to the top of the Eiffel Tower. We got there a bit later than planned due to some room key mishaps, but it was fine. Jake and Jules didn't come so it was just the four of us. It was absolutely amazing! The first several hundred stairs we had to walk to the first and second levels were tough, but not unbearable- I really should have legs of steel after all the walking/stairs we've been doing. Plus we stopped on each level to look around and take pictures, and buy one of the best ice cream cones I've ever had (as well as one of hte most expensive, but it was well worth it). The elevator ride to the top wasn't nearly as bad as I've heard, sure it was crowded, but I'm getting used to that, and it only lasted maybe a minute anyway. I actually thought it was really cool- I guess my excitement for heights is also being brought out on this trip. The view from the top was indescribable. You could see everything for miels around. It was crazy looking down adn seeing the shadow of the Eiffel Tower beneath me and realizing that I was actually on it. It's kind of hard to describe, but it's like, practically my whole life I've imagined going to Paris and seeing the Eiffel Tower, and I think that when you dream about something enough and long enough, when it becomes a reality, it becomes difficult to grasp that reality. But, although it's still hard for me to believe, I have pictures to prove it.
After the Eiffel Tower I somehow got separated from the group, but we'd set up a meeting spot with Jake and Jules at some fountains across the street so I made my way there and found them. The rain started up about then, but I realized how much I've come to love th erain- it feels like home now. I'm going to miss it going home to the desert. Sadly though, as soon as we set off for Notre Dame the sun came out and it got super hot, way hotter than it ever gets at home... I mean, in London. I only brought jeans because normally I need them to keep warm enough, but I was wishing for shorts today. Anyway, it took us quite a while to walk alogn the Seine toward the Latin Quarter, which is where Notre Dame is. It would have been a lovely walk if it weren't for the heavy backpack I was carrying. I barely brought anything with me, but it wasn't exactly light, and the straps were rubbing against my neck. Plus I got this weird blister on the bottom of my pinky toe... it was weird, I was wearing my good shoes and everything. Oh yeah, so I saw somethign I'd never seen before today- brawls. Twice in like a couple of hours! First beneath the Eiffel Tower, something with the keychain guys, then at a cafe where we were going to try to use the loo. It was kinda scary, I was worried someone was going to pull out a gun or something. That didn't happen, but there were both punches and glasses thrown. Kinda creepy.
So when we finally made it to the Latin Quarter we bought smoe lunch/dinner (Frommage and Poulet crepe) and ate it outside the Notre Dame before going inside. We just walked through the cathedral, we didn't make it up to the towers, but honestly we're all a little cathedraled out. Isn't it funny, I'd never seen a cathedral in my life before a few weeks ago, and now I've seen so many that the Notre Dame in Paris wasn't even that exciting. It was fun to hear the bells of Notre Dame though- I want to watch the Hunchback of Notre Dame now. And Anastasia- I kept thinking about that "Paris holds the key to your heart" song. Mostly though the song I've been singing in my head all weekend is the one from Mamma Mia, "Our Last Summer." It talks about walks alogn the Seine, laughing in the rain... we made our way along the river and we sat down in hte grass by teh Eiffel Tower- all things that I've doen now! Unbelievable.
After Notre Dame we went to a cool little bookshop nearby, but it was stuffy and dusty insdie, and apparently cats are known to wander in and out, and on top of that I think I may be getting a little cold- my nose is stuffy/runny and my sinuses are full- fabulous. The rest of the evenign we sat at a park, bought some souvenirs, ice cream, and Jake, Jules, and I walked aroudn the Notre Dame to another little island in the Seine (did you know that Notre Dame is on an island in the river? I didn't!) and walked along the river, listened/watched soem street performers, it was pretty cool.
After riding an icky, hot tube we made it to the station, through security and customs, and are now on the Eurstar train home. I'm not too excited, I'm just ready to get home and live up these last couple days in London before we leave for Scotland.
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