And So It Goes

I can't believe that it is finally over! I know that I'm writing this rather late, but it still feels so fresh in my mind. Maybe I'm still in denial that it's over . . .

Well, anyways, it was an action-packed few days to the finish. Saturday was our food final, which was very Eddie's Million Dollar Cookoff. Six of us made gnocchi and wrote a paper about it, and you know what, we thought it went pretty well. Imagine our suprise on Monday night, when we got the grade back with a C+ on the paper! Since I played a big part in writing the paper, I was really upset, but one round of retail therapy with Genna and Kalais later, I felt a little stronger. We had a huge rant session with our group, which was not the most mature thing, but boy it sure helped! When we realized that it was a misunderstanding between what he expected and what he wrote, Heather and I got nominated to talk to him. After rehearsing my speech all morning, we presented and he agreed to change the grade to an A-! I felt so powerful! Yeah!

Not only was Saturday full of frustrating finals, but a lot of other running. We ran to Portobello Road to get last-minute Christmas presents. I was there on my first Saturday and my last Saturday. I hate closure, because it means that things are closed. Stupid full circle. I also got to see Chronicles of Narnia (AWESOME!!!), eat at Wagamama's, and go to Rutter's Christmas Celebration, which was a dream come true for someone who has sung in way too many Christmas concerts over the years. Sunday was our last week in the Mitcham ward, and I am really going to miss that ward. The people were so loving, caring, and accepting. They all seemed sad to see us go, even though they get new BYU students every semester. They taught me so much about acceptance and I hope to take that with me. We had our last African feast with Amma, the coolest young adult in all of London and all of her friends, too.

Monday, it was back to finals and fitting everything in last minute. Kalais and I went back to Kensington, where we'd been walking on our days off from Pilates to finally get the pictures we were too sleepy to get at 6:30 in the morning. Since they'd given us extra money, Genna and I went last-minute accessory shopping on Bond Street. Then, it was back to the center for our last chance at Yorkshire Pudding ( I will not so much be missing those oil-soaked bread baskets) and the long-awaited sleepover. It was great to have all of the girls together, and we kept wondering why we hadn't done it sooner!

Well, last day in London! I realized that I had never seen the changing of the guard, which is pretty much a big parade, but it's one of those things that you have to do in London. I took a brilliant spill up the escalator, but that's just another thing that's very "me". We also needed that last "London Tourist" shot at Platform 9 3/4, because what is London without Harry Potter pictures? And then, it was time to pack for hours and hours and make sure I didn't lose anything. Luckily, my luggage was light, and I wasn't sad to lose those painful food textbooks, but it was painful to see all the reminders of my trip get shoved into a suitcase.

The next morning started bright and early, as we took the tube back to Heathrow. I think that on the tube was the first time I really started to cry, because I realized that it really was all over. Luckily for me, I was on the "party flight", with about 15 of us on the same flight, and I was within talking distance of eight or nine different people in the long long lines at the airport and three on the plane itself. It was a good chance to say goodbye but still be having fun. We all went our separate ways in Chicago, with me and Abbi heading to San Francisco. The plane was grounded for 20 minutes, which isn't really that bad, but it was enough to drive me half insane. Luckily for me, the in-flight movie (Cinderella Man) was really good and kept my mind off of everything. My parents and James picked me up from the airport, and now I'm back home!

In conclusion, I must say that I really loved London. It gave me the opportunity to be away from almost everything familiar and comfortable and forced me to grow. I found wonderful and amazing new friends, I challenged myself academically, and I grew to love and appreciate London for all of its beauty and history. I found out that I want more education, I want to travel, and that I need to keep in touch with people better!

When it Rains, It Pours.

See, if you wait around long enough, I don't just post once, I post twice.

After that homework-filled post, I figured you might want to know what fun stuff I've been doing. So, here we go.

1) Going to the "Frost Fair". We were told that it was a big Shakespearean recreation festival, but the only thing Shakespearean about it was that it took place under the Globe. It was like our elementary school craft fair.

2) Spending £20 on dinner for foods class. While waaay more than I would usually spend, the food was pretty good (pumpkin pasta, chinese sirloin, chocolate tart) and I felt very grown up and fancy.

3) Getting to church without anything weird happening! Hip hip hooray!

4) Finally getting to the Banqueting House (Fifth time's a charm!). It was not that exciting, but Charles I was killed there. Isn't that cheerful?

5)Buying bath products at Lush. If you go to the website, you'll see why I was practically in heaven. (lush.com, but it's cheaper here). It was so much fun!

6) Going to Oxford. We got to hear a lecture from a Sikh woman about her experiences, and it was fascinating. The town itself is cool and very old, and almost made me want to go to Oxford. Then, I came to my senses and realized how pricey that could get. And also, it's more fun in Provo. I can't believe I just wrote that.

7) Going to concerts. This includes classical quartets and college choirs, but my fun experience was at the Morning Runner concert. Can you believe it? Quiet old Elisabeth, at a real concert. We went out to Camden Town, which is a little bit ghetto, to a place called the Barfly where Coldplay and Oasis used to play. The area was small and dark and LOUD! We had balled up toilet paper in our ears, and it was still really loud. Most of the people around us were drinking or smoking (including some illegal substances), so you can imagine I smelled great when I left there. The first band, Sunshine Underground, was "good for a first band", or so I am told. I enjoyed it. The second band, Absentee, reminded me of lumberjacks because they wore a lot of plaid and had really scruffy hair. Also, the lead singer had a very low, gravelly voice. During this set, this weird guy was about six inches away from my back blowing smoke in my face. I was NOT amused. However, this was all worth it for the last band, Morning Runner. Ana, you especially would love and adore this band. They were great! Great music, great performance, good rapport with the audience. I totally want to buy their CD when it comes out in February.

8) Shopping at cheap stores! Finally, five days before I leave, I found all the cheap stores. Figures... Oh well, found some cool stuff anyways.

9) Eating dinner with ward members. Our ward is so good and loving to us! They keep inviting us over for dinner, giving us presents, etc. I feel like I don't deserve this love and affection. I've been working in the nursery, not doing something amazing. My friend Kelli told me that I should take this experience and give back to someone else later, which I've been thinking about a lot recently.

10) Missing you guys and counting down the days! I only have 4 days here, you guys, and I will be back in California on Wednesday night!

The English Muffin Goes Gourmet

So, umm, long time no post. Sorry about that. The line for computers can get a little bit crazy and I always felt bad about kicking people off of homework to update my blog.

Don't you all just love finals? I thought I might share with you the strangeness that is my finals schedule here, class by class. London Walks: no final. Hurrah! Religion: 25 question multiple choice and two-page comparative paper. I can deal with that. History of London: Journals (easy), three page paper about Parliament due after we leave (not bad, and done) and test on Monday (haven't even started studying.) Philosophy: He cancelled the test and moved the percentages over everything else, including my big fat terrible paper. Nasty. Now, for the true fun, ladies and gentlemen, I present my foods class: 93-page journals of my food experience for the entire semester. Time-consuming at best. Today's final (in an hour and a half) We have an hour to prepare and clean up a recipe. We're making potato gnocchi with tomato sauce with six of us. Then, we have to write up a tasting and a two to three page paper about the history of the dish. That's 10 percent of my grade. The journals are 90.

So basically, I have no idea what my grades will look like for this semester. But surprisingly, I really don't care. My grades were not the ultimate goal of this program, so I'm just happy that I've been here and classes are almost over!!! Good luck on finals everybody!

And Then There Were Twelve...

So, I'm terribly sorry for not posting recently, but I finally got out of my illness-induced stupor and was blindsided by the crushing reality of deadlines. Yeah, I am not a big fan of homework. So, that post-Thanksgiving weekend was mostly marked by me sitting around in my pajamas, watching chick flicks and doing whatever easy homework I could (short walk in London, Who Wants to Be A Millionaire-chocolate history edition.)By the time I finally felt better, I realized that I have a fat ton of things due pretty soon. Yikes!!!!! So, I've been trying to fit fun things around my homework. Monday night, we went to go see And Then There Were None, which is my favorite Agatha Christie book EVER, and the staging was great too. I also had some fun that day just wandering around museums by myself. I really enjoy being able to do things independently.

Tuesday was marked by the Christmas lights in Trafalgar Square, which would have been cooler on a more impressive tree. Seriously, Norway gives England this tree to thank the UK for freeing them from the Nazis, and it looks like a giant Charlie Brown tree. Hearing the carols and hanging out with everybody was fun, though, and it put me in a nice Christmas mood. Wednesday, I saw most of Westminster Abbey and finally took my ride on the London Eye. That's the giant ferris wheel that was also on the Amazing Race, and you know my weakness for all things Amazing Race. Recently, I have mostly just been doing the last of Christmas shopping for my family, but it's fun.

So, what do you guys think of the nickname Libby? At least half of the people here call me that, and I've finally gotten really used to it. It almost might be weird to go back to being called Lis or Elisabeth. Ah, the fun of random nicknames.

You may ask, why eleven? The play title uses NONE, silly bean. Well, it's because I will be home in twelve days!

Let Us Be Thankful

So, as this Thanksgiving season rolls around, I have realized that I have so much to be grateful for. In fact, it would be a really really long list of things to be grateful for, so I will spare you most of that list and give you the "relevant to my life this past week" version. Soo....here we go.

1) Being able to just chill at the center. I've been feeling a little under the weather, but everyone else is tired too, so I've spent a lot of time sitting and talking in the kitchen, on the stairs, in the classroom, on my bed, you name it. It's great.

2) When I don't want to chill out, there's lots to see and do. This week, I saw Phantom of the Opera (exciting staging, wonderful Phantom, disappointing Christine, but what can you do? We got really good seats for half price), Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (which I liked, but found it kind of rushed), an auction at Christie's, and the coolest glass and sculpture exhibits ever at the V & A. I've discovered that I really like glasswork.

3) I actually enjoyed Thanksgiving! As many of you know, I am not really all the fond of Thanksgiving. I just spent the morning relaxing, doing a little Christmas shopping and bought myself a really pretty sweater. The food was fantastic! We just had turkey breast instead of a whole big scary turkey, then we had this yummy spicy stuffing, squash casserole, jell-o salad, crescent rolls, vegetables, mashed potatoes, and three kinds of pie. YUMMY!!!!! Everybody helped out in the cooking or setting up or decorating (except me, because I missed the sign-up sheet and slept through decorating), and it was just really fun. I felt very at home. Later, we all wrote cards for servicemen as a kind of "thankful" thing.

That night, we all got roped into a Thanksgiving talent show. Each room (or half of room) had to come up with a talent. My room decided to have the "Digestive-Eating World Cup". A digestive is a type of cookie, for the record. This, I think, was a lot funnier in theory than practice, and I am never going to try to eat 5 at a time again. Ick. Needless to say, we did not win the prize. It went to the guys,who, as usual, impersonated SNL Celebrity Jeopardy, which I don't think counts because they do it ALL. THE. TIME. We also had individual talents, and my friend MJ and I did a flute and violin duet of three of our favorite Christmas songs (Noel Nouvelet, Stars were Gleaming and that Mary, Mary, come see the child round that I forget the name of). We both thought it was last-minute and lousy, but we won the "Mayflower Medallion" for individual talent, so go figure. My favorite was the other winner, which was three of my friends who did an interpretive Irish dance representing how you feel when you're done with dish crew. We ended the night with Garfield's Thanksgiving and Muppet Christmas Carol, and it was just great all in all.

P.S. Jessi, Brandon says, and I quote "Tell Jessi something cool from me. No, wait, ummm, tell her I am proud of her as a home teacher."

An Ode to Public Transportation

I know I just posted about five minutes ago, but I couldn't let today go without some sort of commemmoration. A little background: I go to church very, very far away from where I live. It can take anywhere from an hour and a half to two hours to get there, taking first the tube, then a bus, then another bus, and then the tram. Every single week, something happens that is new and exciting. For example, that first week we tried to take the train, which meant we took a scenic two-mile walk to church from the train station. That next week, when we needed to find an alternate way, our trip director had never even heard of our ward. I should have taken that as a bad omen.

From then on, it's been something different every week. Either it was the time that the bus just stopped running about a mile before the stop we needed, or the time we accidentally got off the bus about five stops too early because we weren't paying attention. One week a group of three male tourists asked to take a picture with us and one week it cost us £1.10 just to walk through a train station (GRRR!). You make think the stories would stop there, but no, they keep coming. One week, the line with out stop on it just never came, so we had to take a very creative route home. Yet another week, we had our bus driver chase down our connecting bus (as I've already told you about). Every so often, my friend Heather does something hilarious like walk into a pole or throw away her ticket. But today, friends, today beat them all.

It started out uneventfully enough, but that was soon to change. As we got off the Tube to catch our first bus, Heather realized that the bus was already at the stop so she darted out into oncoming traffic to try to stop the bus. The ploy worked, but the day just got stranger. After we got off the second bus, I was waiting at the tram station with Tasha while Heather went to the bathroom. Now, I have to give you some background on what I looked like today. It is freezing! So, in addition to a long-sleeve brown sweater and a long tan corduroy skirt, I was wearing my big puffy tan corduroy coat, zipped up and with my hood on. To make matters worse, I was wearing navy blue track pants under my skirt and big clunky black shoes. Yeah, I looked pretty hideous.

So, imagine me, a tan corduroy fashion-challenged Eskimo, waiting at the tram stop. This 30-year-old African man came up to me at Tasha and asked if he could talk to me. I just assumed he wanted directions, so I said sure. Then, he turned to Tasha, and asked HER if he could talk to me. This was when I got an inkling that it was a strange situation. Then, he started talking about how he fancied me and wanted to get to know me better. I was so freaked out! I just kind of told him that I was about to go to church, so sorry, I wasn't interested. He was hurt, and was all like " Fine, you don't even want to know why I wanted to talk to you." So, we walked quickly away and got on the tram, but then when we got off, he was right in front of us. When he turned around and saw us, he just started running away. Weird. What grade do I get for that, Ana?

In addition to this experience, I nearly sat up into a metal bar, Heather walked straight past the ward building, and we ran down the platform at the tube stop just so we would be closer to the exit. Boy, did people look at us funny! Words cannot express how excited I am to come home to uneventful transportation.

Free-for-All

Recently, it has just seemed like there is so much for me to do in London without spending very much money at all. I think that is what I will miss the most in Provo. Thursday, we tried to go to the Banqueting House (Charles I was killed nearby), but it was closed for a government function so we went to the Cabinet War Rooms instead. These actually cost money, but it was so worth it to see the place where England ran their WWII homefront operations. Especially if you are a history nut like me, it was really exciting. That night, though, we had so much fun. We went to Covent Garden to see them light up their Christmas tree, and they had performances from Stomp and G4 (this Il-Divo-esque male quartet that I'd seen earlier in the semester in Hyde Park). It was such a blast, and it was the kind of thing that would never be free anywhere else. Friday, we braved the freezing cold South Bank to browse through the used book market (very free/freezing),and then went inside the National Theatre to look at a set design contest and a jewelry exhibit. They were both just unique and fun and made me wish I had a ton of money to buy all that jewelry! Afterwards, we went to a free string quartet concert at St. Martin's in the Field, where I heard the most amazing Shostakovich piece ever. Saturday, I went back to Portobello Road. It feels so weird to go back and compare my impressions from that first day that I went! Also, we saw a matinee of Les Mis (most definitely NOT free, but half-price for students) which was just amazing and strongly recommended to anyone that goes to London.

Because I'm Fantastic, Darling

So, usually I feel like I have lots of exciting news to tell, but today I feel like I need to extend lots of excitement on all of your behalf. So, congratulations on upcoming weddings, new engagements, new boyfriends, moves to Provo, or just exciting dreams. Thanks for keeping me posted! You guys are awesome!

Well, in my inner mind, these past few days were supposed to be relaxing. I need to just stop thinking that, because that really just isn't working for me. Monday, I went to this Islam in Britain conference. I am so fascinated by the Islamic religion. Don't worry, I'm not going to start draping myself in veils or anything, I just enjoy learning about it. Anyways, we went to several lectures and people kept taking pictures of me. I felt like I was famous! I tried my best to look studious and interested and cover the doodles I was making in my notebook, and of course they were taking pictures of the side of my face that was totally broken out. So, should random pictures of me show up somewhere, they are possibly from this conference.

Monday, a girl from my group went home. She had been depressed for a while and finally decided that she was best of leaving London. It just about broke my heart entirely to see her leave, like there was something more that I could have done even though I know there wasn't. I hope that she is doing better now that she's at home. Anyways, we made her a movie as a going-away present, and I think she really enjoyed it even though all of us cringed watching ourselves on camera. We also played Jeopardy, my favorite over-competitive game. I must say though, Jespardy was way better.

Tuesday was my roommate MJ's birthday. The two of us are mutually obsessed with digestives (a chocolate-covered graham cracker like biscuit), so we did the coolest thing with them for her birthday. I wish I could take credit for it, but that all goes to Brandon. We took four rolls of digestives in milk, caramel, mint, and orange (Cath, did you know they came in that many flavors?), and covered them with pictures of other people with the initials of MJ (Michael Jackson, Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Monterey Jack from Rescue Rangers, "Mr. and Mrs. Jones", and MJ from Spiderman) and wrote about how she was better than all of them. She totally loved it! I love birthdays!

Yesterday, we went to the British Museum, home of the Rosetta Stone and the Elgin Marbles. My entire life, I have thought that the Elgin Marbles were a bunch of little round glass balls on a pedestal under a glass case somewhere. This is not true. They are statues from the Parthenon. Boy, did I feel stupid. I'm sure all of you knew this already, but for some reason, that was totally left out of my education. We also went back to this cool aerial world map I saw in September and hopped the fence to take pictures. I felt like a rebel!

These past few days have also made me really glad for the wonderful girls at the London Centre. Due to various deadlines, rough drafts, people, etc., my moods have gone up and down like crazy these past few days. I feel like whenever I'm stressed or going psycho, someone has been there to catch me. So, massive thanks going out to Kalais, Genna, Mary Jane, Kelli, Rachel, Leslie, and Heather Stay, who have quite frankly been awesome in helping me figure things out. Please don't read this and worry, I really have been doing well. Everyone has bad days now and then. Loveya!

On the Shoulders of Giants

Thursday morning, we began the very last of our long bus/hostel trips. This time, it was to York. My initial thoughts: What's in York besides an archbishop and peppermint patties? As I was to find out, there are also Vikings and lots of narrow streets. We tried to go to the minster (big church) first thing off, but they had a funeral so showing around American tourists was pretty low on their list. Instead, we went to the Jorvik Viking Center. Imagine Pirates of the Caribbean as a really low-budget Vikings of the North Sea, and you have a good idea of this museum. They tried to be really authentic, right down to the smell, so I was trying to smell my sweater the whole time to avoid the stench of urine. Yuck. I also learned that my name is a really really long one to spell with Viking character stamps. We spent the rest of the night wandering through York and its cute little tiny streets and going to a lecture by a famous Shakespeare professor (which was the whole reason we took the trip in the first place)

Friday, we picked up, went to the minster (which was actually pretty cool), were given time for lunch, and then left York for good.I must admit, I wasn't too sad to leave hostels with co-ed bathrooms, which really scared me when I was brushing my teeth and a guy came out of the toilet. So, next stop? Liverpool. There's a good reason there are no pictures of Liverpool on my camera. Liverpool is the home of the Beatles, who I've decided were compelled to make up great music because their city is BORING. We wandered around a maritime museum, which was actually set up very well, and another Tate Gallery, which made me homesick for London. We were going to go to a Beatles museum, but I wasn't going to pay 6 pounds (about 11 dollars) for it. We may have seen more of Liverpool, but on our way out of the museum block, we got whistled and sworn at by a bunch of men, so I decided to cut my losses and head back to the hostel, which quite possibly used to be a factory.

I woke up Saturday morning feeling like I'd been hit by a truck. I've said it before, but there's a reason that hostel and hostile are such closely related words. We were given a grand total of fifteen minutes to see the Preston temple/MTC, which is beautiful like all temples. I have more pictures of fifteen minutes of the Preston temple than I have of sixteen or so hours in Liverpool. Our next scheduled item was a guided church history tour of Preston, which I have to admit I was pretty grumpy about, because it was raining. Luckily, the tour guide started to crack me up from the beginning and he was kind enough to let us stay on the bus until it stopped raining. Soo....this is where the story gets really fun.

Tour Guide: Everybody, look at that Subway on your left. There's a street to the right called the Old Cock Yard.

Inner-Elisabeth-Apathetic-Voice: Woo hoo. It's another old stony street. I guess it looks pretty neat.

Tour Guide: Here was the home of some guy whose name I can't pronounce. Umm...Alexander Knee-boar.

This is the point where I realized he was talking about my great-great-great-great-great-grandfather, Alexander Neibaur, pioneer linguist and dentist. I kind of freaked out and started whispering "He's a relative!" to all the people around me and forcing people on the other side of the bus to try to take pictures of the Subway for me. Luckily, we got out and walked past it later so I have better pictures of the ancestral home than a big yellow blur. I spent the rest of the day so excited and happy to be walking where my family walked so many years before. What a great experience! That day was just awesome, from the tour to finally going home to London and watching White Christmas. Now, my trip is just London. No more day trips. I am actually really excited about that. Down with buses and hostels!

Guy Fawkes Day

In honor of my friend Kelli Skinner, who did a similar post on her own blog, I am writing a special belated Guy Fawkes Day post. Guy Fawkes Day celebrates a man who tried to blow up Parliament, but didn't, so all across England they light bonfires, burn effigies, and explode fireworks. So, this post celebrates things that blow and things that light me up (Thanks Kelli!)

Things that blow:

1) Getting lost in the ghetto on your way to the Guy Fawkes Day party so that you only catch the last burning embers of what WAS a 30-foot replica of Parliament.

2) The exchange rate. I think it's around 1.80 right now, but it means my money just trickles away...

3) The circle line. Worst. Subway. Line. Ever. Sometimes it changes and becomes a different line, sometimes it just never comes, sometimes it stops. Sometimes it does all three.

4) Having to do homework in London.

5) Missing friends and family!

Things that Light me Up!!!

1) Getting unexpected postcards and mail! I promise this is not a hint, it just made my day!

2) 40 awesome students at the Centre and awesome faculty and family.

3) Living in London for three and a half months and getting the opportunity to see all these shows and museums and places I've always dreamed of!

4) My rockin' awesome super-de-duper welcoming ward.

5) My roommate totally just straightened my hair last night, so I look great.

Hope that life is lighting you up, and it doesn't blow! Happy belated Guy Fawkes Day (It was Saturday!)

It's Not What It Seems...

I feel like so many things this week have been really unexpected. Not necessarily bad, just surprising. Who knew that dressing up as one of the six wives of King Henry VIII could be so much fun? My five roommates and I wore black, Burger King Crowns, lots of makeup, and little clues and I totally had so much fun. Side note: Clue is a really, really funny movie. Also, who knew that Portsmouth would be fun? Initially, I was not thrilled by the idea of looking at more boats all day, but it rocked! We had really good tour guides and took fun pictures with pirates and imitated our favorite Nelson quote all day. "Nelson's kinda ugly...Don't say that! He saved our lives!" (overheard by two ten-year-olds in Greenwich)I went to this thing called Best of Broadway on Thursday, which was the Royal Philharmonic with some Broadway singers. We had so much fun figuring out which song was which and where it came from! Yesterday, my Parliament experience was a big surprise as well! (Although not maybe in such a good way) We had already been out all day at National Portrait Gallery, Covent Garden Market, and Lillywhite's (best place ever for 7 pound replacement sweaters), so I was looking forward to Parliament all day. Then, we got the most revisionist guide in history. Apparently, the House of Commons does nothing, nobody liked Queen Elizabeth, Mary Queen of Scots was awesome, and all tyrant kings are from Normandy. I just kept looking at my friends like "What is she smoking?!?!?" Oh well, I guess you don't learn psycho history every day.

I just have to share this experience, because it was something that was so "me", but I didn't do it. To get to the Tate Modern, you have to follow these orange lampposts. My friend Kalais thought this was the coolest thing ever, and she wanted a picture. Genna and I were like, okay, there's one behind you, go pose with it. It was literally about six feet in front of her, but she totally could not see it. I had to walk her to it and point. I was laughing so hard, because I do that all the time!!!

From East to West...

Life in London is the best! Na na na na... Okay, enough old girl's camp songs. That really did have a point, which I'll come to later. Now I sound like my professors, who are always telling me that they will talk about something later. But, um yeah, I digress, let's get back to the matter at hand.

Pretty much, this was a much more mellow week than usual. Tuesday, we got the wonderful opportunity to go the London Temple. I love going to the temple, and this was no different. I always leave grounded, refreshed, and thinking so much more clearly. Wednesday, I had the awesome opportunity of seeing Thoroughly Modern Millie, after hearing the soundtrack for the last year. I have such a new appreciation for it! Super duper cute! Thursday, I went to the first institute class of my life, got drafted for institute choir (and band) and met my aunt's in-laws for the first time since I was five. Friday was more exciting because no one had to go to class, so we went to Harrod's and drank gourmet hot chocolate, browsed around, and then went to Covent Garden to watch street performers and play dress-up at the Theatre Museum. Yeah, I was totally hot in my big yellow clown wig and ballet skirt. Oh baby. Yesterday, I went to Greenwich, home of the international date line, where I was in the Eastern hemisphere....and the Western hemisphere (hence the title) Oh yeah. I'm having lots of fun, although I'm still trying to fight the fact that I'm officially AT SCHOOL. Where I should be STUDYING. Yikes! I registered, though, so if you're curious or anything, e-mail me, because I 'd rather not post my whole schedule here.

Catch That Bus!

Supposedly, the few days after my Edinburgh trip were going to be relaxing and uneventful. Ha! As if that could ever happen in London...

Did you know that I scare easy? Well, actually, I can't think of a single one of you that doesn't already know that. Every single museum that we have gone to, something has scared the heck out of me. Voices booming from primordial ooze, creepy fake men, you name it. Friday was no exception. We went to the Victoria and Albert (art that is not paintings), where I was frightened by a snarling ceramic camel, and the Natural History Museum, where I was frightened by several dead rabbits and a "falling" "rock". At least the people around me get a good laugh, I guess. On our way back, a whole bunch of police with guns came running down the street yelling for everyone to move, then ran into the Science Museum. Interesting...

In theory, Saturday sounded relaxing. Yeah, no. We went to the Christmas halls at Harrod's, which are not as exciting as they might sound. Lots of expensive ornaments, but no really cool elaborate decorations or anything. They also have pretty much the world's fanciest bathrooms, with complimentary perfume and hand lotion and lots of marble and the like. Afterwards, we tried to go to a restaurant called Wok Wok. So, we walked and walked forever, only to discover that the restaurant is no longer there. Moral of the story? Don't walk-walk to Wok Wok.The Italian food we had instead was just not as exciting. We hoped to ease our disappointment with Magnum bars (like a gourmet Eskimo Pie), but stupid Tesco was out of the chocolate ones. We found one open box in the back, and were so desperate that we totally bought it anyway. Bad idea. The chocolate was flaked off and they were frozen hard. Moral of that story? Desperation leads to ugly, half-frozen measures.

Sunday is supposed to be the day of rest, right? WRONG!! I mean, Sunday is an 8 hour day for me with church and travel time anyway, but typically uneventful. This Sunday, we got in a bus chase. As we arrived to switch buses, our bus totally pulled away right before us. Our driver yelled at us to get back on, then proceeded to speed and tail the other bus for three blocks. Mucho exciting! We also went to dinner with my bishop (food from Ghana is waaay good), so we ended up being gone from 8 am to 6:30 pm.

Monday, I managed to get into the swing of class by actually going to class, but not by actually doing homework. Instead, I went to H & M twice (but didn't buy anything), sent a thank you note, ate chocolate, played Imaginiff, analyzed my birthmark, listened to the song Eleanor about twenty-five times...Aren't I such a good student?

Scottish is Hottish!

So, I left really early for Edinburgh on Wednesday morning. Did you know that it's
only a 4 and a half hour train trip from London to Edinburgh? I was in a completely
different car from Tiffany, Kelli, and Lindsey, so I used it as an opportunity to
sleep and do the dumb little puzzles on the in-train magazine. We showed up to
Edinburgh, met Mary Jane and Kalais, and hit the hostel around 1 in the afternoon.
Our hostel, Budget Backpackers, belonged to the theory that everything looks cooler
if it's painted in about 7 different bright colors, and that we can't see the dirt
if the lights are really dim! There was hair on my sheet and a weird brown smudge
on my comforter, but I'm still alive!

The main thing that we did in Edinburgh was hit the Royal Mile, which starts at
Edinburgh Castle (which is way cool), and then goes down a long cobblestone street
full of stores. We went to a tartan-weaving place, where I got to see the Stuart
(or Stewart) plaid. I felt so Scottish! Yeah...my group kept stopping at every
single store. I didn't really want to buy much of anything, so that got a little
bit old. The city, though, was absolutely gorgeous. It's pretty much all made
out of stone, so the whole city looks like it's been carved out of the same rock.
We took some really fun pictures, which I'll post soon. We also stopped at the Museum
of Childhood, which was pretty fun to look at all the toys. Some people in my group
tried to walk into Parliament, which obviosuly wasn't gonna work. At the end of
the Royal Mile, we hiked up Arthur's Seat, which is a big fat hill with a painful
cobblestone path and a great view of the city. We got some dinner and crashed at
the bright, not-so-clean hostel of fun.


In the morning, me and Kalais split off and went to Greyfriars Cemetary, and then
we went to the Edinburgh writers museum. They focused on Stevenson, Burns, and
Scott, and it really made me want to read some of their stuff! I just got back
around 5, because the tube coming home stopped, then magically changed lines in
the middle, so we got a bit lost. If you get on the District line, why would it
change into Hammersmith and City? Why? Why? Some people were a little surprised
that I just went for the day, but I think it was totally perfect.

Where in the World is Winklebury?

You see, that was my initial question when I got my live-in assignment. Eventually, Lindsay and I found it on the map and we headed out there on the train last Friday. The whole experience was fun, relaxing, and a lot like visiting your grandparents. We got spoiled rotten with cakes and candy and chocolate!

Our live-in "mom", Jean Foster, met us at the train station with her almost-4-year-old grandson, Morgan. He was NOT in the best of moods. He just kept yelling "Leave me alone" and growling at us. He was supposed to stay with us all day, but yeah, that was not going to happen. We dropped him off with his mom, and then we went to the mall, which is, yeah, a mall. There's slightly different stores, but other than that, it's all the same. We went home and watched TV and Lindsay fell asleep reading for class. (This was a big theme).

Saturday, we went to a place called Bramshill, which is an old mansion that got turned into a police academy that Bill worked at. According to legend, there are at least 15 ghosts, including a girl that played hide-and-seek on her wedding night and got locked in a trunk and died. What fun. Apparently, Bramshill is the secret hiding place for Parliament if there's a tourist attack. What good is it to tell people the secret?!!?! We also went to a big Tesco! I miss grocery stores so much! You have no idea...Does anyone know what kind of vegetable a swede is? It kind of looked like a big fat radish.

Church on Sunday was nice, it was a very friendly ward. We had all of the grandkids (Samuel, 8, Morgan, and Zachary, who was 20 months)over for dinner, as well as the missionaries They were very energetic, so it was just like nursery! Dinner was different, because there were at least 8 kinds of vegetables on the table.

We went to Winchester, home of Alfred the Great (who I'm supposed to be writing a paper about right now) and the Round Table, that everyone knows is NOT the round table. Go figure. We ate french fries with a fork, which is apparently the polite way. We also went to see Jane Austen's house in Chawton, which was the home of Mr. Darcy's costume from the new Pride and Prejudice. Oh yeah. Heaven, I tell you! It was awesome!

As I Like It

What can I say? I've just been having a good couple of days! On Monday, I found out that all of our teachers realized we've been working too hard and they totally overhauled their syllabi to make them easier. That takes such a load of my back! I had hated feeling like I couldn't go see the city because I was doing homework, and now more of the homework involves going and doing things anyways. Genna and I went to the Science Museum to celebrate, where we played Pong, did an Entrapment-style burglar alarm evasion, programmed little fish, and did so many other cool things. Also, I found out that a friend of mine from high school is also here in London!

Tuesday, our teacher cancelled class for us to go to museums, and I got to go to the Tate Gallery. I just love museums, and this one was neat. It's mostly British artists, and some neat paintings. I don't know if you've seen the one of the two girls and the chinese lanterns, but it just glows in person. It's amazing. There's also a really neat one of a tube map, but with people instead.

Yesterday, I found out that AIM actually does work here. Surprise! So, you may see me on occasionally.

Today, we went to Stratford-upon-Avon (AKA Shakespeare's Birthplace) where we saw a ton of old houses, ate fantastic hot chocolate, and saw a production of As You Like It. The first act was a tad slow, but the second act was hilarious. My favorite quote: "Sell now, you are not for all markets", which is a woman masquerading as a man, convincing the woman who has fallen in love with her to forget about her and marry a shepherd instead. Now that I type it, it sounds kind of weird.

Umm...so anyways...for those of you who know her, my freshman year roommate Catherine (not to be confused with my sophomore year roommate Catherine) is getting married. Congratulations! I'm off to live with a member family for a few days, then a day trip to Scotland. Enjoy yourselves!

Hurrah for the Pirate King!

And this is why I needed two posts, friends.

Wednesday morning, we set off bright and early for a little three-day jaunt to Cornwall, which is that southwest tip of England. We started off our trip in Bath, home of the Roman baths and lots of Jane Austen memorabilia. I also got to try on a corset, which sounds like it should be really painful and not a lot of fun, but is actually kind of strangely exciting to have a little waist and a lovely figure, even if you may lose a few ribs in the process. That night, we stayed in Penzance, where I sang the first two lines of every Pirates of Penzance song I know. We stayed in this hostel that was set way to far back from the road for my liking. On the way back, we were talking about how it would be the perfect horror movie setting "Look to your right. It's a black abyss. Look to your left. Hear the river..." when all of a sudden, a bicyclist passed us and we all totally freaked out and started screaming. Rather embarrassing.Also, the hostel gave me a chance to have some new roommates for a change, which is always good.

Thursday, we had the wonderful experience of meeting Harry Safari, a local tour guide in his 60s with a rather interesting sense of humor. This is the cleanest example I can remember:

My friend Susie trips.
Harry: Watch out love, or you'll be needing the kiss of life and I'll be needing to fight these other guys off.
Susie: Umm...ha ha ha.
Harry: Just because you start breathing doesn't mean I'll stop.

Yikes!

I also tried my first Cornish pasty, which rhymes with nasty, not tasty, although the latter is true (TM: Heather Stay) and saw my first big grocery store. Who knew how much you could miss a grocery store! That night, we stayed in a hostel where I shared my shower with at least two spiders, but at least one more that probably bit my finger. Sneaky sneaky.

Did you know that Stonehenge is kind of disappointing? You walk in a circle around a bunch of rocks, and it's right by the freeway, and there is not a lot of information unless you get a headset. We also went to a place called Avebury, where the rocks are surrounded by sheep and a whole lot of sheep droppings.

Last night, I went to a YSA dance with a bunch of people from my group. I didn't know really what to expect, but it was a blast! The music and the people were way better than typical BYU/YSA dances, but it did make me a bit homesick for dancing with roomies and old stake dances.

Well, love you all!

Conference, Burning Pestles, and All That Jazz

So, I totally meant to post this on Tuesday, so I'll just post this now instead so that it's not just one really, really big post.

Last weekend, we had General Conference. Unlike Utah or California, this is a nighttime thing. You watch Relief Society and Sunday morning session from 3 to 7 Saturday afternoon, Priesthood session (if you're a guy) Sunday morning at 10, and then a marathon of the rest of the sessions from 1 to 11 on Sunday. Needless to say, it was a long day but it was totally worth it. No matter what, I always hear exactly what I needed to hear and figure out where I need to be headed. I find that I have appreciated conference so much over the past few years, and I'm learning more and more.

Monday, it was back to the daily grind of classes. Since we had a bunch of deadlines and we were all really stressed, we all thought it would be really fun to go see a play at the Barbican called The Knight of the Burning Pestle. Little did we know that the Tube would totally stop working while we were on it, leaving us 20 minutes late for the first act, which we had to watch from a little screen in the holding room. I'm not quite sure what happened in the first act, but the general idea is that a grocer and his wife are watching this play, and they think it's boring so they take over and cast their apprentice as the lead role "Knight of the Burning Pestle". The second act included such highlights as the grocer giving beer to audience members, a song and dance battle number, a Monty-Python-esque giant, and men in drag. It's a whole lot funnier than I'm typing it, I think.

By Tuesday, all those deadlines caught up to me and I was just super-stressed, so I called my family and it was really good to hear from everybody. How are all of you? I always appreciate mail/e-mail etc. (Hint, hint)

Do You Dance, Mr. Darcy? Not If I Can Help It.

So, I'm back from France, and this week has been a bit of a "catch-up" week. I've been waking up ridiculously early just to have a chance for the computer, as there are 4 computers for the 30 or so of us without laptops. I have been doing homework, and papers, and all of those things that go along with school, even when you cross an ocean to avoid them.

Wednesday's little highlight was our trip to Hampton Court, which was the palace of people like Henry VIII. I actually liked it a lot better than Versailles, oddly enough. It just seemed more real, and you saw more things. For example, did you know that they would skin a peacock, boil it whole, and then put all the skin and feathers and beak and everything back on and serve it like that? Ick. ICK!! I also had the wonderful experience of running for the train back to London and just barely stepping inside as the train starting moving. It was really kind of cool.

Side Note: The food here is way too good. There are several courses every night, including a new exciting and wonderful dessert. This does not bode well for my wardrobe.

Sooo, yesterday, I had no class because I just don't take the Thursday classes. Instead, I worked on homework and went to the British library to do some research for a religion paper. When we got home, highlights included hearing two of the guys sing a twenty minute free-verse song about spawning salmon, star wars, Brazil, and the list goes on. I couldn't stop laughing. I also went to go see Pride and Prejudice. I know that this doesn't come out until November in the U.S., but you really need to go see it. It is THAT good. I just sat there, halfway between transfixed and giddy. Mr. Darcy is fantastic. When he walks out of the mist, you will wish you were on a country walk yourself. Go camp out now for tickets. If you wait for the dollar theater, I will totally come with you. Several times, even.

I'm taking a country walk today myself, but I doubt that Mr. Darcy is going to come walking out of the mist. It's just going to be 40-odd cold, muddy Americans. Drats.

Par-ee Holds the Key To Her Heart...

This is all anyone sang all week. We really needed a new song. Come on, people, some Cole Porter! I love Paris in the springtime... Anyway, I digress. This is quite long, so just skim if you don't have much time.

Monday began super-early so that
we could get to the Eurostar, which is the one through the Chunnel. I wish I could
awe you with my reflections of the Chunnel, but to be honest, I was asleep. Once
we got in, it was straight onto the bus to northern France. First, we stopped at
Chartres cathedral (which I did my paper on for the prep class) for a huge total
of 30 minutes. It was great, but I have no pictures because I accidentally locked
my camera under the bus. Oops! Then, it was a very very very long bus trip to Caen
(the city with an unpronounceable name) to the ugliest hotel ever. I complain about
Best Westerns, but this was far far worse. No pictures on the stucco-y white walls,
magenta metal bunk bed and tv trim, and bathroom the size of my closet in Heritage.
Andrea B. and I just sort of looked at it and laughed. Also, cruddy breakfast of
solely hot cocoa, orange drink (i.e. French Tang) and boring bread. Bleh. We decided
to explore the town, which is filled with old churches and a castle of William the
Conqueror that you can just walk all around. We all went to dinner together while
in Caen, which was lamb, pate, and yum-yum-yum chocolate cake that day.

So, moving on to Tuesday, which was a very heavy day. The day started off to see
the Bayeux Tapestry, which is essentially a really big piece of embroidered propaganda.
Impressive propaganda, but still, propaganda. It's much bigger than I had imagined.
Random Aside: I had my first croque-monsieur! It could probably go all the way around
the cultural hall. From then on out, it was all WWII. We went to Pointe du Hoc,
which is completely scarred by the bombs and the German artillery, and then to the
American Cemetary. You can walk to Omaha Beach from the Cemetary, which really
put things into a profound perspective for me. It's far bigger than you would ever
want it to be, and for a place that should be touristy and buzzing, its peaceful
and still. We went to this museum for peace in Caen, which was interesting. French
people definitely see things from a different persepective than we do globally,
especially in response to the Cold War.

Wednesday! Otherwise known as Bus Day. We did see Mont St. Michel, which is this
beautiful monastery on an island that is only connected to land at low tide. When
you see it in the morning, surrounded by mist, it looks more like something out
of a dream. Inside, it's a traditional monastery in a very touristy setting, but
I still really enjoyed it. It's on top of a bit of a hill, so this was the first
of the huge painful stairs. This was like a motif the whole trip. Then, we drove
for something like six hours (or at least it felt like it) back to Paris. This
hotel was still ugly, but there were 3 of us instead of 2 (Kelli, MJ and me), so
it was two single beds below rather than a double. We were too beat to see very
much, but a very large group decided to see the view from Sacre Coeur. This is
when we discovered that we lived in a seedy neighborhood. My little group didn't
see anything scarier than huge painful stairs #2, but other people saw police action
and drug deals. Sacre Coeur is a Taj-Mahal like cathedral on top of a huge hill
with a fantastic view of Paris.

And it's time for Thursday... The first real day in Paris! We went to the Louvre
first thing, which is unbelievably huge. I think that my favorite things were seeing
the Mona Lisa, Liberte Guidant le Peuple, the Napoleon III Apartments, Hammurabi's
Code, and the Islamic Art exhibit so close! It makes them seem very real. After
that, we were absolutely starving, so we found a little sidewalk cafe where I had
french onion soup and a limonade (not quite lemonade, but hard to explain). It was
still time for dessert though, so I had this awesome white chocolate raspberry tart
from a patisserie. Refreshed, we went to the d'Orsay, which is the Impressionist
museum. I love, love, love Impressionism, ever since French 4, so I was just sooo
happy. I was a little upset because a lot of my favorite pictures are on loan to
other museums, but one was on loan to the Tate Britain, so I can still see it!
This began the part where we wandered. A Long Time. All for an internet cafe. Meh.
I'm so glad I can wean myself from the internet for a while, and I don't take 300
pictures in 2 days. Notre Dame was next on the list. We climbed all the way to
the top (HPS #3) and got to see gargoyles and bells and all that jazz. For dinner,
one of the girls in our group was dead set on Hard Rock Cafe. It wouldn't have
been my first choice, but I really did enjoy having a cheeseburger after so long.
We walked around, and after a few false starts, found the opera house, which just
made me want to watch Phantom again. The last things we did were climb to the top
of the Arc de Triomphe (HPS #4) and down the Champs Elysees, which is a little touristy.

And then, Friday, which was a very long day. We started off the day on the slow
train to Versailles. Versailles, really, is an elaborately decorated ruse to keep
the nobles under Louis XIV's wing. I still think it was beautiful and the grounds
were great, but in perspective, it's not quite as fabulous as it could be. I had
a Nutella crepe, yum. We decided to go to the catacombs, where we accidentally met
up with a lot of our group. A long time ago, people were getting sick from cemetary
fumes, so they dug up all of the bones and put them in these tunnels. It was creepy
in the extreme. We were still hungry, so we went to a gourmet chocolatier and tried
two a piece. Next, we saw Sainte Chappelle, which has fabulous and amazing stained
glass. I loved it! For dinner, we went to this adorable little crepe place on the
rue Mouffetard, which is that combo of cobblestones, cafes, and shops that I've
always viewed as Paris. We also got gelato in the shape of a rose, which was amazing.
We had promised people that we would meet them at 8:30 at the Eiffel Tower, so we
ran to the Metro. It kept stopping,and three stops away, they made everyone get
off. Apparently, there was a bomb, so I got to see the bomb squad! We had no idea
where we were, but luckily, the Eiffel Tower is kind of hard to miss. Did you know
that the Eiffel Tower sparkles on the hour? The view from the top is amazing! Mary
Jane and I had so much fun spotting our favorite Paris places. The way back to
the hotel was scary, though. The stop we wanted to go to was closed off and surrounded
by Ministry of Defense trucks, and then creepy guys either yelled at us from moving
cars/invited us to the disco/stopped their cars in an intersection to hit on us.
I do not like that part of Paris.

Saturday! Aren't you glad I'm almost done? This will be faster, I promise. We
went to the flea market, which I did not enjoy because I like my goods neat and
new and clean and well-lit, and I don't like to barter. Icky icky icky. Next,
we went to Pere Lachaise cemetary, which also reminded me of Phantom of the Opera.
I think the whole trip reminded me of Phantom of the Opera. I need a better cultural
marker. We saw Oscar Wilde's tomb, which is covered in lipstick kisses, which I
sadly think are mostly from men. Ick. Really quick, we got more rose-shaped gelato,
which needs to make its way to Provo, pronto. We went into the Pantheon, which
has a Foucault pendulum featured on season one of the Amazing Race. I am so addicted!
The whole trip, I kept thinking either-1)Hey, this was on the Amazing Race! 2) I
feel like I'm on the Amazing Race 3) This would be great on the Amazing Race or
4) The Amazing Race starts this week and I'm missing it!!!!! So yeah, watch for
me. We also went to the Pompidou, which has the fountains from the modern version
of Sabrina. My verdict on the Pompidou: Fountains are great, modern art not so
much. Finally, after much metro and luggage lugging, we made our way to the Eurostar
and back to the London Center. However, this was slowed by the fact that there
was a body under the train on our line, so we took a creative way home. If you
have any more questions, feel free to ask, but I think I pretty much exhausted this.

I miss you guys so much!!!!!!!!!!! I hope that Fall Semester is treating you well!

What a Wild Whirlwind Week!

This week has been jam-packed and crazy, but I'm starting to get the feeling that's just the way things are around here. It started off with a bang with my birthday, and just kept going from there. On Wednesday, we went to see the Tower of London, which is not really just one tower like I always thought it was. It is filled with the crown jewels(which include a very large punch bowl), various torture implements (not so pretty) and a lot of towers where people were imprisoned. Oddly enough, it also used to hold a zoo. We also went for a very enoyable walk of the south bank of the Thames. On Friday, we went to Kew Gardens, which is the Royal Botanic Garden. I thought it would be boring, but it is completely beautiful and has plants from around the world. It also had a bunch of glass work by Chihuly, who was obviously inspired by his hair, so there were this huge masses of glass curls. Very neat.

I have also met a new obsession: playing Jack the Ripper. It's a lot like Fugitive, but in London with tricky clues. You have five groups, trying to find things and take pictures of them, and one group trying to kidnap group members on the way. We were the kidnappers (Rippers) and it was a blast. The clues were tricky (Tyburn Street Gallows, Burghers of Calais, Cleopatra's Needle, and Baker Street Station), and I actually met a Lord! From the House of the Lords! He gave us directions and talked to us! It was super-super-super-cool! I felt like I was on the Amazing Race, which is always a plus in my book.

Yesterday, I went to a stake YSA activity, which was an international dinner, which was even cooler because everyone there was actually international. There was also dancing and karaoke, which is always fun to watch. That group was so great and so fun, which is more than I could say for my summer ward.

I leave for France in about 24 hours, so I won't be posting for a while. Until then, have a great week!

There Was an Old Lady who Lived in a Tower

That's right, I am officially no longer a teenager! Yesterday was my 20th birthday, and it was super-fun. It was also the 21st birthday of Susie and Heather, so I got to be a triplet. When we woke up in the morning, a bunch of the other girls made us special happy birthday signs and decorated our doorway with toilet paper streamers. Everyone was so sweet that it made being away a lot easier than it could have been. We had a big lemon cake with raspberry filling. So, after they sang happy birthday, Heather and I were just sort of smiling, when Susie just blows out all the candles. She thought we were going to as well, but instead, we just all started laughing. Then, David decided that it was a London tradition to smash birthday cake in people's faces, so he came around behind all of us and shoved frosting in our faces. I've decided that the cake tastes better through your mouth than your nose. After dinner, a big group of us went to see Mary Poppins, the musical. It is absolutely fantastic. It's sweet and beautiful and energizing, and I walked out with a smile on my face. I also loved getting my little sister's 20 birthday cards, which made me laugh. There were parts of the day when I wished I was in San Jose or Provo, but all in all, I was okay.

Look at me! I'm cultured!

Over the past few days, I've felt more and more like a habitual big city dweller. We take the underground just about everywhere, so I'm feeling very comfortable with it. There are far fewer truly scary people on this one than New York's, so I think that helps. I'm trying new foods, like Indian and Lebanese and fish, but I draw the line at prawn crisps (potato chips) I go to museums just about all the time, which I am loving. Provo needs big cool museums. I am aware that BYU has museums, but trust me, they are not this awesome. On Friday, we went to a play at the reconstruction of the Globe and watched as groundlings. The play (A Winter's Tale) was great, and the funniest part was when the minstrel started hitting on Leslie, the engaged girl in our group. She turned bright red and started pointing at her ring. Shakespeare is definitely meant to be watched, not read. It was soo much more interesting this way. Yesterday, we did the coolest thing. I live right at the edge of Kensington Park/Hyde Gardens, and yesterday the BBC put on a huge concert there. Officially it was 20 pounds (40 dollars), but we decided to just hang around the outskirts and listen. It was raining and there was lightning, but that just added to it. Highlights: Andrea Bocelli! Right there! Live! This Il-Divo-esque British group singing Bohemian Rhapsody. Fantastic live orchestra. Interpretive dancing and making fun of the old whtie soul singer. Scottish bagpipe with Japanese war drum. This Japanese lady with a giant umbrella, who got it totally stuck in this narrow door, and then could not figure out why at all. We got back rather late and rather wet, but it was absolutely worth it.

You Don't See That Every Day...

Over the past four days, I think I've been able to say that A LOT. Monday, after class, we took a walk around where the Roman wall used to be. You don't get to see things that are 2000 years old every day, for sure! Also, you don't see 4.5 bronze statues of very large mostly naked ladies either, but I could have done without that myself. Tuesday, in addition to my three awesome classes, we went to Harrod's ( A rather pricey department store). We saw lots of pig's heads in the food halls, some highly expensive blingy jewelry, and about four or five different kinds of fur and expensive coats. Wednesday we went to Canterbury and Dover, where I learned all about Becket and the now-not-so-secret secret war tunnels. Also, we got to see the white cliffs of Dover, which are totally breathtaking. Today, I don't have any class, so we went to the Museum of London with six of us. Two broke off, and then the other four of us decided to take the three-or-so hour walk home. On the way, we stopped at Buckingham Palace, where we saw this grown woman relieving herself-right in front of the palace. She was like " I'm quite sorry, but it was either this or wet myself" Okay....

I love my ward!

So, I've been posting a lot recently, but I think it's just because it's the start of the semester and there's so many new things! Well, anyways, we got assigned to wards just yesterday, and I'm going to the Mitcham ward, which is south of the Thames. It's a 10 minute tube ride, then a 20 minute train ride, then a 10 to 15 minute walk. My ward is sooo welcoming! I think they were 100 percent friendlier than my singles ward. The ward is mostly African, which is pretty cool. It's in an absolutely gorgeous area, so all in all, it's just a very relaxing and edifying experience. I also got really lucky and I go to church with Heather Stay and Tasha, and they are great. I'm just so excited!

Anything and everything a chap can unload.

As you may have guessed by the title, I went to the legendary Portobello Road yesterday (at least, legendary for those of you who've seen Bedknobs and Broomsticks). Sadly, there were no big dance numbers, but there were a very large variety of street vendors and some very very old books. I also went on a walk through my neighborhood, which includes Hitler's favorite building (currently a shopping mall), a nifty Greek Orthodox church, a very large park, several Tube stops and innumerable eating establishments.

One of the things I love about London is that it's so very diverse. When we walked through Whiteley's, which is the mall, there was a group of African drummers, playing and dancing in the middle of the mall. When I went to read in Kensington Gardens, there were apparently Scottish dancers, but I just heard the music. Last night, we had Indian food, which was absolutely fantastic.

I also played Apples to Apples, whcih made me feel like I was back in Provo! Not quite as much fun as a nuclear blast, but close. Classes don't start until Monday, but I think they will be fun. How are all of your classes?

It's a magic number...

So, here's a little guessing game. Why is 82 such an important number in my day-to-day life? Here's a hint, it's not my address...

I'm Sorry to Tell You, You Have Been Eliminated...

Today, I tragically learned that I am really not cut out for the Amazing Race. Actually, I knew that already because I am big huge klutz who gets really irritable without much sleep, but today just confirmed that. So, let's just look at some skills needed for the Amazing Race and how I rated on those...

1) Ability to stay calm in an airport. My flight from Chicago was delayed, which did not make me particularly happy. Also, I was completely unable to stay alert at the baggage claim, which could also be a problem. On the other, no major panic attacks this time. 5/10

2)Ability to carry one's own luggage. Nothing bothers me more on The Amazing Race when someone whines and drops their luggage and makes their partner carry it. I should have taken that into account before bringing this particular duffle: doesn't roll well, but too heavy to carry. I was doing really, really well until we were about two blocks from the center, when David volunteered to just stack it on his own luggage. Also, Mary Jane and I had to each take an end of all of our luggage to get it up to the 6!th floor. 4/10.

3) Does not get lost. I did remarkably well at this. I think it is because I obsessively studied maps of London all summer so I would know the tube route and the exact location of the London Centre. 10/10

4) Endurance. I was sooooo tired that unpacking my luggage exhausted me and I slept for the next two hours. I don't really think that is much of a skill 2/10.

And this is why I would be eliminated. Not even one of those close race to the finish ends, but one of those you-were-so-late-that-everyone-is-on-another-continent-by-now ends.

Hope semester is going well and I'll post more later!

Off We Go...

Due to popular demand, I will be keeping a blog while I'm in London. I really can't promise how often I'll be updating it, since I won't have a computer there. but I'm setting this up anyways. My plane flies out of San Francisco this Thursday morning at 8:35 AM, which means I get to leave the house somewhere closer to 5:15. (Quelle joie) Once I get there, we have the weekend to settle in and then classes start on Monday. I am getting more and more excited with every day, as my textbooks have arrived, my to do list dwindles, and it's almost time to pack! If any of you have yet to send me fall addresses, please send them to me soon, so I can fill out my address book. I hope you are all having fun and getting settled with school!