Last Saturday in London

This morning I woke up with the intention of walking down Portobello Road one more time and then studying the rest of the day.  I did walk down Portobello but the studying definitely didn't happen.  I wasn't going to waste my last Saturday in London at the center.  Heck no.  So I headed to Portobello for the last time and got some souvenir shopping done.  I then went with a couple girls to see the eggs at Covent Garden.  For the past couple of months 200 uniquely crafted/painted giant eggs have been "hidden" around Central London.  Now they're all being displayed and sold in Covent Garden for charity.  There were some really cool ones and then some really interesting ones.  Like the one that was just covered with brown fur.

The Fabergé Big Egg Hunt

We browsed around and saw some random fun stuff including disco sponges and a magnet that I should've bought for my fridge that said "back away, fatty."  We finished at Covent Garden by spending 30 minutes at Cath Kidston before heading to Harrod's.  I'll admit I actually really don't like Harrods.  It's just crowded and hot and pricey.  After our long day of shopping we finally got to sit down to a nice meal at Zizi's to celebrate Aylea's birthday.  Now it's down to the grind before finals next week.  Study, study, study.

A Muggle's Guide to the Wizarding World

Today was one of the best days I have had here in London.  You probably already know why.  Emma, Aylea, and I went on the Harry Potter studio tour.  If you're a HP fan it was definitely worth the money; if you're not a fan, then I wouldn't pay it because it was expensive.  I'm going to let the pictures do most of the talking because there was just sooooooo many cool things to see.

We left the house at 7 A.M. to get to the coach station to depart for The Warner Brothers Studio, which is actually an hour outside of London in a place called Leavesden.  The tour took us about 3 hours.  It is housed in two stage studios, conveniently called J and K.  You start by watching a small video and then continue through the front doors into the Great Hall.  From there are the smaller sets such as the Gryffindor common room, the potions classroom, Dumbledore and Umbridge's offices, the Weasley's kitchen, and some other random ones.  In Dumbledore's office we met a very nice employee named George who looked about 20 and offered to tell us about the room.  We hadn't seen him do this for anyone else so we're guessing he did it because we were three girls.  After he pointed out all the obvious things in the room we left him and headed across the isle to the potions classroom.  Two minutes later who pops up but George.  He offered to tell us about this set too and looked at Emma 90% of the time.  We humored him a little bit but then he said "well I guess I should probably get back to my post."  Haha we were afraid he was going to follow us the whole way through.  Thank goodness he didn't.  After ditching George we got some green screen time.  They have you sit on some blocks and you can see yourself in the flying car.  You then put on some Gryffindor robes and get to "ride" a broom.  They blow a fan on you and you and everybody in line gets to see you soaring over London and Hogwarts.  Of course they take your picture hoping you'll buy them but I definitely was not going to pay £12 for a piece of flimsy paper.  So we cut the line to get out and walked through the doors building J to the outside sets.  These included the Knightbus, Number 4 Privet Drive, the Hogwarts bridge, the wizard chess pieces, and the Potters cottage.  We bought ourselves some butterbeer, which was delicious, and sauntered around outside.  Thank goodness it didn't rain today.

The second building had a lot of art department pictures and such.  I thought I wasn't going to be impressed with building K but I was wrong.  They had the set of Diagon Alley (which is also used as Hogsmead) and the real Hogwarts.  As you know Hogwarts isn't based on a real castle, it's based on many.  The real Hogwarts is a 20 ft.-ish model that is used in front of a green screen to make it look large.  It took 40 days to build it and has real electricity, which makes it able to go from day to night.  Every couple of minutes lights slowly come on in the castle and then a couple minutes later they slowly dim until it reaches day again.  The tour then finishes in a room with a couple thousand wand boxes.  Each wand box has a name on it of either a cast member or a crew member.  An employee is there to help guide you to any box you wish to see.  Name any person and he's got the map to show you where their box is; see a box with a name you don't know ask him who it is and he'll tell you exactly what their job was.  

The tour opened exactly one week ago so the employees are still extremely friendly (remember George?).  we had at least 5 come approach us asking how we were liking the tour and offering to take pictures for us.  I bet they'll get bored in a couple months when the newness wears off but we were impressed with their costumer service, which was refreshing due to the lack of good customer service in the U.K.  So if you're ever in the neighborhood pre-order your ticket and explore the magical world of Harry Potter.  Soak it all in because at the end of the day you have to return to your old mundane muggle world like I did.

"The stories we love best do live in us forever, so whether you come back by page or by the big screen, 

Hogwarts will always be there to welcome you home."

-J.K. Rowling

Old Bailey/Somerset House/39 Steps

This morning we had our last English 395 class.  To "celebrate" Kaylee, Cami, Caity, and I headed back down to the Old Bailey for our last Eng. 395 assignment.  As I explained in my last post we couldn't get in two days because we had bags and cameras, etc.  Today we left the bags and cameras at home because we didn't even want to flirt with the rules.  Well we get there right when we're suppose to.  Nothing.  15 minutes later, nothing.  There were other people waiting in the line with us so we knew we were in the right place.  Finally a man came up and asked what we were waiting for.  We told him and as if we were already suppose to know, he looked at us like you idiots there is no trial today.  Apparently towards the end of the week the trials may have wrapped up for the week and they don't start new ones until the next Monday.  So for the second time this week we wasted an hour trying to do our homework assignment.  The assignment, a one paragraph review, is due on Tuesday so we thought about going Monday, which would be our last chance.  Only problem is we have history Monday morning and a final in the afternoon.  Who knows what'll happen now.

Since it was only 2 P.M. and dinner wasn't until 6 I didn't want to go back home yet so I went by myself to the Courtauld Gallery at the Somerset House.  I originally crossed this museum off my list because I had seen enough, but Brooklinn told me they had a lot of impressionist paintings and I just had to go.  That's one thing I will miss about London: having such great works of art so close.  I've gotten spoiled because I'm use to jumping on the tube at a moments notice and hitting up a world famous museum.  I get excited every time I go to a museum and see a famous painting that everyone knows or paintings that I've learned about in a class.

Seeing impressionist paintings at Somerset made me want to go look at my favorite impressionist painting at the National Gallery.  Remember the one by Renoir that I posted about a long time ago?  Well I walked down to see it one more time and to see if there was a print of it to buy.  It's a good thing I first went early in the semester because my favorite painting was gone.  I didn't stay very long because of that and it was crowded!  They also didn't have a print, so I left painting-less.  I stopped at Boots on the way home to get some cold medicine because I feel one coming on and that is definitely that last thing I need on my flight home for many reasons.  Even though my afternoon was eventful I got home a little before dinner, and was sitting in the parlor on my computer when Rachel Mason came up to me with 3 things: a twist candy bar, a note, and 5 pence.  The note was her journal entry from a couple days ago about the talent show.  She printed it our for me and bought me a candy bar to say thank you for letting her sing with me.  I asked her what the 5 pence was for to which she replied, "to spend."  It was adorable.  I'm really going to miss the Mason's when I go home.  They've been my family away from my family.

So after dinner I remembered I still hadn't seen 39 Steps.  I thought about going next week but I figured since it's finals I'm not going to have time and then I'll not be able to go at all.  I couldn't find anyone who wanted to go so I went by myself.  I got a "limited view" seat for £15.  It actually was one of the best seats in the house.  I was in the middle of the front row in the balcony and had a very unlimited view.  At first being by myself was awkward because the two seats to the left of me and four seats to the right of me were empty so everyone could tell I was by myself.  I got over that quickly.  I've learned since being here that I don't have to be embarrassed to be by myself.  At home I used to avoid at all costs going to the grocery by myself, now I'm going solo to plays and museums.  I feel good about it too.  I don't always need someone to depend on for little things like going to a play.  If no one wants to go somewhere or do something then why should I let that spoil my fun?  So I go by myself.  I think I would have liked the play better if I was with someone but regardless, I really enjoyed it.

I killed some time before the play in M&M World

I meant to post pictures too but I'll have to come back and do that tomorrow because my computer is dying.  I also have to go to bed because I'm leaving the house at 7 A.M. to do the Harry Potter Studio Tour with Emma and Aylea.  So Excited!

Royal Mews/Tate Britain/Pitmen Painters/Kensington Palace/Tea...yea, we've done a lot of stuff

I haven’t blogged in two days and I feel like I’m so behind.  Ack.  So this post is about yesterday and today.  I’ll start with yesterday-

Our last assignment for the elective class was to go to either a session of Parliament or a court case at the Old Bailey.  Since Parliament isn’t in session we had to go to the Old Bailey.  Our class got canceled yesterday so first thing we did was go downtown to sit in on a court case.  Cami, Kaylee, and I got there only to find out that you can’t have any bags or electronics in the building.  Problem.  We all had bags and electronics.  We didn’t even think about taking turns inside (plus there was only 3 of us) so feeling dejected we left and visited the Royal Mews.  The Royal Mews are basically the Queen’s stables and garage.  We saw some royal horses, a royal Rolls-Royce, and some royal carriages.  The most famous (out of the already famous) that I liked best was the Glass Coach.  This carriage is used for state openings but it is mostly known for carrying a royal bride-to-be with the exception of Princess Kate.  She rode as a commoner with her father in one of the limousines to Westminster Abbey but left as a full-fledged royal in a horse-drawn carriage… Just a little side note.  My other favorite was the Gold State Coach, which is used only for coronations.  Simply looking at the thing you understand why it’s named the Gold State Coach.  It takes 8 horses to draw this nearly 4 ton monster.  And even then it only reaches a walking pace.  It also takes two days just to get the thing out of the stable through a hidden door in the side of the building.  No wonder the rich have to open their homes and gardens to tourists, it’s the only way they can pay for things like golden carriages.  After the mews we hit up Nando’s for lunch cause Kaylee had never eaten there.  After lunch I was planning on going home and doing homework and much needed laundry (which didn’t happen), but ended up going with Courtney, Cami, and Emma to the Tate Britain.  This was a museum that was on my list of things to do but I recently took it off because I heard there was construction and so there weren’t very many good paintings on display right now.  I decided what the heck anyway, and went.  We walked into the tube station dry and when we walked out on the other end it was down pouring.  ‘Bout time I finally got a taste of real London weather.  Of course I was totally unprepared and didn’t have my umbrella or a hood so we had to run through the rain to the museum.  Just one problem though, my boots are worn our and have holes in them.  Big holes.  I don’t want to throw them out until the last day here, but they tend to be an issue when it’s wet outside.  Less than 30 seconds after we left the safety of the underground my right sock was soaked.  Blast.  I didn’t let that spoil my Tate Britain experience though.  I didn’t love this museum but I did get to see a couple of John Singer Sargents and the famous painting Lady of Shalott.

For English 395 Nick bought tickets to the play Pitman Painters.  I was semi-prepared going out this time.  My top half was shielded from the rain by my umbrella, but again, my feet got soaked.  By the end of the night when I took my socks off my feet were extremely pruned.  Anyway I’m sidetracked… I actually really, really enjoyed this play.  It’s based on a true story about some miners who learn how to paint in the 1930’s.  They show the real artwork, and it looks like something you would see in a museum.

This morning we had our last English 300 class!  It feels so good to be done.  We still have history on Monday though so I can’t do my celebratory jig yet.  After classes a group of us went with the Mason’s to tour Kensington Palace.  This palace was a huge let down.  Some rooms were bare and other rooms had really weird confusing displays.  There were maybe two pieces of furniture during the whole tour and even then they had random displays in front of them obstructing the view.  The tour wasn’t very coherent at all and it was super crowded with two-way traffic moving in teeny tiny hallways.  Thank goodness I didn’t have to pay for this tour and the program paid for it cause, in my mind, it wasn’t worth it.  One of the very few positive things about this experience was that I finally found the ornament collection I have been hunting for this whole semester.  The gift shop had at least 8 different Christmas ornaments to choose from but I refrained from buying one because I tracked down and bought one last week.  Plus, I like the one I have better anyway.  Though, of course, I have been searching for 3 months and all this time they were across the street.  My luck.

Top left: The dress Queen Victoria addressed her privy council in the day she became queen
Top right:  a remake of Rachel's artsy photo like this but ours doesn't look as good
Bottom left: this wallpaper lined the way to Princess Diana's dresses.  It looked kinda cool.
Bottom right:  Queen Victoria's wedding dress 

In addition to the tour the program all paid for us to have tea at the Orangery.  I probably wouldn’t have paid for this myself seeing as it was £17.  They gave us an assortment of finger sandwiches, a scone, and two little desserts and, of course, tea.  Don’t worry it was herbal.  Wild berry herbal tea to be exact.  All in all it was delicious and now I can say I’ve had tea, English style.  I waited a couple hours after that before trying out Gourmet Burger Kitchen with Kaylee and Christi.  That was also delicious.  I got the small grilled chicken burger.  Yum.

the burger looks a little out of place but this is the bulk of my food for the day

Well that was the last couple of days for me.  Hope yours was just as fun filled.

London Center Sunday

Since I didn't post pretty much anything about yesterday I will do it today [plus I did nothing today but homework and memorizing my recitation poem (see bottom of post)].  Yesterday started off with a real American breakfast provided by the Mason's.  They made us eggs, bacon, hash browns, and french toast.  After breakfast we had time to get ready for the group picture.  Pretty sure the girls haven't put so much effort into getting ready since the first week here.  Lately the majority of kids wear sweatpants or pajamas to class and don't shower or do their makeup until noon.  I'll admit I sometimes fall under this category.  We all gussied up for a picture that took five minutes to take and then we dressed down again for the talent show.  As you can see from the picture we had some singing, painting, and rapping.  I haven't laughed so much in a while.  It felt good.  Knowing we were all forced into our talents by the Mason's made it that much more entertaining.

After a light dinner of pasta salad with hot dog segments (?) we settled down for the Sunday morning conference session.  For the afternoon session a couple of us decided to listen to it in the dining room where we could spread out and use our computers.  I had to plan classes for fall semester.  I hate registration.  My schedule never works like I planned, but it'll all turn out I guess.  Anyway I'm straying from what I was going to say.  Conference went by way faster than it usually does for me.  Maybe it's because we actually had days that weren't taken up by 4 hours of conference each day.  Although I liked being able to do stuff during the day and watch conference at night, I missed being in Utah for it.  It just wasn't the same as watching it at home with my family, which was a constant reminder seeing as the main theme for this conference seemed to be family.  Can't wait to see mine in 11 days!!!!

***********

"I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud"

-William Wordsworth-

I Wandered lonely as a cloud

That floats on high o'er vales and hills,

When all at once I saw a crowd,

A host, of golden daffodils;

Beside the lake, beneath the trees,

Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

Continuous as the stars that shine

And twinkle on the milky way,

They stretched in never-ending line

Along the margin of a bay:

Ten thousand saw I at a glance,

Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

The waves beside them danced; but they

Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:

A poet cold not but be gay,

In such a jocund company:

I gazed-- and gazed-- but little thought

What wealth the show to me had brought:

For oft, when on my couch I lie

In vacant or in pensive mood,

They flash upon that inward eye

Which is the bliss of solitude;

And then my heart with pleasure fills,

And dances with the daffodils.

London Study Abroad Rap and Poem

Courtesy of Hannah, Katelyn, and Jessica who wrote these for our group.

London Study Abroad 2012- Talent Show


RAP!


London ladies walkin' down the line

Shopping and eating, always looking so fine

Having fun together is always what we do

Here are our friends we'll tell you who's who

My name is Jordan

I'm six foot five,

I eat and eat

I could crush you alive!

My name is Michelle

Round everywhere,

They call me Meesh

I have great hair!

My name is Mary

Or sister Stephens

I love my f-ing ladiezz

For so many reasons

(Chorus)

My name's Nick Mason

I'm such a G,

And I'm a rapping

Prodigy!

I teach English

and poetry, too

the student's think I'm pretty cool

My name's Matt Mason

My foods the best,

Don't wear daisy dukes

This ain't no test!

I hate the French

But love history

I love to yell

ERRRYBODY!

(Chorus)

My name is Brooklinn (yes, yes, yes!)

And I'm so pretty (obviously/dramatic!)

I bust a move, (amateur)

So check me out! (stupid question!)

My name is Patrick

I like to think,

And think and think,

So check me out!

My name is Becca

I am so smart

Don't be intimidated

I have a great heart!

(Chorus)

LONDON LADIEZZZ

POEM!

T’was the night before London

And all through the states,

Students disembarked,

Only one would be late.

The first night at dinner

We looked down at our bowls,

Just one drop of green stuff

And everyone felt full.

Taking a shower

Was always so nice,

Until the pipes broke

And the water was ice.

The tube system definitely

gave many a fright,

But by the end of the trip

We’d get it just right.

Want to watch soccer?

We’d know just who to ask,

Anna, Pat and Ivy

Reserved the servery so fast.

Sunday evenings

You know where we’d be,

Skyping our families

In packs of two or three.

Students got the plague

From reading the Black Death,

At four AM

With still 200 pages left.

Donuts, crepes, waffles and bread,

Nutella, Cadbury, or galaxy instead.

We eat so much

Its surprising we aren’t dead.

Midterms came around

And people go crazy,

There’s no place to study

Someone please save me!

What should we do with 400 pounds,

Walk into Primark, take a good look around.

Everything is cheap, so we fill up our carts,

Later we leave with shame in our hearts.

Traveling to church

Is a new experience for us,

We’ve never had to get there by

Plane, train, and bus.

Living with so many girls

Has been hard,

But at the same time,

Its been the best part.

All of the rooms

In the London center are fun,

But none beats the celestial

We are the one!

The first day of class

We all looked so good,

But by the end of the semester

It was all sweats and a hood.

Les Mis, Wicked, and

War Horse were fun,

These plays made us cultured

And we saw a man’s bum!

Oxford was fun

But just way too cold,

We stood completely frozen

From our feet to our nose.

Ambleside was the prettiest

It is true,

We learned about Wordsworth

And Shan Quee Shee too.

Bread, bread, bread

Baguettes, toast and some rolls,

By the end of this trip

We cannot see our toes.

The first snow in London

Was definitely fun,

The snowball fight with professor matt

We definitely won!

Walking around London

On forced marched hikes,

By the end of the day

We all wanted bikes.

Paris, Scotland,

And Ireland too,

Denmark and Prague-

everything’s new.

After school in London

And seeing it all,

Its hard to imagine

Going to school in the fall.

WE LOVE YOU GUYS SO MUCH! <3

General Conference

I don't have much time to post tonight so I'll just post a picture- last night the whole room started screaming when this picture came up on the television.  Half of us were screaming for David Archuleta and the other half were screaming for the Elder next to him who is Kaylee's brother.  So as Kaylee's brother is now "famous," I can claim I know someone who is related to someone who sat by someone famous.  Confusing? Kinda.

I'll post more tomorrow!