Tour guide for Melinda & family!

Thursday 3/11
Today kinda sucked. 50 people in one flat… not enough space. Eh. My camera drowned and died last weekend when an entire water bottle emptied out in my purse. Today I spent a few hours looking for a new camera but the $ exchange is bad as always.
Good event for the day – a group of us saw the show Hairspray tonight. It was pretty good but not fantastic.

Friday 3/12
Today… ran some errands, not feeling good, studied for a test.

Saturday 3/13
Today I got to see Melinda and her family! It was a great day. Melinda (my half-sister), Devin, Clara and Jonas moved to Harrogate, England this year and it was their first time visiting London. I met them at the Science Museum and introduced Ali to them. I was trying to be a sort of tour guide and had places i wanted to show them, but every tube line I needed was (of course) down today, so we took buses all the way across London. We split from Ali and headed towards Big Ben, which is my favorite area of London. I had lots of fun pointing out famous spots – Westminster cathedral, Parliament, Big Ben! We took pictures and then crossed the River Thames and saw the London Eye. I loved being with Clara and Jonas! They are adorable and so much fun. 

We stopped for lunch at a bakery, which was pretty good but unfortunately Melinda was allergic to part of her lunch and became sick. :( We then took a scenic bus route through more amazing places – Trafalgar Square, Piccadilly Circus, and Oxford Street. Clara loved sitting on the top level of the red double-decker bus, as I pointed things out. We stopped at Marble Arch and walked back to their hotel (which is 1 tube stop away from where I live!) along the northern edge of Hyde Park, which is beautiful even though everything is still refusing to bloom. It was kind of sad saying goodbye so soon… I love being with family. I may be a bit homesick… while I simultaneously don’t want to leave London!

On the way home I went into my favorite souvenir shop (one of like 15 on Queensway) where the Indian lady recognized me haha. It’s sad when a souvenir store-owner knows you. :) But she has great discounts “just for you!” and she cracks me up. I somehow spent a good £35 on souvenirs (mostly for my family! I love you guys!). Went back to the Centre, went back out with a few girls to an H&M sale (I got a jacket and red dress!), then I spent the rest of the evening studying and taking a 2-hour Brit Lit midterm.

Sunday 3/14
Church, not feeling well again, had a good talk with the bishop’s wife in my Whitechapel ward (she’s amazing and hilarious with a big black sassy woman accent). Spent the rest of the day doing nothing then studying for and taking a religion midterm. With the exception of seeing Melinda & company yesterday, this has not been a great past few days. I can’t wait to start a new week tomorrow… in Paris! Tomorrow is our “spring break” and the whole program is spending 4 days in Paris! Yay :)

Day Trip 7

Wednesday 3/10
Day Trip 7... to Stourhead, Jane Austen's house, and Winchester.
Our first stop was Stourhead Gardens, built in the 18th century. There's a lake and a path surrounding it, a cave-like grove, and two buildings (temples) built in classical greek style. We were all excited because in the Pride and Prejudice movie there is a big scene in Stourhead, and the scene where Darcy confesses his love to Elizabeth is there, at the Temple of Apollo. Unfortunately the Temple was under construction (scaffolding is always everywhere we go!) but it was still exciting to be there.

temple of apollo

Next we visited Jane Austen's house (in Chawton?) which was a museum about her life. I just finished Austen's Northanger Abbey so that made it more interesting. Last we visited Winchester and toured the cathedral. Big, with pretty stained glass windows, and a strange mural made out of painted toast haha.

Back to London, another good Marks and Spencer dinner and i made money yet again (by not using all of the £5 they give us for dinner each day trip). Success. :) Tonight we watched Pride and Prejudice! And we all freaked out when the Stourhead scenes came on. I love that movie! :) I'm excited to read the book this summer.

Abbey Road, War Horse, Portraits, Alice

   Weekend... amnesia :) Sunday we went over to Shannon Ashton's for dinner and for help planning our backpacking trip (Ali and I are exploring Europe for a month after school ends!)! I love looking at Shannon's photography of her world travels... so beautiful. She invited us back in a couple weeks for some serious planning. She also treated Ali and I to dessert at a delicious cafe, and made dinner, AND we walked over to the famous Abbey Road (near her flat)! We took touristy pictures and i signed the wall everyone signs outside Abbey Road Studio. Beatles love.

ABBEY ROAD!

Afterwards... boring homework and mythology essay.

    Monday 3/8

Classes, then we all went to see the play "War Horse!" (to be said in a low eager voice). haha it wasn't too terrible but it definitely wasn't great. Most of us made fun of it actually. It's about a boy and his weirdly deep love for his horse Joey. They are split up in WWI but fortuately reunited in the end. The horses are giant puppets held by people who make the horse noises. Watch the preview to better understand. I cannot watch it without cracking up (probably because i sat through the whole performance).

War Horse

Tuesday 3/9

Many students in the Centre went on a country walk; ali and i slept in and had a nice day. Well first we both did laundry. Ew. Then we got lunch at a pub in Trafalgar Square; i tried a chicken and leek pie because i'm trying to be adventurous and eat British cuisine. Not my favorite... I liked Ali's mushy peas though. :)
After lunch we went across the square to the National Portrait Gallery. Lots of old portraits, especially of royal and famous people. There were some interesting modern ones as well, including a tribute to Princess Diana and a photography exhibit of Twiggy. I loved it!

Tuesday night we saw Alice in Wonderland (in 3D)! it was fantastic! i loved the colorful craziness.

Hampstead Heath and Camden Market

    Thursday 3/4
I didn't do much of anything exciting today. long day of classes, another classy Tesco/McDonalds lunch, procrastintion.
     Friday 3/5
Program field trip to Hampstead Heath, a huge park wilderness area (outside of London) with lots of greenery and mud. We visited Keats' house (famous poet) nearby and then walked across the heath. It was pretty but i slipped and fell in the mud early on and that didn't make me very happy about the heath. I got mud all over myself! Yes i am clumsy.

hampstead heath..

Kenwood house

Part of Notting Hill was filmed here! (on the greens behind Kenwood house)

Afterwards Ali and I went to Camden Market. It's a massive market with everything, plus a bit of punk attitude. it's fun. :) We went into this crazy techno/rave store with neon lights and weird space costume/clothes and dancing girls. Weird. Camden is a great place to people-watch haha.

Here's a picture of it (stolen; not mine).

 

later...

having fun in the tube station :)

DAY TRIP 6

Wednesday 3/3
DAY TRIP 6 - Today was looong… nearly an 18 hour day trip! (after 3 hours of sleep…) from around 7:30 am to 1 am. We went to Warwick Castle and Stratford-Upon-Avon.
Warwick Castle was…strange. Not very impressive, and it's owned by Madame Tussauds (of the waxwork museums) so it had been touristified and over-commercialized. In the castle there were wax models of medieval royalty and characters and cheesy princess and dungeon torture tours.

The grounds surrounding the castles were much better. Very green and pretty with birds and a falcon flyer guy and a peacock garden.

Mary, Ali and I with the falcon guy. and the falcon.

Laura making an awesome face :)

Ali meets the falcon

a cathedral nearby (view from castle top)

We spent the rest of the day at Stratford-Upon-Avon (Shakespeare’s hometown), exploring museums and the town and seeing a 3-and-a-half-hour production of King Lear. We saw Anne Hathaway’s cottage (random…) it was where Shakespeare’s wife grew up. But it was cool sitting in a willow tree hut and listening to a recording of Shakespeare sonnets.

Next we saw Shakespeare’s childhood home (museum tour) and then “Nash House” where he retired (another tour, with a really boring tour guide). Afterwards we had a few hours to explore the town, though there wasn’t much to see. Most of the students ended up at the local Poundland haha. We had dinner at Wetherspoon’s and I got a cottage pie which was gross. Some authentic British cuisines are usually not my favorite. I like flavor in my food.

We read King Lear in class, and I liked seeing it live. Although 3 and a half hours was pretty long. And it’s depressing… nearly everyone dies in the end. Oh Shakespeare.

haha here is Katie Brit Ali and i sitting on top of sleepy Calvin

MARCH - Mika concert! and 39 Steps

Monday 3/1

Classes, then we went to see Samuel Johnson’s house (now a museum) for a Brit Lit assignment. After dinner a group of about 9 fans went to see MIKA in concert!!! It was awesome. Incredible. Mika-tastic. Haha I seriously loved it. I love him!! And all his music. AND it was my first concert where I knew every single song played. It was so much fun! We all got dressed up a little crazy for the concert (well I did!).

We went to the Hammersmith arena and waited awhile, then rushed in when the doors opened and got great a great position on the floor! There were like 2-3 people between me and the stage.

The opening act – Eric Hassle – was pretty good. They were half-Swedish. The drummer was smoking hot! Then the stage was set for Mika with a massive “notebook” with doodles coming to life and a French schoolboy and then Mika came out! Right in front of me! I love his curly hair. He has so much spunk and craziness and i love his high voice.

Haha when he sang ‘Big Girl You Are Beautiful’ a giant pink blow-up leg and high heel was inflated. So random and funny. He brought out a marionette doll for the song “We Are Golden.” Mika had lots of cool props and costuming and stage design craziness! He is so entertaining and flaming fabulous. :) At the end all these “Mexican/day of the dead” type colorful skeleton girls paraded out with big balloons and confetti! It was so fun to be right up there for such a fun concert! One of my favorites. And I got to see him in London! Woo!

 

 

 

i got a shirt! :)

Tuesday 3/2
Class then Ali and I went to see a matinee showing of The 39 Steps, an Alfred Hitchcock play (almost a parody) that was unexpectedly hilarious! It was the funniest show I’ve seen here! It involved a murder mystery and a crazy chase all over Britain, with only 4 actors! (3 men 1 woman).

I had my last night of kitchen duty, which was terrible and lasted 2 hours (for the after-dinner part) because most of my group ended up bailing. Oy. Spent the rest of the night writing a paper and got 3 hours of sleep.

Brick Lane & Tate Modern weekend

Saturday 2/27

Ali and I went to Brick Lane in east London for Indian food today… but it wasn’t as good as I expected. There were really pushy people outside of every Indian restaurant on the street (and that’s pretty much all there is) which I expected, but it was annoying. Ok but overpriced. Khan’s on Queensway is better and closer. After lunch we went to the Tower of London area and crossed the Tower Bridge. I love that bridge! Prettiest one ever I’ve seen.

i love this... old tower of london with skycrapers behind it

We walked to the Tate Modern – London’s big modern art museum. The building looks really cool; it’s an old power station so it’s a massive gray square. I liked most of the art but some of it was too abstract for me, or disturbing (or stupid). Some of my favorite pieces were a room filled with a giant table and chairs set. I felt like Alice after she shrinks in Wonderland. I also saw art by Picasso, Dali, and Andy Warhol, and I loved “The Kiss” sculpture.

After leaving the Tate Modern we walked across to the Millennium Bridge (from Harry Potter!) to St. Paul’s Cathedral. It was cold dark and rainy but the cathedral was kind of lit up and so pretty. The tubes lines we needed were down (of course) as they sometimes are on weekends so we took forever to get home on buses. Dinner: Tesco pasta and Cadbury crème eggs. :) London life is good.

Sunday 2/28

Took over an hour to get to church today with our tube line down. Dinner, kitchen duty, homework, blah. PS I found out yesterday morning that my very good friend Elder Riley Harper, who’s serving a mission in Concepcion Chile, was living very close the epicenter of the massive earthquake yesterday! I was anxious all day but the Church just posted a bulletin saying that all the missionaries are accounted for. I’m still worried but I know that he’ll be ok… he’ll have some crazy stories.