Road Trippin' ... English Style

This week, we went on one of our first big adventures into the wonderful land of England! And it was fantastic! We left early Thursday morning, and headed for our first destination: York! We took a slight detour on our way, and went and explored the ruins of Fountains Abbey. It was absolutely gorgeous! Who knew that ruins could be so fun and entertaining? haha  No, but seriously, it's amazing to me how incredible history can be! I love it! :)  So we continued on our way, and arrived in the city. This is where one of my all time favorite stories comes into play... so after unloading the bus, and checking into our hotel rooms, a big groups of us decided to go out and explore the town! And for some reason, I don't know why, we thought it would be a good idea to try and squish 10 girls into a 4 person elevator... let's just say we were extremely unsuccessful in our endeavor.  haha  The elevator sunk about a foot, and began to make very horrible sounds. We all began to panic, screamed, and then literally fell out of the elevator onto the floor. It was probably the funniest thing I have seen in a long time!  :)  Anyways, we made it out of the hotel without any major injuries or further disasters, and began our personal tour of York. Cutest little city ever! I loved it! We stumbled upon this area called The Shambles. This is the oldest shopping street in all of Europe! How awesome is that? For someone who loves shopping and loves history as much I do... it was like paradise. :)

So we woke up to a beautiful morning in York, and went on a little stroll along the Roman Wall that surrounds the city. Let me just say, it was one of the coolest things ever! We walked across the city until we reached Yorkminster Abbey. Here we stopped and took a tour... yet another abbey. yay.  It was exactly like the fifty other ones I've seen already. But I do have to admit, it was still beautiful. And I swear if I have to tour another one... I may scream. hahaha  But anyways! After the tour was over, we got on the bus and drove to a little place called Preston. This was a pretty sweet place! This is the town where the LDS church first made its apperance overseas! It was super neat. We met a local member there, and he took us for a little church history tour around the city. We saw all sorts of awesome sites like the town square where hundreds of missionaries including Gordon B. Hinckley taught, the river where the first baptisms took place, and the many monuments dedicated to the Mormons around the city. It was a great experience. And lucky for us, we were able to end this great tour, by making a stop at the Preston, England Temple! It was absolutely gorgeous! Loved it!

The next morning, I awoke in the foggy town of Liverpool. And of course you know what that means.... I got to spend my morning at the best place on eart: The Beatles Museum!  Oh my goodness. I absolutely loved it! I honestly could have stayed there all day and been perfectly happy. So great! After our time at the museum, I spent a little too much money in the Beatles store, and then we had the great opportunity to go and see Penny Lane and Strawberry Fields! Two of my favorite Beatles songs were written after those places. I about died. I finished my Beatles day by listening to their music non-stop for the next 6 hours until we arrived back in London. Best day of my life! I can now say my life is complete.  :)

Well, that about sums up our road trip adventures... the only other thing that happened this weekend, was I had a great sunday in my new ward! The people of the Lea Valley Ward here in London are absolutely amazing! They are mostly all people from Nigeria and Ghana. And oh my gosh. They have the most adorable little black babies I have ever seen! My little heart just melts... and to make it even better, I was assigned as the Primary pianist! So I got to be with them like all day! And it made me so happy!  :) 

Anyways, that's about all I have for this week! So until next time... (ps. I'm sorry I couldn't post any pictures this time! My computer is being super lame. Hopefully next time!)

Happy Birthday To Me

This week was my 21st birthday! And let me just say... best birthday of my life! I loved every single minute of it!  :)  It started with a late beginning. I love sleep. So lucky for me, we don't have classes on Wednesdays, so I got to sleep in! Golden! Then I just got to take my sweet time getting ready for the big day... Turning 21 is a big deal. haha  I put on my new outfit I bought the week before from H&M - Best store in the world. My new favorite ever. And then I got to spend a good hour or so playing the piano... and it was absolutely amazing! My favorite thing ever. It always makes me feel so good. I love it! I then went on a Tesco run with my buddy Emily, and stopped to get some fantastic frozen yogurt from FROG! Delicious!
I know... it sounds pretty awesome so far huh? But just you wait! It only gets better from here! So after my little Queensway excursion, me and my buddies Blake and Liz set off on perhaps the greatest adventure of my life. Best night ever! We went and saw the most amazing show in the history of the world. And that would be PHANTOM OF THE OPERA! Dream come true! I have waited my whole life for that moment, and there was no better time to see it, then on my birthday, in London! I am such a lucky girl. Sometimes I forget just how blessed I am to be here. But it's days like this that put me badk in perspective, and I have to take a minute to be thankful for what a great opportunity I have being here. Anyways, after the show, we walked up the street to the Caffe Concerto! There we ordered Hot Chocolate and slices of the most amazing cake ever! I thought I was going to die... and seriously, I would have been happy! It was ao great! :)  I honestly can say that this was the best birthday of my life! It was definitely different being away from home where I have my family and friends to hang out with and talk to... but I had a blast with my new friends here in London, and I would not have traded this day for anything in my life!

Adventures Never End

It's absolutely ridiculous how fast time flies when you're having fun! I can't believe it's been two weeks already... I've done so much in that time, it's actually quite unbelievable! Let's see, since I last wrote about my adventures, there have been a few exciting happenings! The first one is perhaps my favorite story of all time...

So there is the cutest little pub just around the corner from my house, called The Phoenix. I was just you know, hanging out one evening, when I decided that I needed a drink. So I went up to the bartender, and asked him for a lemonade. He asked me for my ID, and without even thinking about it, I busted it out, he looked it over, then handed me my drink. It wasn't until after I got back to my table, that I realized there was no color in my lemonade... That's when the reality hit me. I had just bought my very first alcoholic drink! haha  On accident of course! :)  And to make things even better, as I arrived at the table, I set my drink down to tell my funny story to my friend, when she reached across the table, and took a drink before I could tell her what it really was! I felt so bad... but we had a good laugh anyways!

This past week, our group went on our very first field trip! Our first stop was here at Salisbury Cathedral. It was absolutely gorgeous! I've noticed that there is not a single church or cathedral built here that is not that way. I absolutely love it!

Stonehenge.... pretty awesome huh? It was absolutely fantastic! I can't even begin to explain how awesome it was to actually be there! However, I was not entirely impressed... did you know that the pictures you see in the history books are not completely accurate?  haha  It honestly is not that spectacular. It's not as big as everyone thinks it is. But don't let me change your opinion. It's still awesome.

We ended our day by visiting the historical Roman Baths. It was absolutely one of the coolest things I have ever seen. It was awesome! And Bath is by far the prettiest city I have ever seen! Love it!

Mind The Gap

So today I had the great experience to ride the tube to church. It was about an hour and a half each way. Fun times, I tell you what!  :)  But there were several things that I noticed about the London Underground today, that I found pretty funny, and wanted to share.

*First off, Londoners seem to think that public transportaion stations are the perfect places to share their love and affection for eachother. I see more couples making-out on the platforms, than I think I've ever seen anywhere. And it totally doesn't bother them, or anyone else. (except for me, obviously)

*Second, some Londoners are total creepers who have no sense of personal space. Not only do they really enjoy sitting super close, and don't mind leaning on your arm when you sit next to them, but there can be just you and one of them in a completely empty car, and they will still choose to sit next to you.

*Third, after being fortunate enough to stand on the platform for several minutes, the phrase "mind the gap" seems to be on replay through your mind. It's absolutely hilarious. I love it! The man's deep authoritative voice makes me smile everytime!

*And last but not least, the tube is so much fun! I always enjoy it... And even though I feel like bathing in hand sanitizer every time, it's always an adventure.

I Love Food!!!

Ok... here comes my favorite thing about London. The food. I feel like Everything you can find here, is absolutely delicious! Take a look at some of the things we've tried so far! The desserts of course, are all fabulous. On occassion, we find some real food that is blog worthy. Enjoy!

Chocolate Melt from Zizzi

Margherita Pizza from Zizzi

Waffle Palace! (For the record... I did not intend to have mint ice cream plopped on to pof my strwberry waffle... the lady just didn't understand what I asked for. But that's ok! It was delicious anyways!)

Ben's Cookies! (Most delicious cookies I have ever had in my entire life)

Strawberry and Cream Crepe! Doesn't it look perfect!?

Living the London Life

Well friends, here they are! Finally, the pictures I know you've all been dying to see!  (ok... so maybe they're just the pictures I've been dying to post.) But either way, here they are! 

This here is our first official group photo. Yeah, we're pretty awesome. I don't blame you for being jealous. :)

This picture is me standing in front of the London Bridge! Pretty much one of the coolest things ever...

Umm... London is absolutely gorgeous. What more can I say?



The Tower of London! One of the coolest historical sites in all of London! (well, of the ones I've seen so far)

Ever seen the movie Bedknobs and Broomsticks? Yeah. It rocks. And I was there! It was adorable!

Buckingham Palace! (This is where the queen live... how awesome is that!?)

 

 

Typical London street... they are all so beautiful, and so adorable. I love it!

This is me and the gang at Stonehenge! One of the coolest things ever...

So there you have! That was just a small glimpse into my many adventures thus far in the wonderful land of London. I hope you enjoy! And don't you worry... there will be many more to come!  :)  Until next time!



Random Observations about London

#1: In all things electrical, up means off, down means on... totally confusing!
#2: There is no such thing as warm... it's either blazing hot, or freezing cold. (needless to say, showering is definitely not our favorite thing to do in the world right now.) Also, all of the sinks have two faucets. One for hot and one for cold. This makes it very difficult to combine the two into one happy water temperature.
#3: English people apparently don't know what toothpaste is. I have yet to see a single person with white teeth, or straight teeth. And definitely not both!
#4: They only know how to build very small steps when building staircases. And believe me, they love their stairs! I can't even tell you how many times I've biffed it already...
#5: I love it when complete strangers call me "dahling"
#6: I am convinced that the most confusing yet convenient money system in the world exists here in England.
#7: They only know how to build beautiful buildings... they are all amazing!
#8: There is not a single day that it doesn't rain. I absolutely love it!
#9: The English are the best drivers in the world. The streets are extremely narrow, so the lanes are very close to each other, and the cars all go so fast! It amazes me... yet scares me to death at the same time!
#10: Not only do they have walking signs for pedestrians at the crosswalks, but bicycles and even horses get their own light! It's adorable...

 There are just way too many. The list could go on and on. And it will! I promise! But for now, we'll leave it here!  Join me next time for Random Observations part 2!  :)

Welcome to London!

The day has finally come and gone, and here I am, sitting in a classic pub.... in LONDON! That's right. London. (That's in England).  I am pretty much the coolest person ever, I know.  haha  Just kidding! But seriously. I can't believe that it has already been a week since I left the United States, and touched down in this blessed place! It is by far the most incredible and amazing thing I have ever done. I have never seen anything so absolutely gorgeous and beautiful in my entire life! I love London!

My story begins on Tuesday, January 5th, when my beautiful mother dropped me off at the airport. After a two hour flight to Chicago with some of my Salt Lake peeps, we had a layover, and then boarded for the long 8 1/2 hour flight to London. (Let me just say right now... I hate flying. I forgot how horribly dreadful airplanes are! I don't fit in the seats. And there is not a single comfortable way to sleep. Trust me on this. I know. I tried every single possible position.) Flying into London at 7:00 am, it was still completely dark outside, so I was greeted by the bright lights of the beautiful city. Most incredible sight I've ever seen. It was beautiful! I have never seen such a big city... kind of intimidating for this small country girl. But I'm absolutely loving it!

So anyways! Upon landing, we were greeted at the airport by one of the absolute funniest guys I have ever met in my life! It was so adorable... he shook me hand and called me "dahling". Loved it! We just chatted away as he drove us through the city, showed us all the awesome sights that lay between the airport, and our final destination... 27 Palace Court, in the wonderful city of Westminster! So... about where I live, I just have to say these words: Most incredible and gorgeous house I have ever seen in my entire life! It's seriously insane! It's super old, and has the most elegant and authentic and antique looking thing, it is absolutely adorable. I love it! It's a pretty red brick, big black front door, and about 9 stories tall. And guess what? My room is on the 8th floor... 66 stairs I get to climb, multiple times everyday, and they are killer! (If my calf muscles are not super buff by the end of this 4 months, I will be very upset.  haha) So I live up on the 8th floor with some of the most amazing girls I have ever met in my life! Carly Flamm, Liz Bevan, Annie Eichers, Elise Hansen, and Kinsey Grant. We have way too much fun... love them!

Now here comes the good part... Story Time!  :)  *hooray*

So here are some of the awesome things I have been able to do so far since being in London:

~Since I (literally) live just across the street from Kensington Gardens, and Hyde Park, we went on a little excursion! It is seriously so beautiful here... even though it's January, the grass is still green! And there are occasionally flowers to be found while journeying through the parks. It's great!

~One night, a few of us randomly decided we needed an adventure... so it was onto the "tube" we went! And boy, I tell you what. It was amazing! I absolutely love riding the tube! (that's the English version of the subway for those of you who don't know) It's great! So we just rode along the tube, and randomly picked a stop. So we got out of the station, looked up, and realized we were literally standing at the very bottom of Big Ben! It was seriously the coolest thing I've ever seen! It's gigantic! I now understand where he gets his name! ;)  haha  So yeah, we walked along the bridge past Big Ben, saw the Parliament Building, the London Eye, and get this... we even took a stroll over the bridge from Harry Potter! How cool is that!? It was fantastic, and had the most beautiful view of the Thames River. Loved it! So as we were then trying to find our way back home, we succeeded in getting lost. And upon taking yet another wrong turn, we happened upon Trafalgar Square! So amazing and incredible! Especially at night... oh! Awesome!

~Another day we venture off to the great Tower of London! Such a marvelous place! So historic, and so pretty! It's just like a castle out of a fairy tale! I loved it! We got to walk through the Crowned Jewels exhibit, and the armory, and yes even the torture chambers. It was smashing! We loved it! We even had a very creeper-ish security guard volunteer to give us his own little tour narration as we went along... it was quite hilarious actually. What a weirdy!  But he gave us a good laugh. :)

~Westminster Abbey was another on of my faves. Most gorgeous building I have ever seen in my entire life! I honestly want to get married there! (I just need to find me a prince!  haha just kidding... but I wish!) It seriously is like nothing in this world. You can't even imagine! So beautiful!

~The Changing of the Guard... now this, I'm sure would have been absolutely amazing, had I made it there on time.  haha  We went! We just missed it...  these English people sure don't run on Mormon Standard Time... it's throwing us all off!  hahaha  But seriously, Buckingham Palace was incredible! So pretty!

~I got to go to my very first true English Play this week too! It was at the Fortune Theatre, and it was called the Woman In Black. So so so good.... best play I've ever seen! So scary & intense. I loved it!

~And last but not least, I had my very first London shopping experience... H&M is my new best friend. Best store ever! I seriously could spend my life in that store. So much fun! So many great clothes, and yes. I spent a lot of money. But it was so worth it! So no worries...  :)

Well friends, I guess that's about all the excitement one blog post can handle! So I guess this is where I sign off, and leave you hanging until I write about my next adventures. (And hopefully post some pictures too!)  Over and out!