Days 59, 60, 61, & 62

Tuesday class was cancelled and we went on a hike with Brother Chiddock! Just so everyone knows, the hike was voluntary, and yes I chose to go. A miracle, right? Anyway, we hiked 9.6 miles through the english countryside. I didn't bring any hiking or athletic shoes of any kind, because honestly, until Tuesday I didn't need them...so I wore my wellies. Surprisingly enough, I didn't get a single blister. It was a cold, but beautiful day. We saw so many pretty farms. We hiked through several private properties, but we were allowed to because in England there are walking paths that have been around for hundreds of years and they have laws that protect the public's right to hike these paths. I think that is it fantastic that everyone gets to enjoy the pretty places. That night we decided to rest our feet at Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland and it was good, especially Johnny Depp.

Brother Chiddock talking to the group of us.

Oh hey sheep.

Wednesday we took a day trip out to Stourhead and Chawton. They filmed part of Pride & Prejudice at Stourhead(the part where Darcy confesses his love for Elizabeth in the rain), and they are some of the prettiest gardens I have ever seen. I fed the ducks my croissant and Dr. Macfarlane gave us a mini lecture in front of a replica of the Pantheon. I'm not going to lie, I was pretty excited when Dr. Macfarlane asked who had been to the actual Pantheon and I got to raise my hand. We crossed a bridge over the nice little man made lake and walked up to the Temple of Virtue where the P & P movie scene was filmed. Much to our disappointment we found the temple covered in scaffolding, so we couldn't reenact the scene which is a shame, because I do an excellent Mr. Darcy. After the gardens we drove on to Jane Austen's house. I love Jane Austen, end of story. I was so close to buying a boxed set of her novels, but I didn't. Birthday present, Mom? We traveled to see Jane Austen's gravesite and Winchester Cathedral and then it was back home for us. Back in London I followed Katie, Cam, Calvin, and Britt to a Sports Restaurant to watch a soccer game. ManU dominated, and the italians were sad.

Stourhead Gardens.

P & P scene. The scaffolding was lovely.

Jane Austen's house.

Winchester Cathedral.

Those aren't tiles, they're slices of bread.

Alfred the Great.

Thursday I went to class, and studied until dinner. After dinner we saw Les Miserables! It is easily my favorite musical, I almost always cry. However, this was not my favorite performance and I wish the other girls could have seen a different cast. Still, the music was amazing and so was Eponine, and that's all that really matters.

Friday I finished reading Wuthering Heights(not my favorite), went to class, and then took a trip to the Imperial War Museum with my political science class. It's a pretty good museum, and there was so much information about both WW1 and WW2. I have 2 midterms in the next two days, so after dinner it was study time again. Tomorrow is going to be great though. Also, I love London.

Day 58

One time, I saw the worst play in the world. It was called War Horse. The lead actor attempted a lower class cockney accent and ended up sounding like he had a learning disability, the dad was terrible at slurring his speech and sounded more like a stroke victim than a drunkard, and the play was about horses! Maybe my dislike for horses makes me slightly prejudiced, but I can honestly say that I walked into that theater with an open mind, and I left unsatisfied. I just absolutely could not relate to the weird, exaggerated relationship that the "slow" country boy had with his horse. It was ridiculous, but there were at least 3 theatrical gems hidden in there.

1. When the young puppet horse dramatically broke into pieces, and a larger puppet horse majestically emerged to gallop around the stage.

2. The horse fight between Top Thorne(the black horse) and Joey(the slow kid's horse). The puppets were taking bites out of each other in an epic battle for leadership.

3. The slow kid is now blind and has cerebral palsy, but he's found his horse. Joey looks like he's about to eat him, but lifts him up and carries him home instead. It was really moving.

It was, in all seriousness, the weirdest thing I have ever seen in my life. I would rather watch the Legacy High School Broadway Review once a day for the rest of my life, than sit through that show again. (If you've never seen the Broadway Review, ask my mom for the DVD. Then you'll understand the horror of War Horse completely.) So if you're ever in London, don't see War Horse, see Hair Spray instead.

Days 50, 51, & 52.

Sunday is always a good day. All of the trains were shut down so we had to take buses, fiasco. Church was really nice though. In primary we practiced or songs for Mother's Day(it's in March here.) And, in Sacrament Meeting Katie gave a beautiful talk and Kirra played a gorgeous arrangement of Come Thou Fount on the piano. After church I did dishes for a few hours, and then prepared, ate, and cleaned up dinner. Kitchen Crew is the best...NOT. We had a fireside that night. On our way to the fireside we kind of got caught in the rain and we got absolutely drenched. The rain has never made me that wet in all my life. The day was salvaged by cheesecake and pie though.

Monday I went to classes and then stayed at the center to do some homework. It was beautiful day outside though. The sun was out all day! It was still cold, but so sunny! After kitchen crew we went to the new movie theater in Shepherd's Bush to see Leap Year! I know it came out in the states a few months ago, but everything's a little late here. It is such a sweet and romantic movie. It definitely satisfied our need for a good chick flick.

Tuesday was class again and then more homework. I'm being very studios, see mom. It was beautifully sunny again, so I had to go outside even if it was just for a few errands. After kitchen crew we went to see Hairspray! It was so fun! The musical was so well done, the actors did an amazing job, and it was just really really fun. By the end everyone was up on their feet clapping/dancing a standing ovation. They faked their American accents really well too haha. Oh, and I want to marry Link, no big.

29, 30, 31, & 32

Crazy, crazy week. Ok, Day 29 was a Sunday and church was fantastic as always. These little kids just get cuter and cuter. I love them so much! Sundays are just so laid-back and great. We do a little homework, we nap, we eat dessert, it's great.

Monday we spent all day in the centre doing homework, but we did eventually leave to see Phantom of the Opera! It was amazing! I want to be Christine so bad. And, thanks to all the organ solos, my obnoxious coughing wasn't as noticeable. I also got to meet Jenny's cute Dad! He took us to get italian food!

All the ladies at Phantom.

Tuesday we went on a day trip to Windsor Castle! First we stopped by the place where the Magna Carta was signed and it was really exciting...ok, not really. But, it is really important, which makes it cool. After that we traveled to the castle and took an audio tour. I just love audio tours so very much. They are so useful, and I can just take my time. I love Dover Castle, and Calvin promised that someday I can live there. Calvin, Katie, and I found ourselves at McDonalds eating hamburgers and drinking coke later. Shopping followed and then our last stop was a little chapel and graveyard called Stokes Poges. It was beautiful and the gardens were fantastic. By the end though, I was freezing! We had a nice trip back, and I don't know what it is, but I just love riding on the coach so much. I get to listen to music, look out the window, and Emma is just the best travel companion.

Mormon churches should have pews like this...that way they can trap the little kids in.

That building behind us, it's just my house...no big deal.

Windsor Castle.

View from Windsor Castle.

St. George's.

Audrey and I.

Katie and I found some boyfriends at McDonalds.

The Magna Carta is so exciting!!

JFK Forever.

Black Leather baby.

Wednesday was class, packing, and travel preparation. We left for the airport at 10pm and ended up having to spend the night at the airport. It was not a pleasant experience. There are creepy people at the airport at 4 in the morning. But, we got on our plane and we got to Rome just fine and there will be much more of the fabulous Roma tomorrow.

22, 23, 24, & 25

This is going to be a long post. Really, really long. But, you should still read the whole thing...and look at the pictures.

Anyway, Sunday was great. For some reason, the weather here is always the best on Sundays. It was my first time in Primary and I met some of the most adorable little kids. Poppy and Julian are twins and they told me about their "wobbly teeth" and how "cheeky" their little sister Victoria is. Bemnent and I talked about Star Wars, Emma and Annabelle told me all about the robot movie they watched, and Chloe sat on my lap the entire time I wasn't playing the piano. It was only the 6 of them, but I we had so much fun! I forgot how catchy primary songs are. On the way back to the train I had a little adventure. We have to buy extension passes because we travel out of our zone on Sundays, which means we have to put money on our cards before our ride back. So, while I was trying to put money on my card, the machine was refusing to read my credit card and the train that we needed to catch was 5 seconds from arriving and we just really couldn't miss this train. So, Brittney threw 5 pounds at me, I put it on my card, touched my card to the machine, touched my card to the entrance gate, ran up the stairs, ran across the bridge, ran down the stairs(in heels), across the platform, and then dove onto the train. It was like a relay race and I WON. Sunday dinner was so good, and we had a really cool fireside given about war time London. And then I went to the Waffle House to use their reliable internet to talk to my family on videochat! I love talking to my family!

Monday I spent the day in the centre going to class and doing homework, but at night we went to Oliver! It was such a good play! The music is always stuck in my head though. We got to Covent Garden early, so we went to Ben's Cookies! I really love the chocolate cookies at Ben's. Also, we ate baked potatoes for dinner and they were delicious.

Oliver! Oliver!

Tuesday was more class and then Emma and I got hot chocolate and went to a few stationary stores to find Valentine's Day Cards! It was so nice to not be in a rush. Emma and I took our sweet time browsing and walking and it was just a nice trip. Plus, we didn't get lost once. Later Macy and I ended up at Frog and had some delicious frozen yogurt and then it was early to bed for us, because Wednesday we had a day trip.

Wednesday!! Today we went to Dover castle and to Canterbury! We walked through some war time tunnels that were built during WW2 and they looked curiously like our dorms...The castle was very pretty, but I think I'd rather live in a cathedral. In fact, I am going to live in a cathedral, minus the crypts. I really love gift shops, but seriously all the gift shops we've been to lately sell the exact same things: Henry the 8th glass dolls, quills, goblets, and weird medieval jewelry. I just want a cool postcard or something.

Dover Castle, my new home.

So pretty and green.

White Cliffs of Dover.

This is Maddy taking a picture of me while I was telling Emma to come get in my picture, because I felt silly standing alone.

Emma and I!

On the castle steps.

We're the Hercules statues.

View from the castle roof!

The view on our walk back to the coach.

After Dover, we went to St. Augustine's Abbey and took some pictures on some crumbling walls. I understand the cultural and religious significance of the place, and had a great time reading the plaques, but you can only take so many pictures on crumbling rocks.

A nice crumbling wall.

A bigger crumbling wall.

We soon made our pilgrimage to Canterbury Cathdral and it was gorgeous. The vaulted ceilings and stone pillars were my favorite. And someone was playing the organ! It felt like Phantom of the Opera.

Canterbury and I!

I want to live here.

Pretty, pretty ceilings!

The bus ride home was long, but luckily my ipod held out until the bitter end. However, while I was touring Canterbury a pigeon decided to drop one right on my window. Seriously, right in my line of vision there was a huge bird dropping...so unfortunate. I had to stare at it for 2 hours. We had Subway for dinner, waffles from Whitely's for dessert(they didn't have fruit at Whitely's...Audrey...), and now I'm home blogging and reading for class tomorrow. Tomorrow is our lunch date day! I'm excited to go to Zizzi's!

Right underneath the flash from my camera is the super nasty bird poop. Disgusting.

Ps: I only spent 2 pounds today, and I'm pretty proud of myself for not buying anything at the TopShop or Next in Canterbury and not eating lunch out this week...and my dad should be too haha.

Days 12 & 13

Thursday: Today was like a catch up day. Wednesday's trip tired me out, so I just went to class. I went to lunch with some girls at a chicken place called Nando's. My pita was so delicious, and they had free fountain drink refills...I almost cried. Later that night, we all decided to see if we could go get stand-by student tickets to Wicked, and we got in! We had fantastic seats and the show was so amazing. Sometimes I forget how great the music is. Every time I see Wicked though, I feel so bad for Glinda. Which is weird, because generally people identify more with Elphaba and love that she gets the guy in the end. I just can't help feel sorry for Glinda though, she gets her man snatched right out from under her. Anyway, it was wonderful and I wish life were a musical.

All the girls at Wicked!

Macy and I love ourselves(This is my Rhianna dress!)

Close up of the poofy sleeves, also it was Christina's first Wicked show!

Friday: We woke up bright and early to get to Westminster Abbey. I wish I could post a lot of pictures, but they wouldn't let us take any! Also it was very rainy, which kind of diminishes any desire to take pictures. Westminster is beautiful. It's such a peaceful, holy place. There are over 3,000 people buried there. I did in fact find Edward III's tomb(we're related you know), but I couldn't snap a photograph so I stole one from the internet. It was freezing and rainy. We ended up at the Burrough Market for lunch and I got my very own ostrich burger! It was seriously so tasty! Tonight we're going to watch the Young Victoria, and then Camden Road, Waggamomma's, and Lady in Black tomorrow. This has been such a good week!

West Minster!

Girls.

West Minster Towers.

King Eddie's tomb.

So funny story, we all walked out of the centre wearing black leather jackets today. Instead of the Pink Ladies, we were going to be the Black Ladies..but that's a little politically incorrect, so now we're just going to be a band called Black Leather(we're so hot).

Audrey and I seconds before this terrifying horse tried to devour us.

An Ostrich burger! So good!