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!