The weekend began with an exhausting day trip...

We started at 7:30 AM (ugh...) and headed on the coach to Runnymede, the place where the Magna Carta was signed. The Magna Carta seems to be more important to American history than British history, which is why the American Bar Association placed the memorial in Runnymede instead of the British Bar. Our teacher said that British people probably would only vaguely know what the Magna Carta was, if at all. Their constitution is what we call "unwritten," meaning that it's known but not really written down in one document like the American one is. It's kind of an interesting concept to grasp. It seems that a lot of British things are just common knowledge amongst the people, like the rules of their government and the role of their monarchy. It's all a bit convoluted from an outsider's perspective, especially an American perspective because we feel the need to contractually write everything down.

Anyways, there's not much to do at memorials such as the one at Runnymede except spend a few minutes appreciating the monument and the surrounding landscape and then take jumping pictures, many of which don't work. But you have to keep trying until you get just the right pose - mission accomplished (see the biggest pic) :) There's also a monument to JFK that we visited nearby. That was neat.

After Runnymede we ventured on to Windsor Castle! The actual castle of the monarchs - sometimes they're even there when you are! They weren't when we were there, unfortunately, but we did get to explore the grounds.

We watched the changing of the guard, which was interesting. There's so much tradition and ceremony here in Britain. Everything is hundreds of years old and has like 745 different traditions surrounding it (there's another thing I have learned is very American - over exaggeration. Brits tend to comically understate everything).

The castle was ginormous - the largest medieval castle that's still inhabited. We also saw Queen Anne's Doll House, this huge miniature house with real electricity and running water - isn't that amazing? Apparently a lot of the artwork in the doll house were donated by the actual artists. The castle is gorgeous, inside and out. They have all those amazing original portraits that you see in history books - like the one of Henry VIII that everyone knows - on the walls there. The originals! It was amazing. And I have a hard time believing that it was someone's home - crazy!

Then we went to the home of John Milton (the poet). We went into his back garden and took a nap in the grass. Literally (see photo to right). We were all exhaustified. ha ha That was the best part. Milton actually only lived in the house for a few months during the Great Fire in London, but apparently it was instrumental in his writing of Paradise Lost. I must admit that I'm not the biggest fan of Milton. I think I mostly just don't understand his brilliance.

After Milton's House we went to Stoke Poges where Thomas Gray was inspired to write his famous Elegy. This is once again an artist for which I don't have the adequate appreciation...but the grounds surrounding the chapel were quite beautiful, which provided many much picture taking opportunities. That night I ate at Wagamama! My brother Scott told me I had to, and now I see why - it's soooo good! Loved it.

Saturday began with a brief trip to Portobello Road Market to purchase some gifts and then we went on a trip to Greenwich! We walked underneath the Thames - yes, underneath. There's a footpath.

And we dressed up as naval officers, hiked to the Royal Observatory, and stood on the Prime Meridian! I have now been in two hemispheres at once!

It was really fun. We also explored the Queen's House and the Maritime Museum next to it. I will give more details on this trip later in another post. And we rode a boat home along the Thames! It was so much fun. I was standing near the back of the boat, which I learned was rather dangerous - the engines kicked up a whole bunch of water and soaked my pants ha ha it was great. So now I can say I've been over the Thames, under the Thames, and in the Thames :) And tonight I ate Italian food with my pals and got a frozen orange juice thingy and I am utterly exhausted. My head hurts and I just want to sleep for an entire day. I just want to sleep sleep sleep...good thing Sunday is a day of rest - I need to be better at sleeping so I can more fully enjoy the sites we visit, especially next week because we're going to....SCOTLAND!!!! WOOHOO! I'm terribly excited. Oh, and I may have sited the Doctor here in London. We'll see if I can catch him, but it's probably won't be until after I get back from Scotland. Stay tuned!

A Walk on the Wild Side

We went on a walk south of the Thames last Saturday. It began at the Tower Bridge, a site we have seen before but I love to see over and over. It’s been around since 1894 and was originally brown in color, which I thought was rather interesting. I think brown would not be very pleasing as a color…they repainted it red, white, and blue in 1977 for the Queen’s Silver Jubilee, so that’s why we see it as it is today. I would really like to see the center of the bridge go up to let a ship through, but I have not yet have that experience. We crossed the bridge and saw the City Hall (see picture at left) where the London Assembly meets and where the mayor’s office is located. In the Thames we saw the HMS Belfast (see picture to right), which I had never noticed before (something that baffles me, considering how large it is and how many times I’ve been to this area). It’s a World War II battleship that served throughout the entire war and is open to visitors. How cool is that? We didn’t go in though…at least not this time. We instead went to Tooley Street and walked past some museums that looked more like haunted houses than museums, like the London Dungeon (see picture to right). It was rather amusing – they had this stage where they were pretending to chop off a bystander’s head and the guy who was running the whole thing was speaking in some devilish growly voice. We then approached Borough High Street and found our way into Borough Market, where (as I already stated in a previous post) I was able to eat ostrich and kangaroo burgers. There was tons of amazing food there. Right next to the market is Southwark Cathedral. Though it was extremely loud outside, as soon as we walked into the cathedral there was absolute silence. I love the cathedrals here. I keep thinking what it would be like if our church constructed such buildings. They’re quite amazing – I love stained glass windows. We continued on down and saw a replica of the Golden Hine (see picture at left), the ship that Sir Francis Drake sailed around the world in – I want to play on it really badly, but that wasn’t allowed. So we kept walking and we found the Clink Prison Museum, which also looked more like a haunted house than a museum. We next passed the Globe, where we are going to see Macbeth next week (yay!), and then the Millennial Bridge (see picture at right) which I learned was opened then closed for renovations because it swayed when people walked on it – scary! We passed the Tate Modern, which I intend on coming back to soon to look at in more detail, mostly to see some Andy Warhol work. Further down the Thames we found the South Bank Centre and an open air second book market. They had so many books – I wanted to stay there for much longer than we could. We passed the Royal Festival Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall, the National Theatre, and the National Film Theatre which I am interested in returning to sometime. There are noon concerts at the Royal Festival Hall which I think would be fun to attend. We finished our little tour by walking across Hungerford Bridge which was originally an unsuccessful pedestrian toll bridge. There are actually two Hungerford Bridges – the other one is up by the London Eye. They were originally supposed to be connected, but that probably won’t ever happen.

A Week of Wonderful

It has been quite a bunch of days here in merry old England...I have a bit of catching up to do.

Friday May 14, 2010

Tonight we were all kinda pooped out, so we decided to head to the waffle stand in the nearby Whiteley's Mall and get a desert waffle. They were quite tasty, and I am keen to go back some time soon. There are more waffle houses here than anywhere I've ever seen. I don't know why they don't have waffle places in Provo - they'd make a killing. I dunno, maybe I just haven't seen them or something. After the waffles, we arranged to watch Emma in the classroom. We had about 10 girls and one boy - it was awesome. We watched the Gywneth Paltrow one - so good! I haven't seen it in so long, and I just finished reading the book for my English class so it was perfect timing. Jeremy Northam (Mr. Knightley) gets me every time. He is attractive. Our English teacher, Professor Young, absolutely loves Emma and whenever he talks about it he quotes "Badly done, Emma!" so forever more, that part of the movie, while being amazing in itself, will remind me of Professor Young.

I would like to take this moment to record some of my favorite class moments with Professor Young - his best quotes. When we were at Tintagel, Professor Young slipped and hit his head while trying to get to Merlin's Cave. In class, he was talking about it and this is what he said: "That's when you know you've experienced life - when you hit your head on a cave wall." ha ha Who knew the requirements for life experience were so simple? In referring to all the reading we have been doing in the class, Professor Young said, "I know, it's like you're rolling around in a garbage can...but that's not the right metaphor..." ha ha I don't think my English teacher meant to equate poetry with garbage...but who knows :) Professor Young is an awesome guy. Actually, every single one of the Professors here are great guys. I love them all.

Saturday May 15, 2010

I began the day by going to Portobello Road Market once again. I love it there! I got some really neat things, most of which are gifts for some of my favorite people (and, admittedly, some souvenirs for me...) After Portobello we went on a walk down the Thames and into Burrough Market where they have all sorts of amazing sweets and pastries and granola - pretty much anything you could ever want food wise. And guess what I had for lunch! My friend and I split ostrich and kangaroo burgers. Yes. Ostrich and kangaroo. I ate those animals. And it was sooooo good! I like the kangaroo one best - the meat was more flavorful. I never ever thought I would be eating such creatures, but I did it! (see pic at right)

After the markets we got crepes for dinner at a little crepe shop and then we did homework....lame, I know, to spend a Saturday night in London doing homework, but honestly everything shuts down pretty early here and we have to be up early the next day for church so it works well to do homework on Saturday nights sometimes.

Sunday May 16, 2010

Today we attended our ward in Wandsworth Common, though it took quite some doing to get there this time around. We ended up missing our train out there, so we had to wait around for like half an hour for the next one. We were pretty late to Relief Society, so I felt bad. Next week will be better. I have been assigned to the Relief Society, but ours is so strong I don't really know what they're going to have me do. Everyone is so great and on top of things. Our president said they would discuss me at their meeting this week. I really would like to be of service in the ward, but I don't have anything to do yet. It's a really neat ward. We had wonderful speakers in Sacrament meeting and the missionaries confirmed a young woman who was baptized on Saturday. It was such a neat experience. I haven't seen someone confirmed for such a long time. The Spirit was so strong in the room as she received her confirmation. When I see the missionaries do things like that, it makes me think of my brother Josh and all that he's doing. He is blessing the lives of so many people right now, and he gets to give them the gift of the Holy Ghost if they are worthy of it - that is so cool! I loved having that experience.

I have decided to worry as little as possible about homework on Sunday while I'm here. This resulted in a two hour nap today before dinner, which was absolutely glorious, let me tell you. Naps are favorite. We watched the CES fireside as a group in our classroom. It was really neat. Sundays are so nice and peaceful. I love it.

Monday May 17, 2010

Today was a school day - lots of class, and we're coming up on midterms so that's a bit frightening and strange, especially considering that we've only been here a few weeks. We're halfway done - weird! In the PM we saw a play called Eurydice. It was...shall I say...absurd? That sounds like a good way to describe it. It was probably the funniest thing I have ever seen, and I don't think it was supposed to be that funny. Okay, so I wasn't trying terribly hard to understand the absurdity. I'm sure it had very deep and emotional meaning. I just...avoid seeing it and laughed my head off the whole time. Here are my favorite quotes:

"You need a man with hands. Big hands, like potatoes. Hands that could carry a cow....in labor."

"I grow down. Like a turnip."

"Dear Eurydice: Last night, I dreamed we were making love, and your hair began to pour water out of the ends, and I was like, why is your hair spraying water?...and then you had to hold your knees up because you skinned your knee on a sharp cloud....love, Orpheus."

"Don't stick your tongue inside a dead guys mouth. It tastes like oatmeal, and I know you don't like oatmeal."

Make sense? Don't worry, they don't even make sense in context. There was this part where Eurydice is following Orpheus and they were both running, but in place. It was like they were moon walking, but they were moon running or something. My friend Jessica came back to the center and did here hair in three crazy buns like Eurydice's and started moon running in front of a bunch of the other students and the professors. We all died laughing. One of the professors wasn't there, so we brought Jess back out when he showed up and she performed an encore. Professor Macfarlane totally did a double take when he saw her hair. It was a wonderful laugh. One other time, I was singing Little Mermaid as I walked to my dorm, not knowing that Professor Macfarlane was right behind me. He joined in with me with a bit of Phantom of the Opera - "Sing for me!" It was so funny. Our professors are great. Since seeing this wonderful play, it has become one of the most quoted bits of this experience.

Tuesday May 18, 2010

I spent much of last night and this morning doing homework. I will spend much of today in class or doing homework or study for my midterm on Tuesday for my British History and Politics class. The work load is actually almost unbearable. I never want to take spring or summer classes again, especially if I'm somewhere cool like London. It's hard to get the right balance and get everything done both school and London wise that I want to get done. But I'm muddling through. We'll see how it works out.

Wednesday May 19, 2010

Today was an amazing adventure! We began the day early early and drove to Stratford to see Shakespeare's birthplace! I'm not sure anyone else was terribly excited to be there, but I was so excited. I love Shakespeare! And they had this exhibit and videos and things that talked about his life and influence and showed clips from his plays. I nearly died when they showed some pictures from Hamlet with David Tennant, and I literally jumped up and down and squealed when they were talking about Shakespeare's ability with words and showed a clip from the Doctor Who episode "The Shakespeare Code" with David Tennant once again! I was so deliriously happy. Three of my favorite things - Doctor Who, David Tennant, and Shakespeare. It was like they knew I would be there. It was really neat to see Shakespeare's house - where he grew up and what his life must have been like.

We then headed to the church where Shakespeare was buried (see picture at right) and went for a stroll along the river Avon. It was gorgeous. I love Stratford. Let's face it - I love every place we go to. We went to Anne Hathaway's house (Shakespeare's wife) and had a tour of it. I must have looked really attractive because some random Asian guy in another tour group started taking pictures of me and my friend Jess. It was really awkward, but hilarious.

The gardens outside of the house were beautiful and having a tour of the house was very interesting. As we walked up the really steep spiral staircase inside the house to get to the upper level, I was thinking "man, someone falling down these stairs would not survive." They were deadly. And what would happen but on the way down I fall down the stairs. ha ha I slipped and mostly caught myself, but the noise of me banging down the stairs was terribly loud and the tour guide was more worried about the stairs being ruined than me, but it was so funny. I wasn't hurt at all (and neither were the stairs, thank heaven) so all was good. I couldn't stop laughing for some time. I thought I left my clutziness back in the States, but I guess not....

After Stratford we drove on to....OXFORD! The town was fun and I bought some t-shirts and such, but the best part was....drum roll please....we had tea in the Great Hall of Christ-church, where they filmed some of the Great Hall scenes in Harry Potter!!! AHHHH! I had tea at Hogwarts!!! Actually, it was hot cocoa....but still! And I was sorted at the front of the Great Hall! (Into BYU, of course :)

And we took pictures on the stairs leading up to the Great Hall, also used in the movies. You can probably recognize them from the pictures if you're a Harry Potter geek like me. We were all so excited. We bought round glasses at Primark the night before to complete our experience. It was such a cool experience - once in a lifetime, I think. The head of house at Christ-church is LDS - that's how we got such an amazing experience. So I went to Shakespeare land and Harry Potter land all in one day! What a day! Then I spent the entire evening studying for my Brit Politics midterm...blargh...but what an awesome day!

Thursday May 20, 2010

Today I took my midterm - I think it went well, but I'm mostly just glad it's over. After school we went to the Imperial War museum and explored the sections on World War I and II (my favorite eras of history) and the Holocaust exhibit, which was extremely moving. These eras amaze me, mostly for the triumph of the human spirit exhibited in each. I loved seeing the World Wars from the British side - they were involved in them long before and after the U.S. was and often had more invested and higher casualties. They stood up to Hitler and said no, even though they were a small island and severely outnumbered. It was such a cool museum to walk through.

After dinner, we took off to West End to see...wait for it....WICKED!!! I absolutely loved it. Our seats were amazing, the play was amazing, and the price was amazing! I am such a fortunate person. I can hardly believe I'm here seeing these plays for so cheap. And they're absolutely marvelous.

Fiyero was attractive, as he should be, and Elphaba and Glinda had fabulous voices. Glinda was so funny and Elphaba so powerful. It was interesting to hear the characters have British accents. It took me a while to get used to it, but it was definitely fun. I love this play. The music is so much fun. I got chills all over me when Defying Gravity started playing. We had an absolute blast.

I LOVE LONDON!!!!

The South Kensington Museums

Today after class my friends and I went on a walk through South Kensington. This is where a number of the museums are located. We walked past the Victoria and Albert museum - on one side there are pock marks from the blitz of World War II still there in the stone of the building (see picture at right).

After walking down the road for a ways we came upon the Hyde Park Chapel, where we attended church a couple of weeks ago (see picture at left). This building is actually where the term "cultural hall" originated. Because of zoning laws they couldn't call it a gym or social hall, so they created a new name for it. Now the church uses the term in all its buildings!

Just to the left of the chapel is a little street called Prince's Gate Mews. You see lots of mews around here, and I finally learned what a mews is - it used to designate an area that was used for stabling horses and carriages.

We walked down the mews and found a church. It was Oratory of St. Philip Neri, a Roman Catholic church in the baroque style (see picture at right). We went inside and looked around for a bit - it was lavishly decorated. There were representations of the four evangelists on the ceiling, beautifully painted. It was quite an impressive building. I wish I could have taken pictures.

After the church we came across the statue of Cardinal Newman (see picture at right), the author of one of my favorite hymns "Lead Kindly Light." He is the namesake of Newman Clubs operated by the Catholic church near universities, like LDS Institutes.

We passed the entrance of the Victoria and Albert Museum, a place I am desperately wanting to explore but have not been able to yet (see picture at right). Right now they have a Grace Kelly exhibit that I am longing to see. I've heard it's a wonderful museum and I plan on going back there, along with the Science and Natural History museums we encountered on our walk. The museums have such amazing facades and amazing exhibits inside. I am constantly amazed that there are so many museums and so much history here. There is so much to see! I have had the chance to explore the Natural History Museum a bit. It's built on the site of the International Exhibition of 1862 and has the most varied and in-depth exhibits on practically every area of natural history you could imagine.

We passed the Baden-Powell House. Lord Baden-Powell founded the Boy Scout movement. We also later passed what used to be his home (see picture at left). The Baden-Powell House is basically the scouting headquarters of the world. My dad and brothers would have appreciated it more than I did, I think.

We came upon the back of the Royal Albert Hall, which I actually liked better than the front of it. There is yet another Albert Memorial stationed here. This building is where many musical events take place, as well as ballets and political events. I believe the ballet Swan Lake is currently showing here, which I am interested to see (I've never seen a ballet before).

We finished up our walk with a trip to Hyde Park Gate, a street on which many famous people have lived, such as Charles Dickens, Lord Baden-Powell (mentioned and pictured earlier), and my personal favorite, Winston Churchill (see picture of his house to left). We walked home through Kensington Gardens, which is always a beautiful walk. It's amazing to me that all of this is so easily accessible to me. A 20 minute walk here gets me more history than a 20 minute drive could back home :)

Three Days in Heaven

We went our our first extended trip this week! We hopped on the coach on Tuesday morning - my seat buddy was the lovely Aubrie (see picture at right). We drove for a couple of hours to get to....wait for it...CHAWTON HOUSE! I know, you're probably not excited yet, but you soon will be....JANE AUSTEN'S HOUSE! The picture to the left is of me in front of it. It was so fun! It's awfully small, just a simple country cottage. But I can hardly believe a walked the same halls Jane did and saw the very table where she wrote most of her novels. It was really cool. Throughout the house there were different artifacts related to the novels and to Jane's life. We saw a lock of Jane's hair and two amber necklaces belonging to her and her sister Catherine - just like the one given to Fanny in Mansfield Park! And there were costumes set up all around from the new BBC Emma. I went into Jane's bedroom and saw handwritten letters from her and early editions of her books. I walked through her back garden and stood in her kitchen and was so happy the entire time :) It was a beautiful little place.

After Chawton House we took off towards Winchester where we explored a lovely cathedral - and guess who's buried there! JANE AUSTEN! It's kinda weird to be excited about seeing someone's grave, but I feel like that's a big thing to do as a visitor here. Every cathedral here is absolutely amazing. The thing that I particularly enjoyed at this cathedral was the ceiling - it was gorgeous. If you can, I highly recommend looking of pictures at it online...I don't want to put them on here.

After the cathedral we went to the Great Hall where we observed the round table! Like, the official round table from Camelot and stuff! We reenacted a scene from Monty Python's Holy Grail (it's on facebook, should you wish to see it) - I sang the Knights of the Round Table song (yes, I know all the words ha ha) and we were cool. I've made friends with a bunch of goofs like me here ha ha, though I think I'm a bit more goofy than they are.

After Winchester we proceeded to Bath. Yes, another site famous for Jane Austen things. We got to go to the Roman Bath Museum where we learned all about the ancient Roman baths that were uncovered in Bath.

After the museum we went to the Pump Room where they let you drink the famous water from Bath which is said to have tons of minerals that can cure you of practically anything. It was disgusting. It was warm and it tasted all sulfury and gross...but hey, I'll live to be 102 years old!

We also went to the Royal Crescent, which aside from being amazing and beautiful is where the famous running scene from the new Persuasion takes place. There is another reenactment of this scene on facebook, should you wish to see it. In that video I play more of a side character. I will soon post the one of me running. It was quite grand. Bath was absolutely gorgeous. I loved it. I can definitely see why everyone would want to go there on holiday. We were singing 'Hey Soul Sister' on the way up to the Crescent, once again proving that we are clamorous Americans, and an old British man murmured "rubbish" to us as he passed - rude! He was laughing when he said it, so hopefully it was all in good fun. I thought we sounded rather nice...We took many a Bath picture. Everything in Bath closes at like 5:30 though so we were stuck wandering around for a couple of hours. It is so pretty there, though, so wandering wasn't a chore.

We then ventured up to our Youth Hostel (see pic at left), which was not as sketchy as we thought it was going to be. In fact, in light of some of the horror stories I have heard it was rather nice.

We explored the area around our hostel and found the most beautiful field on a hill just in time to watch the sun set - it was so amazing! England is entirely beautiful! We frolicked in the field and took many pictures until we discovered stinging nettle...then we went back to the hostel.

We awoke the next morning and climbed onto the coach once more to head to Glastonbury, the supposed burial place of King Arthur and Guinevere - if you have read the Morte D'Arthur, you know what I'm talking about. We saw the place where Arthur's tomb is said to have been before the Abbey was destroyed as part of the Reformation. We had an awesome, though sometimes inappropriate, monk tour guide who we christened Ringo due to his uncanny resemblance to said Beatle. He was hilarious, but kept making interesting sex and gay jokes which we all found extremely awkward, especially considering they were coming from a monk...He was really nice though. And he knew his stuff.

After the Abbey we hiked to the top of the nearby Tor - a large hill overlooking the entire area with a monument on top dedicated most recently to St. Michael, who is said to guard the area from earthquakes, which are caused, as we all know, by the waking of a sleeping dragon under the hill. The view was magnificent! Once again, many pictures were taken - I took the first of a few "the world is mine" pictures (see left). After the Tor, we hopped on the coach and took off for Wells, where I saw the most gorgeous cathedral I have ever seen - it was absolutely wonderful. We weren't allowed to take pictures, so I don't have any...but I'm sure they have them online somewhere. Take a look at them - it is sooooo gorgeous. Definitely my favorite cathedral we've been in so far. The Lady Chapel was especially wonderful. And I loved the scissor arches. At the local market I bought a copy of a Beatrix Potter book - so cute! And at the local candy shop I purchased some amazing clotted cream fudge. The fudge here is to die for. I also had my very first cornish pasty - I could eat one everyday for sure. I love them. I'm going to have to learn how to make them when I get home. And fudge too. We got back on the coach and headed to a small seaside town where we were to stay for the night - it was called Ilfracombe. It was soooooo beautiful!!!! We were right on the coast.

We played on the beach, we ate fish and chips (which I love, by the way), and we hiked to the top of a hill where we watched the sunset over the ocean.

I am telling you, England is the most beautiful place I have ever been. I can hardly believe I am here. We also made friends with a Scottish fisherman who had the thickest accent I have ever heard. He gave us some tips on where the best view of the ocean was.

We slept in a slightly more dodgy hostel, but still not bad, and we awoke to a full English breakfast at a local restaurant. I got to eat beans on toast! English breakfast is amazing - it's a wonder they're not all fat here, with all their fried food and chocolate.

We next went to Tintagel, the supposed birthplace of King Arthur - we saw Merlin's cave and the castle where Arthur is said to have grown up.

We stood on the edge of cliffs and stared out at the vast ocean - it was so amazingly beautiful. We made friends with a guy who worked in the milkshake shop. His name was Matt, and he wanted to switch places with us so he could go to America and we could live in what he called a "fairy town."

Every shop in Tintagel was dedicated to King Arthur or fairies or dragons or witchcraft or some other such thing. It was definitely a fun village. We then went to Exeter where we saw yet another beautiful cathedral and did a bit of shopping. We came across a Primark in the mall and I bought a pair of sweet sneakers for 2 pounds! I love Primark. It was wonderful. The whole trip was a marvelous success - the countryside really is as beautiful as they make it look in all the movies. There are endless rolling hills of fields and flowers and lush greenery. It is practically unbelievable. I had such a marvelous time, but one of the best feelings was arriving back at the London Centre and feeling that I was home. I feel like I really live here now - the Centre is home, at least for a few more weeks. That's such a fun experience - I live in London!!! I am amazed every day at how privileged I am to be here. I am so, so blessed.

The Last Few Days

Thursday, May 6, 2010

I saw Midsummer Night’s Dream at the Globe Theatre! At the Globe! Where Shakespeare was! Well…technically it’s not the same theatre…the real one burned down…but still! And they filmed Doctor Who there! It was such a fun play, though quite a bit more inappropriate and suggestive than I would’ve liked. They had a cast of seven who played all the different roles in the play, so each played three or four parts. In this play the women were not played by men, but I’ve been told in some other productions they do that. Not only was every single actor fabulous, but they could all sing too! We were “groundlings,” meaning we stood the entire time on the ground level, just like commoners in Shakespeare’s time. It was such a great experience. We get to see Macbeth there later in the program, so I’m excited for that. I can’t believe I just watched a Shakespeare play in the Globe Theatre! AHHH!

So, I just realized I forgot to tell you guys about my living situation here. The Centre is made up of two combined townhouses just off of Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens. There are five dorms – I’m in #1 on the ground floor. There are 8 girls in our room, 4 bunk beds. I have the top bunk. My bunkmate’s name is Natalie. Our room rocks. We live in the same building as our professors and our families, which is a fun experience. I’m going to sound like a nerd here, but it really does feel like Hogwarts a bit. Each person takes turn being on the kitchen crew for a week – this week is my week. The food is far too amazing – I’m getting fatter, I’m sure. The Schulers are the directors who live in the basement area of the Centre. They take care of all our needs and are absolutely wonderful people. Our professors are great. Classes are stressful – it feels like there’s no way we’re going to be able to squeeze in everything they want us to in these few weeks, but we’re certainly going to try. We attend class in a room on the second floor of the Centre. We go on many fieldtrips and such as part of our classes, but they don’t feel like homework. Most of the time, anyways…J I really do love it here. There’s so much I still need to do! I keep thinking I need to do it right away, forgetting that I’m here for 5 more weeks. It’s rather insane that I’m going to be here for that long. This is such an amazing opportunity – I can hardly believe I’m here. I’m one of the most fortunate people in the world!

Friday, May 7, 2010

Today we visited Westminster Abbey and the Cabinet War Rooms. Westminster Abbey is absolutely gorgeous. The Lady Chapel has the most gorgeous ceiling I have ever seen - it looks like lace, but it's carved out of stone. It's insanely intricate and beautiful. And we saw the graves/memorials for many famous dead individuals, including monarchs and the actual grave of Charles Dickens! There was also a memorial to William Wilberforce (whom we know as the hero of ending the slave trade in Britain - see Amazing Grace) which I really loved.

The Cabinet War Rooms are sooooo cool - definitely one of my favorite places I've been so far. They are the rooms in this World War II bunker where Winston Churchill worked and strategized with his cabinet. They are preserved exactly how they were left at the end of the war, down to Churchill's cigars left on his nightstand - no joke, so cool. And the Winston Churchill Museum (within the Cabinet War Rooms) is the coolest museum I have ever seen - high tech and interactive and so informative. Churchill has to be one of my favorite leaders now. He has such personality, spunk, and natural leadership abilities. His ability to work with even his enemies is amazing. I loved learning about him and being inside the War Rooms where history actually happened. It felt so near and tangible. I loved it. I love WWII history in general, so this museum was perfect for me.

At night we went to a multi-stake dance. We will not be going back. Ha ha It was really fun - I love the girls in my group, but it took about an hour to get going and it consisted mostly of BYU study abroad kids (there are like 4 different groups here in London). And they only played techno. It was an experience needed, but not needed to be repeated. So, unfortunately, I have not yet found my future British husband, unless you count the Earl of Pembrook, who is actually engaged but that is only a minor problem :)

Saturday May 8, 2010

Today we went on our Harry Potter tour around London – it was self constructed, so it only included key places. We went to Platform 9 ¾, of course, and then the millennial bridge which gets destroyed by death eaters in the 6^th book, and then we looked for Diagon Alley but couldn’t find it, then we went to Tottenham Court Road where in the 7^th book Harry, Ron, and Hermione apparate and get followed by death eaters. We ate a little pub, my first pub experience! I love pubs. We had lamb pie and chips - so good. Pub food is the best, and they have such a fun atmosphere. I wish we had pubs in Utah like the pubs here.

I also went to the waffle house for the first time - amazing! My friend and I split a cinnamon waffle and a white chocolate covered waffle. It was heaven, let me tell you. We need waffle places like this back home. I'm afraid I've gotten a bit chubbier since I've been here...today I went on a jog too to try to counter the eating I've been doing. I'm so sore now, but I got to jog through Kensington Gardens - how amazing is that? It's so beautiful here, I just love it. Jogging isn't a chore when you're running through a beautiful garden. Well, almost not a chore...I also went to Portobello Road market and bought a pretty ring! Such a good day.

Sunday, May 9, 2010

Today I went to my new ward! I am serving in the Wandsworth Common ward. It's a bit south of London but still I guess technically in London. I love that the church is the same everywhere you go. We were afraid that we wouldn't be able to find the building and then we saw the steeple and knew we were home. There are 7 students from our group that will be going to the ward. We all got assigned different things - some are teaching sunday school for the teens, some working in the primary, etc. I have been assigned to help in Relief Society, though I don't know any specifics yet. We ended up spending about 7 hours in church related activities - it takes about an hour to get there and back and we had to stay to talk with the bishop. The ward is amazing - most of the people are converts. They have such strong testimonies and such wonderful spirits. I absolutely love it, and I can't wait to get to know the ward better. Our bishop is really cool - he's from Africa and he's just a really sweet guy.

Also, today was MOTHER'S DAY! Happy Mother's Day to all you mothers! And a special Happy Mother's Day to my mom, Kerry Maureen Hardy, the best mom in the entire world! She is absolutely wonderful and truly my best friend. And I miss her - I wish she was here to geek out with all us girls about Jane Austen and all other things BBC. Mother's Day not only means celebrating mom, but it also mean talking to missionaries! I was assuming that I would just miss my brother Josh's phone call because I don't have a phone here and I was really bummed, but technology stepped in to save the day. I audio skyped with my brother Mike who had a conference call with Josh and all other family members on speaker phone so I could hear. It was so amazing. When I heard Josh's voice I just began to cry. I am so grateful that I got to participate in that phone call. I think that may be the highlight of my London trip. It was such an amazing thing. josh sounds soooo good. Yay for technology!!!

Monday, May 10, 2010

I was up until 2:30 AM last night/this morning trying to finish up my homework for today. I almost made it. I think I did enough to get me by. Classes here are super interesting, and we get to go on the best field trips ever. Today we went to the British Museum - holy cow, it's probably the most amazing museum in the world! They have everything there! And we only saw a small portion of the museum.

We saw the Rosetta Stone! The real Rosetta Stone! (see pic at right) And we saw mummies - I definitely need to go back to explore the Egypt sections more. There are so many amazing museums here in London. I don't know how I'm going to find time to visit all the ones I want to explore. It's so amazing here. I could spend months here and still not see everything I want to. The picture is of me imitating the statue of Augustus - basically it's just me being a clamorous American. I've consistently realized that American young people are extremely noisy and they exaggerate a lot more that British people.

Tonight I had my first Primark experience. For those of you who don't know, Primark is an amazing discount clothing store. It's usually a mad house, but if you go at certain times you can get some great stuff and not be trampled by all the crazy shoppers. Tonight we went and I got a hoodie and some sunglasses for pretty cheap! It was a bargain - my mom would be proud, I think. Mom, I went shopping of my own volition! Yay! Then I went to the local Tesco Express and bought an apple and some cookies (here called biscuits) call Hob Nobs which I am now addicted to. Cookies and candy bars here are far too good and far too cheap - it's causing problems, but I'm quite happy with it ha ha.

Tomorrow we head off on our three day West trip, which I will blog about when I get back. I'm excited to be out of London once again and to see more of the wonderful British countryside! Yay! Well, off to bed. We leave bright and early and get to spend hours on the coach (that's British for "hired bus" :) Talk to ya later!