Don't Worry, I donated my waterbottle to charity.

Friday I sat in Hyde Park and read a play for class. It was beautiful and peaceful. Then I went grocery shopping, came home, and worked on homework. It wasn't an eventful day, but it was a good one.
Saturday we went to Portabello Road. It was quite fun. There are all kinds of antique booths and such. I got myself a cute little pocket watch on a chain to wear around my neck, some adorable little earrings, and new wallet. Then we went on a tour of the National Theatre as a class. Before the tour, we stopped at the theatre cafe, and I had my first pannini. It was delicious! The tour was really very neat. We learned all about their different theatres, prop shop, etc. Then went straight into the Olivier theatre at the National and watched London Assurance. Fiona Shaw (Aunt Petunia in the Harry Potter movies) was in it. She was so funny! The entire play and cast was hilarious. The characters were completely different than I had imagined them when reading play, but they were so much funnier. I loved it! Then I just came back to the flat and ate dinner.
Sunday after church, Brianna and I set out in Hyde Park to search for the Elfin Oak and the playground for old people. We managed to find the Elfin Oak, but the playground was no where to be found. We plan to search again this Sunday.
Monday after class I wrote my paper and did laundry. I wanted to go to Primark to get a new belt because I'm tired of holding my pants up, but just as I was about to go I began hear shouting through my bedroom window. I went out into the front room and there were hoards of people marching down High Street Kennsington shouting things like, "Free Palestine!" They were apparently marching to the Israeli Embassy. I decided it would not be a good idea to venture forth at that point in time, especially not alone, so I waited a for a little while after all the marchers had past. I walked up the street to go to T.K. Maxx for the belt because I now didn't have time to go all the way to Primark. Just a few stores down from T.K. Maxx I noticed that the protesters were still gathered...right outside of T.K. Maxx. Needless to say, I did not get a belt that day, and I still do not have one. That evening we went as a class to All My Sons. We were definitely sitting in the nose bleed session and had a lovely view of the gobos aimed at the stage. The play was pretty good. I really enjoyed it.
Tuesday we got up bright and early, boarded a bus, and headed to Stratford-Upon-Avon. We stopped at Coventry Cathedral and Kennilworth Castle. The castle was my favorite! It was so neat just wandering around the ruins of the castle. Once we got to Straford, we went to Anne Hathaway's Cottage and Mary Arden's House. I ate dinner at The Garrick House, which is supposedly the oldest pub in Stratford. I got smothered chicken that was absolutely delicious. Then we went to Romeo and Juliet performed by the Royal Shakespeare Company. The production was really good, but the play is not my favorite. In Straford, we stayed in the most adorable little bed and breakfast run by the most adorable lady. She was so sweet.
Wednesday morning we got up and ate our delicious breakfast. I ordered the Full English with bacon, egg, and sausage. Plus there was a little buffet with fresh homemade bread, fruit, and delicious cereal. Then we went to Shakespeare's birthplace where everything "maybe might have been" used by Shakespeare. Next was New Play, which is the ruins of Shakespeare's home. Apparently the guy who bought the place was annoyed that his home was such a tourist sight, and when the government tried to charge him taxes, he demolished the house. Then we went to the Nash House, which was where Shakespeare's daughter and doctor husband lived. After that was Shakespeare's grave. By this time, I so very tired of feeling like I was worshiping Shakespeare, Brianna used our free time just wandering around Stratford and going in the cute little shops. We then had a "tour" of the RSC theatre, which consisted of two adorable little old ladies telling us stories about productions and showing us costumes. We then had more free time, so Brianna and I grabbed dinner and relaxed in the park. That evening, we saw Antony and Cleopatra. It was long...and boring. Also, Cleopatra had freaky long, skinny arms with hyper-extended elbows. It was weird.
Today, Thursday, I had the same delicious breakfast. We then loaded on the bus and went to Blenheim Palace. I finally got to go through a legit maze; although, we practically ran through it because we had so little time. It kind of made the experience a little better, I think. Then we went Oxford for a few hours. Brianna and I went to Alice's Shop where we bumped into Annalee. The three of us then went to lunch at the random cafe inside of a department store. The cafe was called "Restaurant"...creative, I know. I had a paninni that was not quite as good as the one I had the National, but it was still pretty good. Brianna and I then went to the National History Museum where we saw Dodo remains and shrunken heads. We then headed back to the meeting point and went inside KFC to use the restroom before our 2 hour journey back to London. Mind you, I had been carrying my water bottle around the whole time hoping to find somewhere to fill it up to no avail. Anyway, we walked in, and not realizing anyone was in there, I said aloud, "I'm going to set my water bottle right here, and if someone steals it they must desperately need a water bottle." Then I realized the second stall was occupied, and I waited for the woman to come out. Naturally, she did come out, and I went it. When I came out of the stall I noticed that Brianna had already left the bathroom, and my water bottle was there. I assumed that Brianna had taken it to play a joke on me. However, she denied having it. When I realized she was serious I started to laugh. I went back and checked again; it really was not there. We can only assume that the woman had actually stolen my water bottle. The good news is that I wasn't too attached, but I'm Mom and Dad...I donated your water bottle to that poor woman's cause. I hope you weren't too attached either. I hope she sterilizes because I've definitely been sucking on it for 5 weeks and haven't really legitimately washed it.

Sunday wasn't very exciting. I pretty much slept all day because I was super tired from our trip. Monday after class, Brianna and I looked around the gift at the National Science Museum because it has so many amazing things. I discovered the muck truck, which is little truck that also happens to be a table top vacuum. I totally would have gotten it if I had little siblings younger than 13. Oh well. Then in stead of doing laundry, I went with Allan and Jason to the Baribcan where Jason and I got tickets to Peter Pan. We went to Guild Hall and saw the watch makers museum, some art, and the ruins of an English Arena. It had crazy neon green 3d drawings of people and spinning gobos! After that, we went as a class to see Warhorse. We got off at the tube stop and realized we only had ten minutes to walk to the theatre, so we ended up running much of the way. The play was good. I loved the horse, but the random tank that came on stage was a little much. It wasn't my favorite or as amazing as I had hoped it would be. After the play, Allan and I went to do laundry because I was in dire need of clean clothes. Don't worry, we were only there until about 1:45am, and I may or may not have fallen asleep at the computer. But, I had clean clothes!
Tuesday, we got up bright and early and went to the Tower of London. It was pretty sweet. My favorite part was the room with the torture machines. Brianna and I stayed probably longer than any other members of our group. We were there until about 1pm. I really enjoyed it. We even got to see some of the crowned jewels; however, some of them were currently in use, which means the queen was wearing them! We cam home afterward to do homework, and I ended up taking a nice long nap.
Wednesday after class, we all headed over to the Unicorn theatre to see The Tempest. It was actually quite good. I loved Ariel, whom Lance described as a "disco meerkat". He was so very fascinating to watch. That evening, Jason, Christian, Lexy, Annalee, Martha, and I all went to Peter Pan. It was amazing! It was a re-adaptation that actually seemed to make the story more about Wendy. She loved him, but he says he can't feel anything. It alluded to the idea the Peter Pan was more of a ghost, and he never actually lets Wendy touch him. It was so interesting and touching. I almost cried. I loved it so much! It was set in Scotland, and they used beautiful Scottish musical underscoring and music in between scenes. It truly was a beautiful show.
Thursday was our country walk. The English countryside is so beautiful. We went to The Hop Shop, which was a little shop on a lavender farm. I really wish I had gotten some lavender ice cream. It sounds weird, but I tasted someone's after we left, and it was so good. It tastes exactly how it smells. Craziness, but delicious. I did, however, try a ginger beer. It was very good. At first it tasted nasty, but after a few swallows, it was really good. Then we went to some ruins of a Roman house, and a castle. It was a wonderful day.
Today, I went and sat in Hyde Park and read All my Sons. It was quite enjoyable. Then I went grocery shopping and worked on homework. Not a lot happened, but it was a good day.

Ireland!

Wednesday morning we got up bright and early and made our way to the airport. A large group of us flew on the same flight to Ireland on Ryanair, which is apparently the joke of London air travel. I happened to be asleep when we landed, and it the roughest landing I've have ever had. For a second, I thought I had woken up dead after some sort of explosion. Then they played a lovely trumpet fanfare congratulating us for being one of Ryanair's like 95% of flights that was on time...it was entertaining. At the airport, I split off with the group of us that were staying in Ireland the whole time, which consisted of Christian, Allan, Jason, Richie, and me. For some reason, all the girls said I was "brave" for traveling with the boys, but I'm not sure I agree. I felt quite safe traveling around Dublin surrounded by guys. Anyway, we took a bus to the hostel where we checked in, and dropped off clothes and such. We had lunch at a pub called Malloys. I think we looked like little lost puppies walking into the pub and standing there looking around like, "what do we do...?" The kind lady told us to take a seat, and she brought us all water...apparently if you don't know what to do when you got to a pub, they know you're not there to drink. Anyway, they had pretty good food. Then we hopped on the "hop on, hop off" tour bus and got a good feel of what was in Dublin. We did hop off once and went inside St. Patrick's cathedral. It was quite amazing. After the tour, we walked around Temple Bar (it's a street with restaurants and pubs and such). Went up and walked around the outside of another church (I'm don't remember what it was called...). At point, I really needed to use the restroom, but they are hard to come by in Ireland. In London it's hard to find trash cans;in Dublin it's hard to find bathrooms (or toilets as they call them here in Europe). We went to a Church, where I asked a sweet old lady where a restroom was. She said didn't know because she wasn't from there (which seemed like an odd excuse), and she said we should ask the priest was just walking in the door. So, she asked the priest, and he looked a little confused and asked how many of us there were. I wasn't quite sure what our numbers had to do with the bathroom, but I said, "I'm with a group of five, but I'm the only one who needs the restroom." He had me follow him outside where he started saying it was kind of late, but there might a place in this or that direction that was open and would accommodate us...I was feeling very confused and wondering why he wouldn't just accommodate and me and let me use the restroom, and as he continued talking I realized that we didn't seem to be talking about the same thing. So I told him I was just looking for a toilet, not a restaurant. He looked a little confused (apparently they don't use the word restroom at all in Dublin), and he showed me to the toilet. Meanwhile, the group of guys were watching and trying to figure out why the priest first took me outside. After that, we went and got some food at Tesco, ate, and went to bed because we were all exhausted.
Thursday, we bought tickets for our Friday day tour. We caught a bus to Bray. In our attempt to find the ocean, we wandered into this pathway that had a random bridge that wasn't connected to everyone and appeared to be where the local teenagers go to party. Then we ate lunch at another pub that was quite delicious. After lunch, we found the beach, which we walked along. It led us to this path along the side of a hill along the the beach. We hiked up the trail as a group for a couple of hours, and then Jason, Allan, and Christian headed back while Richie and I continued up the trail to Greystones (a small city). In Greystones, Richie and I found a real beach (with more sand and considerably less gravel). Off in the distance, we could see this awesome looking tree on this ledge hanging over the ocean. When we got there, it was very disappointing. It wasn't all near the beach, and it wasn't even just one tree. Anyway, we caught a bus from Greystones back to Bray, and then to Dublin. Richie and I at wraps at O'Briens that were pretty yummy, and then we walked through Trinity college. We stopped at a store and got a small thing of ice cream that we shared on our way back to the hostel and finished eating at the tables in the lobby, talked, and looked at pictures. When I got back to my room, my German roommate decided to talk to me for a bit, and then I crashed.
We got up early Friday morning to catch the bus for our day tour. Our bus driver was fun, but she wasn't handsome with a sexy accent like the other tour's pamphlet promised...bummer. Our first stop was a gas station for a pit stop...that was where my belt broke, and I still have yet to buy a new one. It's okay, my pants only feel like they're going to fall off when I bend over, and luckily I brought lots of undershirts. Driving through the Irish countryside was amazing! Ireland really is covered with rolling fields of green and fences made of stone. I loved it! The next stop was at the cliffs of Moher. You may know them as the cliffs of insanity from The Princess Bride. They were amazing! There was a castle far off in the distance that I was very excited about. I took lovely pictures with the castle in. When I got to the castle...I discovered that totally not legit. It was just a gift shop built for tourists, so they could make you pay to go to the top. Lame. Talk about ruining all of my pictures! It was like the tree on the beach all over again. However, the cliffs were still amazing and beautiful. Then the bus took us to lunch at yet another pub, where I got some seafood chowder that was absolutely delicious. The next stop was the burren thing...I didn't really understand what it was, but I took pictures! I think it was some sort of burial site. Anyway, then we went to an Abby. Drove past a castle, and made our way back to Dublin. Where we ate dinner at this fairly cheap sandwich type place and headed back to the Hostel.
Saturday, we slept in a wee bit and then made our way to the Malahide castle. We took a tour of the castle and walked around the grounds. Then we came back to Dublin and had lunch at Gallagher's Boxty House. I got corned beef and cabbage that was to die for! I loved it. We walked through Trinity College and stopped to watch some cricket. A nice old British man came over to explain the game to us be kept commenting on how it didn't make any sense. I still didn't quite get it. Then we found the hyperbolic crochet coral reef exhibit. It was pretty neat, but I didn't understand the math part. After that we went a park where we just chilled for the next several hours until it was time to head to the airport. At the airport as we were walking to our gate, Christian and I saw the most hilarious thing. There was a clothing shop with manikins out front modeling underwear. This curious little girl walked over the female manikin, stuck her hand in the elastic of the underwear, and peeked inside. Then she did the same to the male manikin. It was so funny! Anyway, our flight landed at about 11pm, but it took us about 3 hours to get home because of the tube station closed and bus craziness. So, I got back to the flat and waited for my computer to boot up, so I could email Rodger to let him know we were safe, and that was pretty much the end of our Ireland adventure.

V & A and my Birthday!

I have been neglecting my blog...I apologize. Last Monday, I went back to the Dutch pancake restaurant for 5 pound pancake Monday. It was so good! Then Brianna and I went to the Victoria and Albert Museum (A.K.A The V & A). This has been my favorite museum so far because it has points with hands on learning activities geared towards children...and me. When I get bored of looking at museum stuff, there are fun things to do, and then I'm ready to go back to looking at things! Yay! Then I came home and wrote my paper, so I didn't have to write it on my Birthday.
Tuesday was my Birthday! They sang happy birthday to me in class. Then we came home, and everyone was writing their papers...but Brianna and I went Holland Park after she finished hers. The park was beautiful. It reminded me of Grandma Ona's house in Ohio. Then we came back and Christian, Jason, Melissa, Allan, Brianna, and I went to Byron's to get "proper hamburgers" for my Birthday. A delicious hamburger really all I wanted, and a delicious hamburger was what I got. They also had this nice little mural on the wall that reminded me of home. It had drawings of cows and farmers...and a cow pie that was labeled as "still warm". Then we all went to The Real Thing for class. I really liked the play, but I did not like the actress who played Annie. That was really obnoxious. After the play, I came home, called my family, and packed my backpack for Ireland!
P.S. Brianna got candles, but we didn't have time because of the play and travel weekend and such, so more Birthdayness should be soon to come!

More London Adventures!

Wednesday, Brianna and I went to the Science museum after class. I learned all kinds of things about medicine, old scientific tools, and plastic. I also used the restroom (or toilet as they call them here in London), and it had the little girl symbol with the letter WC next to it. "What does that mean?" I thought. When I went inside, there were tons of women with children, so I decided it meant it was a bathroom for women and children. I thought that was a pretty cool idea. Then yesterday I overheard Martha telling someone the WC stood for Water Closet, and she laughed at me when I told her what I had thought it meant. Anyway, the museum was pretty cool, and I'll probably go back and check out some more exhibits. That evening we all wen to see Taking Steps. It was hilarious! We had read the play for class and talked about, so we all got every single one of the jokes and were super responsive. We talked to the cast afterward, and they said we were the best audience yet. They could tell there was something up because we did seem to catch every single one of the jokes. They thought it was great.
Thursday, a bunch of us went to breakfast at this dutch pancake house up the street. The food was so good. I got a banana waffle (waffles with bananas on top), and it was super yummy. The girls who got panacakes lucked out, though. They were huge! I hope to go back and get one in the future. Then we went to the Tate Modern, which is a modern art museum. It was okay. I couldn't help but think that it wasn't classy at all. They just had big white rooms that looked mostly bare, and it was difficult to to tell which text panels went where. I expected it to be so much more class than the MOA, especially because they have paintings from such famous artists, but it was far from it. Not to mention, I felt like I was work the whole time. I couldn't help but look for cameras and watch the security guards. It also really bugged me to watch people breaking rules and not be able to do anything about it. I was very jealous that the guards got to sit down, but I didn't feel like they did much good there. It was really weird going into the gift shop and finding some of the same things the MOA shop has. Afterward, we walked next door and went on a Shakespeare tour at the globe. The greasy gay guy was our tour guide. He was very nice and very passionate about the Globe and Shakespeare. I did find it strange that he referred to "we" every time he talked The Globe's (the new one, not the original) past. After the tour, we went to the Borough Market again and walked around. When we got bored of that, we walked over to St. Paul's and sat reading on the steps. Next was Marks & Spencer to buy some delicious chocolate and gums (gummies). Then we walked down some streets and eventually back to the Globe where we watched a touring show of A Midsummer Night's Dream. I did not like it. The idea was awesome, but not well acted. As Jason said, the only nice thing about the show was Puck's butt. The problem is, Puck was women, so her butt doesn't really do me much good. Some people did like the show though, and I'm really glad that they did. The audience seemed to enjoy it as well, but I was just mostly annoyed.
Today, I just kind of relaxed. I slept in. I did my laundry. I talked to some friends. I went to Hyde Park with a friend from the UVU study abroad, and we walked all over the park. Then I went and watched Pride and Prejudice with my roommate and the girls upstairs. I had never seen it before...and I still haven't seen the ending. The DVD started having issues. I'm not that upset, and I may never watch the end. I didn't particularly care for it.

I love to see the temple

Today we got up bright and early and all climbed onto a bus. We traveled a couple of hours on the bus to the temple. They only accommodate half of us in the baptistery at a time, the other half of us waited in the guest room for a couple of hours until the first group was finished. I did get up and take a walk around the the beautiful grounds for a small amount time, but I stayed mostly inside because it was super cold. This was definitely a new experience as far as baptisms go for me, but that's really all I'm going to say about that. It was good. I ate at the temple cafe afterward, and I got a delicious salmon meal for like 4.50 pounds. It was so good! I was the last to be baptized, so naturally, I was the last to get my food. Lance said something about them just waiting for me and how dainty I was when eating, which made me feel like I was being slow. So, I picked up the pace, and I finished before Rodger did. Then I was a little sad that I hadn't taken the time to enjoy my yummy salmon more, but it was still good.After we made the trek home, I had a snack (I feel like whenever I'm at the flat, all I want to do is eat), and Brianna and I to the National History Museum where we saw all kinds of cool things. Tomorrow, we are going the National Science Museum, which I hear is even better. I'm so very excited! Then I came home and got distracted until I finally wrote my paper. We'll see how it turned out....

P.S. I found this giant bird skeleton at the museum, and the bird is called a moa. It made me think of work. However, the moa is extinct, so I hope I still have a job!

So...I have been delinquent. I apologize. Saturday I hung out at the flat and did homework for quite a while, and then I went to the Imperial War Museum with Jason, Christian, and Brianna. It was pretty sweet. I really enjoyed the super old double decker bus, the spy like items (like different kinds of bugs and such), and the little submarine world type thing. I got to lay in a little tiny submarine bed. I would definitely role out that bed. We got fish and chips and this little restaurant, and they were quite delicious. Then we caught a show a The National Theatre. It was called "Love the Sinner." The show was okay. I loved the first act, but wasn't so much a fan of the second act. It was a new play and seemed to be missing something, but I did like the idea.
Sunday, I went to church, and they had a munch and mingle afterward. I had no idea family wards had those, by the way. I went home, and took a nap, and pretty much just hung out. We had our fireside at 7:30, and it lasted forever. But, they brought these really delicious yogurt things for dessert. They were so good, I bought a package when I was grocery shopping this morning. Anyway, then I called the fam and wished my mom a happy Mother's Day. My brother informed me that our neighbor asked him if we were separated and getting a divorce...Justin awkwardly informed him that were brother and sister, and I was in London. Hilarious. That's all I have to say about that.
Today, I was so proud of myself. I got up and went grocery shopping before class! I bought lots of yummy things like digestives, lemon curd, and the yogurt things I mentioned above. Then during class, all I wanted to do was go home and eat my food. I've succeeded in eating much of it throughout the day. Digestives are really good in milk, P.S. I went with some girls to go see Lion King...not! Apparently Lion King doesn't play on Mondays...who'd a thunk it? We ended up just going to eat at this place called Itsu. I got some really delicious soup called detox, which I assumed had to have some sort of fancy pronunciation, and Hannah looked at me like I was an idiot when I asked her how to pronounce it. Sometimes I just like to make things too complicated. :)

Waterlilies, giant fish, and a pagoda

Kew gardens=huge and amazing! We were there from 10am to about 3pm, and we still didn't see it all. We went through the temperate house, where we saw a lot of pretty flowers and ponds with giant fish. Then we went to the treetop walk (which was not nearly as awesome as I had hoped). At the base of the treetop walk was a peacock, a real live peacock. Miriam said, "I have never actually seen a peacock with it's feathers all spread out." At that very instant, and I'm not exaggerating, the peacock squawked and fanned its tail feather. It was proably the most amazing moment of the day. The peacock then did a cute little dance for us, did the hokey poky and he turned himself about, and posed for pictures. Thanks for granting our every wish little peacock. Then we made our way to the queen's cottage, the pagoda, and the Japanese garden. At the garden, we ran into the boys, and Jason informed us that the evolution house was like Jurassic Park, a few of us made our way there. I think Jason's description got my hopes up a little too high, but that's okay, it was kind of cool. The thing I was really excited to see was the waterlily house! It was everything I had hoped it would be and more. It warm and sweet! My life is now complete. The lens of my camera fogged up, but I managed to get a few pictures. Then we went to the palm house, The Princess Conservatory, and Kew Palace. The Kew palace was sort of anti-climatic...it was just a house. After that, we made our journey home, where I made myself pasta and chilled. Then they talked me into going to the Young Single Adults dance at the Hyde Park Chapel. It was fun, but dancing around and feeling self-conscious gets old pretty fast. That was pretty much my day, though. Good times!

I read my friends facebook status and said 200 pounds in my head instead of dollars...

I would like to start by saying, I can't believe I forgot to mention the man with the pipe the other day. Allan, Miriamme, and I were waiting for the bus, and this man walked up, stopped directly in front of us, and lit his pipe. I had never seen a person smoke a pipe before. It was so crazy to actually see. Anyway, today I got up to go to Primark with Jason and Christian. I got up early, so I wouldn't be the typical girl and make them wait for me. I went down stairs to wait for them, and finally Allan came out the door. He informed me that Christian had just gotten out of bed, and Jason was still in bed. Oh the irony. So, Allan, Rodger, and I ended up walking across Hyde park to Primark, where I found many wonderful and cheap things that I bought to keep me warm. Then we made our way to the Tricycle Theatre where we saw Twelfth Night. It was...odd, but funny. It was done like a rock concert type thing, but I didn't really understand how it connected. Also, they brought out two boxes and pizza and passed the through the audience. I stared longingly as the box of pizza traveled down the row in front of me, and I received none of it. After the play, Brianna, Lexy, and I stopped at a quaint little restaurant. I got this thing...this big, yummy, filled with spinach thing. What it is called, I do not know. The lady didn't speak very English very well, but it was good. It was also so large I had to eat it in two sittings. Then we came back home for a bit, where I think I took a short nap. You when you fall asleep and wake up, but you can't really tell if you fell asleep or not? Maybe that's just me. Anyway, then Brianna and I went to see Psy. It was an acrobatic show about mental illnesses. It was pretty sweet. My favorite part was the guy on the seesaw being launched all over the place (he had multiple personalities, or at least his character did). I really liked when he pointed it toward the audience and told them to raise their hands like he was going to land there...then he magically flew forward instead of backward that time. Also, on the way to theatre, we saw cute little elephant statue (different from the painted elephants popping up all over), and some strange singing man came over and stroked the elephants head for a few seconds while were standing right next to it and then walked away. After that, we had to take a picture.

Museums and Plays: that's what I did in London

Yesterday, we all met as a group and explored the Museum of London. It had some fun and neat historical things in the exhibits we got to see (Before London, Mid-evil London, and the Great London Fire). In the mid-evil section we got to play a game where we lived life as a person living in Mid-evil times. Dad, you'll be happy to know that I got married, but that's where my story ended. After the museum, we found a store that had some delicious British chocolate, which I am currently enjoying. Next, we went to the banqueting house where we saw and learned all about the ceiling paintings by Rubens. After that, a small group of us went to the the National Gallery and the National Portrait gallery. I felt very much like I was at work, but not getting paid. I also couldn't help but watch the security guards and look for cameras. I found it very intriguing that the security guards in the National Gallery wore purple shirts, purple ties, and suits. They also just stood in one spot and yelled at people across the galleries instead of politely approaching them. Interesting. On the way to these museums, we came across four brightly painted elephants. Apparently this is some sort of awareness for the disappearing Asian elephants, and these colorful elephants keep randomly popping up all over London.
Today, we had class. Afterward, I finally ventured out and did my laundry. It was a completely new experience for me. Not only had I never used a laundry facility like that but before, but I had never used one in a foreign country. It was quite simple, though, and my clothes are nice and clean. We were supposed to go to Enron today, but we didn't because it had some scandalous parts in it. I hear it's not really very good, so I'm glad I didn't go. However, I did go see a play called Andersen's English about Hans Christian Andersen visiting Charles Dickens. It was a fantastic play with a little bit of surrealism in it that was quite intriguing.

Children are always better on leashes, especially at an art museum

After class today, Lexy and I went grocery shopping. We stopped at a few stores along the way to look for a coat for because I'm freezing to death, but to no avail. The first store was called T.K. Maxx (for some reason there's a K instead of J here), which reminds me of a story! I was Lexy, I believe, and we had been present for an earlier conversation about T.K. Maxx instead of T.J. Maxx. We were crossing the street, and she said, "I wonder if there is such a thing as J-walking here." I promptly responded, "If there is, it's probably called K-walking!" I know, you're jealous of my witty skills. Anyway, I did not find a coat I was willing to pay for, but I got some yummy food to eat! Then I sat around for a while "working" on my paper. Afterward, Lexy wanted to go see Chicago with her. We got the cheapest tickets we could get. On our way there, we found a really good deal on scarfs, so I bought a couple to keep me warm and alive. It's amazing how much those things can do! Then we stopped at Mcdonalds, and it was nice to have a big greasy hamburger. I also got a sundae, which I expected to be a hot fudge one. When I asked for the sundae, the lady said in an accent I could not understand something about "...offee". I was like, "huh? I just want a hot fudge sundae." "Yeah, ...ofee?" I finally just said yes, praying she was saying toffee and not coffee. What I got tasted very much like a caramel sundae, which was good, but I missed my hot fudge. Oh well. When we got to theatre, they upgraded our seats for free. That was awesome. The was okay, but it falls into the general musical category for me. Musicals just aren't that great. I did however enjoy a few of the songs whilst wondering why on earth these women were wearing the lingerie the whole time and what that had to do with the show. Anyway, we headed home afterward. While changing tube lines, I heard a strange raspy voice from behind ask me very loudly if I was going home. I quickly turned around to find Lance, our professor. He said he thought about grabbing my backpack, but decided it may not be the best idea. I'm glad he didn't; although, it would have been really entertaining if I had busted out some R.A.D. moves without thinking about it and taken out the professor. Anyway, we made home safely, and all-in-all it was pretty good day. Also, as we were walking through the tube station, Lexy told me she needed to put me on of those scooters with a leash that the parents pull there children around on, so she could keep track of me. I responded with the quote that is the title of this post. "Children are always better on leashes, especially at an art museum." Words of wisdom from a security guard.

They come in pints? I'm getting one!

First of all, I just want to say that I absolutely love the milk here. I drink it all the time. Also, it's crazy that it comes in pints (or 4 pints if you're me and drink more milk than anyone else here). Now on to the important things. We to to church this morning at the Hyde Park ward (same building we have class in). It was freezing cold in there today, as well as outside. It was so neat to hear all of the different accents as people bore their testimonies. London is such a diverse place as far as nationality goes. The steak president came and talked us, but he was a bit late. He said his little girl kept trying to tell him she needed to go to nursery with her little brother, so she could keep him from hitting other children. He said, although she had a good argument, he had to sit with her for a while in primary to get her to go. I thought that was a cute story. After church, we just relaxed and tried to stay warm. I even took a nice little nap while attempting to read Twelfth Night for class. We then went to a Young Single Adult fireside. The first speaker was really funny, and I really enjoyed his talk. He asked the audience to give some big decisions they had made in their lives. When no one responded, he pointed to my roommate a few rows in front of me and asked her specifically. After she responded, he began scanning the audience for another victim. I learned a vital lesson, don't move a muscle! I lifted my hand and tucked my hair behind my hear, and the next thing I knew he was mimicking and saying, "You're playing with your hair, that means you have something to say." Apparently, I have something to say a lot more often than I thought because I do that a lot. I just said the first thing that came to my mind and talked my decision to come on the study abroad. He asked what I got from that decision, and I talked about my opportunities to learn and grow. He said I missed mentioning something and pointed to a row of boys in the front. Someone else from our group announced that we weren't allowed to date while we here, and he laughed and informed me that I had obviously made the wrong decision. Anyway, after the fireside, we got some refreshments. Lexy was very excited because she has saying she wanted ice cream for a few days now, and the refreshments were little ice cream bars. Then, we went home and did homework. It was a good day. Happy Sunday! :)

Hell isn't warm, it's cold and wet. I know. I've been there.

Today, we began our journey by going on a lovely "Shakespeare walk". Why it is called that, I do not know. Most of the things had nothing to do with Shakespeare, but we went anyway. We saw some fun things like London Bridge; although, the actual London Bridge is apparently in Arizona. After the walk, we went to see that "Scottish play" or Macbeth and the Globe Theatre (not the actual globe theatre; it's also a remake). The play was fantastic! Their concept was all about Hell, and there was this picture with heads stuck in the ground (living ones), and those were people in Hell. So, we were groundlings (standing in front of the stage), and there was a big black cloth covering most of the groundlings areas. There were holes in cloth that the audience members had to stick there heads through, so we were the heads/people in Hell! It was so cool. The actors would come down into "Hell" and interact with us and such. Lexy (my friend who was in the hole next to me) was terrified of the witches, so every time they would come near us she would ask if she could hold my hand. One time she squeezed so hard, I thought she was going to break my hand. Then it started to sprinkle, and then rain, and then poor. There was so much rain! And hail. The funniest part was when McDuff ran on staging yelling, "Hail!" Everyone started laugh, and I was thinking, "Why are they lau...oh, hail! I get it! It's hailing!" So the actor did it again and again. It was funny. Then we all went, completely drenched, to the talk back session with two of the actors. My favorite parts were when Lady Macbeth (or rather, the actor who played her) was talking about how she prepared for the role. She said, "I sit backstage with my candle and think about going mad." Then and audience member was asking Lady Macbeth how she was able to separate herself from the role after each show and said, "I wonder how you sleep at night." I thought it was pretty funny.
Afterward, a small group of us went to see Antigone (a greek tragedy). While we were waiting for the house to open, I complained a little to Melissa about my bra still being wet and probably never drying. Christiane over heard and quickly responded, "Love never dries!" For those of you who don't know, Love Never Dies is the sequel to Phantom of the Opera (the play sounds terrible, and Christian and I are both not fans of musicals anyway, so that made it more funny to us). The best part was that Allan immediately chimed in, "Love Never Dries, the sequal to Titanic!" Hilarious. Anyway, the play was interesting. The acting drove me crazy! It was super over the top, high emotion, screaming in your face (literally) the whole time. It was a good experience though.
I finally came home after the play and changed into my nice dry, warm pajamas. My roommate came in, and we really talked to each other for the first time. It was a really nice conversation. I think we'll be spending a lot more time together, hopefully.
Before the play (with heads in hell cloth) After the play (soaking wet!)

Fire! Fire!

After class today, I just sat back on our lovely couch in our lovely bay window and relaxed for a while. Then Allan, Miriamme, and I went to pick up tickets for Antigone tomorrow! I'm so excited for that show. When we were waiting at the tube station to get there, we watched the cutest little boy. A water bottle had spilled in his mother's bag and was spilling all over the ground. The little kept insisting, "We have to mop it up! We have to mop it up!" In his cute little British accent. My mom would have loved that child. Anyway, I finally got to ride at the top of a double decker bus! I've been waiting this whole trip for it (let's just ignore the fact that I've only been here three days)! Then we all went to 11 & 12 directed by Peter Brooke! He's a really famous director for all of you non-theatre people out there. It was pretty good;although, we did get the floor seats. As dad always says, the mind can only absorb what the butt can endure. When we got home, we all sat down to blog (like we're doing now). We were here for about twenty minutes when the fire alarms went off. Why, we do not know. But we ended up standing in the rain for about 15 minutes waiting for the Metrogate people (the apartment people) to come shut them off.

We're having fun, but the teachers won't let us sleep...

I finally got to go to bed last night at about 9pm. I was definitely asleep before my head hit the pillow, and I slept like a rock the whole night through. Somehow I managed to stay awake through class and then the real adventure began! We rode the tube, for the first time, all the way to Piccadilly Circus and walked around the park and saw Buckingham Palace. Then we went to 39 Steps. It's a comedy based off of the Alfred Hitchcock movie. I know, you didn't know it was a comedy, right? Well, when it's a play, it's absolutely hilarious. All the characters were played by 4 actors, and the set was pretty minimal. My favorite part was definitely the shadow puppet chase scene! Outside the theatre, p.s., there were some guys pretending they could dance...oddly there was actually crowd around them, but really all they did was shake their butts and pose. Personally, I think the drunk guy in front of the fountain who was dancing and singing (if that's what you can call it) put on a much better show. Also, just FYI, if you ever go to St. James park, don't be deceived by the inviting chairs...you have to pay to sit in them.

It's a Long Trip Alone

So, the good news is, I made it here alive! The bad news is, my body thinks it's 6:30am, and I haven't slept yet, but London seems to think it's 1:30 in the afternoon...yay jet lag...not. Anyway, my dad took me to the airport yesterday morning and helped me check in. We had a little difficulty with the slot labeled "Passport scanner..." not scanning. It wasn't until an employee pointed to the actual passport scanner (after a few minutes of frustration) that we read the last half of the label "Passport scanner to the right". I don't know what the random slot below the label is for, but it definitely doesn't scan passports. Believe me, we tried everything! The best part was when we claimed it said "passport scanner", and the employee replied, "It does! We need to fix that!" Apparently we Americans are just lazy and only read the specific words we're looking for. Once I got to Chicago I managed to find my way to my next terminal by ignoring Jake's confusing map and major oversimplification of the O'Hare airport and following the signs. By the way, they have this crazy weird underground walk way with blinking neon lights and music, and it made me feel like I was in a Disney movie or something. But I made on my plane for 8 hour flight...one of the longest 8 hours of my life. I sat next to this guy...he was nice, but I could he didn't want to talk at all. I don't know if I've ever gone that long without really talking since I learned how to talk. The best moment of the plane ride was when I was reading Chapter Two and one of the characters says, "Airplane food isn't dinner, it's survival" and I looked up and saw the flight attendants coming with my dinner, or my survival, rather. I thought it was funny, but maybe you would have had to have been there.... Well, I made it through customs, but I couldn't find the other group member I was supposed to meet, so I made my way through London alone...yay for trains and taxis! Oh, and I noticed from the airplane that all the fields in London are far from square and come in many different shapes...just thought it was interesting that it was so different from Utah.

Look Out London, Here I Come!

The adventure begins! I spent most of today with my mom and dad running errands to get everything I need for London. My daddy even bought me a camera for my birthday (which I will have in London!) to take with me. Thanks Dad! I love you, and not just because you bought me a camera. I will miss my family and friends very much, but I am so very excited! I packed everything I absolutely need into one suitcase and backpack, and I'm very proud of how much space I have left in my suitcase. Plenty of room for souvenirs! Bright and early tomorrow morning, my dad and I will make our way to Salt Lake, and I will begin my long journey to England!