That was totally WICKED!

Remember when we saw Ralph Fiennes the first day in London? He was talking about his new movie Coriolanus?  Well yesterday we went to see his movie.  Although it was rated R for violence, I actually quite enjoyed it.  Don't worry, I squeezed my eyes tight really hard.  I didn't understand everything they were saying because of the Shakespearean language but overall I got the jist of it.  Ralph Fiennes is an amazing actor in this film, but I still think of him as He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named.

The second show we went to though was by far better than the first....or should I say it was more Wicked!  I saw it first in San Francisco about a year and a half ago, and I definitely wasn't going to miss the opportunity to go see it again.  It was cool hearing it in British accents but there were some parts that didn't quite work for me because it sounded funny in a British accent.  The Fiyero had some pretty 

sa-weet dance moves but sometimes I got distracted by the tattoos that were plastered all the up both arms! Ew, gross.

After the show Lyssa, Mikelle, and I found the stage door and waited for the performers to come out.  We saw them all, but we just wanted to look at them so we didn't get any pictures.  Oh well, they weren't as good looking in real life as they were on stage.

Wicked!!!

White Cliffs of Dover and Canterbury Cathedral

Today I got to experience the English countryside for the first time.  It felt so refreshing to get out of the city.

We first went to the white cliffs of Dover.  The seaside was beautiful, cold, but beautiful.  The cliffs were really pretty, although smaller than I imagined.  The castle is right on the on top of the cliffs.  It looks pretty small from the beach but once you get up there you realize the magnitude of the castle.  The view was nice but it would have been breathtaking had it been a clear day.  Because it was kind of blustery it was hard to see France….but we could faintly see it across the water.  Sadly we didn’t have enough time to tour the underground wartime tunnels but I wish we had!  Maybe someday in many, many, many years I’ll go back.

Our other stop of the day was in Canterbury.  We first saw the remains of St. Augustine’s Abbey and then headed over to the Canterbury Cathedral.  This is the site where Christianity first came to England way back when.  It is also the site where in 1170 the Archbishop Sir Thomas Becket was murdered.  The cathedral was stunning. My favorite part of the cathedral was walking up the two sets of stairs on both sides.  One set of stairs wasn’t worn down at all because originally only monks were allowed to walk up.  The other set of stairs were designated for the pilgrims who came to Canterbury.  These were worn down so much that they are basically sloped forward.  They reminded me of our Spring City stairs.  My second favorite thing was the Evensong that we attended there.  In the beginning when the main guy (don't know his title) started the program he specifically welcome the Brigham Young University students from Utah.  Although after that I didn’t understand most of what they were saying or singing, it was cool to just be there.  Unfortunately, I didn’t get a ton of pictures there but I need to get other peoples camera cards to upload some.

After a long day it’s nice to be “home.”  I finished a good day off by going to Nando’s with Emma, Christi, Cami, and Aylea and then coming home to take an ice-cold shower because the hot water needs fixing.  Besides the cold shower, the only bad thing that happened to me today was that I burned my tongue on my soup at lunch.  But other than that, it was an absolutely glorious day to be alive!  

Stained glass in the Cathedral

White Cliffs of Dover

remnants of St. Augustine's Abbey

Roman lighthouse at Dover Castle

Our "stern" looks 

Canterbury Cathedral

Buckingham

Today was a very good day.  This morning I finished my reading for the whole weekend. Boo yeah.  After breakfast we headed off to do another walk through Whitehall.  We got off at where Will and Kate got married, made a stop at the Ministry of Magic, and finished by saying hello to the Queen at her house.  I wish.  But we really did start down by Westminster then walked by Trafalgar Square, through Whitehall, and finished at Buckingham Palace.  We started by walking down the Thames and turning onto a little street that led us to the Horse Guards at Whitehall.  There we got a lovely Texan couple to take a picture for us.  I love seeing Americans over here, it makes me not feel so foreign.  After taking pictures with horses we continued down and passed 10 Downing Street where the Prime Minister lives.  After that we just traveled down until we hit the Mall a.k.a. the red brick road.  Not to be confused with the yellow brick road, this road is red to look like a red carpet from the gate to the palace.  It was a beautiful day and we got some pretty pictures.  I also took some pictures for some Asian family and almost started laughing out loud when all of them (mom and dad included) held up peace signs for the camera.  It made my day!

In the afternoon we did the Legal London walk, which is from the Bank to the Temple tube stops.  Unlike the morning walk this one was a snoozer.  It was long and we were tired.  Good thing it was mostly just the business district.

It still amazes me how close everything is here.  Like Trafalgar Square is right at the entrance to Buckingham and Hyde Park is basically in Buckingham’s backyard.  And from Buckingham you can see the London Eye and Big Ben.  London is huge but you can basically walk everywhere, which I love… although I do miss Chug, my trusty car, who is in Utah.  But other than little things like that I basically live in the coolest place ever…besides Utah, of course.

This is really the ministry of magic.  They just have to say it's the
ministry of defense to ward off un-welcomed muggles.

Horse Guards!

Hanging out with Q. E. II 

This could've been artsy but it isn't

Bobby Burns

Christi, Becca, and I with some bagpiper in Trafalgar Square

So I forgot to mention that yesterday was Robert Burns Day.  According to wikipedia it is a "celebration of the life and poetry of Robert Burns, author of many Scots poems."  On the night of his birthday, January 25, they celebrate him.  We were told that every year a wreath is placed on his statue down by Embankment.  So last night we hopped on a bus to go see for ourselves.  To our surprise the park was closed, so this picture is the only memory we have from Burns day.

Today was very uneventful.  I woke up with a horrible headache and felt sick to my stomach.  All I could eat for breakfast was half of a banana.  Around noon I still felt sick but Sarah invited me to go into Kensington Gardens to do homework.  I had been cooped up long enough so I grabbed my book and headed out the door into the windy chill London air.  We found a little park bench right inside and read The Black Death.  Lovely book to read in a park, right?  It wasn't picture perfect, but I got a ton of homework done today and finished the night with some girls by watching Notting Hill, which was filmed in my neighborhood.

One last random thing.  While sitting in my bed sick this morning, I googled the BYU London Centre because I was bored.  A map caught my eye so I clicked on it.  I looked at the website it was from, and low and behold it was from CJ Gilson's blog

(Rachel's friend whom she met on a study abroad here two years ago).

Apparently I'm a loser

National Portrait Gallery and Ladurée

Today the students and faculty woke up to a surprise breakfast.  Cookies.  We also had the usual fruit, cereal, and yogurt.  But, cookies, really?!  We still haven't figured out if she put them out because she forgot to give them to us last night for dessert or if she really meant to feed us cookies for breakfast.

After classes we took a bus ride down to Trafalgar Square to see the National Portrait Gallery.  We should've taken the tube because this bus was so crowded (I had a great view of the double-decker stairs).  Anyway, I actually really liked the gallery and want to go back when I'm not so rushed.  My favorite portrait was one by John Singer Sargent.  It was titled "Some General Officers of the Great War”

I loved the plaque next to this painting.  It explained how these men were called "brass hats," presumably because those are the kinds of helmets they wore. Duh.  Anyway, I guess people mocked these men because on the plaque was this little spoof of a song that Emma and I got a crack out of:


"Onward Christian soldiers
onward without fear
with our great commanders
safely in the rear."

After the National Portrait Gallery I wasn't quite ready to go home yet so Emma, Sarah, Cami, and I walked the couple blocks over to Covent Gardens.  The girls wanted a Ben's Cookies so after we stopped there Emma and Sarah left and Cami and I stayed.  I tried my first macaron.  If you have never heard of them listen up.  Two years ago Rachel told us about this place called Ladurée that is famous for their macarons.  They're not macaroons like the coconut ones, but are totally different.  They have a thin crunchy, yet soft shell with some kind of filling inside.  I would recommend Ladurée to people except they're super expensive.

Ladurée macs

Anyhow, two years ago my mom being the amazing woman that she is started making her own and boy were they divine.  Hers are prettier and way more creative.  Like who thinks of doing a tie-dye macaron? Mom does.  So if you ever see a Ladurée feel free to try them, but just know that you can save about £7 and commission my mom to make you some.

Mom's macs

For even more of my moms mouthwatering macarons click here.  Her photography is amazing too!

I can't believe it's already been 3 weeks since I've been here.  Time flies, although at the same time it feels like I've been gone forever.  The vacation phase has faded out and it's starting to feel like I'm here to stay.  I'm beginning to like it more and more.  Don't get me wrong, I liked it the first day I got here but now I'm starting to understand the layout of everything and I'm not getting lost as much.  I do still have a hard time with direction though because there are no mountains here to help me know which way I'm standing.  But I'll see those soon enough; April 13th to be exact.  Yup, my family is no longer coming to travel with me after but I'm surprisingly ok with that.  I think I'll be so ready to be home when April comes.  But it's a good trade off because instead of touring Germany and France, my parents are treating us to a vacation in Puerto Rico this summer.  But for now I get to live the dream in England!

Unexciting day

Just a brief synopsis of today.  Jeremy Black, a Professor of History at the University of Exeter and a well-known historian, came to speak to us today about London.  It wasn't quite the snoozer I thought it would be, but I did get a little bored towards the end.


Besides the lecture today only consisted of classes and homework.  Boring.

Natural History Museum and Harrods

Before I had to dive into the loads of homework I have this week Sarah and I decided to have a little fun.  We went to the Natural History Museum.  This place is gorgeous inside and out.  It’s huge too.  We only got to see the section about whales, elephants, and animals that resemble those because of the time, but I definitely want to go back if I get the chance.

We were short on time because Sarah has kitchen duty this week but before we had to go back we wanted to check out Harrods.  I like to think of myself as a pretty well dressed person but inside this store I felt like a hobo.  Man, this store is nicer than some museums I’ve been in before.  And it’s safe to say that Sarah and I legitimately got lost inside.  There is so much to see and their floor directories (once you actually find one) stink.    We definitely want to go back….next time wearing our nicest clothes and high heels.

After finally getting out of that maze we headed home.  Sarah was nice enough to go to some random place off Bayswater with me to get my western union wire from mom and dad.  We found the place with little difficulty but getting the money from the people was a little harder.  First off the lady was Asian and could speak very little English, and the English she did speak was in a British accent.  Conclusion: understanding a Chinese British accent is way harder than understanding a British accent.

Anyway I filled out the paper and handed it back to her.  She pointed out that I had written the wrong first name for the sender. Huh? Dad sent it, so it had to have been Bruce.  Confused I asked her if a Bonnie had sent it.  Her reply: “Sorry, can’t give details.”  Are you serious? This is ridiculous.  About three attempts later I finally put Joseph down on the paper, which was the right answer thank goodness.  Dad, when did you start putting Joseph down as your name?

 Whether it's Joseph or Bruce, now that I have the money I just need to buy an international phone and call my bank to get this mess figured out with my credit and debit cards.  Wish me luck!

p.s. dinner tonight was actually pretty good! Chicken curry.  It made me miss mom’s food and My Thai.

Taking a lesson on how to make whale noises

Catch up time and LOTS of pictures

   Between classes on Thursday some girls and I decided to get another walk done so we headed over to Hyde Park.  The day was absolutely gorgeous, although windy.  We definitely got some good pictures though.  We didn’t have time to finish the walk before our religion class so we had to hop on a tube, transfer tubes, and then literally speed walk back to the center for class.

   Thursday was Ashley’s birthday and she wanted to get a treat and ride the London Eye after dinner.  Instead of taking the tube we decided to take a bus (yes, I faced my fear of buses and got on a double-decker) across the Thames.  When we got there we found out that it was closed until Saturday for annual maintenance.  Disappointed and freezing we walked towards Big Ben and got on the tube to go to High Street Kensington where we knew there was a Ben’s Cookies.  Ben’s Cookies was also closed so we headed back down to the tube and Ashley decided we should just go to Pizza Hut and get pazooki.

   I love Fridays because we never have class.  So on Friday we took the train out to Hampton Court Palace, which is Henry VIII’s palace.  Again, January is a good time for crowds to go places, but a bad time because of all the maintenance work.  The Great Hall was closed for maintenance but the rest of the palace was open to visitors.  The house itself was pretty incredible but what I loved the most were the gardens.  I wish it were spring when the flowers are in full bloom but even in January the gardens were breathtaking.  I will point out that in the two and a half weeks I’ve been here I’ve seen 3 people from the Harry Potter movies: Ralph Fiennes (Voldemort), Bonnie Wright (Ginny Weasley), and the stunt double to Peter Pettigrew.  Ok, so maybe he isn’t a huge part of the movie but hey he’s the stunt double, it’s the next best thing to the real actual actor.  By the time we left Hampton Court I was pooped.  Sarah, Becca, and I coincidentally got onto the same train as the Masons so we rode back with them.  

   After dinner everyone was super tired so I decided to stay in and work on my sacrament talk.  Rachel Mason (Matt’s daughter) then came and got me to see if I wanted to watch Tangled with her sisters and Ellie (Nick’s daughter).  I’m so glad the Mason’s are the directors this semester.  Their families are so great.  They have the cutest kids and their wives are awesome.  Anyway, so Aylea and I went to the Mason’s flat to watch Tangled.  It was actually really nice because we got to sit on a comfortable couch in an actual living room; it felt somewhat like home.  I was glad to be able to relax and just watch a movie with little kids.  It made me start to miss the Dee kids really bad.

   Yesterday I surprisingly accomplished a lot.  I woke up and Sarah, Aylea, and I went and did the City Walk, which we never did because I had kitchen duty when we were suppose to do it.  We finished that and then met some girls to go to Portobello Market.  I love Portobello!  There are so many cool things there to look at.  Next week I am definitely wearing fewer layers so I can try some shirts on.  After Portobello I went to pull money out of the bank and to my surprise it wouldn’t let me.  I tried two different places to no avail, uh oh.  After freaking out about my credit and debit cards Sarah, Becca, Caity, and I wanted to finish the Hyde Park walk and do the South of Kensington walk.  We passed the V&A museum, the Natural History Museum, Prince Albert Hall, and the Hyde Park LDS chapel.  Instead of taking the tube back we grabbed a Ben’s Cookie and walked through Embassy Road back to the center.  After a little break I went to Notting Hill Express with Emma, Christi, Caity, Courtney, Sarah, and Taylor to try some kebabs.  They were pretty good but definitely not my favorite.  The rest of the night I just worked on my sacrament talk, which I gave this morning.  Thanks to dads help my talk went pretty well!

Upcoming this week is the National Portrait Gallery, Dover, and Canterbury!

Courtney, Sarah, me, and Becca in front of the Queen Elizabeth II gate in Hyde Park

Becca, me, Courtney, and Emma by some memorial outside Hyde Park

Me and Sarah at Hampton Court 

Sarah, Becca, and I 

Kaylee, me, and Sarah, and Jordan in the background
in the gardens at Hampton Court

Lyssa, Sarah, me, Becca, and Ashley 

Sarah, Peter Pettigrews stunt double, me, and Becca 

Becca and I

Me, Mikelle, Becca, Lyssa, and Ashley posing for our bands album cover

Having fun isn't hard when you've got a library card!

Today was all about books and libraries.  We were given library cards so we went to tour the Paddington library and the British library.  I only have one picture from today but it's not on my camera, therefore I'll have to post it later.  I can tell you, however, the list of amazing things I saw:

• The Magna Carta
• The Lindisfarne Gospels
• The Gutenberg Bible
• Caxton's Canterbury Tales
• Da Vinci's notes on architecture
• John Milton's commonplace book
• Handel's score for The Messiah; which, was written over the span of 24 days!
• Beethoven's violin sonata
• Jane Austen's notebook and writing desk
• Charlotte Bronte's manuscript for Jane Eyre
• Virginia Woolf's manuscript for Mrs. Dalloway (we'll be reading that later on this semester)
• The Beatles lyrics manuscripts

It was amazing to be so close to such old manuscripts that have had great impact on the world today.  It still baffles me that the piece of paper in front of me is the exact piece that existed 200, 300, 500 (or however many) years ago, and that it is the writing of people whose names I have grown up hearing and learning about.  I can't even wrap my mind around it.

Sarah, Courtney, Jordan, Mikelle, Lyssa, Caity, me, and Taylor 

The British Museum...a day late

I have a new favorite wrap place.  It's called Nando's.  You've probably heard about it because at least 4 different people back home suggested I go there.  Cami and I went down to the one on Bayswater after class and sat down for a nice little lunch.  It was really the first time I had sat down at a restaurant to eat.  Reason? Because everything here is cheaper if you take it to go instead of sitting at a table so everything I have bought so far has been to "take away."  I got the chicken wrap which was way good but a little spicy, and at Rachel's suggestion I got the sweet potato mash...sorry sis, but I actually thought it was pretty gross.  I probably won't get the mash again but I definitely will get the chicken wrap.

After lunch the group went to the British Museum.  Man, this place is humongous; it takes like three days just to walk through it.  We were given specific rooms to visit that corresponded to what we are learning in our European Studies 336 class so I wasn't able to see some things that I wanted to see.  I saw a ton of Roman artifacts that are thousands and thousands of years old.  The two coolest things though that we got to see were the Rosetta Stone and stone slabs from the Parthenon.

I'll definitely be going back to see more because there are just too many good things to see there.

Aylea, Sarah, me, and Annie in front of the museum

Inside the museum

Taylor, Caity, me, and Courtney with the 2012 Olympic medals

My day was made complete when Sarah, Cami, Courtney, Becca, and I rode the Tube down to the Shepherds Bush stop and experienced the closest thing we have to an American grocery store.

Thank you Rachel for telling me about Morrisons, it totally made my week.

Big Ben and Westminster Abb(e)y

Yesterday consisted of:

Big Ben....

Westminster Abbey....

Burghers of Calais....

....and....wait for it....

....Legally Blonde.

Don't judge me but yes, I did see this musical last night.

A Book of Mormon Story

Enjoy this inspiring message from my new bishop, Bishop Cooke.

Do girls here not know it's winter?!

First off, the girls here have to be freezing!  I have seen at least 15 British girls today with sheer tights on with skimpy jean shorts while I'm bundled up in my down feathered north face coat.

This post is going to be short.  Here is what my day looked like.

1. Walk across Tower Bridge

2. Walk on the south side of the River Thames

3. Borough Market

4. Portabello Market

5. Play egyptian rat screw with the Mason kids

now I am headed off to...

6. Watch the Kings Speech with a bunch of people

Tower Bridge

Aylea, Caity, Becca, Courtney, me, and Sarah
with the Tower of London and Tower Bridge behind us

Borough Market!

By the Globe Theater

The Queen has a last name?

Who knew that Queen Elizabeth's last name is Windsor?  I didn't until recently; I know dumb, right? Well today we got to experience Windsor Castle after making a quick and muddy stop at Runnymede.

The apartments at Windsor are closed the next two weeks for their yearly cleaning so we didn't get to see too much.  Fortunately we could get a stamp on our tickets that allows us to come back for free anytime before January 13, 2013.  The coolest thing at Windsor in my opinion is the Queen's Dolls House.  This this is ginormous.  It has running water, working electricity, real tiny books, and the whole shebang!  If you ever make it to Windsor you have see it!

After touring Windsor we wandered down into Eton, home of the famous Eton College for boys.  A lot of girls definitely liked this place because of the boys wearing tailcoats.  We wanted a picture but didn't want one with a younger boy who was walking by himself (we were afraid of creeping him out), so the next boys that walked around the corner were older and in a pair.  Naturally we asked them to pose for a photo with us! We're convinced one of them will be the prime minister one day.

Sarah, Me, Christi, Cami, Kaylee. and Becca at Runnymede

Caity, Taylor, Me, Courtney, Ashley, and Martin in the middle of Windsor Castle

We had to eat our food on some random bench because it's cheaper to buy 

"take away" food than to sit in the actual restaurant

Disclaimer:
I did not take this photo, I stole it from Rachel's blog.  But apparently this is somewhere in Eton
so let's just pretend that I actually saw the real thing.

Emma, Kaylee, Taylor, Christi, Eton boy 1, Eton boy 2, me, Courtney, and Aylea

Top: Martin, me, Ashley, Lyssa
Bottom: Eliza and Anna
FREE AT LAST!  FREE AT LAST!
Done with kitchen duty for the next two months!