Leaving

Tomorrow I am moving out of the "Glen-hood" into a condo on 9th East. I've been in Glenwood for a whole year now living with Riena. I made a comment to her tonight that for the past three years we have been nearly always together. And it is true. We had almost every class together our senior year of high school, and then roomed in the dorms our freshman year. It is going to be different living with someone new for a few months, and I'm going to miss Riena-na very very much.

This move also starts the beginning of another semester at BYU. This coming fall with be my 5 semester here in Provo. By the end of it, I will be considered a senior, according to my credit hours. It is hard for me to believe that I am 20 and half way through the university experience.

But that is where I am now: at BYU. I'll be working about 15 hours a week, and taking 16 credits hours. My course-load includes 3 linguistics classes for my major, my last french class, 2 new testament classes, and choir. I'm sooo excited for football to start in a week!! and I'm even more excited that my little sis is going to be here with me!!

So there's a lot of change going on, but I am happy about it! :)
and I'll keep the posting up to date as much as I can, as long as there are things going on worth posting about!

Great Tour of Great Britain

I'm finally back in Provo after our long week touring Great Britain. We saw some amazing sites, and had a fabulous time taking pictures and enjoying our last week together. Here are some highlights:


Our first stop of the tour was the little town of Bath. It was here that Jane Austen based many of her novels and even lived. It is also the site of the ancient Roman Baths, which I loved. After the audio tour I decided to take a swig of the water from the fountain! It was pretty funny tasting. But Bath was definitely one of the best stops on the tour.


On Wednesday we ended in the Lakes District. We stopped in Hawkshead which is the home to a bunch of Beatrix Potter sites, and then stayed in Ambleside. The next morning a bunch of us went on a boat cruise of Lake Windermere. If we hadn't had umbrellas we would have been soaked! But the lake was soo beautiful! It reminded me a lot of Waterton.


One of the best stops of the whole tour was Hadrian's Wall. It's a great site to see to better understand the divisions that exist in England and also the power of the Roman Empire. It was mostly fun because it wasn't raining and we got to take jumping shots and some funny group pictures.


I was so excited to get to Edinburgh!! The night we were there, a few of us got last minute tickets to the Military Tatoo!! Bagpipes and bands and marchers and wow. It was a great performance!!


We spent the next morning at Edinburgh Castle. Very cool.


Fountains Abbey was another one of them ruins! This, I am sure, is the most beautiful. Surrounding the Abbey is a long lake and trees all over, green as can be. It was great to walk around in the sun and just enjoy nature.


One of our last stops was Warwick Castle. Here they had a lot of performers and entertainment. We watched some jousting and were entertained by a "fool". I was disappointed that I didn't get to climb up the tower, because I love doing that.

And there we are. And those were just my favorite places!!

It is great to be back in Provo. I love the heat and the dollar and a shower with consistent water pressure and drinking fountains and everything else American. But I already miss the international London, the history, the tube, the new friends, and the travel experience! It really was amazing!!

Sad Sunday

Today was our last day in London. We went to church once more in the London North ward. We left the flat at 8:30 am and got back at 3:30 pm. Church starts at 10:00. Besides the awful commute, I was glad that I was assigned to that ward. The bishop was nice and there were some funny characters, just like every ward I guess. It was kind of sad to leave, even though I only went to church there 3 times.

Tomorrow we're leaving London to do a week-long bus tour of Great Britain. The places we are going are Bath, Cardiff, Liverpool, Lakes District, Edinburgh, Durham, York, and Stratford. Every night a different hostel. Should be fun? Anyway, I'm sad to leave this flat that I've grown accustomed to. Well, off to packing!

Hyde Park Gate 37

Our flat was the fifth floor, not in the picture, but just above it

What is it about Trafalgar Square?

After getting some work done this morning, I went to the National Portrait Gallery. It was actually really cool! I wish I could've spent more time there.

Then Kelsey and I waited in Trafalgar Square for about an hour and a half before we met up with Amy, Kirsten, and Cadence to do a "last dinner" type thing since we're leaving London on Monday. I don't know what it is, but being in Trafalgar Square makes me kind of goofy. I took too many pictures . . . here are a few.

Mamma Mia!

(you have to say this post title like Mario in MarioKart getting hit by a shell, please)

Today was Friday the first. But it just so happens that the first, was actually our last Friday in London. So we decided to make the best of it.

To start the day off Kelsey and I woke up early and went to the Prince of Wales theater to get tickets to Mamma Mia. We had tried a few other times to get tickets without success, so we wanted to make sure that we were there in plenty of time.

Me and Kels waiting in the tube.

Afterwards, we met up with Amy and went to Buckingham Palace. I have been looking forward to this all month! Probably because there are a few movies that mention Buckingham Palace, and I've always wanted to see what it looks like. We toured the state rooms and got to see the ballroom "dressed up" for a state banquet. Each setting was measured precisely and the glasses and silver sparkled. It was too bad that we couldn't take any pictures because I really thought that it was more beautiful than even Versailles. Oh, and yeah, the actual queen still lives there!! We walked through the gardens a bit too and they were very green.

Gardens at Buckingham Palace

After a trip to a sit-down-and-be-served Pizza Hut we wandered over to Borough Market. Literally every breath I got a different smell: berries, chocolate, fresh fish, warm bread, smoke and alcohol, pineapple, produce. I guess markets are pretty cool. I wanted to buy some fresh pea pods and peel them on the tube, but I couldn't find any good ones.

"I love . . . I absolutely love . . . celery root"

We ran into the Golden Hinde (a ship) and I took pictures. We were also right by Southwark Cathedral and I wanted to go in, but we opted to going on Sunday for evensong. Then we came home to chill before the show. We transfered at Westminster station which is my favorite one!

Trying to capture the essence of Westminster station.

Going to Mamma Mia turned out to be quite an adventure. So, I've been using a blue bag this whole trip. I actually stole it from Annie a while ago because I like it so much. Tonight though I didn't feel like carrying it with me, so Kelsey let me borrow one of her purses. We headed out. It was just after 7:30. After traveling by bus to Gloucester Station, getting on the Piccadilly line, and pulling up to South Kensington station I suddenly realized that my ticket was in that blue bag, and the blue bag, which I never leave without, was in my flat, about 20 minutes away. "KELSEY! I forgot my ticket!" Haha, she didn't believe me, until I hopped off the tube and started making my way back home. I ran from Gloucester Station back to the flat and arrived at the top of our 5 flights huffing and puffing. After grabbing my ticket, I got to the bus stop right in time, eventually hopped on the Piccadilly again and rode the 6 stops to Piccadilly Circus. I ran to the theater and the kind usher escorted me to my seat. I sat down literally as the curtain was drawing up at 8:30. Whew. *sigh*. The show was fun. I enjoyed the beginning and the end the most, because they danced a lot. It was kind of silly and wild, and now I want to go see the movie.

Sorry this post is so dang long. I guess I just felt like telling my stories of the day. Tomorrow is really the last day that we have in London to do any more touring. I love London.