Last post from London

Wow! I can't believe I'm leaving this morning. I can't get over how fast time has flown by. I'm really going to miss it here. I've grown to love this place, however crazy it may be. I am really going to miss all the different people here. Going back to Provo is going to be rough. 

On top of all that, I'm going to go crazy without all these friends I've made. Its so sad to know that we won't be living together again... ever. I'll miss them all so much! I woke up this morning and the first thing I saw was Diana's empty bed. It was one of the most depressing things ever.

I'm really going to miss my ward here. I really grew to love those people. It was such a great experience and I wish I could come back and visit all of them someday.

Basically, Sunday was beautiful! We had the best weather ever for our last few days here. After church, which was amazing and my lesson went well, Melissa and I got off a few stops early to hit up Speakers Corner in Hyde Park. Wow. That was intense. And then she and I just enjoyed a nice stroll through the park to get home. It was so pretty out and such a nice, calm way to say goodbye to the park and the area.

Then it was packing time. This was absolutely insane. clothes were everywhere....

We had dinner and a little fireside where we watched a slide show and all received some fun little awards. Then the "apostate" group headed out to get McDonalds together for one last time. 

I'm really going to miss this. Especially the kids here. I grew really close to a few of them, and I"m really excited to spend more time with them when we get back to school....

I'll be home late tonight; around midnight. I'm leaving the centre here in about an hour and will have such an adventure getting around. 

Finals, Phantom, and spider bites

Finals are finally over! It was an insane day! We all wanted to die! I'm so happy that they are done and that we can get back to somewhat normal life and really enjoy London for our last few days here! 

In the middle of finals, Koryl, Diana, Kaitlin, Erika and I took a quick trip to the British Library! We got to see some super old books and the original handwriting of Jane Austen, Charlotte Bronte, Mozart, Handle, the Bettles and many others. Also a copy of the lovely Magna Carta was there. Super cool! 

Last night Koryl, Diana, Kaitlin and I went to Phantom. BEST. SHOW. EVER! I really think it was one of the greatest shows I've ever seen! The singing was amazing!!!!!!! I Loved it and want to see it again! It really was the perfect end to the day and it warmed my heart and soul! I think I had goose bumps the entire time! 

This week really has been insane and on top of that, I've had a pretty nasty cold. Nothing too serious, but now I sound like a 40-year old smoker. I just can't wait to sleep!!! 

Today, we got up and went over to Queensway and got some last minute shopping done for some family and things. We headed down to the Tate Modern after. Umm... I honestly don't know how I feel about that museum. The first thing I saw were some dead birds... but we did see some pretty stuff! Sadly, I didn't find mom's favorite painting. We looked around for it, but ran out of steam fairly quickly. 

Then we headed off to Camden Market. Such an interesting market. I'd been there before last week and enjoyed it, but Kaitlin hadn't seen it, so yeah...

Well, about the spider bite... something weird bit my leg about 2 days ago. Since then, I've been reacting pretty weird to it. My leg basically feels like its on fire a lot of the time and its nice and red. Today my leg and foot were pretty swollen.... walking around has been loads of fun. I should be just fine, but getting home will be nice.

Tonight we are having a soccer game/ice cream social. Its going to be nice to be around everyone and just have everything nice and calm. I"m really going to miss this crowd. I was telling Trevor the other day that things might be a little different for us this coming Fall/Winter Semester because now I have friends! We're planning a road trip to Idaho sometime soon to visit Sarah and Caitlin!!! I'm so excited! 

Tomorrow  I am teaching Relief Society and its going to be quite the adventure! Then we are all just planning on taking it easy and packing. I'm leaving monday. My flight leaves at 1:20, but I'll probably be leaving the centre around 9:00. I have a 5 hour layover in Atlanta where I'll meet up with some kids because we have the same flight to SLC. Its going to be a fun adventure!!

Love you all and see you very soon! That is, if I make it home in one piece!!! 

House of Parliament

This morning we went to the House of Parliament and had a nice little tour. It was really cool to stand where the Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, stands every week and to walk where many Kings and Queens have walked just like in other historical places. It was beautiful inside! I loved it! Honestly, the best part was that we weren't taking notes. We were just enjoying the building and having a break from homework. 

Now, its literally time to get back to work. We have 3 finals tomorrow and a paper due tonight. Great fun. But tomorrow night Diana, Kaitlin, Koryl and I are going to Phantom! And then I have one more day to play! (kinda.. I have to do an entire lesson for Relief Society)

Love you!!

Stratford upon Avon and so much more!

Sunday was great! Such a good day! I do love sundays even if going to church here is a little bit of a pain. We had a great Sacrament meeting followed by some great lessons including one taught by Jordan and me! Ha ha good times! Then, somehow the Relief Society President caught up to me and I was stuck. Yep.. I have to teach my first Relief Society lesson on sunday.... after finals, a bunch of reading, and a paper. Gotta love London homework...

Monday we went to Stratford upon Avon and saw some very Shakespeare-like things: his mother's house, Anne Hathaway's house, and his birthplace. It wasn't extremely eventful. Probably the best part of the day was when Diana, Koryl, and I were looking through the windows at a jewelry store and Koryl hit her head on the glass. haha We saw Shakespeare's grave, walked around the town, ate some really good ice cream and enjoyed being out of crazy London for a bit! We went to Witherspoon's for dinner! SOO good! The bar tender wanted to check our IDs which turned into a small fiasco. I'm pretty sure we all look over 18, which is the drinking age here, but whatever. It was fun! After dinner, we met some drunk guys from Birmingham. They were crazy funny and they loved Americans.... I've never had anyone tell me they like my accent before, but I'll take it! 

Then we went to the Shakespeare play, A Winters Tale. I maybe kinda fell asleep for most of the first half, so the second half I didn't have any clue what was going on. It was pretty boring, not going to lie, and all I wanted to do was get back on the bus and head back to the center. We had about a 2 hour drive ahead of us... 

We didn't get back to the center until close to 1 am. I was not a very happy camper. And I didn't really recover for the next morning. 

Kaitlin and I have kitchen duty this week which has turned out to be super annoying. We lose about 2 hours every day of time we could spend either studying or playing. It mostly just stinks to have it the last week we are here..

oh well...

The rest of this week is full of studying. I don't know how often I"ll post, but I'll be home in about 5 days! I can't believe how fast this time has flown by! 

Love you all and see you very very soon! I can't wait for BYU Football with Michael and Brianna!!! Its gonna be awesome!!!

Sorry, too lazy to try and upload pictures on our awful internet! 

See ya!

Most embarrassing day EVER!

What a day! What a day! It started off with a very short and painful run in the morning (I need new shoes. My legs are dying!) and a quick shower and then I headed off to meet Diana and Koryl in Trafalgar Square. We didn't end up doing much. Just some lunch and a short walk through the theater district. It was crazy crowded and we all wanted to get home. Luckily we found this cute donut place and grabbed some quick donuts. So good! I got this amazing chocolate one! It was heaven. Apparently, I must have looked like I was going to snarff it down or something, because the guy at the desk gave me extra napkins just in case I got chocolate all over my face. haha! Way to make me feel singled out! haha 

This afternoon was quiet. Just more procrastination of homework and attempts to make Diana's hair curl. It curled nicely, but did not last... sad. Then the 3 of us headed off to this mexican place we've been hearing about. It was a bit of an adventure to find. It was the biggest meal I think I've had here! So nice! It was great food. The perfect amount of spice in a burrito. I will say that I'm really looking forward to some good mexican food when I get home! 

The real adventure was after dinner. We were getting back into the tube station and the little doors shut on me super fast... I got stuck and basically burst out laughing. Diana about died and it was just all over embarrassing. I'm really good at making a fool out of myself.

Those girls headed off to a show and I'm about to try to make a dent in my giant pile of homework and plan a lesson for Young Women tomorrow. 

Love you all!!! See you very soon! The next few days are going to be insane! I don't think I'll be sleeping much during this last week! Have fun in super hot Utah!

Sorry Folks. My computer doesn't believe in keeping pictures rotated. You'll have to do that yourself manually. 

The National Gallery... While waiting for Diana and Koryl I tried to be a little creative...i think it died.. oh well!

St. Martins in the field. Sadly, there was some celebration for Jamaican Independence so we couldn't go in...

The street I walk down many many times every day! Gotta love Palace Court! 

When did I become the Chosen One??

I have no clue why, but somehow I have been the person that everyone has decided to tell their secrets too. Its not a huge deal, but there are some things I really could have gone with out knowing, especially when it comes to some of the guys here! I know I'm easy to talk to, but some things are better left unsaid or should be saved for your family only! I just can't figure it out! haha

But other than that, I'm loving it here! Its funny to see how much we've all changed. Kaitlin and I were just talking about how much we can't stand tourists! Funny because we are tourists... but it really does feel like we live here and that we've been here forever! We were just saying how funny it is now that we can pick out the americans! When we first got here, we couldn't understand how everyone could just tell that we were american...its super easy to see! haha!

This morning we went to Greenwich. It was Sarah, Melissa, Caitlin, Kaitlin, Diana, Koryl, and I! Such a fun group! Love those girls! We we all SO excited about the idea of visiting 3 museums in Greenwich today... We were in and out of all of them super fast. Nothing really interesting, so it was hard for us to pay a super huge amount of attention. We went to the Maritime Museum which was interesting. We saw some cool boats, paintings, and some old clothes. Nothing that we haven't seen before. Then we went to the Queen's house to see an art gallery. It was very similar to the National Portrait Gallery. The best part of that museum was when a lady started talking to Caitlin and Westie and Diana and I just ditched and walked into the next room. haha good times. I think we've seen one to many museums about the same people. Then we went up to the Royal Observatory. This was the highlight! Straddling the Prime Meridian is always cool!! 

Our feet at the Prime Meridian! (Plus Megan! We ran into her there!) 

After the Prime Meridian, we wanted to check out the famous Greenwich Market. It was really fun. Diana and I met this way cool Photographer and I'm really excited to check out his website! He had some pretty cool stuff. Then we got some awesome Brazilian food! SOO good! 

Love these girls! 

Beautiful Greenwich with D!

More pretty views! 

After Greenwich, Diana, Koryl, Kaitlin and I headed back to London to hit up the theater district and get tickets for Phantom of the Opera. We're going next week after we are done with finals and I'm super excited!!! I've heard its so great in London! Everyone here has absolutely LOVED it and I can't wait! 

I think we spent 90% of our day today in the Tube. I'm going to be really excited to be back in a car. I mean, I love public transit and everything... but the tube is awful. It is so hot underground and people are either pushing you over to get around you, or they are walking so slow that it takes all your self control not to plow them over. haha

Hope you are all having fun! Love you all! Enjoy your last week without me! :) haha

See you soon!

Tired of posting!

Sorry world and whoever reads this. I've gotten really sick of posting and I haven't taken any pictures in a while either. I'm just not as camera happy anymore. It might change soon though, who knows. 

Basically, yesterday consisted of Koryl, Tricia, Elizabeth Davey, and Dillon going to the Churchill Museum and the War Rooms. Such a interesting site! I think its my favorite museum so far! Sadly, none of us are very smart, and we kinda completely missed the GIANT Churchill section. No clue how that one happened, but we all feel pretty stupid now. But we really enjoyed our time there! What an interesting part of history to learn about. 

Sadly, I think the highlight of the day is when I got left behind. I wanted to head to a more empty section of the train, but everyone else just jumped on. Before I could make a run for it, the doors closed. It was sad and slightly embarrassing. haha! I just waited for the next one, not that big of a deal. But it was really funny! All the kids were laughing at me and I felt really stupid. 

We've also recently discovered a new handicap of mine. I am not very good at getting off escalators. Its pretty ugly sometimes actually. Not as extreme as elf. But I look absurd most of the time. Basically I'm just a spaz. 

Last night, Dillon, Danny, and I went to this pizza place where they had all you could eat for 5 pounds (super good deal!). We ended up staying at that restaurant for over 2 hours. We talked a lot. Those guys are great. Its fun to have some kids to talk to. I really really like everyone in our group here and we all get along great, but I am really finding friends that I can keep for years! Its so fun!

Today has been pretty mellow. Woke up. Ate breakfast. Class. Another Class. Lunch. Pretty boring.

Then Sammie and Dillon and I headed to Camden Market to check it out. I hadn't been there yet and still wanted to find somethings for some people and Dillon wanted help buying stuff for his brother's wives. I have no clue why he picked me, but I think I helped. haha

Tonight should be mellow as well. I might try and get out and go for a little run if I feel up to it, but I might just stick around the center and read for class. They sure know how to work us out here. I think these classes are some of the hardest I've taken, but I'm doing a lot better than I expected. What a relief! haha! 

Love you all! See you soon! Pray that I can fit everything in my suitcase and that it doesn't go over the weight limit! haha!