Stonehenge, Stourhead, Bath, and Hostels...

So today started our with getting breakfast and then loading half of our stuff on to a bus and stacking half of it up in a room at the London center. Once we got on the bus we headed towards Stonehenge. It was really cool to see stonehenge and it almost felt like it wasn't real. My friend Elizabeth and I geeked out a little bit about the doctor who episode that happens at Stonehenge, we took lots of pictures, I got a fun pin and we got back on the road. This time we stopped at Stourhead. Which is an estate with a house and a very large garden. It is kind of like what you would imagine for a Jane Austen  movie and part of the Kiera Knightley version of Pride and Predjudice was filmed there. My friends and I had fun remembering this moment of the movie. It is the moment when it is raining and Mr. Darcy proposes and Elizabeth turns him down. Anyways Stourhead had lots of gorgeous views and it was kind of crazy to realize that the whole thing had been arrange to look natural and like it did. After Stourhead we got back on the bus and headed towards bath. At bath we got split up to travel to our various hotels or hostels as it might be. I have never stayed in a hostel before so this is an interesting experience for me. I have my own room while the rest of the girls in our group here are sharing rooms.  We are staying here in bath for two nights so it will be an interesting experience for me. Maybe I will be lucky and I will get a hotel next time. Oh also the Hostel I am staying at is kind of connected to a pub which my friend informs me originally meant public house so they would sometimes have accomidations there. Anyways, after dropping my stuff off at my room I went out to dinner at Nando's with my friends and then we went to see The Great Gatsby at a theater here. It was interesting, there were parts of it that I liked and parts of it that I didn't. Now I am back in my room and I think I will try to get some sleep now. Hopefully the drunk people on the streets won't be too loud. TTFN!

 Just chilling out by stonehenge

 Our made-up doctor who gang signs in front of Stonehenge

 Pretty scenes from Stourhead

 Just hanging out at Stourhead

 Where the Pride and Prejudice scene took place

 I switched coats with Sam (our professor's son), don't we look awesome?

 Pictures of my little room in the hostel/pub

Last day in London! For now...

Today was our last day in London for the study abroad trip. I will be back with my parents at the end of my trip so I am not too disappointed but it is still kind of sad. I have really enjoyed my time here and living at the London center. Today we had art class first where we worked on collages. I am not sure about the collages I worked on today but maybe when I finish them I will post pictures on here. Then I ran to grab Kababs for lunch with my friend. Kababs are kinda weird open pita sandwiches sort of. Its hard to describe I guess but it was pretty good. After lunch we had Humanities class where we talked about some of wordsworths poems and writings that we were assigned to read. After this I went with my friends to primark to get a carry on size duffel bag because thats the size the professors wanted us to have for our travel around England for the next two weeks and I only had a large suitcase. We get to leave some of our stuff here and so I am leaving my large suitcase full of stuff here. Tomorrow we will be heading off to Stonehenge first and we will end the day in Bath. After primark, I went home and took a nap since I didn't get much sleep last night and when I woke up it was time to get ready for dinner. After dinner we went off to fro yo for the last time at our favorite place nearby and it was delicious. After fro yo I packed up all of my stuff for tomorrow and now I am heading to bed. TTFN!

 Last view of Big Ben with friends

 The street towards the London center

 My three bodyguards, get it?

Frae fro yo! so delicious!

Gardens, Movies, Food, Laundry, Craziness!

So today we had our road trip with a coach bus. The day started off pretty well and we got to the first garden, Sissinghurst with little problem. It was a pretty garden but also a pretty small one. We ate some food there and then got back on the bus. On the way to our next stop which was Darwin's house we had a lot of trouble. I think the bus driver got a little lost and then we had to do a U turn and go down really narrow roads and there was lots of jerkiness so it was an uncomfortable ride. Darwin's house was pretty cool. It was interesting to learn more about him. Some cool things I learned about him were that he made a pretty legit stair slide for his kids and he made a pro/con list to see if he should get married. After darwin's house we got back on the bus and headed back to the center. When we got to the center I immediately left with my friends to go get food at this Portuguese place nearby that is called Nando's. It was delicious food! I got the medium spicy saucy on my chicken pita and it was delicious. I even tried a little bit of their extra hot sauce and it was pretty good too. After dinner we got some fat free fro yo and headed back to the center where did homework and watched some Audrey Hepburn movies. Now I am just waiting for my laundry to be done before I go to bed. It has been a little crazy doing laundry here since everyone wants to get their laundry done right before we leave on our little two week traveling time. Well TTFN!

 My hair is getting so long here that I can put it into a bun

 Pretty view of some of Sissinghurst from the top of the tower in the gardens

 My friends asleep on the bus before the crazy bus driving started happening, this is usually what most of us end up doing whenever we are on the buses

Me in front of the greenhouse at darwin's house

Class and Collages

 So today most of the day was spent doing class work. We had humanities and the environment class first this morning where we had a lot of philosophical discussions and then we had arts class where we worked on collages. It was kind crazy to learn to make collages. You had to be ok with leaving things messy and also ok with tearing up what you had made. I had a little bit of lunch in between classes and then after class I went with my friends to get some really good frozen yogurt from this place just down the street. After fro yo I worked on homework until it was time for me to do kitchen duty. Tonight we had delicious chicken curry with couscous. After dinner clean up I went to Primark with my friend and bought some sweaters because I am worried about being even colder than I feel now when I head up to northern England. After this I did home, finished a movie with my friends and now I am going to bed. TTFN!

 My friend Elizabeth and I in our matching rain jackets, together we are two pound note

My first attempt at making a collage

Churchill War Rooms and Delicious food

Hey sorry I didn't post yesterday. It wouldn't upload for some reason yesterday so I just gave up and went ot bed. Yesterday started out by going out to the the Churchill War Rooms which was really cool. It was the underground station for Churchill and other military officers during World War Two. There was a whole part focused just on Churchill. He had a lot of cool quotes including:

"Look at the Swiss! They have enjoyed peace for centuries and what have they produced? The cuckoo clock!"

"Never trust a man who does not have a single redeeming vice"

"Success is going from failure to failure without a loss of enthusiasm"

"Those Greeks and Romans, they are so overrated. They only said everything first. I've said just as good things myself. But they got in before me."

"The great thing is to get the true picture, whatever it is"

and of course there are a lot more than I am sure you have heard but those were just some that I wrote down while I was there. Also one thing that I learned about him that I thought was really fun was that he used to put stuffed animals in his bookcase to mark where he took a book. Because he liked stuffed animals I decided it's probably ok for me to like stuffed animals too. Anyways, it was really cool to be in the war rooms and try to imagine what it might have been like during World War II. Also it is really interesting to see the perspective of the war outside of the American context and how the UK felt about America joining the war.
After the war rooms we went to a pub to get a lovely lunch of roast of the day which was a repeat from earlier in the trip but it is just so good that I couldn't help repeating it. After lunch we went back and did homework and I took a little nap and then did some more homework. Then I went out and grabbed a little something for dinner and came back and watched some of a movie with my friends while eating popcorn all in all it was a pretty good day but I am getting a little sad that we will be leaving London soon. Fortunately for me I know I will be coming back to London for a little bit with my parents at the end of the trip. TTFN! I will probably write again about my day today later tonight.


:

 My friend Aubree and I in matching shirts that we got from Primark

 Military style in the the war rooms

 Another good Winston Churchill quote

 Dressing up like Winston Churchill!

 I remembered this sign from last time we were there and I once again am still confused what switch they mean. Are they promoting conserving energy? I wish there was a big red switch next to it. 

 It was a gray shoe day on the underground

Beautiful roast of the day from the pub

Sunday Adventures

So today I woke up a little late so I raced to get ready and grab breakfast before we had to head out the door. We caught the train we needed to get to church just in time and all got nicely settled into the train. Unfortunately for us we got a little too nicely settled on to the train and we didn't notice we had come to our stop until one girl looked up and noticed it. This was problematic because despite our hurry only half of us were able to get off the train at the stop before the doors closed. So I made it off the train but the other half of our group was forced to go to the next stop and then get off and wait for the next train to come to take them back. Fortunately we had planned time to hopefully make us early to church so we were all able to make it there on time. Once we were separated though we realized quite how inconvenient it is not to have working phones. We kind of just had to assume what was the most logical thing to do that the other half of us would probably do. Anyways we all made it to church on time and church was great. I must admit there are definitely different experiences you have in a newer ward than you do with a quite old ward like one in Utah. Very different discussions are brought up and things that seem natural to me are still getting organized. But it has definitely been a wonderful experience to attend that ward and now our time there is over since next week on Sunday we will be traveling around the English countryside. We leave London on Friday and I am definitely having bitter sweet feelings about it. I love being in London and I think I have finally gotten used to it but I am also looking forward to the other traveling we will be doing. So after I got back from church I had a snack and talked with friends and then watched the Young Victoria movie on netflix before I had to go help with dinner. Dinner was meat pies which I wasn't sure if I would like but I actually really loved them. Dinner clean up took a while and then it was time for the talent show. My friend and I (two pound note, read below for more description) sang Falling Slowly from the musical once while one of the professors kids played the guitar and another student played the piano. It was pretty fun and some one recorded it so I will have to find that recording so everyone can hear it. Lots of people in our group performed funny things for the talent show and it was quite an enjoyable experience. After this we watched a video as a group that was called something like "Lakes and Tides" which was this documentary like thing about a guy who does nature art. It was kind of cool but also kind of boring after awhile but there was popcorn provided so that did help. After this I attempted to facetime with my family which didn't work out too well but still it was nice to see them for a little bit. Now I am heading to bed so I can get lots done tomorrow. Sorry I don't have any pictures for today. I will try to maybe get some pictures from the talent show for tomorrow. TTFN!

Froyo and great company

Today I slept in for a little bit and then finished writing my essay. After this I got ready and went and got a nice sandwich for lunch from a nearby sandwich and soup place. After lunch I edited my essay until I felt it was good enough with some help from my friend and my mom at home. Then I went to a cool mall here called whitelys with my friends but we didn't really end up buying anything. Next we went out to dinner at this mexican place here called tortilla to try and suppress our craving for cafe rio. It didn't really work but the food was pretty good. After this we went to the iconic Abbey Road and took some pictures and then to this park with a beautiful view of the London skyline. We stopped at a delicious frozen yogurt place on the way back and finished off the day just hanging out and watching megamind. TTFN!

 Found Waverly place on our walk but where are the wizards? (reference to disney channel show)

 Beautiful view of London skyline

Even the microwave popcorn bags here are cool!

Two Pound Note

Today started out with breakfast of course but I had to get breakfast ready and cleaned up for everyone this time since I am on the meal crew. After this I got ready and went on the last assignment walk for my London walks class with my friends. We walked past big ben, downing street, buckingham palace and lots of other cool historic things on this walk and we picked up some hot chocolate since it was quite cold and rainy today. After the walk we grabbed a sandwich meal deal from tesco and went back to the centre to eat it. At the center my friend and I started formulating plans for our future accapella group which currently just consists of the two of us but our group name is now Two Pound Note. Its note like notes that we sing and a note that you pay with like a bill and two because there are two of us and there is no such thing as a two pound note (although I think it would be convenient considering all the 2 pound coins I end up carrying around). We have been singing And so it Goes by Billy Joel and Falling Slowly which is sung in the play Once in harmonies around the centre and I think we actually sound pretty good we may perform one of them for the talent show we might be having next sunday at the centre. After singing around and trying to find more  song harmonies with my friend we went over to portabello road to do some shopping. We both made some great purchases I think and then I had to get back for dinner duty. They have a very ineffective method of cleaning the dishes currently at the centre so hopefully they will fix that when they renovate the center which they are doing after our group leaves. I feel like we just got to the centre and already in a week we will be packing up to travel around England. After dinner I worked on my essay some and watched a movie on my computer. Well TTFN! 

 Great view of Big Ben

 London Eye

 Downing street, home of the prime minister

 In front of Buckingham Palace

Our acapella group name and symbol, can you see the 2 and the pound symbol?

Two Classes and a Concert

So today started out with class where we first briefed on the recent attack and killing of a soldier in London. The BYU security people said they weren't super concerned about it but that we should stay away from mosques, protests, and military things to keep us safe. So don't worry guys I will stay safe! We started out with art class where we learned about shading and value and then we tried to practice it and I realized I really had no idea what I was doing but I did practice for a bit so hopefully I am getting better. After art class we had a brief break for lunch and then we had humanities class where we talked about a lot of deep philosophies which included scientific naturalism that science is the only way of understanding the natural world and the natural world is all there is and Natural theology which is that the word of God is the ultimate explanation and secondary explanations are irrelevant and should be rejected. These were very interesting ideas to discuss and they got me thinking a lot. After this I worked on some homework before I had to go help out with dinner because I am now on the "dinner crew" because it is my groups turn this week. Basically I help with whatever needs to get done to prepare dinner for all of us and then clean everything up after. After dinner I went off with my friends to go listen to Beethoven's ninth which was performed at St. Paul's Cathedral by the English Chamber Orchestra. It is very moving music and I found it to be a wonderful experience to listen to such beautiful music in a beautiful building like St. Paul's. When we left St. Paul's a friend and I went to primark where we both got sweaters because we have both been really cold with the weather that has been going on here in London and I really did not pack enough sweaters. Hopefully it will get warmer but at least now I can stay warm with a cute sweater. When I got home there were some people singing and one of the professors kids was playing the guitar so I went in and sang and harmonized with my friend. It was quite an enjoyable evening. Well TTFN!

 On the steps of St. Paul's 

 Beethoven's ninth in St. Paul's

 My view of the choir and orchestra in St. Paul's

Don't Blink! (Dr. Who reference)

Hampton Court and Warhorse

Today I started off with eating breakfast and packing up for Hampton Court. We took the tube and then the train over to Hampton Court and as I entered the area I started remembering from when I came back in 2008 with my family. It is a beautiful place. I started off looking around with my friends on the inside, hoping that it would get warmer outside. They had information about when Henry VIII used to live there and his life as well as an exhibit on the royal bedchamber throughout the ages and it's significance at different times throughout history. Outside the grounds we beautiful and we wandered around them for a while exploring all the different gardens. I took this time to take some pictures similar to the ones I had from the last time I had been there. Overall Hampton Court was beautiful and my friends and I felt like we should have been walking around the grounds in nice period appropriate dresses. After Hampton court my friends and I went and grabbed some pizza for lunch at a nearby place and then headed back to the London centre. I went and took a nap because I was quite tired and I didn't wake up until it was about time to go to the play Warhorse as a big group. On the way to the play I discovered crispy m&ms which I havent seen in forever in a little shop so I grabbed some. The show itself was quite amazing. The horses and other animals were especially amazing. They felt so life like despite the people standing in them or next to them moving. It was a quite touching story and there was one point when my dear dramatic friends next to me were so distressed by what was happening on stage that one said "NO!" and the other slightly melodramatic one exclaimed "I am going to kill myself" clearly they had become quite attached to the horse and I found their insincere yet sincere concern for the horses life to be quite amusing but it was a beautiful play that talked about WWI in a very interesting and moving way. It made me want to see the movie of the same story that came out not too long ago so I will have to check that out when I get home. After the play I grabbed a sandwich with my friends from Tesco and now I am scrambling to finish up some reading for class tomorrow. TTFN! 

 Hampton Court! (I know we took a picture by a fountain last time but this doesn't seem like the same fountain to me. 

 Beautiful flowers in the gardens

 Recreating a photo memory from last time, isn't posing like statues fun?

 Beautiful golden arch, another memory from last time

 In front of the WarHorse theater

I found crispy m&ms!