Best Friends in London!

Me, Ashleigh, and Tower Bridge

Got to sleep in this morning, which was lovely. Then I headed off to the tube station to meet Ashleigh. She had a long layover in London so we decided to get together and hang out. 

We had decided to just to walk down the Thames, but the construction on the tube was awful today. It took us so long to get down to the river. We crossed at London Bridge and headed to Borough to get some lunch. But, I haven’t been to Borough on a Saturday before and that was a very bad idea. There were so many people there. But, we grabbed some sausage rolls on our way out, which were delicious. The pastry was very flaky. And then we headed off towards the Thames. We stopped at a little stand to buy some Cokes and Ashleigh ended up with a Coke with her name on it! It was really a wonderful coincidence. Mine said Danielle. Not quite as cool. J

"Not All Those Who Wander Are Lost."

Christ's Church

Took a bus to Oxford this morning. I dozed on the bus for a bit because I was so tired, but we got there and

got hot chocolate from Costa because it was pretty cold in Oxford. It was delicious. It was more of a dark chocolate flavor and it was wonderful. We had decided that we would wander around Oxford and look at the J.R.R. Tolkien stuff because he taught there. So, we headed over to a college that he taught at and afterwards wandered around the park at Christ’s Church. It was big and beautiful. It was so funny because they were super obsessive about keeping people off the grass. Their chain around the grass was more deadly looking than most and they had ‘Keep off the grass’ signs everywhere. Even the ducks stayed off the grass. It was funny. We just wandered through the park and ended up at a river.

Once we got back the main street we found the music museum, unfortunately it wasn’t open yet, so we decided to go find Tolkien’s house and grave and then come back. So on our way to all of that we stopped at a super awesome second hand book store. I didn’t buy anything though. We also went into the Old Sweet Shoppe from Alice in Wonderland because Lewis Carroll also spent time at Oxford.

Who Knew I Could Love a Bunch of Rocks?

Windsor Castle

Today was our bus tour of Windsor Castle, Stonehenge, Lacock, and Bath. So, before I talk about the different stops along the tour, let’s just talk about the English countryside for a minute. It’s gorgeous. Not as green as Ireland, but England has trees. It’s so pretty. 

Ok, so we started at Windsor Castle. It was a lot of fun. It was gorgeous inside. My favorite part was the weapons. There were hundreds of swords, rifles, and pistols everywhere. They had whole rooms devoted to them. They were criss-crossed on the walls and in glass cases. There was even one that had 3 rings of pistols that encircled a golden unicorn head. I mean, how cool is that?! It was super cool. They also had some blue swords. They had sapphires all over the hilts. It was great. However, my favorite experience during Windsor Castle was when one of the girls in our group started singing Frozen songs because it totally fit with the castle. She sang under her breath. She wasn’t belting it. But, she sang For the First Time in Forever and Do You Want to Build a Snowman? It was great. We saw this massive doll house that they had there as well. It was amazingly intricate. Very impressive. The whole castle was pretty impressive. We stepped into the chapel there too. There were lots of monarchs buried there. Henry VIII was one. But, the organ pipes were gorgeous. There were hundreds of them and they were all elaborately painted. I wish I’d been allowed to take a picture. They were amazing and so was the woodwork surrounding them.

My Day in Four Parts: Jail, Cathedral, Museum, Library

Me inside one of the jail cells.

So, today was our last day in Ireland and we decided to cram it full of activities. So, we started early this morning and didn’t stop until it was time to leave for the airport. We started the day off with a taxi ride to the jail in Dublin, Kilmainham Gaol. We took a tour there. It was pretty cool. Lots of interesting and sad stories about the Irish revolutionaries. It was really weird to go into the cells. They were pretty small. There was a female prisoner (a wife and sister of two other prisoners) who was put in jail after both her husband and brother were executed and she painted the Madonna and Child on the inside of her cell. It was really cool.

After the jail tour, we walked 12 blocks to St. Patrick’s Cathedral. The walk was so long. By the time we got to the cathedral I thought I was going to die. We all had our backpacks with all of our clothes and stuff with us because we had nowhere else to put it. My backpack was so heavy! St. Patrick’s was really pretty. Jonathan Swift (author of Gulliver’s Travels) had been a Dean there, which I thought was cool. They had a plaster cast of his skull too. It was a pretty cathedral.

Rock of Cashel, Blarney, and Cork!

The view from The Rock of Cashel

Woke up at a horrific hour this morning. 5:30. Super gross. But it was alright because we went on a day tour to The Rock of Cashel, Blarney, and Cork. And we got to drive through the countryside, which was gorgeous. So pretty and green. Slept for about an hour though, which was nice. We stopped at a little gas station on the way to the castle. I got a Coke and I’ve decided that Coke is better in Europe than it is in the States. And they had these adorable little donkeys outside the gas station.

After that we went to the castle. The Rock of Cashel. It was on top of this giant rock. The legend says that St. Patrick fought Satan on one of the nearby “mountains” (their “mountains” are basically large hills. It’s so cute.) and that bought launched this massive rock to its current location.  Anyway, when you were standing on top of this hill, you could see so much of the countryside. It was amazing. The castle had a little cemetery too. The inside was pretty empty, but it had some amazing architecture. It was really cool.

I'm in Ireland!!!

The view from the bridge

Hmmm…let’s see. Started the day off with class and after class we left for Ireland! So, we took a train to the airport and once we got to the airport it was a breeze to get on the plane. It was so easy to get through security. It was wonderful. Ate at the airport. A brie and bacon melt with peach lemonade. It was pretty good. The flight itself was only 55 minutes, but lucky Chelsea has a head cold so the added pressure on my head was horrible. Those 55 minutes were some of the most painful minutes I’ve ever experienced. My head was pounding. I was pretty sure it was going to explode. It’s 10:30 now and one of my ears still hasn’t popped. But, enough about my head issues...

So, Ireland! It’s gorgeous. Everything is super green. After getting confused with the buses we made it to our flat. After we checked in we went to this Irish pub called The Celt. I had Traditional Beef and Guinness stew with their rye bread. It was AMAZING! The beef was so tender and delicious. The whole thing was wonderful. One of the best things I’ve eaten on this entire trip.

Sunday #3 (I'm running out of creative titles for Sundays...)

My favorite picture from Hyde Park.

Woke up this morning with a wonderful cold. Stuffy nose. Sore throat. Lots of fun. Oh well. Anyway, went to church. Didn’t go to nursery because of my cold. Missed the kids, they are so cute.

After church, I came home and ate soup. Yay soup! Then I wrote my last paper for Monday (it was about Romeo and Juliet) and watched Doctor Who. I watched Doctor Who for a while. 3 episodes. Ate pasta for dinner (if you haven’t figured it out already, I eat a lot of pasta. 

After I ate I decided to go wander around Hyde Park. It was gorgeous. Everyone goes to the park on Sunday, so there were a lot of people there. I was there for about an hour (lots of pictures below). Nice weather; everything is green; lots of little paths to take. 

And that’s basically what I did today. Not much, I know. Anyway, enjoy the pictures. 

Lazy Saturday

Back at Portobello Road

Sorry in advance, but this post is going to be pretty short. Today was another one of those rare days where I have the opportunity to sleep in. So, I obviously took advantage of it. Slept until 10ish. It was wonderful.

Around 11, I went to  Portobello Road with one of my roommates. We decided to go to Portobello because it was supposed to rain today, so we figured there wouldn’t be too many people there. As we left the flat it totally looked like it was going to pour, but as soon as we stepped out of the tube station at Portobello it was sunny and hot. So, we walked down the street because everything at the beginning is expensive and the cheaper stuff is all the way down at the end. It was probably 3 blocks before we hit the end, which was fine. It was a lot of fun. As we were just about to head back up to the beginning it decided to rain. Hard. At an angle. That angle being straight in our faces. It wasn’t too bad though because my rain coat is super waterproof. It’s pretty amazing actually.

So Many Books and So Much Candy!

My assorted candies. :)

After class and lunch we decided to go to a candy shop, Hardy’s. It was this little tiny shop down a side street, but it was super cute. They had jars and jars of candy lining the walls and the guy behind the counter would fill bags full of candy for you. But, I’m not well-versed in the arts of British candy so I got a bag of assorted candy. This way I can figure out my favorites and then go back and buy the best ones. So funny story: There was a group of us at the candy store. 3 girls and 1 guy. As we were paying, the guy behind the counter was talking to us and after finding out that we were from the States, offered us all sorts of free candy. We had raspberry bonbons (which were amazing!), chocolate covered honeycomb, etc. As we were leaving, the guy in our group said something along the lines of, “If it had just been me in that store I wouldn’t have gotten any of those free samples.” It was so funny, because it’s totally true. It was great. Benefit of being a girl. :)

Movies and Pizza

The chandelier in the movie theater.

So, this was another morning where we had nothing planned so I decided to sleep in until 10. Yay! It was fantastic. The plan was to sleep in and then do some homework because homework exists and it does, in fact, take time. However, I decided to do laundry instead. Of course I was able to do my reading while simultaneously doing my laundry, so that was nice.

Afterwards I went to see X-Men: Days of Future Past. I’ve been having movie withdrawals. It’s been awful. Anyway, the movie was amazing! I would highly recommend it. It turns everything upside down. In a good way. It was wonderful. And I saw a movie in London! :)

Then we went to this Italian place for dinner. I got a Margarita pizza. It was big. I only ate about ¾ of it and one of the guys finished it off for me. It was good though.

The plaque for the Rose Theatre

Finally, we went to a production of A Trick to Catch the Old One at the Rose Theatre. The theater was absolutely tiny! It’s build above the foundation of the original Rose Theatre and they are currently trying to get the funds to build a replica Rose Theatre. So, the play was good, in case you were wondering.

And then I came home and wrote the paper that I neglected to do earlier in the day because I decided to eat dinner instead of writing a paper. Of course I have the glorious gift of being an English major. So it’s possible to write a 3 page paper in under an hour with no problems at all. And that’s what I did today. I have even fewer pictures than I did yesterday, so sorry about that.

Last thing: it is Grandma Smith’s birthday today! Happy Birthday Grandma! Hope you had a great birthday and I wish I could’ve been there today and also for your birthday brunch party. Love you and miss you! Have a great day!

Um...Waiting for Godot, I Guess...

This was the basement with the amphitheater ruins. 

Started off the day with our classes (I only tell you this so you won’t think I’m just partying in London all the time). Afterwards they took us to the Guildhall library where they had an original copy of Shakespeare’s first folio, which was pretty cool. We also saw the foundation of an old Roman amphitheater in the basement of the Guildhall art gallery.

Then we came home and ate lunch because class and the Guildhall stuff took 5 hours, so we were starving. I had pasta and a cheese sandwich (in case you were wondering). One of the girls in our group really wanted to go shopping at Marks and Spencer and there just so happens to be one right down the street on the way to the tube stop. So, we went in there and walked around for a bit. I didn’t buy anything, but they had so many one-piece swimsuits. I literally stopped in my tracks and stared for a minute. I have never seen so many modest swimsuits in one location before.

The Day of Unrealized Plans

Westminster Abbey

Today was one of those days where your plans fell through but you ended up doing something better. The plan this morning was to go tour Westminster Abbey, which was going to be cool. But, once we got there we found out that Tuesdays are the only days that the tours start later than 9:30. So, we wandered around for a couple of hours and we ended up at this random park. It had the most beautiful carved wooden bench. It was amazing. We stayed there for almost an hour. After that we headed back to Westminster Abbey only to find a line that went around the block. So, obviously we decided to come back another day.

Several people went off to the British Museum, others went home to do homework, but another girl and I went to a bookstore. We went to Hatchards. It had 5 floors (I think). It was wonderful! So many books! And the books in the UK have different covers, which are amazing! I desperately wanted to buy His Dark Materials because they were gorgeous. And maybe if I still have money to spend I will go back and buy them. I also want the entire Harry Potter series (the British versions), but that’s way too much money right now. So anyway, I bought one book. I know, just one book. The Cuckoo’s Calling. It’s the book that J.K. Rowling wrote under a pseudonym. I started it before I came to London, but now I can finish it!

The Harry Potter Studio Tour: My Favorite Day in London

Our Harry Potter double-decker bus!

So, today was Harry Potter day! After some travel stress and a phone call to the Harry Potter Studios customer service (which plays Harry Potter music and gives you Harry Potter facts while you wait! Awesome by the way!) we made it to the studio. We rode a black double-decker bus to get from the train station to the studio and it was awesome! 

FYI, I just finished writing about this experience in my journal and it took 13 pages. So I’ll try to keep this relatively short. I’ll just stick to the major parts. And if when I get home you want to see all 728 pictures/videos that I took while there, you just let me know. J 

Ok, back to Harry Potter. I was so giddy all the way there and when we walked off that bus I was bouncing everywhere. I was so happy!

Sunday Number Two

The 3 papers I wrote today.
(Basically I felt like my post needed a picture,
so here you go)

Today was a pretty relaxed day, simply because it was Sunday. Went to church and got to go help in

nursery this time. The kids were so adorable! I love their little British accents. I had a wonderful conversation about superheroes with a little boy named Jaron. He had Spider-Man socks. He was great. I had so much fun spending time with the little kids.

Then I came home and ate pasta for lunch. Basically I’m going to eat pasta until I can go to the grocery store (hopefully tomorrow) because I am out of everything. After I ate pasta, I wrote my papers for school. We have 3 due tomorrow, so because I’m really good at procrastinating I wrote all 3 today.

Doctor Who!

Paddington Station -
where we got on the train

Woke up at 5:30 this morning. Of course you’re wondering why a girl who loves her sleep so much would wake up so early on a Saturday morning. Well, I woke up so early because we took a day trip to Wales! It was amazing! It was so green and peaceful. We went to Cardiff, specifically Cardiff Bay and it was wonderful. It was great to see the ocean. (Oh, and sorry in advance because this post is all over the place, but I'm tired, so this is the best I've got tonight)

So, we went to Cardiff to go to the Doctor Who Experience. As someone who’s only seen 5 episodes, I didn’t appreciate it as much as the others in our group, but it was still awesome! We saw lots of landmarks from Doctor Who, including a wall on the pier dedicated to a character that died in the spin-off (I think). Anyway, we walked around the pier for a while. Then we walked by the BBC studios. There wasn’t anything going on there because it was a Saturday, but it was still awesome just to be there. Then we had ice cream and it was quite possibly the best ice cream I’ve ever had.

Fish and Chips! Finally!

Fish and chips!

Slept in until 11:30 today and it was glorious! We didn’t have class or anything this morning, so most of us slept in. Then at 5:00 we had a backstage tour of the National Theater. It was a lot of fun and very interesting. I was wearing my t-shirt with the Dumbledore quote (“Happiness can be found even in the darkest of times if one only remembers to turn on the light”) and our tour guide called me Dumbledore for the duration of the tour, which was fine. I have no problem answering to the name Dumbledore. 

After that we went to the play The Silver Tassie (also at the National), but before that we had fish and chips for dinner. Finally! They were really good. The piece of cod was huge! It was very filling and I ended up giving the rest of it up to others in our group. I was so full!

Anyway, the play was confusing. There was really no definite storyline and none of us could figure out what the point of the play was. There was lots of unnecessary singing. There wasn’t a single character that I cared about. Halfway through the play it was so dull and boring that I wouldn’t have minded if a bomb came in and blew them all up (it was a play about WWI and there had been lots of bombs already in the performance). Anyway, it was the only play so far that I didn’t like.

Outside the National Theater

But, I’d better get off to bed. Busy day tomorrow. 

And sorry for the lack of pictures (haven't done much these last few days), but there will be lots of pictures tomorrow!

Day 10: The Day My Body Finally Forced Me To Slow Down

How I spent my afternoon.
Pasta, Digestives (very yummy cookies), and Doctor Who

So, I did have big plans for today. I was going to go to 221B Baker Street and then go to Speedy’s (where they film the BBC's Sherlock), but after buying tickets for The Woman in Black I got really nauseated and dizzy. So I came back to the flat, took a short nap, sat in bed and watched Doctor Who for a while and felt so much better (I felt better after the nap actually). And before you guys all freak out and worry, I feel fine now. No idea what happened this morning. It was very weird. Oh well, Sherlock isn’t going anywhere and there is still time to go see it.

So after spending the day relaxing in bed, I went to see The Woman in Black. It’s a suspenseful play (it has also been made into a movie, Daniel Radcliffe (Harry Potter) is in the movie).  We were running late because of a complication on the tube and we had to make a bunch of transfers in order to get to the right location. Then we ran/speed walked around until we found the theater. We arrived at 8, which was when the play started, but thank goodness that all London theaters run on Mormon Standard Time, because they always start at least 5 minutes late.

The play was really good. It was slow at first, and because I’d seen the movie I kept trying to figure out what they were going to do and what they weren’t. The play wasn’t too scary (at least it wasn’t to me), but it was suspenseful. You kept waiting for the Woman in Black to pop up and make you jump. I enjoyed the play. It was different.

My gelato

Afterwards we got gelato. Raspberry and brownie for me.

Anyway, that was my semi-boring (not by choice) day and I have no extra pictures. :(

Front Row Seats at Lion King. No Big Deal.

Front row seat at Lion King!

Started off the day in class. Yes, we do have classes (twice a week) it’s not all fun and games here in

London.

But, no one wants to hear about the boring stuff, so onto the fun stuff! We went to The Lion King today. And guess who got FRONT ROW SEATS for £30!!! And I had an aisle seat. We did! It was amazing! The actors looked me in the eye. A rhino walked past me onto the stage. I was almost hit in the face by the hyenas. It was fantastic. The music was great. The acting was great. I loved the boy who played young Simba, he was adorable. Plus, at the end Simba looked directly at us and did the ‘thank you’ two-handed gesture, the one that kind of looks like he’s blowing a kiss (maybe that made sense). But, anyway it was awesome being so close to the stage.

Then we walked across the Thames and went to the Globe to wait in line for Much Ado About Nothing. Had another yummy melty Panini sandwich thing for dinner. We stood in the Yard during the Shakespeare play. We were in the back leaning up against the wall. Which I liked for several reasons. I was tall so I could see over everyone’s heads. And we could see the whole stage. Granted, we couldn’t interact with the actors like the people up front, but I saw the whole stage. The play was well done. It was hysterical. I laughed almost the entire time. I loved it!

So, I know it’s a short post, but it’s definitely time for bed now. Enjoy the pictures!

The Magical Experience of Platform 9 ¾

Basically, today was amazing! We started off the day at the British Library. We went into their Treasures of the British Library exhibit. It was amazing!

• ·         They had original music written by the composer in their handwriting. Bach, Beethoven, Handel, Chopin, etc.
• ·         They had copies of the first prints of Shakespeare’s plays.
• ·         The only known medieval manuscript of Beowulf.
• ·         A handwritten copy of Jane Eyre. A handwritten copy of Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s poem Sonnet 43 (it’s the ‘How do I love thee? Let me count the ways’ poem).
• ·         The Gutenberg Bible.
• ·         A copy of the New Testament from the 4^th century.
• ·         The oldest English document from 689 BC (I think that’s the right year).
• ·         The Magna Carta.
• ·         A copy of the Canterbury Tales with a Chaucer dictionary at the back.
• ·         One of Dickens’ books.

So, basically it was the coolest exhibit. It was awesome (the literal sense of the word) to see their handwriting. To see how they wrote. I was looking at Beethoven’s handwriting. At Dickens’ handwriting. I saw Winston Churchill’s signature. I saw Queen Elizabeth’s signature. Henry VII’s handwriting. It was amazing! There’s so much history here. It’s unbelievable.

Guys! War Horse!

War Horse!!!

Okay, so War Horse was amazing and I'll talk about it forever, but I'm a little OCD so we have to start at the beginning of the day. 

We had class this morning. One of the two classes that we have this week. So hard, right? After class I went to the grocery store because I was out of food. And as I’ve recently discovered I love cheese sandwiches and I was out of bread. So, I bought, you know, regular food and then I bought just as much chocolate. This chocolate thing is becoming a problem…It probably doesn’t help that my cereal has chocolate in it. It’s like the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory cereal that we have back home.

So, I’ve started craving food from back home (which is crazy because the food here is SO amazing). But, it’s the little things. Like soda (it’s expensive here), and mac-and-cheese (they don’t have stuff like Kraft mac-and-cheese because it’s full of unhealthy and unnatural stuff and they don’t believe in those sorts of things here), and the other day I desperately wanted a Slurpee. Oh, and things like Cheez-Its. Anyway, I’ll stop complaining about the things I miss from home, I’m in London for goodness sakes. J

My Lazy Sunday

Not from today, but from the first day we were here.
Look how exhausted I am, this was the end of the day.
So, now you know what Chelsea looks like on 1 hour of sleep.

Didn't do much today. Went to my ward for the first time. My ward is a 10-15 minute walk just around the

corner, so I don't have to take the Tube or a train, which is awesome. So, my ward was about the size of a smallerish singles ward. The chapel was big: high ceilings, huge windows, and they had organ pipes. Their organist was fantastic too. And one of the Sacrament speakers was from Provo!

After Sacrament meeting, the bishop called the 4 of us up to the front so he could give us our callings. We are supposed to work in Primary/the Nursery. The bishop was so proud of their nursery because they have the largest nursery in their stake. 11 kids. It was a shock to have so few children in nursery and have that also be the largest nursery in the stake. Culture shock for the day. So, the 4 of us went up to nursery and they only took 2 people (not me). The bishop had planned for us to switch off every week in nursery, but then the nursery leader told us that we should keep the same two people in nursery so we don't confuse the kids. So, unless I'm told otherwise I'll just go to Sunday School and Relief Society for the next 5 weeks. 

History, Antiques, and Richard III

Have I told you guys how every day feels so long? And how I can never remember how my day started Well, now you know and it happens every single day.

This morning we went to the Museum of London. It was really cool. London has so much history and the US is still in its baby years. It was amazing to see artifacts from thousands of years ago. It was just a fun place to wander around. It was very interesting.

St. Paul's Cathedral

We then decided to go to Portobello Road, but before we went there our professors wanted to show us this incredible view of St. Paul’s Cathedral. We went up onto the roof of a mall and suddenly, there was St. Paul’s Cathedral. It was so close. London has such incredible architecture. We ate at a little café afterwards. I had a roasted chicken Panini-type sandwich with jalapeños. It was so good!

Portobello Road (as seen from over the top of everyone's heads)

Then we went to Portobello Road. It was amazing! And incredibly packed full of people. There is no personal space at the Portobello Market. The street is lined with shops, inside the storefronts and out on the street. It was full of antiques. Silver, lace, old cameras, china, etc. It was awesome. We didn’t quite get to the end of the road before we had to turn around and head back, but we plan to go back before this trip is over. I didn’t buy anything this time, but I didn’t get to see it all. Maybe I'll find a hidden gem next time I go.

My "Rest Day"

Some of the architecture in the
National History Museum

We had class today and afterwards another girl and I went to the Natural History Museum. We weren’t there long; we just wanted to get a feel for the place. And it was awesome! There’s no way you could see it all in one day. It would take at least two, maybe even three. The stuff that we saw was amazing (first edition of The Origin of Species, the first meteor owned by the UK (given to them by the US), a fossil that was 147 million years old, an amazing hummingbird display, etc.) and I especially can’t wait to go back and visit the space exhibit. You get to ride an escalator up into a globe/meteor-looking thing. Plus, the architecture in the museum was amazing! I didn’t take pictures of many exhibits because we were only there for an hour, but I did take pictures of the architecture. It was incredible!

We only stayed at the museum for an hour because some people in the flat had dubbed today a “rest day”. Which I was completely fine with because the thought of walking anywhere made me exhausted. Plus, we have another very full day tomorrow. Some people did homework, others took naps, I was going to watch TV/a movie and read, but instead, I spent the day trying to get rid of a virus on my computer. It decided to cause me stress and frustration as soon as I sat down to enjoy my day. After several attempts to fix it, I gave up and went with some other girls to buy chocolate. Because chocolate fixes everything, duh. Turns out that it does, or at least it provides useful inspiration because after we got home I had a new idea and it worked! I fixed it! I was so proud of myself. However, I will have to thank Wendy for helping me and giving me suggestions. She’s great. I was really disappointed that I couldn’t just call her and have her come over and look at it for me.

We got our ward assignments today too. Luckily, I get to go to the ward that is held in the same church building as our classes. No fighting the construction on the Tube for me! J

Well, that’s it for today. Nothing too exciting. Enjoy the few pictures that I have to offer. 

Cathedrals and Grilled Cheese

The inside of Middle Temple Hall from the back.

So, this morning seems like such a long time ago. My days are so full of stuff that each day feels like a week. Just trying to think back on the day is hard because it was so jam-packed. Anyway, this morning we went, as a group, to Middle Temple Hall, which is this hall that was built in the 1500s used by lawyers, then and now. It was amazing. Gorgeous stained glass windows of different coats of arms. Amazing woodwork. It was awesome. However, on the way there, London decided to give us our first experience with its famous rain. Of course, not having my mom to remind me to layer jackets or to even wear a rain jacket, I just wore my leather jacket. It kept me dry, but not as warm as I would’ve liked. It also doesn’t have a hood and occasionally it was too windy for an umbrella. So, I was pretty cold for a while.

It's only been 2 days?!

So first major life lesson that I’ve learned in London (well, second if you count learning how to maneuver the traffic so I don’t get flattened into a pancake) is that I should never underappreciate my bathroom at home. The bathroom (shower, toilet, and sink) that the four of us have to share is no bigger than my pantry back home. It’s definitely a new experience. Anyway, you probably don’t need to know about the dimensions of the bathroom in my flat.

See! Right there!

After the fun experiences of sleeping after jet lag and waking up with the sun (at 5:00 AM) I went to our first class. And I didn’t fall asleep which was a plus. Afterwards we went to buy Oyster cards (the passes for the Tube/Underground) so that we could go see Big Ben, Trafalgar Square, and Piccadilly Circus. Of course, as I was transferring things from my backpack to my purse I forgot my Oyster card, like an idiot, so I ended up having to buy 2 separate day passes for the Tube. So, that was my stupid moment of the day.

It was amazing because as soon as we walked out of the Tube station at Westminster Big Ben was right

there. Like right there. From there we went to Trafalgar Square. We didn’t do much there, just climbed on statues. Then we went to Leicester Square, which was basically full of movie theaters. I realized that I would spend so much time in Leicester Square if I lived in London. It would be awesome. Then we went to Piccadilly Circus and although we were only there for a few minutes I was entranced. I can’t wait to go back. It was a maze of streets filled with shops. I just wanted to wander.

I'M FINALLY HERE!!!

I made it! After a horrifically long flight, that only provided me with an hour of sleep (which is why this post is short, very chronological, and not as put together as it could be), we made it to Heathrow. After getting through security and figuring out the public transportation we made it to our flat. Getting a taxi was quite the experience though. We crammed 6 girls and all of our luggage into one taxi. Sitting backwards in a car that drives on the opposite side of the road was interesting, too.

Our taxi ride

Next came the essentials, unpacking and getting groceries. The grocery store is a lot farther away than I had imagined. Plus, nearly everything was different at the grocery store. It was very overwhelming. Then we had to haul all of our groceries back to the flat. Which really shouldn't have been too bad, but after dragging the luggage around all day, it was really tiring. 

Then as a way to relax (and keep ourselves awake long enough for us to not end up waking up at 3 in the morning), 4 of us went to Hyde Park. It was gorgeous! Everything was green. There were dogs everywhere just running around. Statues, flowers, etc. It was amazing. We even found the Peter Pan statue on the first try! 

It was so much fun! London is gorgeous. Even if I still haven't gotten the hang of the traffic yet. It's a big achievement when you make it across the street (don't worry, family, I'm being careful). Well it's almost 9:00 PM here and I'm completely exhausted. So, it's time to sleep. Until tomorrow...

Enjoy the pictures below!