My Future Home: Eynesford

Well. I found out where I'm moving folks!!! Sorry that it's not ANYWHERE near the States... but.... the place I found is just TOO perfect. So just be happy for me.

Eynesford in Kent. Heaven on earth. I'm fully convinced. I took a train out to Kent to start my hike with one of the sweetest men I've ever met: George Chittock (I mentioned him earlier). We strolled around the town as a group and then headed out to the countryside and farm area. It. Was. To. Die. For.

This is also where I found my dream home. Here's a picture... a little ways down. I'm too lazy to separate the pictures today.

On my way to the farm!

Lavender farm store, with some...

LAVENDER ICE CREAM!!! Sounds weird right? It was delicious.

Most addictive drink. It's not actually root beer... but it is... kind of.

Gorgeous views!!! I'm moving here. It's official.

My FUTURE HOME!

The view right outside the picture above. It was too perfect.

It's right by these lavender fields, with a stream trickling by the front, and a white picket fence. Also the trees arching over the stream. Seriously. Garden of Eden status. Everyone made fun of me for stopping and taking a picture but I had too!!! Documentation so I could remember where I was going to be!

We then headed over to the local Parish and sang Hymns in the chapel. Not to toot my own horn, but we sounded like angels.

Unfortunately, we had to leave the beautiful countryside and make it back in time for our tickets to "Chariots of Fire"!!! You know the movie from the 80's?? Well, they did a 1924 Olympics Paris version. It was so cool!!! I was really wondering how they were going to pull of the whole "running theme" on stage, but they actually did an awesome job! The director was so creative and pulled everything off perfectly!!! At the end of the show they did a "fast-forward" type thing to the modern day Olympics that are taking place in LONDON!!! It got me pumped!!!!

NIGHT!!!!

Siiiinnnnggging in the Rain!!!

Went to a Cricket match today!!! Local Cricket player (Dan Hough) that plays in one of the leagues came and ATTEMPTED to explain the beautiful game to us. We headed over to the game and had awesome seats! It was pretty fun to see! I was EXTREMELY confused... It was a mixture of baseball, bowling, golf, and perhaps Monopoly thrown in there. Needless to say I didn't follow at all. But I had a fun time pretending. While there, one of the food vendors talked me into trying wild boar sausage. It was interesting. Cricket and wild boar is the equivalent to Baseball and hotdogs! Go figure!

Sarah and I enjoying a professional match of Cricket! England vs. South Africa!

Mmmmm... boar!

That night I went to "Singing in the Rain"!!! It was so fun! I've loved getting to go all of these different shows! This was just an upbeat show that made me want to get up and dance. My favorite number was obviously when they sang "I'm Siiiiiinging in the Rain...."

Kind of dark pic, but here's our group!!!

They had rain. Falling. Inside. On the stage. It was epic!!! They had umbrellas and were tap dancing, and you could see the splashing. It was such an amazing effect! I would definitely go see it again... if I had the money to!

We could have been in the show!!!

All in all my day was pretty splendid! Cheers!

Tears of Joy and Self Induced Jet Lag...

 MONDAY:

I took a tour of Parliament!!! It was amazing! I wish I could have taken pictures and shown you all how beautiful it is inside... but they have very strict rules! My favorite was the House of Commons, because their color scheme is all green (which is my favorite color) and also there was a scene from Sherlock Holmes filmed there. I feel lame relating everything to movies, but I do. So alas! Afterwards, I visited Borough Market for the heavenly grilled cheese sandwich. Just as good as the first time :) I was pretty exhausted so I headed home to do some homework. Unfortunately I fell asleep! For 5 hours!!!! That's right. 5 hours. Pretty pathetic right? I mean, I guess it was needed... but here's the thing! If I sleep past 10:30 am I have a really hard time going to sleep at night! I basically just gave myself.... self induced Jet Lag ALL OVER AGAIN!! I'm so confused right now. I ate dinner and it felt like breakfast. Weird stuff.

Parliament

So after wasting away my afternoon I thought I should at least do something fun for the last bit of my evening. And believe me... I DID!!!

I went to go see The Dark Knight Rises in the very first theater in London! Everyone had been talking about going to see it so I thought I should jump on the bandwagon and see what all the fuss was about. I had seen the first two and thought they were pretty good but I only saw them once. But let me tell you. I'm fully converted to the ways of Batman. This movie made me CRY. I'm not kidding you. The ending was just so mind blowing and happy that I started bawling. My friends took a picture of me.... here it is. Pretty pathetic I know... Anyways. It was a good night! I had lots of fun!

Chels took this picture. It wasn't planned. I'm an UGLY crier in case you didn't know!!!

Sharing some Ben and Jerry's with Ali and Chels!!!

My prayers go out to the families impacted by in the Colorado Massacre. What a tragic event, words can't describe the sadness we all felt when the news reached London.

SUNDAY:

We had a pretty difficult time getting to church today... It took us a total of 2 HOURS!!! Yeah. Half way through I was all ready to give up and just go home! Especially since I had gotten only 1 HOUR of sleep the previous night. (the Jet Lag that I was telling you about...)

Blackheath!!! Right by our church!

The BEST chicken sandwiches at the market by our church...

After church, the rest of the day was devoted to homework. Lucky me... But what was very fun was getting to listen to my friends new album!!! "Green Things" by Emily Brown. You all need to check it out. I met her at EFY and became great friends with her! She just left for her mission! She is the most talented singer. I KNOW that she will do great things.
For dinner we had the most delicious mac and cheese. Pretty sure it was made of gold....We loved it. There were NO leftovers. Then I crashed because I was running on fumes!!!

Richard III and Biking

 Today was fun! Pretty low key but I think that's just what I needed. In the morning I headed over to the Imperial War Museum! It was very interesting to see a different countries view points on WWI and WWII, and how it affected them differently. I spent the morning looking around different exhibits, and quickly grabbed some lunch (sketchy sushi from a tent...vender....man. I'm guess it wasn't legit and I could die in a couple of hours) at a market before heading over to see Richard III at Shakespeare's Globe Theater.

Like a boss.

This was an ambulance that they used in WWI!!!

Sketchy sushi!!!

At the Globe we got standing seats... so I suppose they aren't really seats then are they! Ah ha! Realization. Anyways... I had standing "seats" and started getting really sleepy because of course I haven't been getting enough sleep lately. Side note: I kept having nightmares that the Woman in Black was right outside my window. Back to the story though. I was starting to fall asleep standing up... doesn't sound possible does it! Well, I can make the impossible happen because I started to drift off while standing up. The usher/attendant for the theater apparently saw me from far off in the distance and came rushing over! At first I thought she was mad at me for not paying better attention. Little did I realize that she thought I was fainting! Or at least about to faint. After much discussion I was able to convince her that I DIDN'T need medical help. Or perhaps I did and it was the sushi settling in!!!

So I have about 50 of these on my camera from this whole trip. I thought I should add one. Sarah folks.

I finished my day with a lovely dinner, and a bike ride through Hyde Park!!! It was so fun, I felt like one of the "Londoners" just going for a short ride. Except it was clear that I wasn't actually from here because I had the hardest time staying on the left side of the path... AH I'M LIVING IN LONDON!!! Sorry. I just realized that again. Sometimes it seems to good to be true!

Bike ride through Hyde Park!!!

I thought this was a creepy photo of me... and thought I should share.

Oh! Then I went and got "Snogs" Frozen Yogurt. It's all the rave here, but funny enough it is just like Spoon Me back at home. Anyways.... Good night from across the pond!

The Woman in Black

This might be a fairly short update folks because I'm so tired!!!!

Today we went to Kew Gardens after classes. Kew Gardens is this HUGE garden center that is truly lovely! We had a lot of fun walking around and getting lost all over!

I put flowers in my hair :) It was just too tempting!

See the Olympic rings in the background??

We left for dinner and then had the brilliant idea of going and seeing "The Woman in Black". This was originally a play that has now been made into a movie (starring Daniel Radcliffe aka Harry Potter). We were lucky enough to get tickets to the play!!! Who knew there was such a thing as a scary play!!! Because I sure didn't! It was frightening. I flat out screamed about 4 times. So hopefully I'm not too afraid and will be able to get some sleep!

Go see the film if you want to scream your "knickers" off! (all said in a British accent)

We were already scared and it hadn't even started!!!

EEKK!

Sarah and I.... getting nervous! And for good reason too!

NIGHT!!!

The Tourist Trap and my Home-Boy Will Shakespeare!

Another joyous day on my favorite mode of transportation (note: that statement was thick with sarcasm) COACH TRIP!!! At least this bus had a better color scheme than the old barf colored ones we've had in the past. So it made it more bearable.

We headed out to Warwick Castle! This castle is roughly 1,100 years old! I was so excited to tour around it and learn more about the history of the place. Little did I realized Warwick Castle is a BIG GIANT TOURIST TRAP!!! Heed my warning folks! This is the medieval equivalence to.... Lagoon! Or... a scarier Disneyland. For those of you who don't know what Lagoon is. Anyways. We get there and they have all of these little kid things to do... I don't think our professors necessarily realized this fact. Pretty sure I was the only one over the age of 7. Talk about embarrassing!

I'm the "Village Idiot" for getting stuck in the Tourist Trap of England!

I still had a bunch of fun though. I practiced some archery. I'm pretty darn good too... I suppose you could say I'm the female version of Robin Hood. Not to toot my own horn... I actually was pretty awful. I missed the target that I was actually aiming for, and hit the center of one far off to the left. Everyone was really excited for me getting the center of the bulls eye. Little did they all know I TOTALLY was aiming for something 10 feet to the right. But I still took credit for being awesome, because I didn't want to crush their spirits.

I'm a natural.

After I headed to their... medieval wax museum! They had those back then. In case you were wondering. Anyways, I was walking through the museum and noticed that someone put a piece of FUDGE on one of the characters nose!!! I lost it. Here's a picture of me (pretending!) to eat it/lick it.

YUMMY! Awkward fudge on wax figures nose...

We didn't get too sucked into the tourist hullabaloo, got back on the Coach and headed to STRATFORD UPON AVON! We went to Anne Hathaway's Cottage, looked at her beautiful gardens. Then headed to Shakespeare's Birthplace/Home. Sidenote: across the street was the cutest Peter Rabbit store (I'm obsessed with Peter Rabbit and Beatrix Potter) I was so giddy! So we toured Shakespeare's house, learned more about his life in Stratford, and spent some time in the area. It was really fun! I loved how well preserved everything was. I couldn't believe I was in the same place that such an iconic playwright grew up! It was fun :)

Perfect day, rain and English gardens :)

Peter Rabbit "Specialist" store, cracked me up!

Skakespeare's Birthplace!

Visiting Shakespeare's grave!

We got back on the bus, rode home while watching "She's the Man" (this movie is quoted all the time so it was very fitting), went and got some GELATO, and crashed in bed once I climbed all 4 stories! NIGHT!!!

Heart attack on a plate!!!

The Happiest Day of ALL Time!!!!

Today I shed tears of joy. Let me explain.

We started off the day by going to the Natural History Museum, where they had this cool "Inside Out" Exhibit, consisting of animals... minus the skin. That sounds really creepy, but it was awesome seeing how all of their muscles met together. Yeah. I'm a nerd. But it was fascinating! Except the giraffe. Those are my favorite animals. And I kind of was disturbed seeing them in that state.

The next part of my day was the BEST EVER!!!! For those of you who don't know... I'm a Harry Potter fanatic!!! I have read the books and have seen the movies multiple times! I even have a wand. Don't judge.

Anyways, my friends and I got tickets to the Harry Potter Warner Brother's Studio Tour!!! When I bought my ticket to the site I will admit that I started to cry. I was that excited. So we took a train out to the studio, and started our tour! It took us about 3 hours and saw some of the coolest stuff! All of my favorite sets from the movies, actual props that they used, their wardrobes, and got to try BUTTER BEER!!! It's not actually alcohol (don't worry Mom and Dad) but it is seriously so good. I will confess that I might be addicted to it.

I didn't want to leave! I wanted to move right into Privet Drive and find my way in the Wizarding world. But alas. They kicked me out.

After visiting the actual "Happiest Place on Earth" I went on a little mini date with my dear friend Abbie Owens and just had an excellent day!!! Definitely going back to Harry Potter WB Tours again! One day. Anyways. Here are a bunch of pictures from my adventures!!!

Outside of the museum!!! With my two cute friends.

Chocolate Frog!!!

Doesn't that just look perfect!!! I was meant to be a witch.

The Boy's Dormitory!!! AAHHH!!!

Just thought I'd pop in to see the Minister of Magic... no biggie!

Drinkin' some BUTTER BEER on Privet Drive

Abbie, Sarah, Me, and Janie chillin' at Number 4!!!

I thought I'd just wait for Harry to come home... he never showed up! Story of my life!

Diagon Alley!!!

National Gallery and Les Miserables

Sunday:

The beginning of my sabbath was QUITE busy! I had to give a lesson in Relief Society AND give a talk in Sacrament. I'm sure the entire Catford Ward was extremely sick of hearing from me. But I think it all went very well; people came up after and thanked me for my thoughts! So that's a good sign! They are such a sweet group of people. I will really miss them when I have to go home.

We headed back home from church and I took an accidental, but much needed, nap. I don't think I've ever slept so soundly before in my entire life!!! We just relaxed for the rest of the day around home, did some homework, ate food. And then my favorite part of the day: I got to talk to my parents!!! And the connection was perfectly clear!!! Usually when I try and talk to them, we just end up giving up. But this time I could hear their voices and everything. Best. Day. Ever. I was grinning for the rest of the day. Everyone thought I was crazy I'm sure!

Monday:

After classes today, I headed over to the National Gallery! Yeah... so... I basically got to see: Renior, Monet, Manet, Van Gogh, Pissaro, Botticelli, Da Vinci, Michelangelo, Rembrandt, Seurat, Vermeer, and some Turners. Just to name a few. No big deal. It was AMAZING! Seeing all of these painting that I've only read about in text books was...unreal. Words can't describe. I'm still so shocked!!! And it was free too! I think everyone should go there at least once in their life.

After dinner, I went and bought tickets to see Les Miserables!!! I've been fortunate enough to see this show a couple of times with my family, but never in LONDON!!! It is such a powerful show, the music and the message is seriously life changing. I cried in it. The music will always, always give me chills. I have been so lucky to go to these great shows while I've been here! They have been some of my favorite things!

Little Miss Emilee and I going to the show!!! Gah I love her!

NIGHT!

Happy Bastille Day!!!

After such a crazy day the day before, we all decided to take it easy on our last day in Paris. Especially since it was Bastille Day and extremely crowded in the city! We woke up and headed to Sacre Coure, this amazing Catholic church up on the hill of Paris, overlooking the whole city. It is made of gleaming white stone, and truly such a stunning building.

We got some more ice cream at Berthillion, which is this ice cream parlor on the small island near Notre Dame. It is made of liquid gold. I'm truly convinced. I would fly all the way back to Paris just for a bowl of that stuff. Yeah. I'm not being dramatic. I'm just being honest here folks.

We did a little bit of shopping at this cute market area right near there, and then hung out under the Eiffel Tower on the field. Listening to music, chatting, and waiting for our Chunnel to come. Unfortunately, we had to head back to Paris. But truth be told, I think we were all ready for the safety of our beds, and peace of mind that we were all safe and sound.

Little Miss Katie!!! Not leaving her out of my sight!

I took this picture, and it's awesome. Sacre Coure everyone!!!

Last time in front of Notre Dame!!!

Our favorite streets with...

ICE CREAM!!!

This was my view from the lawn, love my life!!!

I truly do believe that this was one of the best weekends of my life though. Extremely epic, and overall one of my greatest adventures!!!