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.