It's been a WICKED night

Okay. So I cried today. But before you all start freaking out let me explain a little bit.

Today we had class from 9-2, I guess you could say they were three separate lectures. They were all interesting lectures, but I won't lie... Once you start to hit that 2 o'clock mark you get a little tired! I know I'm young and should have energy up the wazoo but boy I was exhausted! So during our last lecture from that guest professor I mentioned earlier, I might had accidentally dozed off! Which I'm actually really bummed about too because he specializes in Theatre! Sad day. Also I'm a little embarrassed because I don't think I'm a very pretty sleeper. So now my roommates are all probably weirded out!

We were all starving after class so some of us ventured out to "Mr. Fish". Now our professor, Frank, (or Papa Frank as I like to call him) recommended it and said for our first fish and chips experience we should go there! So we wandered a bit looking for it because I didn't listen to his directions as well as I should have. I walked into the first pub I saw once it was obvious I had lead the group down the wrong path, and asked them a simple question. Here's how it went down.

"Excuse me... Where's Mr. Fish?"
"I'm surry, whaa?"
"Where's Mr. Fish?"
"Westminster fish??"
"No no no, where is Mr. Fish?"
" I stell don' undahh stand wha it is you arrr trying to ask."
(big sigh) "Where. Is. Mr. Fish??" (said SUPER slowly and ridiculously clear)
Aaannnndd silence.

Someone else in the pub spoke up and told me the directions, but alas, the bartender looked at me as I walked away, oblivious.  Moral of the story folks. You may both speak English, but there will always be a language barrier!

Yummy, greasy FISH AND CHIPS!

After that we had free time for the rest of the day! So some of my friends and I decided we wanted to check out the Broadway scene and see if there are any cheap tickets available. And of course where else would you go but Leicester Square? Home of the creepy ticket sales people. We took the tube over, got a lot of brochures and advice on where the best tickets were being sold. Heard that the best luck as students would be if we arrived an hour before the performance and tried to get any extra seats at a student discount price. We decided that we should see "Wicked"!!! We were all game for that but had to be back for dinner at home. We ran back, and quickly ate "dinner". Aannndddd pause.

I have to take a quick break and explain the whole dinner situation we've found ourselves in.

The people that take care of the home are the sweetest couple from Brazil. They are so kind and generous. They cook two meals a day for us, which is awesome because who doesn't love free food?? I don't. They are trying to do all of these unique recipes, and give as a multicultural experience while we are here, but if you are from Brazil... sometimes your take on other countries food might be a little... askew. Our dinner consisted of (just try and picture it): half an avocado, fry sauce layered on top of it, baby shrimp sprinkled over that, and then a small hand full of mint leaves tossed over the top. I don't know what country that meal was suppose to be from but, goodness gracious! It was hard to stomach down! But by jove I did it!!! The fry sauce and mint combination was... so... unique I guess you could say.

Okay, I just had to explain that delightful experience.

We ran to Apollo Victoria Theatre, right off the Victoria line. Trying to make it in time to get "Wicked" tickets. But the all of Tube stops near our home were shut down because there had been a major landslide! So we took the bus, which is probably 4x longer than the tube. After realizing we probably had another 40 minutes on the bus because of traffic we got off and headed to the theatre on foot. Luckily, we found a Tube line that was working shortly after and got there much faster! We had perhaps 30 minutes before the show was about to start, and hadn't even tried to get tickets yet! We ran to the ticket booth, asked if there were any left, and by sheer chance a MIRACLE occurred. There had been a small group that had called and informed the theatre they weren't going to make it to the show! So we were able to purchase their tickets for 27 pounds... roughly.... 45 ish dollars! (Which is amazing if you didn't know). Great seats, ALL TOGETHER!

My ticket!!! YAY!!!

And Que the tears. I love Broadway. I've seen multiple traveling Broadway shows thanks to my parents, but this was neat because London Broadway is LEGENDARY, and I was there! I had chills from the amazing music, and just cried because I truly was sooo happy! There was this moment where I was sitting there, and realized just how blessed I truly am. I'm in London, seeing all of these iconic historical sites, living in an amazing neighborhood, and have the money to go have wonderful "extra" experiences as well. It was a perfect day.

See that pure joy?? Well that's pure joy folks!

We got home just in time to do a little bit of light studying, and crawl into bed.

Kaitlyn, Sarah, Emilee, Me, Janie, and Jordan at Wicked!

London. Is. The. Best.

Dover Castle, White Cliffs, and Canterbury

Wow. What a day!!! We had our first "excursion" as a group and drove up to see Dover Castle, Dover's legendary White Cliffs, and Canterbury. All on the southeast coast of England!

Talk about an early morning, getting out of London is nearly impossible so that meant waking up before the rest of the world so we could get there with plenty of time. So after getting ready at 5:30 in the morning, we had rice yogurts for breakfast, packed our turkey sandwiches (they put Ketchup on them...weird....) and got on the bus to head to the coast! Most people slept. Lucky for me I got a little nauseous and had to keep my eyes on the road because I didn't want to lose friends quickly by throwing up on them! We arrived in foggy Dover 2 hours later. It was better than I could ever imagine!

Looking down the hills from the castle. Classic foggy day.

Just cooking up some dinner at the castle.

We pulled up to the Castle, took a small hike getting up there and took a tour of the area. This castle was built mostly by Henry II, though it was also contributed by the Roman rule. The rolling hills with the flowers and the ancient building were a little too much perfect to handle. I couldn't put my camera down! There was a moat, a little village within the Castle's walls, and wartime tunnels from the Napoleonic Wars and WWII. We took tours of both, they were hidden in the side of the cliffs, and weren't rediscovered until a couple years ago! They used some of the tunnels as an emergency hospital for people getting off the coast from battle. It was amazing seeing how nothing had changed since!

I am in love with England castles!!! Here is part of the Dover Castle grounds.

 

We unfortunately had to leave the Castle... even though I was thinking about moving in! We took a short drive north to a wonderful lookout of the cliffs. These cliffs are famous for there crisp white color against the green hills of the coast. There were wild flowers, waves crashing, MAJOR drop offs, and just a little mist to make you realize that you were far from Utah. I was super obnoxious and kept singing "The hills are alive...with the sound of music...." but it was just to green and pretty not to look like a fool and sing! I'm sure I won't be invited back to the area though. Because I'm a crazy American.

White Cliffs of Dover with Sarah!!!

After a short visit to the cliffs, we headed inland just a tiny bit to the famous Canterbury!!! Anyone protestant? A member of the Church of England? Do you know who Thomas Becket is? Well we were fortunate enough to visit the Mother Church for Anglicans. Also known as the Canterbury Cathedral. This. Church. Is. Gorgeous. Thomas Becket was the Archbishop murdered in the cathedral by Henry II's knights. He then became Saint Thomas and many people take the famous pilgrimage to Canterbury to pay respects to him. And now I can say I have too! We took an extensive tour, saw some of the loveliest areas, and truly fell in love with the area! Oh, did I mention I saw the Archbishop of Canterbury? Super famous. Married William and Kate. Yeah. No biggie.

All carved from limestone. SO elaborate!!!

Canterbury Cathedral with some of the group!

I wanted to get a picture but he was doing a ceremony and didn't want to be disrespectful. Sorry folks.

We walked around the town of Canterbury next because we had some free time before we had to head home. Let me paint a picture for you. You know when Belle from "Beauty and the Beast" is singing that opening song, walking through that cute village? Well I'm pretty sure Disney just cartoonized (is that even a word??) Canterbury and put it in their film. There were these guys singing songs on the street, and asked us where we were from, we told them from Utah and they just made up a song on the spot about Salt Lake City and Mitt Romney. It was pretty clever! I was surprised they knew so much about the US and politics too! So that was a fun little addition to our day trip.

Isn't it the most charming place? This is just a typical Canterbury street!

Keep calm stuff is EVERYWHERE!

 We sadly had to leave to head back home. Got on the bus. Arrived safe and sound a couple hours later. Went to grab "take away" and Oodles of Noodles (soooo good). Came home and studied until.... now basically! I have class early in the morning so I'm going to go and do some last minute reading but I love you all! Hope "The Colonies" are treating you well! Much love from across the pond!

Henry V at the Globe

I am the luckiest girl. I'm still in shock. Today was too good to be true.

Let me explain!

Today was a completely free day (for the most part). Which means we had nothing until 4 pm. We all woke up and ate breakfast bright and early! I was still chilling in my pj's because they are leopard pants with a rockin' giraffe shirt so who wouldn't want to stay in that as long as possible?? Little did I know me procrastinating getting ready would mean that I would have to get ready in 10 minutes. Shower and everything. But by golly I did it!!! I showered, got dressed, did my make up in seriously 10 minutes. I just had to brag about that because I was so proud of myself.

Kissing the Lion on Trafalgar Square!

We planned on going to the London Eye to see the fabulous skyline. We took the bus to Piccadilly Circus and drove down some of the iconic shopping streets. Everything was picture perfect with the Union Jack flags/garlands hanging over the streets. We arrived at Piccadilly, or otherwise known as the "Time Square" of London. Walked around there, did the tourist thing. We ventured probably two blocks away and ran into Trafalgar Square. It was a complete accident. And it was awesome. There was the National Gallery to our left, and an amazing fountain. We were in awe and completely forgot where we were meaning to go! We saw the tip of the London Eye a couple blocks away and ventured over there. When..... BAM! There was Big Ben and Parliament!!!!

Oh hello Big Ben!!!

I didn't even realize it until I looked up and it was a block away from me. It didn't even look real. It looked almost like a cardboard cutout, propped up for a movie or something. I kinda started to tear up. And then of course the clock struck and it was the perfect moment. Then I teared up even more. I whipped out my camera and got a couple of great shots.

The group on the London Eye!

We walked over the bridge after awhile, bought our tickets to the London Eye, watched this 4 D movie about some seagull's adventures in London... kind of confused by that one, won't lie. And got on the giant Ferris Wheel... type thing... They don't really like to call it a Ferris Wheel but that's what it is!

Janie and I at Westminster Abbey

The views were spectacular!!! You could see all the way down the Thames River, Westminster Abbey, Buckingham Palace, Big Ben, Parliament, just....everything!!! I think I want to go back during sunset or at night and see all the cities lights. I hear it's even better! We stopped for lunch, and headed to Westminster Abbey and St. Margret's church to take a look before heading home for another lecture by the theatre specialist Tim Slover! On the way home though we found...

PRIMARK! Have you heard of it?? It's this huge clothing store. How would I describe it... pure chaos, and super cheap. Everyone is so fashionable that shops there, and it's even cheaper than clothing in the US so you know it's super cheap for England! Of course we all got split up, had to have them page some people over the intercom because there was NO WAY we were going to find everyone. We plan on going back :)

We found our way home on the Tube, had our Henry V lecture, and walked over to the Globe Theatre which is right by the Millennium Bridge that I told you all about earlier, you know the one in Harry Potter?

We were in the bottom section, right by the actors, you could touch them we were that close! Except we had to stand. Won't lie, my feet felt like they were severely bruised after the long day that I had, but it was TOTALLY worth it.

Henry V was amazing!!! They had perfect comedic timing, it was so well done. I'm glad we get to go back and see future productions there! We all traveled home to Palace Court, barely crawled in bed, and PASSED OUT again! These days are long and hard... but I wouldn't trade it for the world!

Two in One!

I'm going to write about two days in one post! Because I'm exhausted and a feeling a little lazy :)

SUNDAY:

We woke up ridiculously early. Well, ridiculously early for me. I'm talking 6 o'clock London time. So  guess that would be... 11:00 pm SLC time. Aka I woke up when I should have been going to bed! I got ready so that I could make it to church on time (9:00 church) but it's roughly an hour and a half by train from where I live so... it winds up being quite the early morning! After a lot of different tube connections and one train ride, we finally arrived at the ward. Everyone goes to different wards so I only went with 2 other girls to church. But we made it safe and sound and received callings and everything! You are looking at a new Relief Society Teacher! It looks like they REALLY needed a teacher otherwise I'm sure they would have called someone else.... perhaps more.... qualified? The ward is so cute! Very small. But the little kids are probably my favorite so far. They have the cutest little accents, I'm tempted to take them home with me! The little girl that I really bonded with was Nannette. She loved playing "hide the toy tiger down Megan's shirt and tell others to search for it" game. QUITE the scandalous game for church!

After church we walked down to the towns Farmer's Market that they have on Sunday's. And let me tell you. They have the BEST food. All locally grown and truly the best. If I keep going back to that place I will most likely be fat when I come home. Just warning you all. A couple bus rides later we arrived back home. I took Kim (Kelsie Greenhalgh's old roommate, therefore my friend too) out for lunch because she finally arrived from JFK, we got shwarma's (again...don't judge) and I gave her a tour of Hyde Park. We went home, and studied for our FIRST test that we had Monday... or today...? Confusing. Then I went on a hunt for a notebook. Because apparently I forgot that I was going to school and would have to be taking notes. Silly me! But did you know that Utah isn't the only place that shuts down on Sundays?? Apparently the phenomenon has spread, and fast! It's already hit the UK! After finally tracking a place down, I went home for dinner.

So dinner... we had this BIG, STEAMING, MUSHY, NEON GREEN bowl of pea soup. It was weird. I was so hungry though that I ate some of it. Then loaded up on rolls because I could only stomach so much of the sewage waste they served us.

We had something really cool next though, that I really liked. We had a guest professor from the London Theatre Study Abroad give us a lecture on the arts. He is staying with us for a little over a week and giving a couple more lectures. I am really liking this because as you all know.... I'm a theatre nut! So I'm kind of getting a two in one deal!

Studied some more.... tried to skype with the fam. Realized the internet sucked. Gave up. And fell into bed. END OF DAY TWO!

MONDAY:

Oh what a day!

I woke up, ate breakfast, went to class from 9:00-12:00. Not super eventful. Though fun, and interesting to learn about all of the places we will be visit for our classes.

We were all STARVING so some of us went on a hunt for Indian food, because London has some great stuff! After walking for (what it seemed like) miles, we stumbled upon a place called Masala....something... it was another foreign word (boy I'm helpful!) Got take out. And inhaled our food. It was delicious. And super spicy. So I had milk to stop the burning.

After lunch a small group of us decided to visit the famous Harrod's!!! Now this is probably the first and last time that I will ever be going to Harrod's because everything there is so out of my price range it isn't even funny. They had special "silver rooms", "purse rooms", "pet fashion", etc. In the "plate room" they had just ONE place setting that cost about 30,000 in pounds. So roughly a little less than $60,000! It had real diamonds inlaid into it. And a ton of stuff was that expensive. Harrod's literally went on for about 1.5 miles radius. It was huge! They were a little stingy with the picture taking there because it was so fancy that they didn't want to us to bug the rich people that were shopping. But I said "Screw the rules!!! I'm taking pictures." And therefore I did. So here are some:

The grocery store part of Harrods... because Walmart totally has these too.

Toy section with bestie Sarah. I bought one for the flight home! (Only kidding Mom and Dad)

Afterwards, we made sure to make it back home for dinner because who doesn't love free food? And guess what we had?? Indian. Yup. Basically we walked a mile to get it a couple hours earlier and it was just in our kitchen the whole time! After dinner we were lucky enough to have tickets to go to St. Paul's Cathedral and see the London Orchestra in a special performance. First of all, that cathedral is breath taking. I've never seen such beautiful, old, historic buildings in my life! It was so grand you couldn't even see the very top of it! The music was simply lovely, and the London Choir performed special prayers in Latin. It was almost too perfect to even be real. I didn't want it to end.

St. Paul

 

At St. Paul's with Kim my bunk-mate! See how lovely it is???

 But alas it did. We walked over to a bridge that was right next door to the cathedral and guess what?? It's the Millennium Bridge from Harry Potter where the death eaters fly around it and destroy it! Yeah. I'm a nerd I know. We were all so excited about it though. We decided it was about time to head home, getting pretty dark, a little shifty. So we took the tube back to Nottinghill. And that's where the adventure began.

On Millennium Bridge, St. Paul's in the background!

We got terribly lost. As in. Where the heck am I.... am I even still in London??? (That's pretty lost folks.) We walked forever, realized our mistake in walking the wrong direction. And had to walk ALL the way back! We finally stumbled home. Walked up 4 flights of stairs, and CRASHED in bed. End of day THREE!

Just ARRIVED!

Getting ready for London!

How in the world is a person suppose to cram 8 weeks of stuff in 1 rolling bag?? Well, don't ask me how I did it (okay I'll tell you, I had help from my Mom, a bunch of help from my Mom) but I was able to get all packed! AND get it all to weigh less than 50 lbs. Now that's what I call a miracle people. A true miracle! However, there had to be some negotiation in the clothing department (apparently 5 jackets ISN'T necessary... go figure) but they were all so cute that I had to at least TRY and sneak them in my suit case. It was a no go.

So, I went to the SLC airport a couple hours before my flight, was dropped off by my Mom, and started making my way towards the gate. THEN you'll never believe who I saw! Do any of you watch the Bachelorette?? It's a guilty pleasure of mine that my roommates got me hooked on, but anyways: I SAW JEF HOLM!!! The Salt Lake contestant! I was absolutely star struck. He was walking in the other direction, so I thought I had missed my chance. BUT lucky for me he was on my flight. So being the nerd that I am, I asked to take a couple pictures with him. He looked at me like I was crazy. But chances are I'll never see him before so... who cares!?

Just chilllin' with Jef at Terminal 4

That's the good news. Bad news was my flight was delayed by 3 hours! We sat at the terminal waiting forever (but I ran into a group from my Study Abroad so they kept me entertained). After we finally got on the flight it was a 4 hour flight to JFK. Which I've decided is the worst airport. Ever. There were thunderstorms, which was why we were delayed in Utah. I BARELY made my connecting flight. I was racing from a different terminal, pushing people out of the way, making racing noises as I went. But I made it! And then it was actually delayed by 3 or 4 hours so I suppose I didn't have to rush quite as much. Luckily some of my friends were able to make it onto my flight so I wasn't all alone. But I didn't realize that until we finished the entire flight! (They got 1st class!!!!) On the flight they gave us food, which normally I wouldn't even consider eating. But I hadn't eaten all day and so it seemed like manna from heaven. I sat next to this cute woman from New York who was traveling to London and Rome teaching as she went. I accidentally cuddled with her the whole trip. So... that was an awkward conversation when we finally landed. It went something like this...
"How did you sleep?"
"Oh I slept well!!! When I finally got to sleep, I slept deeply!"
"I know!"
"Oh?"
"Yeah you were pretty cuddly."
And... end of conversation.

View outside my window! Welcome to the English countryside!

I got off the plane, through customs, and found the car that my parents got for me. They weren't to happy about how long they had to wait for me, but I was very grateful they did because I would have gotten VERY lost to my house!

I arrived at the BYU London Centre. Dirty, smelly, tired, but ecstatic! We are living in the most beautiful neighborhood! The homes are millions and millions, and that's in pounds! So basically this is the only time in my life that I will live somewhere like this. Let's face the facts people.

The lovely Centre

I arrived, checked in, unloaded my stuff, made my bed, met my AWESOME roommates, went to get my tube pass for the Underground, walked around the neighborhood (aka Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens).

My friends and I went to this local Arabic place, a little whole in the wall kind of place, called Taza's. DELICIOUS food. We got lamb shwarma's and sat in the park eating and talking. Simply picture perfect! After we headed home, we had a guest speaker who gave us our callings that we will have for church in neighboring village wards. Got ready for bed. And fell asleep sooooo quickly!
And that's the end of Day ONE :) A long, but exciting day! Let the adventures begin!

On my way to church, past the London Bridge!

My VERY FIRST TUBE RIDE!

Warm, rotating meat. My favorite :)

Okay folks! This summer I am having an experience of a lifetime! It has always been my dream to do a Study Abroad in London, and it's actually happening. I'm still in shock. I don't think all of this will seem real until I get on that plane and land in London. This is my first blog ever, and I'm going to try really hard to make posts often while I'm away. If I don't, you all have permission to scold me. I leave June 22nd and get back in August! I hope this is a way for everyone to see what I'm doing! This is officially my first post. My next post will be coming from LONDON! I'm so excited! Cheerio!