Death Eaters aint got nothin on the Millenium Bridge

Happy Sunday Harry Potter.

I went and saw the Millenium bridge yesterday.

You know,

the one those mean Death Eaters attacked?

 

Well, it was in the movie 

The Half Blood Prince.

I don't know if you knew...

but you're kind of a movie star.

I don't really remember 

where you were when they attacked this bridge

but it's back up now.

You make us muggles proud

for putting an end to that creep Voldemort.

This is me at that very bridge!

I am oh so happy to report

that even though the attack shook things up a bit in London,

it is now back to it's proper form.

And it is beautiful!
Here is a picture in front of it to prove
that it is still standing.

Say ello to Jasmine, Erin, Me and Amanda!

Today was an amazing Sunday.

I have decided that doing my hair here is

pointless.

It just rains here allll the time.

Actually,

it was the wettest reported April here on record.

Stick that in your back pocket, please?

I sat next to a lovely British boy in church today.

:)

His name is Stewart.

I feel like he restored my hope in London 

after my catastrophe of an experience with the Hun last night. 

I really enjoyed being at church.

I've decided that everything

I mean, everything

sounds so much better with a British accent.

I never once dozed off in Sunday School. 

The chaps reading the scriptures aloud

well, 

it all just made me happy.

Plus, the neighborhood that the Britannia Singles Ward meets in
reminds me of The Parent Trap.
That's the movie that forever ago got me wanting to go to London
...
so I was
dang
excited.
On the way to church we got completely poured on
walking through Hyde Park.
As lovely as it was,
we thought it would be nice to take the bus back.
A splendid, piano-playing, British chap from the Singles Ward
was kind enough to lead us to the bus stop.
He told us everything we needed to know
about America.
He said,
"You guys all wear those dodgy Levi trousers."
What a splendid young bloke!

Here I am with MaCall on the bus ride home!


Tonight we had a fireside from Bishop Garith Newton-Williams.
Turns out,
I'll be serving in his ward :)
We'll be getting our callings soon and I simply cannot wait!

His advice for us during our time here
was great.
He said to,
"Get Stuck In."
I really want to take that to heart.
By that,
he means for us to just get out as much as we can.
If we have to do homework...do it...
in the park,
on the bus,
on the tube,
or maybe...
just don't do it?
Noooo he didn't say that last one :)

Well, tomorrow we are off to Stratford-on-Avon
and I'm quite stoked to see
Shakespeare's Stomping Grounds.

Goodnight!
p.s. I got to skype my parents (and our puppy Bella) tonight
from the super classy Burger King down the street.
I miss them.
I love them.
Thank you Mom and Dad for giving me this opportunity :)
I promise to love every minute of it!

A Hun stole my Coke can

Welcome to the Day of Adventures.

It was a day of

funny Tube conversations

toasted cheese sandwiches

fresh raspberries

bridges

modern art

Tuk Tuk Thai

angry woman at mentioned Thai restaurant

early showing of The Avengers

getting lost in London

getting soaked in London

...

and I enjoyed

every

single

moment of it.

We started at the London Bridge
hey hey Fergie!

This is Erin, Me, Paige and Mallory!


Then off to the Borough Market.

Many a friends have told me to buy a

Toasted Cheese Sandwich

when coming to this market.

I now know why.

These sandwiches, are not just sandwiches.

They're

well...

delicious, amazing, cheesy, scrumpcious sandwiches!

This is Kate and I with our cheesy cheesy sandwiches!

I absolutely loved being at the market.

It kind of reminds me of home a bit.

I love the excitement,

the hustle and bustle

the smells in the air

the bartering

and just the tastes of everything you get to try.

The raspberries were probably some of the best I have ever had.

And oh goodness,

you best believe I will be going back to buy some

chocolate cinnamon covered almonds.

After the market we walked over to the Southwark Chapel.

Did you know that this is the very chapel that Shakespeare attended church in?

I find that rather nifty.

After this we were left to find the Tate Modern.

Picasso has some of his paintings there.

We all had fun interpreting the different works of art.

Specifically, there was one where I took on the role of being a tour guide.

My official tour guide name is Shirley.

Here I am,

 explaining this piece to my dear friend MaCall.

Here are the key points:

-there are very extinct newts (yes, I do recognize that this does not make any sense)

-the mothers place the double edged "comb" on the center of the back

-they then comb up with the other two combs

on both sides of the newt

-this leaves the hair of the newts (yes, hairy newts) sticking straight out

- then all three combs lock into place

leaving a

protective

shield.

It gave us all a good laugh for the rest of the day.

I like love to see my friends happy :)

Then, ohhh ya know,

we all just walked around in the busy city of London.

It's crazy cool how much free time they give us to just go out and

explore

all

on

our

own.

It truly was a day of Adventures...and a night of Avengers.

It all started with dinner at this place called Tuk Tuk Thai.

(also a place I had heard delightful things about)

Dinner was quite tasty and I even ordered a Diet Coke.

When I saw the can

I leaped for joy!

It was a limited edition

2012

London Olympics can.

I wanted to keep it.

forever.

Mmm but there was a waitress there who didn't just try to take this can from me once

oh no,

but twice.

And she succeeded.

Now, this lady...

she looks

exactly

like the Hun from Mulan.

And our whole table was terrifed of her.

It seemed she didn't like us from when we

first walked in.

I think she was having a rough day.

When we were ready to leave
she slammed her hands on the table and said,

"Enough!"

And what upsets me most

...

I left without my coke can.

Now on to the night time...

ohhh baby.

That was full of running through the Tube station
running through the rain,

all to make it to

The Avengers.

Sorry USA,

but it's definitely worth waiting for.

Today...Tonight...every moment was full of fun surprises.

I cannot wait for my first Sunday in England.

Britannia Singles Ward

...

here we come!

I think the elevator is giving us the silent treatment...

Meet the Tower of London!

This is where we spent a whole chunk of our time today.

And I have created a

 new 

fake 

swear word for myself.
It is...
puddle.
As in "oh puddle"
I'm thinking it will stick,
seeing how much rain we've had the last few days.

Remember how I didn't have rain boots, an umbrella or a jacket?

Well...

day uno: I bought myself some nice red boots

they are quite lovely.

day dos: I found a spunky red umbrella covered in poppies.

day tres: it poured on me quite a lot, 

and I was shivering from my lack of a jacket.

So, after great concern from my fellow mates here

I gave in and bought a jacket.

And it 

is

green.

I hope I don't look like a Christmas tree...

But, hey, I'm excited to be warm finally!

 If I look just a tid bit chilly,

that's because these were all taken 

before I met my new warm jacket :)

Hey! This is Kennedy, Jaden, Katherine, Me and Lauren.

I absolutely just think they're wonderful.

This is us in front of the tower!

It was originally used to hold prisoners and such.

This is Mallory!

She has an awesome bucket list full of things she wants to do in her life.

I kinda, sorta, really admire her for that.

Going to the tower of London was on

that

list.

I hope it was everything she had ever dreamed of :)

Ohh heyyyy Mistahhh guard man.

Right before I took this photo he was swingin around his gun.

I was afraid,

hence

the slight "ready-to-run" position.

I can't wait to go to Buckingham Palace to say hello to these sorta fellas again.

Next time...

I will be ready.

"ready-to-try-to-make-them-laugh"

 I don't really know if that's something

appropriate for "quotations"

since I just made it up...



Okay, so I just love these cute girls right here.

I love everyone here.

We all went on our first lunch adventure to fish and chips together.

Meet Kate, MaCall and Kennedy :)

Woah...wo-oh-oh!

Is that really me in front of The Tower Bridge?

 

More and more in front of the Tower of London.

This was one of the few special moments

where we didn't need our umbrellas.

Say cheers to Kate, Madeleine, Romm, Amanda, Bronwyn and Chris

Tender moment.

This was our Londinium walking group.

I already feel like I've known these people for ever.

Let me tell you, they are great.

And we...well, we're having fun in London together.

ohhhh yes, and

p.s.

This is my wonderful friend Hannah!

She did this same study abroad in the Winter.

We ran into eachother just outside of Yogland last night.

It certainly was delightful!

Soooo the blog title, yes, getting to that.

MaCall, Amanda and I were all heading back to the Centre

on the Tube.

To get back up to the main ground

you have to hop into an elevator.

Okay, well the British folks don't hop.

They seem to believe in being very quiet in most public places.

Maybe even in private places...

(however, I wouldn't know that)

Back to it...we were the very last people to get on this elevator

 and things were pretty tight.

We all bunched in

super,

duper

(excited-Viola anyone?)

close together and were far from the doors.

Once they started to close, MaCall and I backed up to get more space.

And then,

it came,

in a loud, upset, British accent.

"Please do not obstruct the doors!"

What happened next?

MaCall and I had a full on laugh attack in the corner

while the lovely chaps in the elevator gave us all a silent death stare.

and we just kept right on laughing.

I also think it's fun to note

that after only 3 days here

I cannot stop myself from speaking

in a British accent...

ever.

I have to mentally convince myself to speak in an American accent.

Right on :)

Off to Borough Market tomorrow,

Goodnight!

Hey Jordin Sparks! How about 528 steps at a time?

I am in London?

I am in London.

I am in LONDON!!!

Sorry, I do apologize.

I just have to keep saying it to myself because it all doesn't seem real.

But I am here,

I promise :)



I survived my first night in the BYU London Centre!

This place really is so beautiful.

It's sad to think that they're re-doing all of this after us.

This is my room, it's quite home-y for being so far away.

Today was our first day of class too!

I wish I could say I was feeling like Nemo again

but I just was struggling to keep my eyes open.

Adjusting to a new time zone always takes me a while.

However, I am thoroughly stoked about everything.

Plus I have this nifty Justin Beiber notebook from my roommate Brooke.

She's getting married soon, ya know :)

Me, Kennedy, Cree, Kayley and Jared on our first day of school :)

So today was all about Saint Paul's Cathedral.

I must say, It is absolutely incredible.

We had a really saweeeet tour guide also!

His name was Ray.

I wanted to get a picture with him

but I didn't know if that would be awkward or not.

So instead I took lots of pictures of everything else!

We weren't allowed to take pictures inside but i promise you,

it was

b-e-a-utiful.

There were mosaic ceilings, antique flags, sculptures and so much history to soak in.

This is a bunch of us in front of the cathedral! Tender.

The first of many group pictures.

Okay now, all you Harry Potter fans out there...

I'm talking to you I guess since I know we all have

even a secret love for mr. HP :)

So picture this-

Go back to the 3rd Harry Potter movie...The Prisoner of Azkaban.

You know the spiral staircase up to Professor Trelawney's room?

With the stained glass window on the side?

That was filmed in Saint Paul's Cathedral.

I could see it all as soon as he pointed it out.

I just wanted to dance when our tour guide,

Mr. Ray,

told us.

Next, we all climbed

528 steps

to get to the very tippy top of the cathedral.

And yes, it was completely worth it.

Today was also this girl's 21st birthday!

Her name is Erin.

We met last year in our BYU ward at Liberty Square

and now,

here we are together in London!

I think we really began bonding last year when we both realized our love for Justin Beiber.

And now...I just love her.

I am oh so happy that she is here.

Happy Happy Birthday Erin,

I hope it was amazing :)

Goodnight London.

Look for me at the Tower of London tomorrow!

Dear London, It is so nice to see you!

The countdown is over and I am finally  here!

It all started bright and early yesterday morning...

Luckily there was an awesome group of guys and girls on the same study abroad

that were also on my same flight.

We all became friends realllly fast :)

You will be seeing much much more of these folks

and more

over the next 7 weeks.

The flight was simply lovely.

For the first bit of the flight from Boston to London I got to sit next to a

true Brit,

now that was really lovely.

She was very enthusiastic about the new Harry Potter Experience

that you can buy tickets for in advance.  I'm thinking that's a must do :)

Even though the flight wasn't too bad, we were all

completely

exhausted

by the time we reached the London Centre.

Here we are sitting on my luggage waiting for our shuttle!

When we finally arrived at the London Centre we were thrown right into the action.

I think they were trying to keep us all awake....

smart move.

I'm just barely hanging on right now.

We made our beds and unpacked before we headed out on our first London walk.

Oh yes, don't you worry, it then poured on us.

I mean poured.

It was raining at us from every single direction, i promise you!

Soon, I'll be heading out on the streets again to see if I can find

some nice rainboots and an umbrella :)

Oh, the Places We Could Go!

Only 8 days now until London.

Seriously?  Is that for real?

I am SO excited :)

Well, I just have one more assignment for my prep class before I can go.

Each person in the class is asked to do a blogpost.

Now, this isn't just any blogpost.

This is my version of a Dr. Seuss classic

This is all about five cultural events or activites that I personally could want to do while abroad.

1.  Boat ride to Greenwich

City Cruises claims to be the number 1 tour on the Thames River.

Boats depart every 30 minutes from 1 of 4 locations:

- Tower Bridge

- London Eye

- Westminster

- Greenwich

It has been recommended to me to take a delightful 30 minute cruise from the

Tower Bridge to Greenwich.

Why go to Greenwich?

Greenwich is one of London's most popular tourist destinations.

That's right.  Not only do the Brits love to go for a visit, but people like me

coming all the way from Bend, Oregon

want to come and take a gander.

Only a short walk from Greenwich pier through quaint streets

parkland,

and stunning palatial grounds

and you will be surrounded by some of the top attractions in London.

- National Maritime Museum

- Greenwich Market

- Greenwich Royal Park

- Green Chain Walk

- Queen's House

-Cutty Sark tea clipper (just recently restored too!)

and sooooooooo much more :)

Why go by boat?

Well, a boat allows you to see everything from a new perspective.

And for only £8.40 you can get to Greenwich in a carefree, relaxing way.

Plus, the fleetboats are specially designed to give visitors the best vantage point possible of river life.

Extra Extra: historical and witty commentary while aboard is included :)

2. Weekend trip to the Cotswolds

 My friend Jordan who did this study abroad a couple years ago said,

and I quote,

" okay, go google "the cotswolds" and just look at the images that come up. that is why you should go. gardens, cottages and streams  are like something from a fairytale. You can't miss this place." 

I think that just about says it all, thanks Jordan :)

Other sites note Cotswolds as

"...an area of outstanding natural beauty where time has stood still for 300 years."

 the area is well known for:

gentle hillsides (‘wolds’),

outstanding countryside with river valleys,

water meadows and beech woods,

sleepy ancient limestone villages,

historic market towns

...and...

for being so ‘typically English’

Where is it?

The Cotswolds Map generally takes up an area from Worcester due north

to Bath due south,

across to Oxford

and then north to Stratford-upon-Avon.

How to get there:

The National Express Network runs coach travel throughout England.
The main route to the Cotswolds from London starts at Victoria Coach Station, takes about 3 - 4 hours and costs about £17.

3. Hampstead Heath

This is one ginormous park you do not want to miss.

Hampstead Heath is one of London's most popular open spaces

and is located just 6 kilometres from Trafalgar Square.

The magic of this place lies in its rich wildlife, extensive sports opportunities

and accessibility to millions of people.

So why go to Hampstead Heath?

There's even a zoo and a beautiful view too!

Plus, it seems like the ideal place to go for a picnic.

4. Covent Garden

Covent Garden is quite the place to be in London.

 The area is recognized as the capital's premier entertainment and leisure destination.

It's an Italian-style piazza packed with restaurants and fashionable boutiques.

This is the perfect place to take a break from homework - to just hang out and have a little fun!

 It's a place full of delicious treats, cute jewelry, fun trinkets and even street performers.

It's a place to just go and feel like one of the locals.

Pictured above is the Apple Market.

It's located at the heart of the Covent Garden piazza.

It's been entertaining people,

dressing them,

feeding them,

since 1632 when it was designed by Inigo Jones.

Now it's visited by 30 million people each year.

5. Ballet at the Royal Opera House

When I was little, my Dad would take me to the ballet every year at Christmas time

to see the Nutcracker.

 Even now, some of my favorite memories with my Dad took place at the ballet.

I think it's one of those cultural experiences you have to try at least once in your life.

What better place to try than in London?

 On June 7, for £15-25, the Royal Opera House is putting on

Ballo della regina / La Sylphide

It entails fashioned choreography that requires

dazzling footwork as well as precise leaps and turns.

La Sylphide:

It is a Romantic drama that tells the story of how a young man

chases in vain a beautiful, elusive spirit

at the cost of his happiness as well as that of his fiancée.

La Sylphide has become one of the great classics of ballet

and I want to see why :)